The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-04
VICTORIA AND THE SUFFRAGE.

The Woman's Journal publishes the
announcement of the signature by
Queen Victoria of the 'full woman
suffrage bill in South Australia" and
regards 1t as 'the greatest single vic
tory the cause has ever gained"
AS the Queens name and authority
have been introduced into the Utah
suffrage question, during the debates
upon it in the constitutional conVen-
ton, that act of the sovereign power
of the great British Empire, on whose
dominion the sun never sets. is quite
pertinent as a matter of reference.
The English monarch has been des-
cribed as simply "a figurehead" like
the wooden image on the PROV of a
ship That. however, is a very extreme
smile. The British crown, though not
endowed with the autocratic power
which was welded by monarchs in
older times, is yet a living, potent
reality, holding a sovereignty which,
in some respects at least, is indepen-
dent. and which in unwise and I'M
patriotic hands could be made a means
of very great evil.
In the case of Queen Victoria it has
been exercised with prudence and re-
gard for the views and policy of the
ministry, which voices the sentiments
of the party in power representing the
people in parliament. The crown is
the executive, and holds a place in
the English political system indepen-
dent in its sphere. 1t also holds the
balance Of the legislative power. No
bill passed by the Lords and the Com
mons is law without the signature of,
the sovereign.
1t has been argued by the spokesman
for the anti-suffra gists. that the popu-
larity of Queen Victoria is because she
is "a faithful. devoted wife, a pure and
noble mother" Indeed? Is that pos
sible after the many years in which
she has "dabbled in politics?" Why,
on the theory propounded, that is not
to be believed. You know the effect of
politics on woman is to be degrade
ton" 1t is to destroy the home, ''un-
sex" women, and so corrupt the female
stream by contact with the foul waters
Of male politics, that womanly purity
will be lost in the turgid tide. 1t
doesn't seem to work that way with
the wifely. motherly, home-loving
Queen Victoria.
This bill which she has signed IS OF
great Importance. The country which
it affects has more than a million
square miles of territory, a magnifi-
cent, we'll watered fertile soil, larger
than the whole area east Of the Mis-
sissippi river, and capable OF support
ing hundreds of millions of people.
By the signature of the Queen, the
inhabitants of that region will enjoy
equal rights as to the franchise, thus
securing full political liberty to its
women citizens, after an experience
of some years in partial woman suf-
frage. That freedom might have been
withheld. The power that granted it is
much more than "a mere figurehead"
The friends Of equal suffrage will be
apt to say: If, under monarchial
authority women can enjoy full politi-
cal rights and privileges, why should
not the same boon be extended to them
in land of liberty, "the home Of the
free" under a government that is de-
clared to be ''of the people, for the
people and by the people?" The act of
the Queen of England should be an
example to the uncrowned sovereigns
of the American republic.