The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-09
Woman's Claim for
The Right to Vote.
Arguments in Favor of the Extension
OF the Suffrage to Women.

| AT the last semi-annual convention of
the Luzerne and Lackawanna county
Woman's Christian Temperance union,
| held at West Pittston, Feb. IA, Mrs.
Franc II. Vail, of this city, read a paper
on woman Suffrage" which has
| ellclted much praiseWorthy comment.
| The text of that paper is subjoined: -
| When the lonely mariner has been
tossed weary hours on the foaming bill
! lows OF the deep, the first appearance
| or clear SKY Is improved by an effort 10
| ascertain his whereabouts and bear
| ings. Let us in like manner endeaVor
| by II few minutes study OF our govern
| ment, to ascertain our position as
| women on the troubled waters of the
present political sea. Looking back over
| the history of the world we find that
| whenever evil has reigned until cor
ruption has reached an extreme point
some new force has been raised up to
| combat 1t. Everywhere in the political
| realm we find corruption, spOils and
| bribery, extOrtiOn and fraud, impurity
and false standards, injustice and the
subtler forms Of tyranny.
| Politics, instead Of being a science,
| has become a game of chance gam
bling pool in the hands Of the unscru-
pulous and designing. lntemperance
and other evils prevail 10 an alarming
| extent, and patriotism seems about 10
| expire. The present condition Of our
| country demands new force or ele-
ment in politics. 1t needs publication
| and If this cannot be had by the in
PRODUCTION Of the refining and elevat-
ing influence Of women, then our repub-
lie will share the fate of the Roman
empire which tainted 10 death through
its own corruption. God says: 1.-THE ma
tions that will not serve Me shall
| perish" We have reached our extreme
point as "a nation, and woman is the new
force that shall combat the corruption
Of our social as well as political life.
"When the enemy shall come in like
a flood the spirit Of the Lord shall lift
up standard against them" May not
the Christian motherhood Of this land
have come TO the kingdom for such a
time as this?
| The Lords Reserves.
| Gods reserves are the home-guards.
Woman with her irresistible vitalizing
and regenerating power, sounds the
trumpet for the nations redemption
through her ballot, but the world puts
up its hands to shut out the sound
She pleads with the powers that be-
to place in her hands the weapons with
which to combat existing evils. For
years woman has been slowly develop
ing her mental powers and assum-
ing her enlarged responsibilities conSe-
quent upon the progressive steps OF oul
national civilization toward the stan
dard of GOd-given equality and indi-
yidual rights, irrespective of race, color
or sex. The wider opportunities given
to women have undoubtedly changed
womans position. There is no use ig-
| tbis Her ongnel
to the great questions that agitate the
nations of the world.
A wealthy English lady married a
poor man. At his death she fell he'll
to her own property through his will
with a proviso that she never marry
again. The absurdity of this situation
and others quite similar regarding the
ownership of children have aroused
much Indignation upon the part OF
women. Home is, indeed, the proper
sphere for woman, and we are tod b!
men in high places that our highest
aim in life should be a bountiful re-
production Of the race; and to the Lula
by song of the cradle and the never
ending stitch of the needle must al
holy ambitions be sacrificed. But nc
true man. who is abreast of the times
and allows the nobility of his nature tC
assert itself. will ever speak thus oi
us who are the Crowning excellence OF
creation, and whose lives are so Otter
jeoparded and even sacrificed for tht
perpetuity of the race.
The Influence OF Home.
Home is the first thought of wife and
mother All things are secondary tC
that, only as they bear direct influence
upon the home. Out of the home the
state itself is created, and since the
smaller makes the larger, the larger
reacts upon the smaller. And wher
through the misrule of professed Chris
tian men public evils become rampant
then women see and feel its effect upon
the home life, and then does she realize
that there is a limit to her influence
but none to licensed evil. The ques'
tions OF the day are all moral ques'
tions and every one of them is in poll
tics Hence. every woman who enters
upon reform work Of any kind becomes
as rule suffragist. For she soon
sees that laws hamper and handicap a
woman in her righteous efforts to keer
home sacred and pure. They prevent
her from performing her greatest duty
to God, to her family and mankind
Now. every human being has right to
| work out his or her own destiny. sub
ieCt only to those restraints of society
which are applied to all alike. No one
class has a right to restrict the lives
Of one-half the race to any particular
work The women of 1895 are not un-
like those of 1775 They could make
| anything from bonnet up to their
| own destiny. So can We, Give us one
half :the tools now used by men and
| we will not only make our own destiny
but that of the household and nation
They sent forth from their fire-sides
minute-men who carried, muskets and
bayonets. We send forth pure man.
| hood and intelligent womanhood, armed
with noble thoughts end principles that
shall yet become an established sys'
TEN. The ballot seems to be the COLDER
key to opportunity, and Just as II is an
advantage to men it win be to women
and II is not SO much woman's ques'
tion as 1t a human question.
"rhcn call them out. the home guards
| who keep the treside altar,
| Their hands are clean their hearts are
| pure with sin they dare not paiter."
We often appeal to ministers of the
| Christian faith to help on the cause OF
righteousness, but many of them in
sist upon preaching on the fate of Lots
wife, while we who have put our hands
to the floor much prefer to hear ser
mon ON a wife's lot. Some persons
think women SO inferior to men. But
DIR. Bashford says: at takes an inn
mense amount of ingenuity to make GU,
woman's inferiority from the simple
scale of creation presented in Gods
word. Since woman was not made In
mans image, neither was the dominion
of the world committed to him alone
The record says: I'm the image of God
created He him; male and female
created He them And God said. Let
them have dominion over all the earth.