The herald., 1895-02-11
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
WITHOUT THE BALLOT THEY CAN DO
A GREAT DEAL
An Argument for Women Who Hold That
the Female Sphere Is Limited
to the Fireside.

Mrs. Eleonora Kinnicutt of New York,
who is not suffragist, but who has &C.
complished important legislation for the
benefit of tho city, has suggestive ar
ticle i'll The Century, in which she says:
Now that the New York constitution
al convention Of 1894 has refused to rec
ommend that the word male be strick-
en- from the constitution of the state, a
dispassionats word on the subject may
perhaps find gracious hearing on both
sides. Many of the women who opposed
the introduction of woman suffrage diff
fered from those who advocated it moro
in premises than i'll conclusions. In the
heat OF debate many misunderstood and
misjudged each other, because they
were arguing from different standpoints.
One took the side of abstract right; the
other of concrete reasons. One called
the present condition of women slavery;
the other termed the proposed condition
enslavement. Nut upon two points most
women were agreed; that the politics of
the country, as now managed solely by
men, offers wide field for experiment
and improvement, aud that, whatever
share in the affairs of the state women
ask to have given to them, it is the de-
sire of none to sacrifice to it the duties
that are distinctively feminine.
Universal man suffrage is here to
stay. We cannot do away with the evils
that accompany it; we must therefore
try to overcome them, rejoicing all the
while that the great experiment is being
made in country where the chances
are in favor of success. And what better
way is there of making this success ap
parent and permanent than by the intel
ligent and public spirited women of the
country, through their good judgment
and watchfulness, helping the intelli
gent and public spirited men to hold
their own against the strength of mere
numbers-a task that is daily inoreas
ing in difficulty? II women will only
assume, at election times, the RESPONSE
bility Of making the men of their house
holds register and vote, and of guard
ing, as far as possible, against careless
ness and Indifference in tho matter, they
will render valuable service to the
state.
If the vote of the present day were to
be doubled by opening the sluice gates
to all women, we could directly divide
it into four parts; tho educated men and
the educated women; the ignorant men
and the ignorant women (the word zig
norant" seems best to represent the per-
verse and the unletteredl. Why are we
not distinctly better off-looking at the
question still from a numerical stand
point, and never forgetting for mo-
ment that our government is, as DR.. ia
cobb clearly emphasizes, governments
by public opinion If, by uniting the
vote and the influence of the two higher
groups, We make the hard struggle not
a struggle of two against two, but of
two against one?
The suffragists assert that women will
not take part i'll public affairs unless
they are rewarded with the franchise
This is statement that women, by their
disinterested, impersonal work in every
direction, are daily contradicting. What
they do need, before i'll number they be-
come the political helpmates of men, is
tho conviction that they can learn to be
helpful, and that their help is needed in
tho body polite. This they have never
been taught seriously. And when they
set to work to find ont how they can best
make themselves useful, they will dis
cover that it is only by a mastery of
hard, dry facts, and by the onward pro.
pelling power Of disinterested effort, that
men i'll politics attain the best results
The SO called "coaxing" and "whee-
ding" power Of women, supposed to be
in such force and favor with men, and
sometimes used as an i'll natured taunt
by ono kind of woman to another kind
is an ovcrestimated power. Men can usu-
ally be coaxed into giving away only
thatwhich they themselves do not value
The occasion of first conference be-
tween two OF opposite Eek may be mark
cd by grace and graciousness, but after
that q woman must depend, rs do men
among men, upon the merits of her cause
and the practical knowledge and gooti
sense that she is able to bring to its sup
port. Almost every woman who inter
ests herself in public affairs and has had
experience with officers of government
and men Of personal influence will cor
roborate this statement. She will glad
" confess, too, that the more she works
the moro she learns that lIcr own hest
strength lies il tho strength of the OBJ
ject that she has at heart. She will win
Or fail, too just in proportion to her
ability and the single mindcdncss of
purpose With which she keeps this object
ia viaw