The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-10-03

nipity (yiraginity) or has shown. con-
{ cIus;yely. that she was the victim OF
! nsvcho-sexual abberrancy. Moreover,
/ the histories of every yiragint OF any
( note in the history of the world show
: that they were either physically or psy-
. chicaIly degenerate, or both. Jeanne
| d'Arc was the victim of hystero-epiieps!'
while Catharine the Great was dipsos,
maniac and creature OF uhDouhueu anu
| inordinate sensuality."
After quoting numerous other hlstorl-
| cal examples in support OF MS posilioh'
| Mr.. Wier goes on as follows:
"Many women of today who are IN
| favor of female suffrage, are Influenced
| by a single idea; they have some great
| reform in view, such as the establish
ment of universal temperance; OF tHe
elevation of social morals. Suffrage IN
its entirety. that suffrage which Will
| give them a share in the government, IS
not desired by them; they do not be-
| long TO the class of viragints, unseXed
| individuals. whose main object is the
esta blishment of matriarchate. Wolh-
| an is a creature of emotions, of impulses,
of sentiment and of feeling; in her the
| logical faculty is subordinate. she Is
| Influenced by the object Immediately
| in view, and does not hesitate to form
| Judgment which is based on no other
Grounds save those OF intuition. Logl-
| cal men look beyond the immediate
| effects of an action and predicate It's
results on posterity. The precepts and
| receipts which form the concept of equal
rights also embody an eject when.
though coniectural, is yet capable OF
clear demonstration, and which declares
that the final effect of female suffrage on
posterity would be exceedingly harmful;
I'VE have shown that the pronounced
advocates and chief promoters of equal
rights are probably viragints-lndlvldu-
ais who plainly show that they are phys
ically abnormal; furthermore, we nave
seen that abnormality is occasloned by
degeneration, either acquired or inner
ent, in the individual. Now let us see,
if the right of female suffrage were al
lowed, what effect it would produce on
the present environment of the woman
of today, and, if any, what effect this
changed environment would have on the
physical habitudes of the woman of the
future"
Taking up the last part of his subject,
Mr.. Weir premises that mans physlcal
being is so intimately connected with
his physical nature that degeneration
of the one involves lowering of the other.
Hence, a retrogation to the matriar-
chate. the primitive social state of saw
age tribes, means the mental degenera-
ton of the race. This tendency. says
Mr.. Weir is even now showing itself.
He goes on:
'aThe effects of degeneration are slow
in making their appearance, yet they are,
exceedingly certain. The longer woman,
lived amid surroundings calling for in
creased nervous expenditure, the greater
would be the effects of the accruing de-
on her posterity. Periods of
moral decadence in the life of q PEOPLE
arc always contemporaneous With times
of effcminacy, sensuality and luxury.
These conditions can only be conceived
as occurring with increased demands on
the nervous system, which must meet
these requirements. AS result of in
crease of nervousness, there is increase
of sensuality, and, since this leads to
excess among the masses, it undermines
the foundations of society-the morality
and purity of family life kraft Ebing.)
The inherited physical habitudes handed
down through hundreds and thousands
OF years would prevent the immediate
destruction of the ethical purity for
which woman is noted, and in the posses
sion of which she stands so far above
man. l do not think that this ethical
purity would be lost in n day or year,
or hundred years for that matter; yet
there would come time when the moral
ity of today would be utterly lost and
society would sink into some such state
of existence as we now find among the
Nairs. In support of this proposition l
have only to instance the doctrines pro-
by some Of the most advanced
advocates of equal rights. The free
love- of some advanced women, | take
it, is but the free choice doctrine in
vogue among the Nairs and kindred races
of people.
"The baneful effects resulting from
female suffrage will not be seen tomor
row, or next week, or week after next,
or next month, or next year, or hundred
years hence, perhaps. 1t is not Il ques-
ton of our day and generation. 1t is
a matter involving posterity. The sim
pie right to vote carrie with it no I'M
mediate danger, the danger comes after
ward; probably many years after the es-
tablishment of female suffrage, when
woman, owing to her increased degen-
Grafton, gives free rein to her atavistic
tendencies and hurries ever backward
toward the savage state of her barbarian
ancestors. l see, in the establishment of
equal rights, the first step towards that
abyss of moral horrors so repugnant to
our cultivated ethical tastes-the matri-
archaic Sunk so low as this, civilized
man will sink still lower-to the COM
munal kachims of the Aleutian island
prS -"