Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-08

| better half of the human race Surely If
the barriers Of habit and prejudice shall
not be broken down except in the more
| liberal and enlightened American states
during this century, they cannot long
survive even in the more conservative
commonwealth the advent of that glori-
GUS goth century of which Victor Hugo
dreamed and sung.
| Why, gentlemen. Even the more in
] telligent opponents of equal suffrage VINO
have studied the lessons of history and
the evolutions of reforms in the world,
admit that it is in line with the enlighten-
ment and progress of the race, and sure to
come, sooner or later 1t is too late for
Maine to justify her motto and lead in the
reform movement; but she still has OPP
portunity to secure an honorable place
among the enlightened and progressive
states of the Union by this winter, through
Legislative enactment, bestowing upon
her noble women municipal suffrage.
Why shall we not take this wise, just and
benefcent steps No state can boast of
daughters better prepared for the elective
| franchise. The women of Maine have
sprung from the same stock and are gifted
with the same brain inheritance as the
men. They share the amenities and the
discipline of the same homes. They read
the same newspapers and magazines, at
tend the same lectures and enjoy equal
school and college privileges. Where will
YOU find women, nay, where will you find
D ,rsons, men or women, better qualified
to intelligently, wisely and conscien-
tiously exercise the elective franchise,
than the mothers, wives, sisters and
daughters of the men of Maine, constitu
ents Of those distinguished men who have
won for the State such prominence,
h I'd almost said pre-eminence, in the wide
fl I'D of federal legislation and administra-
ton?
| Why shall these women not be enfran
chised? What are some of the reasons
given?
"a One says, and he represents the
| largest class of those who oppose the
m ovement, 1.-The majority of women
d on't want it. When the women rise up
Ell masse and demand, perhaps they Will
get it, and not before" 1t is easier to
make this statement than to prove it
More than so, 600 of the women of Massa-
chusetts have petitioned for suffrage. The
women of Wyoming have voted for "a
years, usually in larger proportion than
| the men, and in the last important cleo
ton in Colorado, involving the rescue of
the state from Socialistic, Communis
| tic, Populistic, Crank Governor, the
women cast more votes than the men,
polling 90 per cent of their registered vote,
| while the men polled only so per cent, and
large majority of them voted on the
right side, too, (applause) and without
their votes the demagogue Waite would
not have been defeated. But suppose it
were true that majority Of women do
not ask suffrage and would not exercise
| the right on ordinary occasions if they
| had it, it does not follow that those who
do wish to vote should be deprived of the
right.
A majority of the serfs of Russia did
not petition Alexander for emancipation,
if indeed any of them did, but nobody
gives that as a reason why they should
not have been emancipated. The freed
men of the South did not, a majority of
them, ask for suffrage, and yet it was
given them, as was thought, for their pro-
lection and development. Because one
person is Indifferent to her rights and
duties is poor reason why another who
| is alive to hers should be denied them.
Besides, in some communities almost
or quite majority of the men are so in
different to their right of suffrage that
they almost never exercise it; but | have
never heard that put forward as a reason
why those who do appreciate it should be
deprived of the right, although have my
self sometimes thought it might be whole
some to deprive those who habitually neg
lect the use of the ballot, of the right, for
a season.
(2y Another objects that 'only a few
of the good women will vote, and all the
bad ones" Now experience, which is the
best light by which our feet may be
guided SHOWS just the converse of this
proposition. The proportion of bad
women to good is much smaller than of
bad men to good. General observation
shows this, and the penitentiarics of the
United States hold / 1 times as many men
| as women. Now since as large a proper
ton of all the women of Wyoming vote
as of all the men, it follows that vastly
more good women than bad ones vote,
and even more good women than good
mea And in Colorado, the other day,
while 80 per cent. of the good women who
were registered voted, only small per
centage of the bad ones exercised the right.
In one precinct where $50 notorious
voted. But is it any worse for bad women,
who constitute only small minority, to
VOTE than for bad men, whc make up
much larger fraction of the whole num-
Der. How can you better raise the stand
ard and improve the quality of the voting
body than by adding to it a mass of voters
containing n much greater proportion of
honest, high minded, virtuous and con-
scientous voters, than have the original
body itself? If you increase the good
voters 90 per cent. at the expense of only
10 per cent. increase of the bad ones, have
you not made a substantial gain IN the
quality of your voters?
CD Another objects that Women will
vote as their husbands do and the results
will not be changed, only the vote
doubled If this We're true, it would
effectually dispose of that other objection
raised by this same class of DIRECTORS, that
1.-THE acknowledgements of women will
cause family broils," and the objection
A Chill