New-York tribune., 1896-01-04
sy.TTPtGT IDEAS FROM MAINE.

The town - Rockl,nd. Ne. se"ms 10 lave de-
y.lou.d the New oman 10 a more astonishing
DEGREE than any other place ye, heard from.
v,nnnn graces tn ben, II a. justice OF the prace
,yhil. another woman takes down the proceedings
AS the onicial stenographer. Men who never No-
lated q law In their lives tremble a. they pass
this court on the sidewalk. and as for men "ho
have violated laws. they don't pass al AL ou'
dodge around through the alley with hunted
look on their blanch ID faces Then there ls
trio of women who have drawn rp and signed
formidable document. reinforced with res"Iveds
and ,yhereases that they will begin wearing
hlo,ners in their daily walks thought II must b.
confessed that they have left the date blank.
put the newest New Woman Of RCckland Is
one who the other evening at the debating
scb,.l ouposed a reg ,lution In favor OF woman
suffrage and won her case. Indeed We can
sec how she could have done otherwis" when ""
glance al the ground or her opposition This
was nothing less than that woman VINO isn I
smart enough to control OF least one vote under
the present suffrage plan isn't smart enough -
he .ll,wcd to vote herself She had only 10 an
nonnce this View II the matter In few WE'LL
chosen words and the judges arose and gave
her the decision without waiting To hear the
sbufIiing aud squirmng Of the other side at all
pun,nte We cannot detect any. No one can
deny the fact tha, woman of any ability what
ever can make some vote just as she
,leases In fact, the Rockland woman announced
that most women not only can. but do achieve
this Thus We see that at present n man ~
simply servant Il tool. a machine OF the woman
Ia * O, him in the matter of casting vote. lie
may he uk-ned 70 a pair Of tOngs, or tray or
a fork or anV similar implement for moving or
conveving an object from one place to another.
As the man shamblcs 10 the polls he Is seen To
have more or less fabby aud pals!ed hold upon
the ballot but everybody knows that some woman
has hold upon him which Is far from being
either habby pasled
In fact II the Rockldnd woman Is right. when
the suffrage is given To woman she VIII be liable
10 arrest for illegal 'oting. sirce she may be
charged with casting two ballots one directly by.
so 10 say the naked hand, and the other indi-
rectly. by using a man an implement OF pre-
hension This v.ew. of course. is taken with the
understanding that woman !s going 10 retain
her present ability TO control man after she
obtains equal suffrage, and who can DOUBT this'
With the bestow Al of the ballot upon woman the
only way that we can see TO prevent her be-
coming amenable to the r'gors OF the law Is 10
take the ballot away from man. After all, why
should the fellow have It? But this opens such
vast possibilities for logical augmentation that
we hesitate TO enter into 1t. We can only con-
eratuate the Rockland woman on her victory,
and close But we advise her to follow her line
OF reasoning 10 its natural conclusion Let
nor advocate what we have hinted at. namely.
giving the ballot 10 woman and al the same
time taking IT away from man. to the end that
indirect methods may be done away with