The herald., 1896-03-06

been averted; also, that it is the opinion Of
men-intelligent, we'll educated people
that it was the very best thing for the men.
tai upbuilding and physical material
growth of the whole United States which
could have happened.
think my learned critic is in error when
she says "there is no clause within this
section Is of the constitution) defining the
! power of congress regulating suffrage, ex-
cept to establish a uniform rule of natural
ization." She may see their error of judg-
ment if she will carefully read and medi-
tate over the text of article 6, section 2,
making the national law the exclusive and
supreme laws of the land. She will herein
find that the national constitution does de-
fine the right and power of congress to
regulate the question of the suffrage for
each and every state in the union of states.
l am. unfortunately, in the opinion OF
my critic. a woman who has been wife
and for years widow. Therefore, it is
not possible for me to be learned in consti-
tuticnal law. as is the female prophets, the
venerable and unmarried president of The
National Woman's Suffrage association,
Susan B. Anthony, and my critic, May n.
Benson" Still it is never too late to learn
new lessons from younger, better informed
and educated women, who have had oppor-
tunities to associate and mingle with
highly-cultured, well-informed men and
women, denied to me, tho coarse, un-
womanly woman. So | must perforce ac-
cept the role my critic has assigned me OF be-
ing poor. weak-minded. ignorant and silly
woman, willing ito slip into her lawful or
divine right under cover of his Ia man's)
political garment and my Willingness "to
utterly ignore the inalienable right of her
(my) unmarried sister," But doesn't she
know that fools rush in where angels fear
to tread?
may be silly. To be silly is, as mat
ter of necessity, to be fool. 30 l, the
fool woman, with a marriage certificate
and a wedding ring, have dared to talk in
public and point out to my angelic unmar-
ried sisters how to break down the barrier
of male caste and force this, question into
public view o. any woman married to
citizen of the United States" to vote for the
constitutional amendment this fa'l under
the law of S55. section 190l +, and the Cit
izenship law of 1867, section 2OO4.
We, as unmarried women, may assert
great many things regarding equality, in
aiienable, inherent political rights with the
malo ci izen to the suffrage. but when it
comes to testing and proving that equality
before the law courts, that has been quite
another matter, because the unmarried
woman has not had any national law TO
sustain and back her up as woman clti-
zen, defining her claim as a citizen OF the
United States.
We. the women residents and citizens Of
the state of California, wish to open hith-
erto sealed and locked national door.
What difference does it make whose hands
hold the great iron key OF common sense
and national law which will open the outer
door leading out of state domestic bondage
into the public domain of universal free
dom. the married or unmarried women:
What matter it, who unlocks the politi-
cal prison doors, only that they be un-
locked and thrown wide open, for even as
tlte,r Low, f,fS or
intended only to open the state prison
doors for the ''persons held as slaves in
those states and parts OF states which were
in rebellion against the authority OF the
United States on the lst day OF January,
1868, yet the thirteenth and fourteenth
amendments threw open all doors, in every
state of the union. SO will it be now, 1t the
ruling spirits of the Woman's Suffrage
association of the state of California will
have lhe quick wit, and business sense. to
take up and push this married woman's
act of 1865, and determinately take the
stand that under the civil rights law OF
1867, section 1900, the state political
committees are barred from refusing to
publicly uphold and enforce, the
national law of citizenship. section 2OO4,
and recognize that under section 1894
every woman married to q citizen of the
United States is n qualified elector OF the
state of California. and qualified as citi-
zen to all tho rights and privileges OF the
and endowed with the right to
vote at the coming state and national
elections.
This law of 1855 is the keystone to the
arch of the temple of justice, which must
lead to universal suffrage.
President lincoln did not intend to
the whole slave population;
his intention was only to free "those per-
sons held as slaves" in certain states and
parts of states, for after naming these
states and parts of states, he says, "And
which excepted parts shall remain precise
ly as if this proclamation were not issued"
So it will be in this matter of putting us
married women forward to bear the brunt
of the coming campaign in the state; using
the law made for our benefit by Demo-
cratic congress in 1855 as means to
the whole woman population
of the United States in 1896.
For as the fourteenth and fifteenth
pulled down the state barrier
of state rights to control and regulate the
question of national, as well as state male
suffrage, in regard to the negro race, so
will these same amendments perform the
same kind of Office for the female popula-
tion-the whole womanhood element of the
United states.
do not ask or wish for any public politi-
cal or private social privilege nor right
cannot share with my sisters, but some-
times we can claim a right under the law
as married women which our unmarried
sisters cannot. Is it not then policy for US
to take advantage of and utilize this law
full right, thus open door for our sisters
to join us, and share all things in public
with us? Mrs. J. Fl. CRoCKER.
Los Angeles, March 4, 1896.