The record-union., 1897-03-08
BURDEN OR PRIVILEGE.
prHSGilla Leonard Discusses Woman
Suffrage.
She Points Out Some Very Important
Facts That Are Worth
Considering.

1t is always best to consider what we
are fighting for, and to get the clearest
IDEA possible of what we really want.
1t is nevertheless true (and not OF
women only that many of us contend
earnestly for principles" OF whose
practical workings we have no idea
whatever, and for rights whose ac-
cOmpanying obligations we do not con-
slider at all. If this short article, there
fore, shall cause any woman to think
out logically her position with regard
to the suffrage for women, it will be
valuable to her, no matter to what con-
clusions she may come.
There are two questions to be looked
at in considering the suffrage aglta-
ton: O What does woman want? @
How does she expect to get it-by her
single vote or by her combined vote?
These questions, it viii be seen, do not
touch the matter of abstract right, but
simply of everyday expediency, for
the suffrage is not an ethical COM
mandment, to be accepted whether or
no, but a political eXpedient, and con-
fessedly rather q doubtful one in its
POSSIBLE outcome. AS such, whether
we believe in it abstractly or not, let
US consider it in its relation to our own
lives.
What does woman expect to gain by
the suffrage? Not education, for she
has conquered that already herself
without a vote. Not a choice of occu-
pations, for she is finding employment
everywhere, advancing into the profess
sions, and dignifying even the BARRIERS
razor and the dentists chair. That she
is not as well paid as man is due not
to lack of political prestige, but to in
ferior bodily strength, and also to a
habit of resigning her position when
she marries, which leaves compare
lively few trained women workers in
the ranks, and so reduces wages in all
crafts nearer the apprentice level than
In the case Of man, who works perna-
nently. Not influence, for that she al
ready has everywhere, and the only
limit of it is her own inability to use 1t
wisely. The ballot brings none of these,
and cannot affect them. What woman
seeks by the direct vote is the direct
power of government.
How does she expect to get it? BY
the single vote? The answer to that
question is found in mans experience
with the ballot so far. That experience
is that the single voter, no matter how
earnest, no matter how we'll educated
or high principled, is helpless before
the great mass of careless or ignorant
electors, combined in that immense pO-
ltical organism called a party. He
stands alone; it has its ramifications
everywhere. Like the fly on the wheel,
IS long as he goes with it, very WELL
the moment ne forsakes it, his utter
insigniflcance is forced upon him. The
single vote, except to record individual
conviction, is of as small account,
among our $4,000 600 of voters, as one
grain Of sand upon the seashore. Power
and that IS what the suffrage means
To most womens minds-is not to be
found in the single vote. 1t is an age
OF combination and organization. and
the highest expression of this tendency
is found in American politics.
Can woman, then, conquer power
through her combined vote? Yes, if
she is willing to take upon herself the
obligations and consequences of such a
step. But they are more, perhaps, than
she contemplates or understands. To
vote is one thing; to influence legisla-
ton, even in the smallest degree, is an
other. There are first the primaries TO
attend-those springs in which the
streams of government first bubble up
All political observers tell US that the
present corruption of our politics is
due to the neglect Of the educated male
voters to attend the primaries, thereby
leaving them in the hands Of ignorant
or unprincipled men. Personally the
writer Of this article does not know
more than half dozen educated men,
in the most prosperous ward of her
own city, who attend the primary
meetings Of their party; it is tedious
and Disagree bic duty. which they have
long ago decided to neglect.
Now if woman is to purify politics
(Which she announces is her mission)
she must begin consciendously with the
primaries. She must go, no matter
II she has other and pleasanter ways
of passing her evenings. and she must
keep on going. every time. until she
gains q nucleus Of followers in the pri-