The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-07
Daily Eagle
NJ. NJ. MURDOCH. Editor.
FEMALE SUFFRAGE-NIT.

:
is an incongruity which no man-made
laws can render harmonious. An inclem
ent election morning with the presiding
geniuses of our homes lowering around
muddy polling places instead of being
Bnugly housed, is not an encouraging
sight. Not one woman in ten would
have anything to do with politics or the
polls. with office-Seekers or voters, II
left TO her own choice and inclination.
The feminine nature and the refined IN
clination of vast majority of women
must be subverted or changed before
they can take any delight in mixing UP
with the heelers and pushers in exercis-
Ing the much boosted American fran
chise. In the greater cities there are
large male clements, even, VINO refuse
to go to the polls except on rare occa-
sions
After all. as the Eagle has often as
serted. this proposed innovation of wo-
men in public life is a question which
will in the end be determined by the wo-
men themselves. Upon election occa-
sions OF extra stress and local feeling
husbands and sons may seliShly Or
through over-anxiety persuade mother
or wife to register and to vote, but in
the breast Of that wife and mother there
will remain the silent protest Of her wo-
manly natu,e.
Phoebe Cousins of st. Louis. probably
the most prominent woman lawyer IN
the country-.2 woman who has mixed
with men through all of her more active
life. and who has been prominent de-
fender of the new woman idea and Of
female suffrage as the avenue TO wo-
mans elevation, last week renowned
the theme of a lifetime. No one will
question Phoebe Cousins strength of
mind or character. Shs has been confin-
ed bv rheumat iSm to ner room for more
than a year, during which time she has
given much tiFle and thought TO the
question which so absorbed her earlier
womanhood. She repudiates the cause
failure under prbTacted test, three par
ticular instances which she cites. In
her interview she declares that there
are limitations which prescribe womdn's
success in public life and her advice 10
young women is TO marry and become
home keepers. Miss Cousins goes on 10
say that Twenty years ago. /, with
other new converts. believed that sui
frage for women would prove a pan
acea for all the evils of politics. l be
Eeved that women in public life would
prove a regenerating influence. After
twenty years of close observation and
experience have come to the conclusion
that women are no better than men.
After reviewing all of the characteris-
tics of men and women find that they
are about equally balanced; that there
are as many good women as men in
the world, and no more" She holds
that this is true in many ways, not alone
In regard to the relation Of the sexes,
but in integrity of word, in unyielding
adhereIjce to principles they believe TO
be right, and loyalty to the highest in
man. II ana opposed to the practice of
agitators of all ages Of speaking diSpar-
ngingly of man and exaltingly of wo-
man.
after years Of experience, study and
calm Judgment. l find that neither is
true. 1 have found no prepopderance
of the angelic woman as against the
coarse man, no multiplicity of deprayed
ulasculinity as against the sweetly or
gained feminine. If we count heredity
rs factor, this must prove true. for
daughters follow the fathers character
lstics and sons the mothers. Men and
women are equal sponsors for the race.
The law of heredity is not deyiltry in
one, but divinity equal in both sexes
In noting her conclusions of the re-
suits of female suffrage in the states
and territories which have adopted it,
she points TO the fact that women went
down in the fire of the Colorado cam
paign of 1894. The year before the
Populists had cnfranchised women and
she had expected TO see the women
show their gratitude by sustaining the
party which had favored them. But
they did not. They voted with their
husbands, as they always will. Party
principles cut no figure with the aver
age woman. She viii be for and vote
for what she conceives To he her hus-
bands interest. OF Colorado she says
that when Senator Wolcott appeared
In Denver with S2,o00.G00 of Doodle re-
ceived from London syndicateS interest
ed in bond and railroad schemes in the
state it was deemed judicious to eXpend
this fund mainly among women, and
this was done.
Immense sums were used by these
women in the decoration OF the Brown
Palace hotel and Broadway theater.
More money was used in that way than
would have fed and clothed the poor of
Denver for year. Some of the fund
was used in the princely entertainment
of visiting politician. one of the most
Immoral men that can be found in the
country, one who has figured in as
highly spiced accounts OF debaucheS as
the most voracious Police Gazette ap-
petite could desire. So much for wo-
mans gentle influence in the purifica-
ton of politics.
Women in politics are more given 20
intrigue and more susceptible 10 bribery
than men. Men have the rough and the