The record-union., 1898-01-26

t1Is~l Tile dNO one
sense Of the fact that their work,
instead OF being over. was only just
)egun. The resolution finally passed
he Senate, but a clerical error de-
sroyed its value.
The necessity Of organization was
low fully apparent, and on the Sth OF
April, 1896. the New York State Asso-
.iation Opposed to the Extension of
Suffrage to Women was formed. 1t
has now standing committee of over
l00 of the best-known women in New
York with a membership of more than
2O,O09 women, While the active inter
est aroused all over the State and
through adjoining States, and the earn
est sympathy and cooperation of the
great mass CT quiet home-loving wo-
men are sufficient proof of the need and
usefulness of the organization.
In the West there had been hitherto
no strictly local organization of anti
suffra gists, but in 1856, the attention
of a few women in Chicago had been
called to the work which was being
carried forward at Washington, by the
National Womans Suffrage Associa-
tiCn, under the able leadership of Miss
Susan B. Anthony, and protests and
memorials We're from time to time for
warded to Congress by these remon-
strants with decided effect. They also
addressed the Illinois Legislature and
the Legislatures of various Western
States, besides keeping up close CORE
spondence with well-known women in
many States, thus bringing influence
to bear privately upon public men IN
various localities.
Early in 1897 Miss Anthony an
nounced through the public press, that
having found the obstacles TO the re-
form she advocated so great at Wash
ington, she was determined to transfer
the battle to the Middle West. cons
centrating her forces in the States of
Iowa, Montana, Oregon and California.
In February, 1897, the Woman's Ma
tional Suffrage Association, instead of
meeting al Washington, as it had done
| for the past ten or fifteen years, con-
yened at Des MoineS Ia, with the
avoWed motive of laying siege to the
Iowa Legislature then in session. That
its influence was considerable there is
no doubt, but it was obliged to post
pOre till another year the fulfillment
of it's designs.
The point of attack having been thus
shifted from the East to the West. the
! associations in Massachusetts and New
York Immediately urged organization
in Chicago Mrs. Arthur w Dodge,
Chairman of the Executive Committee
of the New York Association, came out
TO give impetus to the work, and on
the 9th of May. 1897, this association
was formed The thanks of the asso-
nd "a
New York Association, for efficient help
rendered at that time.
THE NEED OF ORGANIZATION.
One of the first inquiries which this
association has had to meet has been:
Is there really any need of such an
organization in the West? The fore>
going paragraphs are in part "a reply,
since the suffra gists are just as ener-
getic here as elsewhere. They have
been actively at work in our Legislature
for several years, and confidently as
sert that at it's next session they are
sure to carry their measures. But
there is something more to be said.
That the great mass of people in our
Western States are either opposed to
woman suffrage or wholly Indifferent to
it. there can be no doubt. In proof
of this, we cite these facts: The re-
monstrants have never seriously OPP
POSED local school suffrage for women,
{ for two reasons:
First-The subject of schools is one
of deep and legitimate interest to wo-
men; and, While we do not believe that
the Wisest and most efticacious way for
this interest to be manifested is through
| the ballot. still, from its purely local
nature, they might vote upon it with
little detriment to their other duties
! Secondly, school suffrage affords an
excellent test of the real inclination OF
women toward political duties, and
while in twenty-five States this form of
suffrage has been granted, in not one
of them has any wide or deep interest
! been manifested, thus proving the en-
/ tire want of sympathy of women for
that method of exercising their infu-
ence.
In Illinois, so far as can be judged
from the returns, less than per cent.
CT the women OF the State have ever
voted upon any school question, while
the average result in other States has
not been very different under normal
| conditions. This, with the fact before
cited that in Massachusetts less than 4
per cent of all the women of the State
voted for the enfranchisement of wom
! en-, when they had the best Of Opportu
mites for doing so, proves cOnclusively
! that there is no general desire on the
part of women to participate in politics
Ard, certainly, we do not believe that
men in general have any overmaster
| ing desire to shift their political bur
! dens to our shoulders. The fact re-
mains. however and the history Of past
! legislation proves it, that a few deter
mined women, going into Legislature
and appealing as women to the law
makers there assembled. can obtain
about anything they want. from a mar
ried womans property bill, which makes
the wife far more independent than her
/ husband. to a resolution favoring the
overturning of the supreme law of the
land 1t is a case of the woman thou
gavest ne" over again.
Experience proves to us that unless
the women who are opposed to assum-
| ing the burdens which they believe the
wise order of civilization has devolved
| exclusively upon men. make a sturdy
defense of their right to immunity from
these burdens. the case viii go against
them by default. We do not believe II
! wise or just that a question Of vital con-
stitutional Importance should BE- settled
| or an eX-parte hearing. A fundamental
! change in the position of one-half OF
| our population before the law, and IN
relation TO all public questions and mat
ters Of State. ought not to be made with
out profound deliheration and careful
weighing of all the reasons pro and