The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-08-24
THE GRAND OLD WOMAN.
Mrs. Stanton On the Duty Of the Hour.
Mrs. Stanton sent to the Rochester

Mrs. Stanton sent to the Rochester
convention, May 5. the following letter:
My Dear Miss Anthony: You ask me
to send letter for this occasion az to
woman's position in regard to the war.
Many with whom I talk feel -aggrieved
that they have no voice in declaring
war with Spain, or in protesting against
It. The vast majority of men In the
same position. Why care Cor a voice in
an event that may happen once in a life
time, more than in those of far greater
importance continually before us? Why
grDan, over the horrors Of war when
tragedies tn peace are forever before us:
Our boys in blue, we'll fed and clothed in
camp and hospital, are better off than
our boys in rags, overworked in mines,
factories, in prison houses, and in bare,
dingy dwellings called homes, where tho
family meet at their scanty meals after
working 10 hours, to talk over their
hopeless situation in the despair of poy-
erty. --. All
A friend of mine visited the bleaching
department in one of cur New England
factories, where naked boys, oiled from
head to foot, are used to tramp pieces Of
shifting in large vat. The chemicals
necessary for bleaching are SO strong as
to eat the skin unless we'll oiled. In
time they affect the eyes and lungs.
There these boys in relays tramp, tramp
all day, but not to music nor inspired
with the love of country In England
they have machinery for such work, but
in the land of the Puritans boys are
cheaper than machinery.
On the platforms of one idea, mothers
cannot discuss these wrongs. We may
talk of the cruelties in Cuba now on any
platform, but not of the outrages of rich
manufacturers in the state of Massachu-
sets
Under the present competitive system.
existence is continual war. the law being
each one for himself, starvation and
death for the hindmost! My message
today to our coadjutors is that we have
higher duty than the demand for suf-
frage; We must now, at the end of so
years OF faithful service, broaden our
platform and consider the next step in
progress, to which the signs of the
times clearly point, namely, co-opera-
ton, new principle in industrial eco
Monies. We see that the right of snf-
frage avails nothing for the masses, in
competition with the wealthy classes,
and, worse still, with each other Wom-
ell all over the country are working
earnestly in many fragmentary reforms,
each believing that her own, if but
achieved, would usher in new day Of
peace and plenty. If woman suffrage,
temperance, social purity, rigid Sunday
laws, physical culture, could any or all
be successful, we should see no change
in the condition of the masses We need
ali these reforms and many more to
make existence endurable What is life
to the prisoner in his lonely cell; to the
feeble hands that keep time with ma
chlnery i'll all our marts of trade; to
those who have no abiding place, no
title deed to one foot Of land on this
green earth? Such are the fruits IF
competition. Our next experiment is to
be made on the broad principle of CO.
operation. At the end OF so years,whose
achievements we celebrate here today.
let us reason together as to the wisdom.
OF laying some new planks in our plat
form.
The cooperative idea will remodel
codes and constitutions; creeds aud
catechisms; social customs and conven-
t1onalisms; the curriculum of schools
and colleges; give anew sense of justice,
liberty and equality in all the relations
of life. Those who have eyes to see rec
ognize the fact that the period for all
these fragmentary reforms is ended.
Agitation of the broader question of
philosophical socialism is now in order.
This step in progress has long been
foreshadowed by our seers and prophets.
from Mazzini and Fourier down to
Thomas Paine and Henry George; and
is now being agitated by able thinkers
and writer's in all civilized countries.
"The few have no right to the luxuries
OF life while the many are denied its
necessities.
This motto is the natural outgrowth
of the one so familiar to orr platform
and our official paper: Equal rights to
ALL 1t is impossible to have equal
rights for all under our present COM
petitive system. "All men are born free,
with an equal right to life. liberty and
happiness" The natural outgrowth OF
this sentiment is the vital principle Of
the Christian religion, Love thy neigh
Dor as myself" In broad, liberal prin-
ciples, the suffrage association should be
the leader of thought for women, and
not narrow it's platform from year to
year to one idea, rejecting all relative
ideas as side issues.
Progress is the victory of 4 new
thought over old superstitions'
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.