Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-06-24
Mrs. Stanton on the Duty OF the Hour,

My Dear Miss Anthony y:You ask ne to
send a letter for this occasion as to womans po-
siton in regard to the war. Many with whom
talk feel aggrievcd that they have no voice IN
declaring war with Spain, or in protesting
against it. The vast majority OF men arc In
the same position Why care for voice In an
an event that may happen once III lifetime,
more than in those of far greater Importance
continually before us! Why groan over the
horrors of war when tragedies in peace arc for
ever before us? Our boys in blue, well fed and
clothed in camp and hospital, are bettcroit than
our boys in rags, overworkcd in mines, fac
tories, in prison houses, and In bare, dingy
dwellings called homes, where the family meet
at their scanty meals after working ten hours,
to talk over their hopeless situation III the des-
pair of poverty.
A friend of mine visited the bleaching de-
partnlcnt of one of our New England factories
where naked boys, oiled from head to foot, are
used to tramp pieces of shirting in large vat.
The chcmcles necessary tor bleaching are SO
strong as to cat the skin unless well oiled. In
time they affect the eyes and lungs. Ihere
these boys in relays tramp, tramp all day, but
not to music nor inspired with the love OF coun-
try. In England they have machinery ior such
work, but in the land of the Puritans boys are
cheaper than machinery.
On the platforms OF oite idea, mothers can
not 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 Massachusetts.
Under the present comparative SYSTEM eX-
istence in continual war, the law being each
one for himself starvation and death for the
hindmost! My message to-day to our coadJu-
tors is that we have higher duty than the de-
mand for suffrage; must now at the end OF
fifty years Of faithful service, broaden our plat
form and consider the next step i'll progress, to
which the signs of the times clearly point,
namely cooperation, new principle III indus
trial economies. We see that the right OF SUIT
frage avails nothing for the masses, i'll compe-
tition with the wealthy classes and, worse still,
with each other. Women all over the country
arc working earnestly in many hagmentary re-
forms, each believing that her own, II but
achieved, would usher in a new day OF peace
and plenty. If woman suffrage, temperance,
social purity, rigid Sunday laws, physical cul-
ture could any or all be successful see no
change in the condition of the masses. We
need all these reforms and many m0ie to make
existence endurabc. What is life to the prison
er in his lonely cell; to the feeble hands that
keep time with machinery in all our marts OF
trade to those that have no abiding place, no
title deed to one foot of land on this green
earth? Such are the fruits OF competition.
Our next experiment is to be- made on the broad
principle of cooperation. AT the end OF tltty
wears, whose achievements we celebrate mere
here to-day, let Ms reason together as TO the Wis
dom OF laying some new planks IN our plat
form.
The cooperative idea will remodel codes, and
constitutions; rtees and caechisnls; social Gus
tome and c.nvyntionalisails; the curriculum OF
schools and colleges; 81 pe tew sense OF JUS
tice, liberty and quality i'll all the relations OF
life. Those who nave eyes 10 see recognize the
tact that the period for all these fragMentary
reforms is ended. Agitation OF the broader
question OF philosophical socialism Is now i'll
order. This step in progress has long been
forcshatowcd by oslr scers and prophets, IRON
Mazziii sand Fourier down to, Thomas Paine
and Henry George, and is now heing agitatet
by able thinkers ard writers in all civilized
countries.
:! The few have right to the Injuries OF, lif'
while the many are denied IFS necessities.
This motto is, the natural outgrowth of th
one so ,familiarto ourlplatlorm and!our oficia
Z papcr:k Equal rights to all.'2 1t is impossi
ble 10 have "equal rights for all under on