The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-27


these two governments, There would hav,
been a war? DO you think that if q
of the most cultured, best educated, mos
intelligent women of Spain and Ameri
Ca had been chosen to settle this matter
between the two countries, they would
have settled it by setting their sons ant
brothers up for targetsp They would
food to the reooncentradosi sthan this,
arm sure.
| The surgeon general of the army would
not allow trained women nurses to go tt
CUBA because it wasn't a fit place for
them, so he said. He was afraid the
nurses would demoralizessst he .sgsoldiers
or that the soldiers would demoraliza
the women. And yet not word of pro.
test did he utter against the landing Of
three train loads of prostitutes at Tampa
where this army was encamped.
| There is no complaint in the wayEman
has conducted his department. in this
war. No country on earth has better ma.
chimes for the destruction of men than
has America, but you will notice in those
departments which should wholly belong
| to the women there has been much criti.
cism.
q Do you suppose for moment that any
sane woman would have located camp
for $4,000 men at Chiokamauga without
running stream of water within five
| miles. Men did this, but no woman
would have been fool enough to have done
it.
Do you suppose the women would have
allowed the wounded to suffer in Cuba
for want of fooda Men did this, and Clara
Barton had great trouble in landing the
only ship load Of provisions for the
wounded that was brought into Cuba.
| Women have bsen nursing the sick for
thousands of years and instinct makes
| them better nurses than men without
training. Women now have access to in
situations where they are trained as
nurses and have the scientific knowledge,
| while man without the instinct has only
the knowledge. Women are better doctors
then men because of this instinct, then
why shouldn't there be,assurgeon general
of the army?
When one poor boy is taken sick with
typhoid feserin camp what do.the doctors
dor Sendifor woman nurse? No, they
take another boy who is such an idiot he
can't find his Sunday shirt and who
knows nothing about typhoid fever and
makes him nurse the sick boy. Is it a
wonder that men die when treated like
this?
After all the plumbers of Cuba the army
of SO, 600 was brought to the North to get
we'll. had women been left to select the
camp for these men would they have gone
| to Montauk Point, where there wasn't
any water fit to drink within miles and
where the camp was placed right along
side a filthy frogTpond? The men did this
and thousands died because of their fool
ishness. When they discovered their mis-
| take they commenced to dig wells but it
was too late for many say that Rontauk
Point was worse than Cuba. Women
| would not have been as foolish as were
the wise men who have managed this
| war.
What have we gained from this war?
Cuba, Hawaii, the philippines, Porto
Rico and great deal of trouble. What
shall we do with all these countries? Give
them a government for the males and
shoulder more damaged society onto the
women of this country to take care of.
When a petition, miles long almost,
was sent to President Mckinley asking
| him to abolish the canteen system in the
| camps it had no effect upon him. He
would have been glad to have abolished
| this system which was corrupting boys
and men and teachin g them to drink and
fostering their appetite for drink had he
dared to but he didn't do it. Why9 Be-
cause the thousands of names on that Pc
tition did not have any weight at the bal
| lot box and it would have ruined his
party to have abolished the canteen sys-
| tenn.
A woman who says she does not want
to vote and has all the rights she wants
is less than woman, is less than a
| Christian.
It seems such foolish thing for me to
stand up here and talk in this wayEto PEG
ME who have heard the declaration of in.
dependence read every year since they
were born.
In Iowa women vote. They wanted to
| close a gambling house in certain town
and demanded that the city council Of
that town should close the place. The
gamblers and others prayed the city coun-
Gil to let the place remain open. The wo-
men ad votes in that town and the men
did not. The place was closed. Women
have been praying for things and not get
ting them for years but here was case
where women demanded something and
got it. I should think women would
rather demand things and get them than
pray for them and not get them. We
might pray until dooms day and get moth
ing. If we have the ballot we can get all
| we want.
Miss Anthony then grew reminiscent
and spoke of her last visit to Maine,
L.