Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-15
IN THE MARBLE ROOM.

Alce Stone Blackwelrs remarks on the
Indifference of women were received with
considerable enthusiasm.
IN THE MARBLE ROOM.
Hearing Given by the Senate Com
mittee on Woman Suffrage.
The marble room of the Senate was
crowded this morning by those who came
to attend the hearing given by the Senate
committee on woman suffrage. Senators
Berry and Wetmore of the committee were
present, other senator's present being
Messrs. Cannon. Teller and McLaurin.
The two hearings at the Capitol were ar
ranged so that on the House side members
of the visiting delegations confined their re-
marks to a statement of facts regarding
the movement for the enfranchisement of
marks related to the philosophy of wo-
man rights Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
was In charge of the program in the marble
room, and about dozen addresses, each
short and pointed, were delivered
William Lloyd Garrison OF Massachusetts
was the first speaker. his remarks being on
the nature of republican form of govern
ment. He said that the advocates of COM
plete enfr2nchiSement of women based
their demands upon the principles underIy-
ing all suffrage rather than upon the uues-
ton Of sex. He said that woman suf-
frag1sts believed that professed self-gov-
axioms Is tending to decadence
The objection NEST universally urged
against woman suffrage said MIR. CARR
son, lis that concerning physical strength
1t Is said that all government is founded on
force, and as women are untitled to act as
soldiers or policemen, upon whom the ulti-
mate appeal for social order rests, there
fore those who can1tt fight ought not to
vote. The anFw er' returned is that IL good
strength is the proper test, all men unable
to bear arms should|be disfranchisedi 1t
Is asked Why.women should be subjected to
one test and men another Want of physi-
cal strength is simply pretext, while the
real objection Is SEX
Mr.. Garrison said that while women do
not bear arms, they bear the men who
bear the arms. y
May Wright sewall Of Indiana spoke of
the fitness of women to become citizens
from the standpoint Of education and NEIL
tai endowment. She referred to the latest
report issued by the bureau of education
to show that. while the entire number Of
students of schools and colleges during the
year 1896 was Ii, AIS, 137, and while slight
ly more than half the number enrolled are
OF the male eek, the number of girls con-
tinuing in school long enough to complete
the course of study in the secondary
schools largely exceeds the number of boys.
She did not see why the government should
expend millions annually to educate girls,
while as women they are disfranchised
She referred to the fact that there are
1872 colleges in the country devoted exclu-
sively to the education of women.
Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer spoke of the
fitness of women to become citizens from
the standpoint of moral development. She
spoke of the great necessity for a recog-
milton of a moral element in the govern
ment of the people, and said it is increas-
irgly apparent that for these wider and
more delicate functions a higher order.
of electorate, ethically as well as intel
lectually advanced, is necessary.
Now, we declare said Mrs. Spencer,
the earth Is ready for the gentle, the
helpful and the humane forces, both of
manhood and womanhood. to work their
Will IN the party politics as in the home,
the. church and the school. The earth is
ready. the time is ripe for the authorize
tive expression of the feminine as well
as the masculine Interpretation of that
common social consciousness which is
slowing ripening justice in the state and
fraternity of the social order"
The Cause In England.
Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch of England,
a daughter of Mrs Elizabeth Cady Stan
ton, spoke Of the progress of woman suf-
frage in England, and especially of woman
as an economic factor
She said that 1t had been urged that
women need training in citizenship before
they are finally received into the body poll
TIC, but she remarked that neither the
negro in the south nor the agricultural la
borer in Great Britain had showed before
they got the ballot any capacity for gov
eminent, for they had never had the op-
portunity to take the first step in politi-
cal action. She said that If the women
recognized the democratic side of their
cause ana make an organized appeal to
industrial women on the ground of their
need OF citizenship and to the nation on
the ground of its need; that all wealth pro-
ducers should form part of it's body poll
tics, the close Of 4heteentury might wit
ness the building upsSf a true republic in
the United Statesnss1ot
The fitness Of w6Merj to become citizens
from tine Standpoint ,Sf physical develop
ment was the sGSjetf of Laura Clay of
Kentucky She shid it was by no means
seif-evident that women are naturally IN
fitted for fighting Or are unwarlike in dis
position; that the traditions of the ANA
IONS and the conduct Of savage women
give room to believe THAT the instinct for
war was primitively Very much the same
in both sexes.
Miss Florence Kelley daughter CT the
late Representatives. kelley of Pennsyl-
vania, spoke of the need of the ballot for
women as indIstriak factors, and Mariana
w. chapman Of New York spoke of the
need OF the ballot, for women as capitalists
women who are married have not the right
to their own earnings. and of many in
1ustlces they suffer from lack of equality
with men.
Elizabeth Burrill Curtis of New York
spoke of women In representative gov
eminent to show that only good can result
from their participation in public affairs.
Henry b. Blackboard of Massachusetts
CONSIDERED women In relation to home and
argued to show that woman suffrage does
not 1eopardize the home and interests of
husband and children.
He referred to the fact that while d.
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