Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-03-10
81
TRIUMPHANT woMANHooD.
Mrs. Russell Sage Sees Equal Suffrage In
the Near Future.

the Near Future
[Copyright. 1898. by the Authorl
The movement toward woman suf-
frage which so agitated the country
four years ago is supposed to be dead.
/ have been asked to give my opinion in
regard to the truth of this supposition.
/ answer frankly and to the best of my
knowledge, no. | have just sent to the
New York legislature letter standing
by my opinion expressed in the petition
of 1894 for suffrage for women.
The very silence in which the ques-
tion now lies is portentous. Thousands
who frowned on Susan B. Anthony are
now working for the franchise. Schools
to teach women politics are quietly
forming all over the country Hundreds
of petitions to strike out the word
finale" from the constitution are all
the time being prepared to present to
the constitutional convention of 1914.
As amendments to the New York con-
stitution can be'made only once i'll 20
years all are locking forward to the
great campaign of 1914
believe in using any instrument that
benefits mankind. Suffrage is one of
these instruments. In woman's hand
the ballot will be tool which she will
use for the good of her nation.
Woman is no longer part of mans
goods and chattels. A wife owns prop
erty in her own name, can buy and sell
real estate as she pleases, knows her
own mind and asserts her own will. A
few years ago when woman suffrage
formed the most popular topic in the
daily press, the pulpit and the house
hold women in various cities-the very
women who own property and who,
therefore, ought to wish to be recognized
as citizens and have their voice in the
making of the laws of the land which
taxes them--opposed the movement.
Luckily they are in the minority. Once
we went to war because of taxation
without representation. Are not women
who own property subjects of taxation
without the corresponding representa-
ton? In New York state alone women
own 81, 600, 900, 600 worth of taxable
real estate.
With women as lawyers, doctors and
even as clergymen, with women mer-
chants and women manufacturers and
women marching steadily upward in
the arts and sciences, it does not seem
strange that women should now take up
politics.
In fact, with limited opportuni-
ties American women have shown
such skill in political diplomacy that
draw the justifable inference that be-
fore long they will have powerful in
1uence in state and national affairs.
The present silence into which this
great subject has fallen is simply the
necessary period of preparation. Just as
the greatest silence preoedes storm
and the most ominous stiffness forms
the prelude of a great battle, this pres
ent silence is the calm term of thought
which always precedes action.
When women vote, we shall have
wiser government and cleaner politics.
When men and women labor together,
there is a compactness, a completeness,
a thoroughness often wanting when the
sexes work separately.
If men have experience, women have
insight. Men use logic and reason,
women instinct and intuition. If men
are hasty, cruel, brutal, women are
diplomatic, meroiful, refined. Combine
these qualities, and you have a unit
that approaches perfection.
If the movement effects any reform,
it will be the reclaiming of national
buildings and thoroughfares from their
masculinehncleanlin anticipate
national house cleaning such as this
country has never beheld, and the
cleaners, a vast army, fully armed with
mops, brooms and buckets, will be
made up not of men, but of women.
Why not? In private homes the house,
keeper is a woman, why should not the
housekeeper in our national home be
also woman?
Woman suffrage would first reform
women. The reformation would be in
converting women from a condition of
apathy and indifference to her absurd
condition to state of lively interest in
which she would claim recognition in
all departments of life.
A vote in the hands of women will
do more than reform, it will revolution
ize. Moreover, it will bring the present
period of unrest to an end
No advocate of woman suffrage con-
siders the present year any too soon to
begin work. Every moment is precious,
every day brings new recruits, every
year adds new regiments to an already
vast army. Mrs. RUSSELL SAGE.