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

stration of War Department.
Miss Susan B. Anthony, who has CIV
en- her life in laboring for women s
suffrage and for other great reforms, ad-
dressed large .Eaudience at the Chestnut
street church, last evening. Her subject
was women's suffrage, and her address
was extremely interesting.
Mrs. Charles Day, president of the local
womens suffrage club, presided over the
meeting and introduced Miss Anthony
who, after. few Introductory remarks,
plunged at once into her subject.
sIsn't it remarkable" she said, "that
at the end of this century should be
Obliged to stand up here before all OF these
enlightened people and talk on women's
suffrage. 1t has been so years since the
demand for the rights of women was first
made. and during this half century there
have been associations of men and wom-
en- at work all over this country whoshave
Joined in this demand. At first there
were only a few states where societies
existed, but these states have grown in
number and the associations have in
creased in strength and power until to-
day every state and territory OF the Unit
ed States has a woman s. suffrage assocl-
alton excepting the territory OF Alaska.
I will jast ask you to look with me for a
minute on the reasons of these demands
of the women.
"One hundred years ago, yes, 30 years
81 n hQ nnnAcAESarV
for women to be educated. Then not
single institution for higher learning was
open to women. Today all of the great
Western States have opened their doors
to women on equal terms with the men
and in addition to this the high schools,
academies and many colleges in the East.
are open to women as well as men and
three-fourths of the graduates from these
institutions are women. The literary
clubs the reading clubs, the great chart
table and reform organizations are all
managed by women. When you look
back to the Civil war and even before
that time you will find that women have
ministered to the wants of the suffering
and dying in war, in pestilence and IN
disaster.
"Women have done all these things and
does it seem reasonable that if they do
all this they should be excluded from the
rightssof the ballot bog?
"Fifty years ago all the work in the
world outside of the household, was done
by men. They did all the spinning and
weaving, prepared all the food from raw
material right in the house. Today the
weaving and spinning is done in mills
and factories and many of the food pro-
ducts are prepared before they come to
the household and nearly all of this work
is done in the factories and mills.
Every place where men can work for
an honest living is now opened to women,
thank God. And now you have men say
that women have crowded men out Of
their employments. The sphere of the
men used to be in hewing wood, laboring
in the mines and doing work which was
purely mans work and which required
manly strength. Now every man who
can measure ribbon and keep books wants
to do this kind of work. This character
Of labor belongs distinctly Ito the..women
and instead of crowding men out. of their
occupations, as it is claimed, the women
are simply taking the work which dis
tinctly belongs to them and which men
have been crowding the women out of
all of these years.
Women are now bankers, managers of
great corporations and of big business
houses. A year ago I met Mrs. Leland
Stamford, who, since her husbands
death, has taken up his work. She is the
president of that magnificent university,
the Leland Stamford university of Cali.
fornia, and carries on this great work. in
a most able manner. She attends the
meetings of the great Union Pacific COR
poration and looks after all her immense
property. She is a woman competent to
run big university, big corporation
or the state or country.
A year or SO ago when in California,
1 met the widow of the late Senator
Hearst. who made his great fortune in
the gold and silver mines of California.
She, too, looks after all of this great prop
6rUy anu U09 QUIET udy EeaU LII Uu6 pa
pers that she, together with another
woman, Eathe daughter of Millionaire
Flood, had offered to tear down all of
the old buildings of the state university
in California and put up in their place
magnificent buildings. Are men going
to say that women like these, and there
are thousands like them all over the
country, haven't as much interest in the
welfare of the state, haven't as much
right to legislate in this country as have
the men?
Years ago woman was kept at home
by her father and sheltered by him and
kept out of the world until she was mar
ried. Then she became the property of
her husband. She could not even dispose
of her own property. She hadn't right
to say what should be done with her
own children and had no claim on them.
She had no part in this -a-day
world and rightly did men claim, I'M