The sun., 1898-02-19
TRIUMPHANT WOMANHOOD.
Washington.

Mrs. Russell Sage Sees Equal Suffrage In
the Near Future.
copyright. 1898. by the Author.l
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.
l answer frankly and to the best Of my
knowledge, no. l 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
"male' 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 a womans hand
the ballot will be tool which she will
use for the good Of her nation.
Woman is no longer part Of man $
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 i'll the
daily press, the pulpit and the house
hold women III 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 ia 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, 900, 600, 900 worth OF taxable
real estate.
With women as lawyers, doctors and
even as clcrgymen, 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 justitiable inference that be-
fore long they will have powerful i'll
huence 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 precedes a storm
and the most ominous stiffness forms
the prelude Of 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 compactness, completeness,
q thoroughness often wanting when the
sexes work separately.
IT men have experience. women have
insight. Men use logic and reason,
women instinct aud intuition. II men
are hasty, cruel. brutal, women are
mercifnl, refined. Combine
these qualities, and you have unit
that approaches perfection.
If the movement effects any reform,
it will be the reclaiming Of national
buildings and thoroughfares from their
uncleanliness. anticipate
national house cleaning such as this
country has never beheld, and the
cleaners, q 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 woman, why should not the
bousekeeper in our national home be
also woman?
Woman suffrage would first reform
women. The reformation would be in
women from a condition of
apathy and indifference to her absurd
to state Of lively interest in
which she would claim recognition in
Ill departments of life.
A vote in the hands of women will
10 more than reform, it will revolution.
ze Moreover, it will bring the present
period Of unrest to an end.
No advocate of woman suffrage con.
iders the present year any too soon to
,egin work. Every moment is precious,
very day brings new recruits, every
'ear adds new regiments to an already
'ast army. Mrs. RUSSELL SAGE.
without Woinan's Influence.
Dr. Hepworth finds that the degraded