The Washington weekly post., 1899-07-18

ballot by man, but by nature There
! used TO be a law in the South against
/ teaching negro to read. There never was
/ any law against teaching a horse to read.
! one was excluded from knowledge of
/ the alphabet by nature, the other was
not. As John Stuart Mill wrote years
! ago, What woman by nature cannot do.
/ II Is superf1EOuS to pass laws to forbid
, them from doing II women were ex-
| cluded from suffrage by nature, the Op-
! ponents of equal rights would not be so
! anxious to keep the word male ainb the
/ Constitution. RI tT-f.
! Mrs. Scott says: The physiological as
/ pect is the kernel OF this question. But
( the physical nature of women is much the
/ same all the world over. If they can vote
without hurting their health in Colorado,
/ Wyoming, Kansas, and Idaho, in England,
Scotland, and Ireland. in Canada, Austria
! liza, and New Zealand, it is likely they
! could do it in New York and Massachu-
| setts.
| "One OF the most amusing things in the
anti-suffTage paper is the conviction of
| its authors that, in opposing equal suII-
! rage on physiological grounds, they oc-
/ cupy the scientific attitude.
| THE scientific method is to observe the
! facts first. and then TO deduce your the
! Ory from them. The anti-suffTage method
/ is to start out with a pTecOnceived theory
| and cling to it in disregard and defiance
| of the facts The woman voter Is TACT.
| She actually eXiSts-hundreds of thou
| sands of her-in many different parts of
J the English-speaking world. The sCien-
| tific way would be TO observe her and see
whether she has in reality made govern
ment unstable, ruined her own cOnstitu-
| ton or ceased to be a good wife and
mother. But this is the very last method
the antis viii adopt, because it would give
no support to their theory.
THE anti article says suffrage would
be disastrous 10 home duties. The ma
jority of women will always be wives
and mothers. and If equal suffrage were
incompatible with home duties. that
would be enough to condemn it But the
| testimony is practically unanimous. from
al places where women vote that they
are as good wives and mothers as ever
Mrs Sarah 5. Plat. President of the
Colorado State Board of Charities and
correction, said. in answer TO question
about the ballot and home duties: NV
dear Madam -Behind-the-Times il takes
JHst about one hour in the year to cast
al the ballots necessary and allowable
1t may be urged that il takes longer
than that TO learn to vote jntelligentIv
hut Mrs. Scott says women should intel
!igently interest themselves and others
IN puDlc affairs. arouse public opiniOn
| against wrOng-doing. be quick to see and
| 10 support every wise movement toward
| the higher development of the State If
women are to take time 10 inform them
selves AT any rate, the small amount Of
| extra time needed TO cast a ballot would
! not be very formidable Nv friend Mrs
Mary G. Bradford. Of Denver. told me-
thar when she went 10 vote she took her
nttie girl along to school. stopped in ami
ded her marketing, and got home inside
OF twenty minutes
But the anti-suffrage stvIe Of reasor-
ing IS Ike that of James II. His mode
oI arguing. II it is to be so called saw
Hacaulay, was one not uncommon anon
uu!t and stubborn persons. He assArtn5
proposition, and as often as wiser r,eo-
PIE ventured respectfully to show thai /,
was erroneous. he asserted il again in
eNactiy the same words No doubt the
LLnI's LUs VIII 80 right on asserting that the
ndIiot implies military service. and thar
women are prohibited BY nature frnre
Votlng. no matter how often the CONTRARY
may be demonstrated - ,