The Washington weekly post., 1899-07-18
WOMAN AND TIE BALLOT.
A''oe ss"es B'aokw~iI's Reply to anti
suffrage Paper Read IN London,

Hoe rs"ee BiaokweiI's Reply to anti
suffrage Paper Read In London.
Alice stone Blackwell, commenting Iu
the View York sun upon the anti-surrraKe
paper BY Mrs. Francis Scot; and Mrs. ]
Eiiiot Cabot, and read before the Wo-
mems International Council. SAYS:
we cannot wonder that Il was received
Win derisive laughter While written in
All seriousness, IL Is in substance ex-
'fen'eiy funny II says: The ballot I'm
lies military service police duty. Jury
duty. the holding OF public Office &c.
Military and police duty are not re-
oVfed or women I'm any OF the States
Nhere women vote In most OF these
states women are also exempt from Jury
duty' which. personally. / think they
ought not 20 be Doctors. lawyers. min
isters. and about twenty other classes Of
men are exempt from jury dnty without
on mat account being excluded from suf-
mage, and II would be reasonable that
the mothers OF young families should be
exempt also. But there are more women
o. leisure than men Of leisure. and there
seems no valid reason why some women
shocic not occasionally serve their coun-
try in this way.
II IS prepoSterOus 10 say the ballot
implies military and police duty. when we
an Know that thousands OF mon Ineligible
70 either are freely admitted 10 the ballot
poA- NO proposal 10 limit suffrage 20
men capable Of rendering military service
WSnid be listened 10 for a moment Either
the inability to bear arms is A necessary
q'aHncatlon for suffrage or il is not II
IS the men who lack il ought IN no
eA'iuded' II II Is not, the lack Of u Is no
reason Tor excluding women. There is no
escape from this conclusion.
As Tor police duty, no man fs forced
70 serve on the police. Out Of those Who
volunteer a sufficient number arc hired
and they are paid with tax money mat
Is IeVied equally on the property Of men
ahd women. Only an infni:esjrnaI frac-
'ion OF our male voters ever ger,e on the
io!ite. inc women contribute 20 the no
ling OF the country in exactly the same
way mat the great majority Of mon do
=, tLey help 10 pay for il
MIs, scott and Mrs. Cabot argrIe that
a stdoIe government would be iInpoSeihlo
unoer equal suffrage. because there is no
SeI ,I tdIilly OF law being enforced unless the
majority or legal voters always represent
majority Of possible fighters This
SOUNDS plausible, but eXperience hss
SHOWN IL 10 be untrue. Women have fuIl
sulraRe IN several Of the United States
as Wen as In South Australia and New
Zealand. In some parts Of orr ou,,, co,,n'
try they have exercised il for s,arara-
ilon, ana government in these States is
Just rs stable as in the States where vo-
men do not vote
ne advocates of equal suffrage are
oileh accused quite unjustly) of having
poor opinion of men, some of tbo ar7
Sutt nus used by the opposition impIy a
much worse opinion of men than The
SUI SUI IaeIsts hoid II is a libel on Ameri-
can men 10 intimate that the majority NJ
them cannot be trusted 10 abids b,, -
result Of an election unless the ;a.,ai co,,pt
i always backed up by an oyary,beIroine,
tofcC OF bayonets. Women canno+ oct tbo
suffrage until the men are ready 10 Give
II 10 them, and whenever they do give II
- u - , TOT one, nave not the slightest
Tear OF their refusing TO abide nv the ra
suit OF the election. No such thing has
ever happened in any of the e0I;aI si,f
1Tage states. and there is no reason 70
suppose that the men of New YnrI, aro
Hoolly West ''u anu
one aspect of the military arpurapt
Is generally left out of sight. If thai ar.
gument were sound it would ironI,- ~.
we must not only exclude from s1ffraoe
an men VINO cannot fight. but that we
must include all men who can fgbt
Maine, Massachusetts, WYOMING CaIifnr
MA, ana number Of other States avclrJo
men who cannot read and write. To insure
a StdDlt government. on this theory We
should have to abolish the adnca ,iio,nrI
qualification. The newly arrived jmmi-
grant, too, would have to have a ballot
paced IN ms hand as soon as he landed
He would be called uDon To nrove nof
that he had been here long enough to nm
derstand something Of our inStitufions
but only that he was able to WELD a club
Nhlle thousands Of men who can fight
are excluded because of illiteracy. or he
cause they have not been here long enoupb
10 be naturaliZed, and while thousands
who can fight are freely permitted TO yore
il is clear there can be no certainty at anv
election that the majority of legal voters
represent the majority of possible fight
eTs. Yet ii may be doubted whether our
government would really he made more
stable by admitting illiteTates and freshly
landed immigrants. Indeed. many of the
opponents of woman suffrage loudly pro-
claim their belief in property qualifica-
ton, which would destroy the last YES
tige of muscular sovereignty.
Mrs. Cabot the President of the Mas
sachuSettS Anti-Suffrage Association il a