The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-07-20
MRS. BLAcKwELL's REPLY
New York san.)

bx Mrc Franrts soatt ard NJ i Itlltot
Cabot road hafora ~, so,,,.y,ss In,a.,.t-
,onal f,ounc,l .,,,, r,,,,,.ha., q, 49, g.
davis sun. We cannot wonaar thaf "A va.
receivsd sg,th asr,s,va ia,vhtsr wh,ls
,vr,tse, IN all ssr,ousrsss !, 4 a. s,h-
ss'noo o~treiney iunhy. ~ shyss
The ballot implies military service,
police duty. Jury duty. the holding Of
1870 49,
paonc ONCE ~c. ~
military ana police duti are not re-
quired of women in any of the States
v here wonan vots In ,nost ~ thes.
a,.,o. ,.,,,,---- - -. -. -
s,'a'es "o1hen are aiso eAehps from from Jury
duty, which, personally, l think they
ought not to be Doctors lawvers min
,s,srs and anon. ,wen.v o,ns. o,as.ss -
-, .s, -. s'assss
men are exempt from jury uuty, without
on that account being excluded from suif-
rage: and IL youla be reasonable that the
motbars 81 vo,nc fa,,,rlas sh.,n,d he ~
iho'ners Vi young iahiiies snouiu Dc ex-
empt also. But there are more women
OF leisure than men of leisure. and there
.an,,,. -, -, -. -.---
- WY soe "o'nsu
shonia not oecasionaiiy serve their eoun-
| try In this way. The late Mrs. Abby
Homer 9ibbons waa ekropeIv ~ thIs
o,,,,or en- - 49,, ~.
op'n,o o"e was On .ne YAK hss as a.
ii. 0ibbons, and one day che got q notice
calling upon her to show cause why she
should not s.rv. 81, 4ha 49,, dr.. ,.,.,,.a
49, a.. - NV 49,
oaoA thhs sne supposeu she was exempt
on account Of her age, being over so; but
that shs knew OF no other reason. why she
should not serve. No one will question
that she would have been more intelli-
gent juror than some of those we now
have.
lt Is preposterous to say that the ballot
implies military and police duty when
we all know, that thousands of men in
eligible TO either are freely admitted tn
the ballot box. No proposal to limit
suffrng5 to men capable of rendering mill
momen g..
Either the ability to bear arms is O
necessary qualification for suffrage or it
Ia not. III IL Is, the men who lack 1t
ought to be excluded. IL 1t Is not, the
lack of 1t Is no reason for excluding
women. There Is mo escape from this
conclusion.
As for police duty, no man is forced to
serve ON the police. Out of those who
volunteer a sufficient number are hired.
and they are paid with tax money that
is levied equally on the properly of men
aud women. Only an iniinitesinal frac-
ton of our male voters ever serye IN the
police. The women contribute to tho
policing of the country in exactly the
same way that the great majority OF men
do. !, O., they help to pay for IL.
Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Cabot argue that q
stable governments would be impossible
under equal suffrage, because there is no
certainty of law being enforced unless the
majority of legal voters always represent
majority of possible fighters. This
sounds plausible. but experience has
SHOWN IL TO be untrue. Women have full
suffrage In several OF the United States,
as well as in South Australia and New
Zealand; in some parts OF our own coun.
try they have exercised it for generation
and government in these States Is Just as
stable as In the States where women do
not vote.
The advocates of equal suffrage are
often accused fquite nnjustly) of having
poor opinion of men. Some of the ar
guments used by the opposition imply as
much worse opinion OF rnen than the
suffragists hold. 1t is a libel on Ameri-
can meu to intimate that the ma jority of
them cannot be trusted TO abide by the
result OF an election unless the legal count
is always backed up by an overwhelming
force or bayonets. Women cannot get the
suffrage till the men are willing to give
It to them and whenever they do give 10
TO us, aEd say that we shall vote, /, for
one, have not the slightest fear of their
refusing to abide by the result of the
election. No such thing has ever hap
pened in any of the equal suffrage States,
and there Is no reason to suppose that the
men OF New York are less civilized than
tn ose of the wild and woolly Nest -
One aspect oil the military argument is
generally left out of sight. IL that srgu.
ment were sound, it would imply not
only that we must exclude from suffrage
all men who cannot fight, but that we
must include all men who can light.
Maine, Massachusetts. Wyoming, Cali.
fornia and number OF other States ex-
ciude men who cannot read and write.
10 insure stable government, ON this
theory, we should have to abolish the
educational qualification. The newly
arrived Immigrant, too, would have to
have ballot placed in mis- hand as soon
as ne landed. he would be called upon
TO prove not that he had been here long
enough 90 understand something of our
institutions. but only that be was able to
WELD q Climb. While thousands of men
WHO can ngne are excluded because of
iihteracy, or because they have not been
mere long enough to be naturalized. and
wniie tnousands who cannot fight are
freely admitted to vote. 1t is clear there
can ne no certainty at any election that