The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-03-13
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
Some Alleged Fa1lacies of Miss Bis
sell Pointed Out.

sell Pointed Uut.
n. B. B., in an Eastern Exchange:
Miss Emily Blssell, OF Delaware, on
February IA, in a plausible but sophis-
tlcal argument before the United States
senate and house committees, condenA-
ed into small compass a surprising
amount OF vast and varied mlsinfor-
nation" She expressed a dread Of the
undue chIvalry Of men who want so
desperately to give women all they
really needa-except equality and JUS
tlce. In the gains of fifty years Of the
movement which has accomplished 80
many henehceYlt changes, she finds only
an evidence Of It's failure. The success
I've concessions wTung from unwilling
legislatures and reluctant opponents
freedom Of thought, of speech, and Of
action, educational and Industrial OPP
p0rtunitIe3, personal and property
rIghts--all these are quoted as proofs
that political representation Is unnec-
essary. She ignores the triumphant es-
adjustment OF full woman suffrage in
four states, and Of partial woman suf-
frage in twenty-five states and terri
tories, and coolly remarks that "the
woman suffrage moVemnt Is the only
wOman's movement In existence that
after fifty years finds itself not only in
the minority, but with strong associa-
lions Of women banded against It."
II Miss Bissel, were familiar with
the history OF the struggles and events
Of the century now drawing to a close,
she would know that every one Of the
successes which she enumerates has
been achieved by the suftragists, and
has been resisted by the stOlid conser-
men, quite as vigorously as the de-
mand for suffrage. Every step has
been gained by the brave minority In
face Of strong opposition banded
against II. When Fanny Wright I'D.
dressed an audience Of men and women
for FREQ thought, in 1885, she was
branded as an infidel. When Eucreti1
Mott pleaded for religious equality she
was regarded by her Quaker associates
as "a tFo0bler Ia Israel" When Abby
Kelly pleaded for the slave, and be-
came (oh, horrOrs!) member Of a
business committee OF the American
Anti-siavery Soicety, she was de-
nouneed by Christian ministers as a
"Jezebel.' When Mary Lyon asked the
New York legislature to aid her wo-
mans academy, she received leave to
withdraw" When Elizabeth Black
wei. seeking for medical diploma, APP
Piled In vain to more than twenty med
Ical colleges. and at last secured adT1is-
sion to Geneva, she was Stunned and
avoided by women Ms II her presence
was pollution. When Lucy Stone
sought to secure equal property rights
for wives, she was scOrnfully opposed
by married women with the inquiry,
do you think would give myself
where am unwilling to give my prop
erty2" II Is by the heroic iabOTs and
sacrifices of hundreds Of pioneer suf-
fragIsts that the freedom Of thought
and speech nnG action have been &C.
cured which Miss BIsselI to-day mis-.
uses to check her sisters In their adj
vance from political subsection to re-
publican equality. Had she lived even
fifty years ago, Miss Bissell would nc
more have addressed u congressional
committee than she would have COM
mttted highway robbery, nor could
she have done 30 without mourning So
cIal OgtraeIsm.
It is amusing to observe the naive
provincIalism with which this daughter
OF little Delaware, with It's 2.12O square
miles and 16S.493 inhabitants, depreci-
ates the far greater Importance Of the
four western states where women have
the ballot. Colorado" she says, ''has
less inhabitants than Baltimore" True;
hut the population Of Colorado Is 49,
! 1893, two and half times that Of the
! state Of Delaware. Miss BlsSellB tiny