Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-17
Woman Suffrage Has Not
Clear Sailing.
ADDRESS IS ISSUED
BY the Illinois Branch of the Society,
Which Thinks That Women Should
Not Vote-Reasons For the Stand,
It Takes. ri

SAACo6Op OdH. 4t.-4N 1AlllAOIo
ton Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage
to Women issued today the following ad-
dress: Of
In view Of the vigorous campaign fby
the advocates of woman suffrage in he
middle and far west, with the intent and
purpose of adding other states to the
four already allowing full suffrage to
women, the Illinois Association Opposed
to the Extension of Suffrage to Women
begs leave to submit the following state
ment to the people of the northwest:
At the foundation of all opposition to
woman suffrage lies the basic fact that
nature has denied to women the physical
strength and endurance necessary to en-
force the ballot. 1t is the consensus Of
civilization and science hat on this ac-
count women should be excused from
jury duty. which is the administration of
the law: military duty. which is the en-
forcement of the law, and consequently
from the franchise and legislative duty,
the making of law.
We believe this Judgment to be fully
in accord with nature. science and COM
NOR sense. This is the foundation Of our
opposition Its cap-stone is the equally
~indisputable fact that nature a recon-
pensed woman for this lack of physical
strength by bestowing upon her a fine
ness of sensibility, a purity of sentiment,
a capability OF moral exaltation which
fit her for the highest and most i'm.
portant duties that devolve upon man
kind. Great is the power of law, but
finer and higher and farther reaching is
the power of love, and 1t is as the expo
nent of this divine. immortal principle
that woman stands before the world. In
her capacity as the ministrant of man,
holding ever before his eyes the high
ideals of devotion. self-sacrifice and un-
diving affection. ms the nriocfocS ~
motherhood n it's divine and tender
ministries, as the watchful guardian Of
infancy and the noble inspiration of ur1-
folding youth, we believe her duties rank
far above those of the ordinary law
maker, and restore. the balance other
wise lost by her physical weakness. And
between these two extremes lie number
less considerations of practical expe-
diency, which contribute to form, as We
believe, an i~mpregnable position ais
against woman suffrage. *L:%a II
Furthermore, rights may be equal,
though not identical. 1t Is the funda-
mental and fatal defect of the theory OF
equal political rights for men and wo-
men, that 1t ignores those differences OF
function which the Creator has made in
separable from the specialization Of sex.
Physically speaking, paternity involves
no after nor cOrrelative experiences.
while maternity necessarily affects the
whole warp and wool of a WOman's be-
ing, physical, mental and moral, for long
periods of time; n since a nation is
moribund when it's death rate is equal to.
or greater tina it's birth rate, it follows
that woman's services to the state are
not the same as mans, though Of even
more vital Importance. Monogamic mar
riage is the effort of society to constrain
man to bear his just and proper share
in the rearing of citizens, and the at
tempt to shift any part Of the burden al
lotted to him in this arrangement to the
shoulders of the woman, is a manifest
and fragrant injustice, against which we
hereby enter our emphatic protest.
In TACT, the whole modern movement
to place woman on an Independent basis.
so far as man Is concerned, is, we be-
lfeve. In spite of some incidental advan-
tages which have accompanied it, a
movement backward toward the original
Industrial slavery of woman From this
primitive condition. our present instftu-
lions have been evolved by the slow pro-
cesses OF m growth. They have not
yet reached perfection, but from genera
ton to generation their progress tends
toward purity, ~self-sacrifice and higher
spiritual attainnents. TIL attempt to
turn the curse of progress backward nv
confusing the rights and duties of the
two sexes we believe to be one of the
greatest dangers which menace the re-
public.
We say this in no disparagement of the
many excellent women who have Thought
they saw in woman suffrage a beneficial
enlargement of the sphere and oppor-
tunities of woman. We recognize TIE
purity of their motives, but we believe
they have not thought out to the end the
tendencies and conclusions of the move
ment they have espoused. -
A man Is known by the he
keeps; so is a movement, and strange in.
deed have been the political companions
of woman suffrage. Leaving out of the
account as a youthful indiscretion tta
early ENHANCEMENT with the cause :Df
free love, it is at present in Utah the
tool of Mormonism, which has ALREADY