The Portland daily press., 1900-03-17

When Mr.. joseph W. Bailey was sent
to represent the great State of Texas in
Congress he announced among other
thiDgs that he should never wear drefs
suit, but In q short time he was putting
one on every evsning TOR dinner, an d
yielding In various other particulars 10
the s)ciey demands Of the national capi-
tai. So IL is NOS altogether matter Of
surprise that we bshold him now In she
role Of contributor to Harpers' Bazar. q
leading magazlne Of fashion. there was
some doubt as TO where the Hon. Mr..
Bailey's srtiels would be found among
all the frills and furbelows. We searched
for It under the hands Of "Every Woman
Her Own Drsssmaker," New ps'gns In
Fruit Salads" 'Latest Styles Of Lin
gerie," but found 1t not. Then we looked
In vain through the depar tments OF STOOD
Fcrm," "Polite Fiction" "Wit and
Humor," but felt sure we had disc1vered
Il in "Le tters to Nervous Woman
When at last it was run down 1t turned
out to be not on "Spring Novelties" but
on the far less Important topic, "Whers
Women Fail as Parliamentarians."
Mr.. Bailey gives five reasons Why they
fail: "Fhst, beoaus, they have no legis-
lative business of sufficient Importance to
compel them to mC ater parliamentary
methods, second, because they lack the
ecessary mental cllibre to comprehend
them; third, tecauss, rsIuming their
knowledge In the abstract, thsy have n o
oppcrt unity to aoquirs the skin of prac'
tics; fourth, bsosuss the fsmlnins tenn
perament is consiitutloDally opposed to
the perfect mental poiGe absolutely essen
tial 10 sucos 81 in governing deliberetiye
body; fifth, because parliamentary prnc-
tice Is wholly outside woman's sphere. ="
10 prove this last statement MIR. Bailey
declares that "thls sphere is defined by
the law of the United Ststes-ths Gorsa.
tuition which iutelllgently excludes
woman from the sphere of governments,
save by representation in the explicit
unit Of political powsr-the adult male
citizsn." We women always have been
taught that our "sphere" was clearly
maj ked out seVeral years hefore tte Con-
stitution was framed, at this time OF the
creation, In fact, and the ''explioit unit,
the adult male Citizen" never has al
lowed 8 TO forget 1t. Asa matter of
truth the trainers OF the Constitution cid
not exclude women from the sphere OF
government, and the word "male" was
not used in that ir ssruulent until after
our late Civil War, when 1t WAS "tntelli-
gently put into the Fourteenth Amend
ment in order to enfranch! 81 the negro
men without eBfranchising she negro
women. There is nothing whatever in
the oii sinal Constitution which excludes
women from government. 1t Is the stats
cor s5itutior alone which do this Tie
tw eddle about "womRn's sphere" WAS
founded at first on Bible authority. Now
1t is Erotossd to ase u on Shs Cons1tn- M
ton of the United statt 5, but II MIR.
Bailey will iIvs igate q little he viii
lind chat 1t cont from no higher source
than the indiviu nal opinion OF the sex
pli9it unit OF political powef-the adult
male citizsn."
In regard to that "perfect mental
poise,n that "neeefssry equanimity,"
that "El solute s,lf-oontrol," the member
from Texas expresses his doubts "whether
the en- ollonal nature of woman will Ler-
init its Developments" With an apology
for being psrsonal, we call attention TO
the fact that within the pas. week Mr..
Bailey him S III bscane so angry and excit-
edin debate on the floor of the HoUsl
that the Speaker was obliged to admonish
him to keep cool, and several times to
call bin to order very sharply, while
little later, on d point OF parliamentary
law, he was defeated by O large majority.
Such instances are Of slch frequent &C.
cursnee as not to attract notice except
that the gentleman is claiming women
cannot b3 paTliamentarins and must not
psrtioipats in governmental affairs oe-
oauss thsy have not the necf ssiTy per
feet mental po'ss, equanimity and ssH-
control"
Mr.. Bailey esserts that women fail as
parliamentarians because they have no
legislative business of sufficient impor-
tapce to compel them to master the
methods, and also because "they have
not the opportunity TO acquire the skill
only to be had from much experience"
and then he propcss that they never
shall nave the leg lslative business or the
opportunity for experianos. Wien he
says that women fail as parliam enta
riAns because they have not the nece ssry
mental oalibre," he simply makes o ridic-
ulous statement. No man In the country
is a better q parltamentarian than Mrs.
May Wright Sewall, Pro sldent OF the In
ternetional Council Of Women. Miss
Susan b Anthony can preside over de-
Iberate body with q skiIl and ability
that are not exceeded. Rev. Anna shaw
n a noted authority on parliamentary
rules. Aiss Frances 4. Willard could
pilot the stormiest convention through
the breakers with q parliamentary knowl-
edge which WAS unsurpassed. There are
a number Of leader Of tine suffrage and
of the w. q. 7. U. organizations which
have had q longer exper.en noe than most
others, who are excellent parliamentary
ans. A woman was selected by the
Speaker Of the Colorado Legislature to
preside oyer, the House during his atssnce
and she did 1t most aooeptabiy. At the
recent Democratic Convention in Utah
State Senator Martha Hughes Cannon
was elected vioe-ohAirman.
Mr.. Bailey would have been correct II
he had said that the vast majority OF
women know nothing Of parliamentary
law. The same is true of the vsst ma
jority of men, yet the latter have had
many centuries OF experience, while fifty
years ago such = thing as q woman's pre-
siding over q body was unknown. It is
only within the last thirty y6ars that Il
hE tecoms q matter of frequent occur.
renee, and zone generation has nos yet
passed away since the first few attempts
Established Is4s.