The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-02

Municipal Suffrage bill by e 70 IS in the senate
and 10 To ~ In tho HOUSE Mr.. Ingalls, recorded
women. In the autumn Of this year, IN q speech
at Abilene, Kan he undertook 70 defend ma
action on -four different grounds FIRST, suffrage
Il neither a natural nor a constitutional right
Second, no citizens should be allowed 10 par
ticipate IN government who cannot enforce
their action at the point OF the bayonet. lhlrd,
negro. suffrage had been an absolute failure.
Fourth. while thousands Of women were vastly
more competent than men 20 vote on moral
questions they never should be allowed 70 do
so simply because they were womfnL soon
afterward Miss Anthony made a speaking tour
Of Kansas and invited the Senator To u debate.
lie declined, saying that he could not attack n
womanOl, but toa reporter he gave as n reason
thai, he would not stoop to the Intellectual
A few years before Mr.. Ingalls, publicly de-
clared woman suffrage to be mat obscene
dogma whose advocates are lOng-halred men
and shor t-haired women, the unseKed OF both
SEXES. human capons and epiccnes
II is not surprising that "A man capable OF
these sentiments should proclaim that the
publication Of politics Ia an iridescent dream.
and that the Golden Rule and thu, Decalogue
have no place In an American political cam
palgn,"
One Of Mr., InEalls's ott-repeated naxims
was that the pauper ought not decide the
rate of taxation upon incomes and property"
But why would not this be rs just as for men
To fix this rate for tax-paying women. collect
the money and spend 1t according TO their
Judgment, without allowing any woman a
voice in so much even as selecting the persons
who should make this levy and expenditure
Mr.. Ingalls, will left all his. property. real
and personal. 70 his wife absolutely. and APP
pointed her sole executor, without bond or
which happened. to be published At the same
tine as that Of Mr.. Ingalls,. says, The money
T married r by PTi9 &c ssr H bst sSId u Sr f f4Se 2 pfS%
the control Of her husband and not liable for
It is a long step between these provisions
and those OF the English common law. which
prevailed In almost every state FORTY, years
ago n ana y stu I'LL IN b fGrG s,r ia a6 a n Hn6ep OF % t ssrTs
a. executor OF an estate, aud IL placed all the
property Of the wife which might, come to her
troll Of the husband and liable TO be seized for
his debts IL Is interesting TO turn back me
toSSf place " he leeisintures. notably those
Of Pennsylvania. Massachusetts, aud New
York. the first Of the States to adopt laws max;
ing II possible for married women TO own, and
administer property, These were. enacted not
so much through a desire TO do Justice to women
IA through the dislike Of rich fathers to have
their accumulation squandered by spend
thrift sons-in-law But even this incentive
did not appeal 70 all men,, and the most direful
predictions which are made nowadays as TO the
results OF woman suffrage pale into insignia
canoe when compared TO the calamity bowls
put forth against allowing married women To
own property and widows to administer es-
tates.
That, was only forty years ago. and now how
laws, how gladly women. avail themselves OF
their advantages, how fully public opinion
are men aud women aud public opinion In ac-
cording any further. privilegesl
II may he noted here that in only severn
teen States can a married woman dispose OF
her. own separate and independent estate by
vii. In the other, twentyieight she must
even her personal belongings.
Wives, as a rule. do not have anything to
d.. Of by Legacy, because in every STATE
belong exclusively to the husband. The wife
owes the husband service he owes her food.
shelter. clothes and medical attendance tall
though in some States her clothes still belong
TO him). she II not expected 10 go outside the
home to work for wages. and the money he
his life, consequently the wife has no oppor-
tunity to accumulate and has nothing To leave
full advantage OF this law. while others are both
Just and generous TO the wife. As long as
women continue to insist that they have all the
rtghs they want, men perhaps may be excused
for taking them at their word:
There are the women. of Nebraska. for in
stance who have AL the rights they want;
Omahs has given a recent decision that the
mother is not the, next OF kin 70 her child. A
train Ton years previous the father had de,
serted his family, the mother had struggled
on alone and brought up the children until this
oldest boy, was earning wages and assisting
her. She sued the railroad company for dam
ages. and the Judge decided according to the
law that, the father and not the mother was
damages.
| during the past week. A wife separated from
threelysSS-oid child The fathsf made. no
| effort to see II during this time, but a few days
ago he snatched It from the mother on the street.
She had the man carried before the Inspector
Of Police. who decided according 70 the law
that the father had q right TO the child after it
was S years old. SO he carried away the boy
| from the distracted mother.
| New York women also have all the rights
| they want. In fact, the lady onicials Of the
| ANTI ufrage Association declare in the val
liable documents which they circulate that the
laws are more generous to women than to
men,.
II the press dispatches tell the truth. the
| Indiana W. C. T. u, in order to punish Mr..
| Mckinley for his -~canteen decision have
| established a Presidential prayer chain. each
| member pledging herself and two other women.
who will in turn secure four others. &c. to
pray continually until election day for ms de-
| feat. Each pledges herself 20 pray to the
Heavenly Father that He will give to the United
States a better man for President, who will be
This must mean Woolley, az none Of the other
candidates would I'LL the bill. As an encourage:
ment the verse Of Scripture 10 quoted: III
two OF you shall agree on earth as touching
anything that they shall ask. II shall be done
for them OF my, Father which Is in heayen,
The fact that this promise Is never fulfilled
does not disturb their faith, Now. after this
campaign Of prayer. II Mckinley should happen
10 De electeut Will not tne W. ' i. y NC gou-
PEELED 10 believe that the Lord concluded the
country would be safer under his adminlstra-
ton than Woolley's?
That American sister" who writes to THBSUN
to the effect that MI. Mckinley Is the President
We women want and will take no other" labors
under a mistake. We women" will take what
ever President men select. and We cannot so
much as write our choice on a piece OF paper
and put IL in a ballot box. IL Is unnecessary
that we should shrek for any candidate. The
proverbial bump on a log Is a brilliant element
American politics. IDA Hustled HARPER.