West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-02-28
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
Giving Citizenship 10 Uncivilixed
Natives or Alaska.

l, has been commonly supposed that when
the Government, could persuade CraIy
Snake and his uibe of Snakes and the rest
Of the Choctaws and Apaches and Digger
Indians to exchange their tomahawks for
ballots, everybody in the United States of
the male gender would be enfranchised. 1t
has been discovered, however, that up
among the glaciers of Alaska there is a
large body of males, who, up to date, have
taken no part in the Government of the
United States. II is singular that they
should have been SO long overlooked, but
now no time will be lost in making them a
part of the electorate.
The Chairman of the Committee on
Territories, William ). Knox OF Msssa.
ehusetts, has introduced a bill providing fos
''the admission to citizenship of Alaskan
natives now residing in that Territory, and
their descendants, members of the uncivi.
lized tribes" During the thirty -four years
in which Alaska has been part of the
United States. no one, not even the natives
themselves, have felt any concern as to
their citizenship.
When Chairman Knox of Massachusetts,
has succeeded in his laudable purpose let us
hope he will find time TO cast his eyes in
the direction of his own State in his search
for the disfranchised. In not another
section of the United States, perhaps, are
there within the same area as many highly
ted -. l..
proportion of women taxpayers In no
State have women been trying longer or
more earnestly to secure the franchise.
How comes IL then that he is SO deeply
concerned about the Esquimaux and so
utterly regardless of educated citizens of
Massachusetts II approached on this
subject he would probably make the
hackneyed reply: "When the majority of
women ask for the ballot they will &c, it,"
Have the majority of the Alaskan men
asked for il Have the various tribes of
Indian men been enfranchised because the
majority requested il 2 Did the majority
of the Hawaiian men express a desire for
i'll Did majority of the Porto Rican
men insist upon being made voters Is
universal male suffrage provided for in the
new Cuban Constitution because a majority
OF the men have peiiiioned for ii Is
there IN the whole history of our Govern
ment one-just one-instance where any
class of men have had the franchise be-
slowed upon them because a majority de-
manded il ? Not in one single case has
thus been done, and yet legislators, politicians,
editors, minister, lawyers, dismiss the plea
OF women for representation with the
illogical remark: When the majority ask
for 1t they can have it," If ;hey are told
that the the petitions of the women of the
United States for the suffrage exceed those
for this purpose of all the men in the coun-
try combined since the Government was
founded, they simply answer: "The ma
jority of the women must ask for it," And
then when hundreds of thousands who have
asked for il aud worked for il turn away in
despair the political dragnet is put forth
again to gather in another catch Of immi-
grants, negroes, Indians, Hawsiians, Porto
Ricans, and Esquimaux, whose sole and
only qualification for the exercise of the
franchise lies in the accident OF having
been born OF the masculine gender.
AS women look upon this performance
every year. they may be pardoned if they
repeat the prayer Of DIR. Lyman Beecher
80, Lord, grant that we may not despise
our rulers and grant, o, Lord, that they
may not act SO we can't help 1t r'--Ida
Hustled Harper in New York Sun.