The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-11

| us as Q grace may come to us as a | necessity before you are done, I an- l ticipate the awkwardness of that sit- uation by giving you a chance to ex- l press yourselves concerning this ques- | ton which has grown as the years have grown. The history of our race has
 been the struggle of the few to secure | the best conditions for the many. and l the conflict has ended in victory for
 truth through alls the centuries. The | civilization that illumines us today Is | the crowning evidence.
 Thousands of years of bitter argu- ments and bloody wars were required | to evolve the principle that Govern ments derive their just powers from | the consent of the govefned." This l thought Is the guaranty of liberty of | the American Republic-it is the watch.
 word of every people striving for polit- ical freedom. Now comes the declar- at.on that women as well as men be- long to the governed" and upon that
 belief. I ground my demand to the ap- plication of the principle to citizens regardless of sex.
 l. is not necessary in order to point an argument, that we shall review the history of woman-or man, either. for that matter-but that we take our ,sx- animation of the reasons for this de- 1 mand from the conditions which srr- round women and men, today. Wise counsellors of State need not to be reminded that never in the history of Christendom have women taken such large part ill the affairs of the world. and no modern fact is So full of prom ise as the womanly forces now at work in the home, the school, the commu-
 nifty and among the nations. The re- lation of women to the government has
 so changed that it is hard to recog
 nize her as she was a hundred years
 ago. when the saying that a mans house was his castle, and he owned
 everything in his castle. He owned
 his wife's clothes and her wedding ring
 and her best bonnet. He purchased
 the clothes for the family, he decided the food to be eaten. he administered
 what medicine and religion he chose.
 The home seemed to have no connec-
 tion with the Government, nor the
 government with the home. But the
 whole progress of this century has been
 to put the home within the Govern
 ment and to interfere with its welfare
 eevry moment of the day.
 Today. women own these castles as
 we'll as men; and if woman wishes to
 build a house she is taxed for every
 nail that goes in it. every article that furnishes it; every garment she wears.
 Government looks after its women and
 interferes with them exactly as 1t in-
 terferes with men, because the home relations are changed and the home is within tn Government. Thus, has not the condition of a woman changed from ward to an agent of intelli- gence where she touches the Govern ment all the way along her life, and the Government touches her and should ah tv.
 Nobody denies that women are the chief moral agencies of the world to- day. nor that they walk in the front ranks of the small army that is work ing to lift the world to better things. But they need more power to effect their purpose. She has found out that If you want your program accepted there is no better way than to have vote. The thickest skinned legislator Is sensitive to the opinions of a voter. uaughter.)
 The old foolishness about a vote les sening that silent influence" so much talked of. is proven up.s Did you ever hear of man who wanted to be dis franchised in order to increase his in- fuence? I have found the silent in- fluence Is a little too silent in the ears of the legislator.
 One of the m0t nearly universal reasons assigned by earnest man, against this law of evolution, the granting of suffrage to women, has been that politics is too corrupt for women" I think that is one of your stock arguments. Politics Is what men alone have made 1t. Government may be divided into four departments: State. society, church, home. The State is the only one from which wo- men have been excluded. The other three have been maintained at the highest standard. but the first has be- come so corrupt that 1t is not fit for women to have any part in 1t. Of course it Is but 1t is because women have been kept out. If men alone had tried to manage all the four depart ments. they would by this time, all have been demoralized. The combined influence of both men and women are necessary to bring all to their highest state. It is said that the real religious creed of the people-the unmistakable evidence of what they actually believe, is their politics. But women have a trust in religion and no politics, willie men have a trust in politics, and tudg- ing by the State of public affairs no religion to speak of. If you want to purify politics consolidate the truest in religion with the truest in politics.
 Much of the objection made against suffrage for women arises from mis- understanding; much too. from dread of the sweeping changes which it Is supposed to imply. Then there Is the feeling, that voting in order to be worth much must be the expression of an intelligent opinion and that many men and most women are incapable of giving such expression.
 The man without a vote Is a subject, not a citizen; the woman without a vote is an inferior not an '-qual.
 Do women know enough about roli- tics to vote inteliigently? Nadsnter)
 I see you don't need the answer but I will give it just because l have 1t here.
 The ratio of general intelligence among women is as high as among men. while statistics show the per centage of illiteracy to be less. When they have an object for studying po- litical economy they will do it. and will furnish as many. surprises as they have in proving themselves capable Of the highest education.
 Surely they are now as capable as the mass of foreign speaking natural lzed citizens who cont'nuhllY in .rr tSe the hordes of voters. On this point we haze me testimony of no less person than Professor Harris, National Com of Education at Washington. He says. "I find on making actual cal cuIaNon that the women in secondary and higher education added together, number 2S7. .162, while the men numoer 235. 296. that is, about 55 per cent wo- men to 45 per cent men. for the entire education higher than thef primary .,booIs," Our colleges have doubled in