The Forrest City times., 1901-09-13
WoMAN'S DUTY TO VOTE.
BY HENRY WARD BgEcHrR

delivered in New York city, Hay 10. lS6Gl
 All the world over the question to day is,
 who has a right to construct law and to ad-
 minister law
 The czar of Russia has proved himself a l better democrat than any of us all. and has | given more evidence of q genuine love for
 man in emaneipating 3o.OO0.oo0 serfs than
 many proud democrat of America has ever | given.
 And the question of emancipation in Rus 1 sa is only the introduction to the next 9ues- tton-the question of citizenship and of the rights and functions of citizenship. All Europe to-day is being filled and agi- tated with this great question of the right of
 every man to citizenship-to make the laws
 that are 10 control him. and to administer
 the laws that are applica ble to him. This is the question to-day in Great Britain. where only one man in six is allowed to vote. Voting with us is like breathing. IL be- longs to us as a common blessing, He that does not vote is not a citizen With us. argue not woman's right to vote. argue wofnans rJTY to discharge citizenship. say that more and more the great inter-
 ests of human society in America are such as
 need the peculiar genius of worzan,
 The questions that are to fill up our days
 arc not forever to be mere money questions. The great mass of men have nothing but
 their hands, their heads and their stalwart
 hearts as their capital And the great ques.
 ton Of teddy is how shah work fad leisure
 knowledge and refinement? This question is
 knocking at the door of legislation. Aud is there man who does not know that when questions of humanity and justice are
 blended woman's instinct is better than
 mans judgment? Woman's instincts and
 moral nature fit her 10 adjudieate questions of weakness and want,
 For the sake, then, of such questions as these that have come to their birth I feel it to be woman's duty to act in public affairs. l do not stand here to plead for women's rights. Rights compared with duties are ir . significant-are mere baubles-are as the bow on your bonnet.
 We shall never perfect human society with. out the help of woman. 1 therefore charge my countrywomen with this duty of taking part in public affairs,
 stand, as have said. on far higher ground in arguing this question than the right of
 woman. That believe in; but that is down
 in the justices court. l go to the supreme court and argue it. and argue 1t on the ground that the nation needs woman, and that
 woman needs the nation, and that woman
 can never become what she should be until
 there IS no distinction made between the
 sexes as regards the rights and duties of citi-
 zenship.
 l urge, then, that woman should perform
 the duty of citizen in voting And that day
 in which the intelligent cultivated women
 of America say. We have right to the bal lot" will be the day in which they will have it. There is no power on earth that can keep it from them. The reason they have not voted is because they have not felt that it was their duty 10 vote. The wealthy and prosperous among them have felt secure and happy enough in their privileges and prerogatives. and have left the great mass of
 their sisters. that shed tears and bear bur dens, to shift for themselves. But shall one who is glutted with abundance despise the wants of the starving?
 You ought to vote; and when your under 1 standing and intellect are convinced that you ought 10 do it, you will have the power to do it. and you never will till then. And l hold it to be shame that they who have the=in- stinct of purity and mercy more than any | other should withhold their hand from that public legislation by which society may be l secured and it's pests cleared away. | And it is just because woman is woman | that she is fitted. while she takes care of the l househod to take care of the village and the | community around her. It is to get another | sort of influence in public affairs that we l plead for woman's entrance there. The ex- | citement she would bring into public affairs would be almost entirely moral inspiration. !, It would be the excitement of purity and dis | interested benevoence; and this is what we | need.
 | Woman has been tried in every office from | the throne to the position of humblest ser
 yant and where has she been found remiss? | l believe that multtudes of the offices held | by men are mere excuses for leading an ef- l terminate life. and it would behoove them bet | ter to be actors out of doors and leave in-
 door offices to women, to whom they more l properly belong
 | A woman that can bring up a family of l strongbrained children an1 make good citi- | zens of them can be president without any
 difficulty. Applause.
 l Was there ever no5ler specimen of woman 1 than the Duchess of Sutherlandf And is | there d nobler woman than her daughter, the | Duchess of Argyle?-a friend to our cause
 and one that our minister, MT Adams, told
 me that she knew more of public affairs than 1 he did
 Who ever thought that duchess in France,
 or queen in Russia. or an empress in Aus
 tria. or any aristOcratic woman was unsexed
 or demeaned by occupying high position | under the government?
 { It is controversy to-day between woman { srstocratic and woman democratic lap { plausel. and claim that what is right for an
 aristocratc woman to do-what it Is right for
 duchess, or a queen, or an empress to do- | it is right for the simplest and plainest of my | countrywomen to do. All that I claim for 1 the proudest aristocrat l claim for all other
 women. And l claim that where there is a
 woman that has the requisite qualifications I for holding any office there is no reason why
 she should not be allowed to hold it. lGreat l applause.l
 The foregoing paper was read before
 the Political Study club of Forrest
 City at it's last meeting with Mr. and
 Mrs o. B. Rollwage, and upon motion