Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-02-20
LABoRs IN VAIN


The representatives Of the lnierna-
ilonal Council OF Women, who appeared
before q Congressional committee as
related In the dispatches from Wash
ington, to plead the cause Of woman
suffrage, do not appeal to have made
any greater impression upon the law
makers Of our country that at previous
efforts Of a similar character Az the
ladies stated, they have made their APP
peal before seventeen Congresses OF the
United states, and each time without
obtaining that for which they petit
TONED.
The arguments used by these able
representatives Of the cause Of women
suffrage were excellent so far as they
related to the principle involved and
MS measure Of justice and equal
rights. II Is true that women who have
property are taxed Just as men are, and
II taxation X held TO confer the right to
vote, their reasoning might be deemed
conclusive. But unfortunately for their
cause, the elective franchise does not
depend altogether upon the payment Of
taxes or the possession OF property.
still the principle should hold good to-
day as ever, that taxation without
representation IL tyranny The argu-
ment Is good also, that people who are
subject to law should have yioce In
the framing of the law, and women are
as much amenableto the law as are"the
lords of creation" But after all ODE
dence 10 the law does not necessarily
command the right Of franchise.
The reason why all these and many
other arguments which the ladies set
forth feelIngly and forcibly do not have
the desired effect, Is because the means
which they desire to obtain TO effect
;he end they have in VIEW are out OF
harmony with our system OF govern
ment and ought not TO be intruded into
the fundamental law. Citizenship does
not involve necessarily the right to
vote. The former Is defined by national
law; the latter Is conferred by the law
OF the state In which the citizen re-
sides. The respective rights Of the ma
tional government and OF the respective
state governments have been clearly
defined. They are specified in the Con-
.f4 he Ifpl n a
been repeatedly declared distinct by
rulings Of the Supreme Court Of the
United States.
Each State Of the Union regulates the
right OF franchise according to its own
sovereign will, II may require prop
erty qualification for the right TO vote.
It may provide that only male citizens
shall exercise that privilege, That IL a
matter with which Congress has no le-
climate power to interfere. There IL
uniformity among the states In these
respects that citizen must be twenty
one years OF age and neither insane nor
idlotic In order TO exercise the elective
franchise. In Utah every citizen wheth-
er male or female, rich or poor, proper
ty-holder or not, Is endowed by the
Constitution and laws Of the State with
the right to vote at elections In other
states It Is different. Each state enacts
its own laws on this important subject.
The national government has sphere
of its own, and so has each Of the states
that make up the body Of the nation.
But II is argued that the Fifteenth
amendment TO the Constitution pro-
vides that THE right OF citizens Of
the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States
or by any state on account Of race
color or previous condition Of servl-
tude," and therefore the equal suffrag-
lists. or some Of them, think that an
ether amendment can be obtained. or
the fifteenth amendment can be amend
ed by the insertion Of the word sex,
IN that constitutional provision,
But the passage Of that amendment
IN relation to the colored people Of the
country WAS obtained, at time when
the nation was ripe for the change, and
II was considered by the large majority
of the people in the respective states
that II was necessary for the protec-
ton of the race that had Just been
delivered from slavery. The fact that
II was out OF harmony with our system
of government, in which sovereign
states are united and federated for
mutual benefit and protection. was not
considered weghty enough to be pllted
against what was considered the great
need of the times. II was a radical
remedy proposed against a great wrong.
The wisdom OF It has since been very
seriously questioned by thinking peo-
pie OF all political parties, and It's dis.
cord with the general principles on
which this nation was. founded is per-
ceyed by ears attuned to its harmonles
II is therefore very improbable that
the end desired by the ladies' OF the
Woman Suffrage association win he
attained, In the manner for which they
are so zealously working The nation
Is not aroused to the necessity for the
change which they contemplate The
representatives Of the people and Of
the respective states are not them
selves converted 10 the doctrine adyo-
Gated by equal suffragists They see
no reason for iamDering with the