The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30

carefully invested and the income used for
the work. suffrage for, women could be
were at hand FOR perfectly legitimate pur-
poses. There is a great deal OF wealth in
posse ssion Of women nowadays. as the d.
rect result 81 tho struggles Of the pioneer
sufYrags,s for the right Of women to obtain
an education, 10 enter well paid employments
and to own and control property. Many
of these women are irving to make good
Use Of their wealth and are contributing
largely to the churches and charities.
They are endowing nurseries and founding
asylums, reforma cries, homes for the
friendless. maternity hospitals and count
less Institutions for repairing the damages
Of intsnperance. immortality and dishonest
municipal government But they cannot
s"e that IN" greatest service tney possibly
could render humanity would be to secure
for women the power to control the causes
which produce 30 much misery and vice.
If our cities were surrounded by bikes,
like those of Holland. these good women
would give their hundreds Of thousands TO
bail out tho water that rushed through
broken places in the walls but not n dollar
! To stop up the holes In many If The States
II the women would give 10 the work for
suffrage a tenth part Of what they con-
within few years. The women Of Cali
fornia would be enfranohised to-day II
there had been money enough IN the amend
ment campaign Of 1895 to do the necessary
precinct organization work, study OF
the official returns Of the election showed
/ that in every locality where his was thor
oughly done, all the opposing powers were
not sufficient 10 prevent a majority for the
woman suffrage amendment A change
| Of less than 5000 votes In the state would
| have carried it. and this opposing majority
| was given In San Francisco and Oak land.
Los Angeles county, which was thoroughly
| organized. gave 1900 majority for the
| amendment, and il would have been quite
possible to carry the State.
What il true of women Is equally so OF
! men. A few hundred dollars would cover
| the whole amount given toward woman
| suffrage each year by the men OF the entire
! country. and yet many thousands of them
are in favor of it. II these men would
| give onc-tenth Of what they cont ribute
| to political campaigns il could soon be
| obtained. but they would not give AZ much
| to the work of the national associat ion
ar they would 10 elect constable or dog
catcher, There are millionaires in New
| York city who declare themselves in favor
| of woman suffrage. who have even signed
petitions for il. and yet have never con-
| tributed n solitary dollar.
Well, this is one reason why there is no
| larger organization for the enfranchise-
ment OF women.
The attempt Of a mere woman to follow
the convolutions Of the masculine brain
| il apt to tangle up those Of her own,
| Women have been assured for ages that
they would lose the respect OF men if they
| got out OF their sphere and yet whenever
one gets out. the male editors put her pic
| ture in their paper and proclaim to the
| whole world how talented and beautiful
and remarkable she is. until all the other
women are stimulated TO try something
| out OF the ordinary. When a woman goes
to a convention and is elected to Office
the 'home papers do everything COM
| plimentary but meet her with brass
band. The Bible tells uS that a woman's
| highest ambition should be TO have her
| husband credit to her handiwork when
he stitch among the elders in the gates
and praiseth her There never was time
| when husbands were doing 50 much brag-
gng as now. They fairly climb up on the
| gateposts TO extol the virtues OF the women
| Of their family And the surprising part
| Of it is that not one in thousand tells what
| a good cook his wife is how we'll she can
| iii shirt, how handy she Is with the spindle
and distaff and how she riseth while il Il
| vet night and gets the household up to an
| early breakfast, although these were the
essential requirements not only B. c, but
| A. ID. until generation or two ago. The
| adamantne sphere of woman, which had
| not a crack in II fifty years ago. has simply
| gone to pieces, disntegrated. vanished.
Now, the foiefatrrs were mistaken
in assuring woman that she would lose re-
spect should she attempt any advanced
| steps, 1t Is perfectly logical TO assume that
| their descendants are equally mistaken
| in holding out the same threat when she
proposes to go little farther. Much less
| than century ago the epi'het blue stock
| ing" was applied to the woman who wrote
| for publication, very much as scab' Ia
| hurled al man to-day-and look at the
| present position OF women IN the literary
| world This contrast might be shown In
every other department Of womans ac-
| Invites The only scarecrow left il the
| suffrage and il will wave its ragged arms
| aloft in the cornfields for awhile longer and
| then join its predecessors. Accession OF
| power Il not apt to cause the loss Of re-
| speCt. A long chapter might be written
| 10 show how little respect men IA class
| have had for women as a class in the pass
| ing ages They have infinitely more now
| than ever before in all history. If the
| individual woman occasionally loses II,
| this is not because she Possesses these
new privileges, but because she abuses
| them.
The Mavor Of Camden. N j . has to ap-
point a board of trustees for the new public
| library, and AZ the women Of the city estab-
| lished the library they are asking repre-
sentati ion on the board. The Mayor would
| like to oblige them, but the law says tho
| trustees must be citizens, and he fears
| women are not citizens, 80 he has appealed
| to the city attorney. This learned gentle
| man will have To decide In the Affirmative
.
I through Chief Justice fancy, decided that
| citizens comprise the political body who
| hold the power and conduct the govern
| ment through their representatives. This,
| Of course excluded women, who were thus
| made aliens in their own country. But
| in 1888 the Fourteenth Amendment was
| adopted, which declared that all persons
| born or naturalized in the United States
| and subject TO the jurisdiction thereof
| are citizens OF the United States al 4 Of the
| State wherein they reside
The Supreme Court has had to give sew
| eral ingenious decisions since then in order
| To prevent women from voting under this
amendment and to declare that citizenship
| does not carry with II any tight to the suf
frage Nevertheless, " omen are no longer
| without country" but are citizens under
| the Government. although they have no
! voice in IL,
The Circuit Court of Sandusky. Ohio. has
| lust decided that even though wife owns
| the hone. a husband has "A right to put his
mother-in-law on, using force IL necessary"
| and that che has ais o the right to exclude
| any visitors" This is unquestionably his
| legal right The common law declares
| that "the husband Is the head Of the family,
and he may choose and govern the domicile.
| select the wifes associates and separate
| her from her relatives" Blackstone !,
4i4, II Is still the law in every State where
| il has not been repealed by special statute.