The Mankato free press., 1905-02-24

law, in moral, helpful and patriotic eff
fort; / believe in their equality, but
not in their identity. AS l do not be-
lieve in the identity of personal at
tributes, personal qualifications and per
sonal adaptations, do not believe in
the identity of effort or of the spar
ticular perogatives each should exercise.
Man and woman in all respects are sup
Elemental and their2efforts, their perog
atives and their duties should be such.
'Woman can do work which man
cannot and which, if left undone by
her, as a general rule will be left un-
done altogether. In a thousand ways
she is the better half of the home, the
better half of society and hers the bet
ter half of citizenship. Her usual
integrity, her patience, her virtue, her
gracefulness, her tenderness, her finer
sense of the beautiful, her moral and
religious nature, place their everlasting
imprint upon the institutions of society
and the state and irresistibly influence
the course of human conduct and point
to standard place high up on the
mountain of excellence.
81 am one of those who do not want
woman to confess her course with that
of man. I do not want her to think
she must necessarily do the same things
that men do OF all women, hold those
least in reverence who are sometimes
called "man-woman."
81 do not believe a woman would
be improved by the exercise of a gen
eral elective franchise, by becoming a
politician, by common office holding;
by assuming the management and cares
of business enterprises any more than
| do that she would be improved by fol-
lowing the plow or handling the shovel
and pick or the locomotive lever; and if
the woman is not improved, the woman
citizen is not.
81 am the last one to detract from
the praise due to the spirit of heroism
that most women possess, which impels
them to enter the breach from necessity
or other cause, and cheerfully do the
things, even for lifetime, which they
might otherwise desire to avoid; l am
the last one to hold a grain or penny
weight from the reward due to woman
for the service she renders, based on the
merit of that service, but 1 here put my
self on record as opposed to the unusual
occupation of woman in. the pursuits of
men where there is no imperative reason
therefor.
81 believe it is the highest and best
thing for a girl to do to qualify her
self to be a householder and home
builder I do not believe in her be-
coming, either voluntarily or involun-
tarily, cheapener of wages. l do not
believe in her wearing out her energies
and eXhausting her nervous system, in
commercial and industrial pursuits and
then devouring the remnants to the far
more important duties for which she.
alone is fitted to fill. 1 believe, there
fore, in an institution which tends to
minimize the evil effects of industrial
pursuits upon our young women and
tends to preserve and build up the
womanly character of those who are
daily workers under the system of
things now in vogue in our country.
Hence from the start, I have been
cheerful supporter of the institution
that brought us together tonight.
''To conclude, let me say: Here's to
citizenship and here's to good citizen
ship; citizenship of men and women;
and here's to the best, the highest and
the lovliest, the woman-c citizen"