Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-03-14

a Polish communist and socialist and
the latter a prominent member Of the
famous Brook farm community.
These early leaders of what has
since developed into the equal sur
frage movement did not make votes
for women the sole object of their
agitation The demand for ballot box
privileges played a minor part in
their efforts. The chief features OF
their program were better educational
opportunities for women. better pro-
lection for their property rights and
their general admission &c industries
then closed to them. Most Of them.
as has been the case with the women
prominent in the suffrage movement
In later years, were advocates of so
c~ialistic ideas. 1t was only when such
women as Susan b. Anthony. Eliza
beth Cady stanton and Lucy stone
took charge of the woman's rights
cause that the ballot came TO be re
gardod rs the magic wand which
should open the door to all the priv
ilcges that women craved and release
them from their Slavery" to man. 1t
is a curious fact. however, that while
the right to vote has as vet been Sc
cured only in four states of the union
nearly all the other legal tights ma
industrial privileges which the early
leaders were striving to obtain for
women have been secured.
When Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony
and their associates took up the
campaign for ballots for women they
a the issue one OF man versus
woman and it was their ambition to
wipe out every line Of distinction be-
tween the two sexes wherever it APP
poared in legal Cnactmcnts or relisi-
GUS creeds. One of the curious de-
velopmcnts in this connection was the
publication in 1895 Of The Woman's
Bible One of the chief grievances
Of tho s"uffaeists was their claim that
the Bible was unfair To women by
emphasizing Nor subsection 90 man
and emitting to give her IN eQual
place in the religious history which
it records. Accordingly these sufira-
gistS, acting under the leadership or
Mrs. stanton. Mrs. Lille DevereauN
Blake, Mrs. Robert lngersoll and 9TH
crs equally prominent in the move
nent. undertook to bring out a com
mentary on those passages in the
Scriptures i'm which women We're men
toned, and. to quote their W words.
those i'm which women are nude
prominent by exclusion.
The first instaliment of this revised
'Bible"-and apparently the only
one that ever was published-was de-
voted to the books of the Pentateuch.
II began with what amounted to a
proposal to reconstruct the Trinity to
make it include a Heavenly Father,
and son. The story Of the
was criticised for represent
ing woman's creation as an after
thn,,aft r,,- 81. SOW Anp,.,gn Of no
ieving the solitude of man. Ellen
Dietrich. one of the editors
Of the Bible" said, referring to the
Scriptural accounts of this mat
.er: My own opinion is that the
second story was manipulated by some
Willy jew in an endeavor to give
heavenly authority for requiring a
woman to obey the man she married.
word obey" was one to which
he woman revisionists objected siren
iously and they produced argu-
ncnts to prove that a more exact
translation would be secured by using
he wrod defer" instead.
The women who prepared the
'Woman's Bible expected it to ere
tie a profound impression and they
uccoeded, but the result was not OK
ictly what they had anticipated. As
Don as the first installmcnt appeared
protests were raised all over the ,
ountry against what was termed the
acriligious treatment of sacred mat
crs. Resentment was especially 4
.een among women The projectors :
# the plan finally abandoned it. At ,
present time only a few copies OF c
book are in existence and offers /
+ hundreds of dollars have been re- 9
used for one or two copies known !
D be held in this city. q
within recent years the efforts o. !
he s%uffragists have been devoted /,
hiefly to writing and speaking In /,
Of their cause and in lobby
lg before the legislatures for the
doption Of laws that would permit
omen to vote. wyoming. in 1869 Il
'olorado. in 1898; Utah and Idaho, q
1896. In other states the proposal 4
as been repeatedly defeated, a com r.
OF statistics on Inc ~ub5ect !,
that equal suffrage proposals !
ave been rejected 1854 times In the .
twelve years. Since the begin n
Of 1870 legislative bodies in Ne n
Kansas. South Dakota and 4
klahoma have voted down bills that
xtended the ballot to women. :
The most serious opposition 10
suffrage always has come from
thcmseltc IS. the great majority
opposing the proposal To place
~ ballot in their hands. or else re-
Indifferent to the demands d
their more militant sisters. Within -
ie past few years this opposition has d.
an organized form n o ma z
onal and state societies made up OF z
omen are opposing the equal SUI -
age propaganda. The contest has z
one among ome themselves 81
determine whether or not they IL
ant votes. with man. the actual ol
piaying the part merely Of an nj
spectator. "
Ia