The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1911-04-01
STRONG PLEA FOR
W0MAN'S RIGHTS
Forum Hears Stirring Address
BY Mrs. George ". Cook.
WANTS EQUAL OPPORTUNITY.
BY ". "A. cRAicHHAD,

MNS Equal OPPORTUNITY.
BY ". n. cRAicHEAD.
Harrisburg, Pa.-The Peoples forum
On this city has won an enviable place
among literary organizations by bring
ing before it's members from time to
time some Of the most distinguished
men and women Of the race to deliver
lectures and addresses. Among those
who have favored the forum in this
capacity are Professors George w.
Cook. Kelly Miller. w. Bruce Evans
and DR.. w. q. B. Du Bois.
At the recent meeting Of the forum
Mrs. George w. Cook delivered a stir.
ring address on "The Daughters of
Men," which proved to be strong plea
for the rights Of women. Woman's
part In the history Of civilization was
fully outlined and her well earned as
well as Inherent right to the ballot In.
sisted upon. In part Mrs. Cook said:
In the rebuilding Of ancient Jerusalem
women took q part, but the historian
rarely dwells upon the incident SO signifi-
can't In itself and so important to be re-
called by all womankind. The incident II
but typical Of what has been taking place
In the world throughout all ages and
among all peoples. Wherever a great
deed has been wrought wherever the
march OF progress has been least dis
turbed. wherever individual thought and
action have made the world better, the
daughters Of men have ever been at work.
Even primitive woman. while her better
half was as yet only huntsman or fish
eEman or bloodthirsty warrior. built the
dre, prepared the meals and In her lonely
cave or hut laid tho foundation for the
redned domestic life and perfectly ap-
pointed home which are q part Of our
present day civilization.
Even religion would lose half It's signif-
-oanoe sH the Afamininsl character had no
part IN its composition. Pharaoh puts to
death the infant life Of nation. but his
daughters head bends low over the ark
Of bulrushes. and Moses is saved to lead
the children of Israel from the land Of
bondage. -.. ....~-.
Eve indeed offers to Adam the fatal ap-
pie. and Eden is lost to man. but Mary
becomes the mother Of Jesus, and the
new gospel Of peace and good win is Of
fered to all the world.
Mrs. Cook cited many of the prominent
Hypatia. Cadijah, were all. she said. fore
runners Of tho women of the nineteenth
century. Coming down to our own times,
she declared. Abraham Lincoln's pen
only finished In the emancipation procla
nation what Harriet Beecher Stoves had
begun in Uncle Toms CABIN"
Strange and sad a. 1t may seem. It is
yet true that the daughters Of men
through all these ages have been the VIC
Tins OF man made customs and traditions
and subordinate to man made statutes
and governments. While her work and
self sacrifice made luminous the history
OF civilization. her long borne subsection
- one Of the darkest pages in all the
great volume. All that women ask is
equality Of opportunity. II Ia . cruel and
wicked thing to cut of an Individual or
class from progress and development that
might be theirs. .s..
Mental development and the full enjoy
ment OF the exercise Of all the privileges
Of citizenship were surely never meant to
belong to one half Of the race to the ex-
clusion Of the other half. while the happi-
ness to be found In q life Of action and
usefulness 10 incomparably superior to
that to be had in inactivity and ignorance.
Not only IL It injustice to women them
selves to withhold from them their rights.
but II u also an injustice to the large
class Of individuals who are governed by
the ballot and affected more or less ia
vorably according to the intelligence and
conscience Of those who are voters. No
halfway measure will suffice School suf-
frage and municipal suffrage are all very
well. but suffrage on identically the same
ground that man holds II is the demand
OF this long robbed half Of society.
90 long an inequality Of rights controls
the relation Of men and women many an
other evil II bred. The Industrial, legal,
social and even the domestic status Of
women all suffer from its balefui infiu-
snce. Women themselves have been slow
to grasp this truth, but no thoughtful wo-
man should fail to perceive that never
before the law. never in the industries,
the trades and the professions, never even
in the home except a. the goodness Of In
dividuai man gives II them, will they be
accorded fair play until they obtain the
ballot. -
No better argument can be offered In
favor Of woman's suffrage than results
whore the system already obtains. South
rado. Idaho and Utah have none Of them
become demoralized under this natural
system. but. on the contrary. seem to
flourish a. the green bay tree. ..
Would that the women Of my race be
not one whit behind the women Of other
races In Joining the vanguard who viii
blaze the path for others to follow. It
- always the few-the next age makes
them the immortal few-who lead In any
great reform.
Let us have no fear for the final out
come Of the woman question. The cause
for which we plead 10 90 right and 30 Just
that II II very sure Of victory.