The Washington herald., 1918-02-10

When, Just after the civil war, she
and her associates had sought to pre-
vent the insertion Of the word male"
In the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Federal Constitution, enfranchising
| the negro, they were brushed aside
| by the politicians with the excuse
| that this Is the negro's hour" So
| the word male" was written three
times In the Fourteenth Amendment.
But Section 1 OF the amendment
reads as follows:
''All persons born or naturalizet In
the United States and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens OF the
United States and Of the State where
in they reside. No State shall make
! or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities Of citizens
OF the United States, nor shall any
State deprive any person Of life,
liberty, or property. without due proc
| ess OF law. nor deny to any person
within its Jurisdiction the equal pro-
lection Of the laws"
Leaders of the Suffrage movement
had for long time claimed the right
to vote under this clause and the
Fifteenth Amendment Miss Anthony
now decided to put the question to the
test, and with number OF other wom-
en-, in Rochester. New York, where
she lived, she registered in due proc
ess, went to the polls on election day,
and voted.
Leader Found Guilty.
The women who voted, as well as
the election officials who accepted
their votes. were arrested, and Miss
Anthony was tried before the Circuit
Court at Canandaiqua, for Illegal yot-
ing. The verdict was Guilty" and
Miss Anthony was sentenced TO pay
fine of SlO0 and the costs Of the
prosecution.
There is a legend that as the Judge
pronounced his sentence the statue OF
Justice in the court house fell. How
ever, that may be, there is no dis
putting the statement OF the suffrage
historian that from this date the
| question of woman suffrage was lift
ed from one OF grievances into zone OF
Constitutional law"
Another case of illegal voting"
that OF Virginia Minor, Of st. Louis
was carried to the Supreme Court of
the United States, and stiIl the deci-
| sion was adverse. This opinion was
handed down in 1875.
7 Miss Anthony and her co-workers
now turned to q sixteenth amend
ment' to the Federal Constitution as
their means Of redress. That amend
ment, modelled upon the Fifteenth
Amendment, and forbidding the United
States or any State to deny to any
citizen the right to vote on account Of
! sex, was introduced in Congress, jan
uary 10, 1878. From this time on. Miss
Anthony made yearly pilgrimages to
Washington to advocate the measure
before Congressional committees. Year
after year she met with rebuff, with
| ridicule, and discouragement. 1t was
to be her successors, not herself, WHO
would reap the reward Of her stead
fast efforts, and see that amendment
and the cause of women on their
wave of triumph.
And yet, at the time of her death,
| In 1906, it could be said, as Mrs. Har-
per has said in his history, that 1.-The
transition of the young Quaker girl,
afraid of the sound OF her own voice,
/ into the reformer, orator, and States
| man, was no more wonderful than the
change In the status of woman, effect
VI 81 AeAA 5Nly IHIOuSn HtT
! At the beginning she was a chattel
! in the eye Of the law; shut out from
all advantages of higher education
| and opportunities in the industrial
world; an utter dependent on man;
| occupying a subordinate position in
the church; restrained to the narrow
est limits along social lines; an alb
| solute nonentity in politics. Today
American women are envied by those
| OF all other nations, and stand COM
| paratively free individuals, with the
1 exception of political disabilities"
| 1t is to Mrs Harper. again, that
| one turns for a character portrait Of
the great suffrage leader:
Susan B. Anthony has been called
| the Napoleon of the woman suffrage
| movement and, in the planning of
campaigns and the boldness and dar-
ing Of carrying them forward, there
| may be the qualities of that famous
general, but in character and princi-
pies the comparison fails utterly. She
has been termed the Gladstone among
women, and in statesmanlike ability
and long years of distinguished serv-
| ice, there may be points of resem-
blance, but she would repudiate the
sacrifice Of Justice to party expediency,
\ oftentimes charged against the noted
/ English politician.
LIberator of Women.
TT has been said that she has been
the great liberator OF women, as Lin
coin was of the negroes. There is in
deed something in her countenance
and manner which reminds one Of
| Lincoln, the same unconscious dig
| nifty, the same rugged endurance, the
same strong, resolute face, softened
by lines of weariness and care and
spiritualized by an expression OF in
| finite patience and indescriba BILE
pathos. She has not, however, the
conservatism, the forbearance, the
reverence for existing laws and CON-
| stitutions, which made Lincoln slow
to act and tolerant almost to the point
I Of criticism.
She has been described as being to
the cause Of woman's emancipation
what Garrison was to that of the
slave. She has, perhaps, more Of the
characteristics Of Garrison than of the
other three conspicuous figures of the
century. His motto, mo compro-
mise" has been her watchword. Like
Garrison, she strikes a body-blow
straight from the shoulder. She rec
ognizes no such word as expediency
and accepts no halfway measures.
Theoretically a non-resistant, she
lights to the last ditch and never ac-
cepts defeat as final She has the
natural gift Of selecting, always the
strongest word, and the power of
carrying conviction to her audience.
She Is conventional in outward OBJ
servances. but most radical In thought
and speech. She detests all forms Of
cruelty and oppreslon. but it Is the
] action. not the pSfkon that tsha cen.