Year: 1866

This is the fine moral question of .he
dav.


The New York Tribane drops for A
time the questions OF reconstruction .
and universal suffrage. aud axes up
the question OF the surplus of women


Some meddlesome mouser after aisa
greeahle facts has discovered that IN
England and France the ratio Of females
10 males IS as three TO two. In all the
Northern Atlantic States CO a like excess
obtsins, to a greater or less degree


The Tribune lays down solid basis
upon which the discussion OF the subject
shall be conducted. The destiny of
women says that journal, lis marriage
Her sphere is home Mems duty is 10
support her


These propositions are accepted as in
controvertible truths Woman's destiny
is marriage; and, as a rule, they meet
their fate with becoming resignation
The remedy is eflicacious and not very
repulsive, as far as it goes; but the ugly
fact sticks out that when all the men are
married, there is still q large surplus of
women. Her sphere Is home; hat for
this surplus there are no homes, 1t i
mans duty 10 support her; but bow -
our morality to be adjusted, SO that n
man may support two women if he feels
inclined


The Salt Lake Telegraph grapplcs this
fine moral question from Mormon
stand point


Surplus women. indeed, exclains
the organ of the Latter Day Saints, "as
though it were possible to have a surplus
of the brightest hsudiwork of creation
Do men complain Of having q surplus Of
any other good thing Any surplus of
beauty, OF goodness. of honesty, of faith
fulness, of lands, of gold, of merchan-
disc, of houses, of horses, of cattle? Oh,
no! No surplus Of all these, only
surplus of women. Poor woman The
the only things with which religion and
civilization are overburlened


The EDITORS oallantry is as superficial
as his philosophy. He calls women the
brightest haudiwork Of creation, and then
ranks her among others of mans pos
sessions-with lands. gold and merchan-
disc He takes merely Il bread and but
ter view of the question in which the
material element Is OF comparatively lit
tie Importance. The question is not
how women shall be kept alive. 1t is
how they shall he enabled to fulfill the
conditions OF their being.


Their sphere Is home. But each one
wants a home OF her own. She dosent
want smother woman home, except on
condition that the other woman shall be
put out of it. She dosen't merely want
place at a man 5 table, with little
room, however elegantly furnished, for
herself to sleep in but she wants to be
queen of his household, reigning by vir
tue of the same authority that makes him
master of her person


The idea of ranking women in the
same category of possessions as gold and
merchandise, seems rather funny to the
unenlightened gentle mind Here in this
city, rs rule, the less gold man has,
the less women he will be likely to have;
and the less women he has, the more
gold he will be likely TO get.


Ii Is true there is an intimate connec-
tion between women and gold and mer-
chandise but the relation is similar to
that which exists between great fish and
little ones-the two latter were created
for the former


If the Latter Day Saint editor can com
prehend this beautiful state of things, he
will understand how community that
likes to Accumulate gold and merchan-
disc, may have surplus of women,
though they are the - brightest handi-
work Of creation -


But this fine moral question must be
solved on some other basis Ciyiliza-
ton does not march in circle. Old Sol
omon, who was the best hand to govern
women OF whom history contains an &C
count, gives utterance to the expression,
as the result of his large experience that
. all Is vanity AMI vexation of spirit.
We are not going back to the plural wife
system. The men Of the nineteenth
century are altogether too smart for that.


Several ways of restoring the sexes to
an equality in point of number are sug
gested, but al! of them are open to objec-
lion. One is to let the women assume
the government of the world, for a few
years, in place of men. Let them make
war and fight their own battles let them
run steamboats, and railroad cars let
them take to whisky, tobacco and other
vices hitherto monopolised by males
and there is little doubt but the dread ed
surplus will be worked off.