d that
a majority of the women of this country desire the ballot, I
shall be in favor of granting the same, says the man of to-day of
average ability and culture. Oh! my friend, we shall not allow
you to take out a patent for magnanimity on the strength of that
confession. When all the women, or even the majority of the
women, shall unite in one solemn, earnest appeal for a voice in
the framing of the laws which they are compelled to obey, the
turf will be green over that political statesmanship which
supposes that a question of right, of principle, is a question of
majorities. While I do not believe that the fewness of the women
in any community who really desire the ballot furnishes any man
good ground for throwing his influence in the opposite scale, I
do believe that the most serious hindrance to the immediate
success of our cause is the opposition of women themselves.

It is one of the saddest, the most discouraging, features of any
reform to find its worst foes are they of its own household. But
the woman movement is not unique in this particular. Other
reforms have presented the self-same characteristic. He who is
familiar with the history of labor-saving machinery in this
country knows that its introduction was fought inch by inch by
that very class whose condition it was especially designed to
ameliorate. If the Jews were the first to crucify instead of
receive their Messiah, we know that the bad precedent which they
established has not been lost upon succeeding generations. My
friends, every reform begets a vast amount of ignorant opposition
before which its advocates must simply possess their souls in
patience.

This opposition among women shows itself in two distinct ways.
The first kind manifests itself in holding meetings, framing
petitions, and soliciting signatures, asking Congress to withhold
the right of suffrage from the women of the land. I make no
quarrel with that kind of opposition, nay, more, I entertain for
it a certain kind of regard, for two reasons: First, because any
decision that is candid and the result of reflection, entitles
the holder to respect, but secondly and mainly, because it is no
opposition at all. These persons are our friends, doing just what
we are, no more and no less. For, mind you, it is n