regard to sex?

Mr. HENDERSON: I have given my views, I think, very distinctly,
as the Senator would have found if he had listened, in the latter
part of what I have just stated in reference to the question of
voting. In reply to what he has said, I will say that I do not
think that on the mere presentation of a petition it is in order
to discuss the merits of the petition. I hope, therefore, that
the Senator will not insist upon entering into a question of that
sort now.

Mr. YATES: I shall not do so. I only wish to say that I am not
proposing to amend the Constitution. I simply desire to give
rights to those who have rights under the Constitution as it has
been amended. When I propose to amend the Constitution then the
question will come up whether I will allow women to vote or not.

Mr. SUMNER: Before this petition passes out of sight I wish to
make one observation, and only one. The Senator from Missouri
began by an allusion to myself and to a remark which fell from me
when I presented the other day a petition from women of the
United States praying for the ballot. I took occasion then to
remark that in my opinion the petition at that time was not
judicious. That was all that I said. I did not undertake to
express my opinion on the great question whether women should
vote or should not vote. I did venture to say that in my opinion
it was not judicious for them at this moment to bring forward
their claims so as to compromise in any way the great question of
equal rights for an enfranchised race now before Congress. The
Senator has quoted a letter suggesting that I did not present the
petition in a creditable way. I have now to felicitate my
excellent friend on the creditable way in which he has performed
his duty. [Laughter].

Mr. YATES: Allow me to say that I think the two gentlemen, one of
whom has arrived at the age of forty-nine and the other
sixty-three, have no right to discuss the question of women's
rights in the Senate. [Laughter].

The PRESIDENT _pro tem._: Will the Senator from Missouri suggest
the disposition he wishes made of this petition?

Mr. HENDERSON: Let it lie on the table.

The PRESIDENT _pro tem._: That order will be made.

The wriggling, the twisting, the squirming of the Republicans at this
crisis und