ety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd."

The Declaration of Independence asserts that, to secure the
inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,
governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed."

Benjamin Franklin wrote that "liberty or freedom consists in
having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the
laws and who are the guardians of every man's life, property and
peace;" that "they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of
representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved
to those who have votes and to their representatives."

James Madison said: "Under every view of the subject, it seems
indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without
a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in
choosing the magistrates who are to administer them." ...

The right of women to personal representation through the ballot
seems to me unassailable, wherever the right of man is conceded
and exercised. I can conceive of no possible abstract
justification for the exclusion of the one and the inclusion of
the other.

Is the recognition of this right desirable? The earliest mention
of the Saxon people is found in the Germany of Tacitus, and in
his terse description of them he states that "in all grave
matters they consult their women." Can we afford to dispute the
benefit of this counseling in the advancement of our race?

The measure of the civilization of any nation may be no more
surely ascertained by its consumption of salt than by the social,
economic and political status of its women. It is not enough for
contentment that we assert the superiority of our women in
intelligence, virtue, and self-sustaining qualities, but we must
consider the profit to them and to the State in their further
advancement.

Our statistics are lamentably meager in information as to the
status of our women outside their mere enumeration, but we learn
that in a single State 42,000 are assessed and pay one-eleventh
of the total burden of taxation, with no voice in its
disbursements. From the imperfect gleaning of the Tenth Census we
learn that of the total enumerated bread-winners of the United
States more than one-seventh