ot learn therefrom that
women require greater physical strength, fighting qualities or
masculinity to deposit a ballot than a letter or visiting card;
while in their service as jurors they have exhibited greater
courage than their brothers in finding verdicts against
desperadoes in accordance with the facts. Governors, judges,
officers and citizens unite in praises of the influence of women
upon the making and execution of wholesome laws.
In Washington Territory, last fall, out of a total vote of 40,000
there were 12,000 ballots cast by women, and everywhere friends
were rejoiced and opponents silenced as apprehended dangers
vanished upon approach. Some of the comments of converted
newspaper editors which have reached us are worthy of
preservation and future reference. The elections were quiet and
peaceable for the first time; the brawls of brutal men gave place
to the courtesies of social intercourse; saloons were closed, and
nowhere were the ladies insulted or in any way annoyed. Women
vote intelligently and safely, and it does not appear that their
place is solely at home any more than that the farmer should
never leave his farm, the mechanic his shop, the teacher his
desk, the clergyman his study, or the professional man his
office, for the purpose of expressing his wishes and opinions at
the tribunal of the ballot-box.
To-day--and to a greater extent in the near future--we are
confronted with political conditions dangerous to the integrity
of our nation. In the unforeseen but constant absorption of
immigrants and former bondmen into a vast army of untrained
voters, without restrictions as to the intelligence, character or
patriotism, many political economists see the material for
anarchy and public demoralization. It is claimed that the
necessities of parties compel subserviency to the lawless and
vicious classes in our cities, and that, without the addition of
a counterbalancing element, the enactment and enforcement of
wholesome statutes will soon be impossible. Fortunately that
needed element is not far to seek. It stands at the door of the
Congress urging annexation. In its strivings for justice it has
cried aloud in petitions from the best of our land, and more than
one-third of the present voters of five States have indorse
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