disseverance between the
sexes, and I object to the Senate of the United States giving its
sanction in advance or in any way to this character of
legislation. It is a false principle, and it will work evil, and
only evil, in this country.

What jurisdiction do you expect to exercise in the Senate of the
United States for the benefit of the women in respect of suffrage
or in respect of separate estates? Where are the boundaries of
your jurisdiction? You find them in the territories and in the
District of Columbia. If you expect to proceed into the States
you must have the Constitution of the United States amended so as
to put our wives and our daughters upon the footing of those who
are provided for in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. Your
jurisdiction is limited to the territories and to the District of
Columbia.

Inasmuch as this measure, I understand, has been made a party
measure by the decree of a caucus, I propose to make some little
inquiry into the past legislation of the Congress of the United
States under Republican rule in respect of the extension of the
right of suffrage to certain classes of people in this country. I
will take up first the territories.

Let us look for a moment at the result of woman suffrage in some
of the territories. The territorial legislature of Utah has gone
forward and conferred the right of suffrage upon women. The
population in the last decade has reached from 64,000, I believe,
to about 150,000. The territorial legislature of Utah conferred
upon the females of that territory the right of suffrage, and how
have they exercised that right? Sir, I am ashamed to say it, but
it is known to the world that the power of Mormonism and polygamy
in Utah territory is sustained by female suffrage. You cannot get
rid of those laws. Ninety per cent. of the legislative power of
Utah territory is Mormon and polygamous. If female suffrage is to
be incorporated into the laws of our country with a view to the
amelioration of our morals or our political sentiments, we stand
aghast at the spectacle of what has been wrought by its exercise
in the territory of Utah. There stands a power supporting the
crime of polygamy through what they call a divine inspiration, or
teaching from God, and all the power of the jud