spoken for childhood, 'You have no child?' And I have
answered: 'No, I have no child, but just as surely as men in the order
of nature are the protectors of womanhood, so surely in the order of
nature women are the protectors of childhood. I would dishonor my
womanhood to say that I will not do what I can for a child because I
have none and I hope the time will never come when women must be
ashamed of men because they are not willing to sacrifice something to
take this action for women.' Think of it! Must we crawl on our knees
to ask you for that which we feel we have a right to demand? You
should see that every protection which every lifting hand that it is
possible for manhood to offer to womanhood should be extended and your
position gives you a great opportunity. I urge that, as far as your
official power extends, you will show that the manhood of the United
States responds to the pleas of the womanhood of the United States."

The closing address of Mrs. Kelley and the many questions it called
for from the committee with her answers filled nearly twelve pages of
the printed report of the hearing. A small part only can find space
here.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, it is sixty years last month since my
father, Judge William D. Kelley, became a member of the House of
Representatives and in those days it took a great deal of courage
for a man to do what he did year after year--introduce this
resolution which you are considering to-day. He did it partly, I
think, out of chivalrous regard for Miss Anthony, Mrs. Stanton
and the few brave women who fifty years ago patiently came before
your predecessors; but very much more he introduced that
resolution because he believed it was essentially just. He saw in
those days the beginnings of the industrial change in the midst
of which we now live and they appalled him. He saw how difficult
it had been for his widowed mother to get an education for
himself and his sisters, and how infinitely difficult life was
for the whole great class of women, not only widows but those who
by the circumstances of our changing industries had been forced
out into the industrial market. He believed they ought to have
the same power to protect their own interests as had been given
to the American workingman and which he helped give to the
negro....

Women now do not count in our communities at all