Our women will not toe a mark anywhere; they will
think and act for themselves, and when they are enfranchised they
will divide upon all political questions, as do intelligent,
educated men.
I have tried the experiment of canvassing four States prior to
Oregon, and in each State with the best canvass that it was
possible for us to make we obtained a vote of one-third. One man
out of every three men voted for the enfranchisement of the women
of their households, while two voted against it. But we are proud
to say that our splendid minority is always composed of the very
best men of the State, and I think Senator PALMER will agree with
me that the forty thousand men of Michigan who voted for the
enfranchisement of the women of his State were really the picked
men in intelligence, in culture, in morals, in standing, and in
every direction.
It is too much to say that the majority of the voters in any State
are superior, educated, and capable, or that they investigate
every question thoroughly, and cast the ballot thereon
intelligently. We all know that the majority of the voters of any
State are not of that stamp. The vast masses of the people, the
laboring classes, have all they can do in their struggle to get
food and shelter for their families. They have very little time or
opportunity to study great questions of constitutional law.
Because of this impossibility for women to canvass the States over
and over to educate the rank and file of the voters we come to
you to ask you to make it possible for the Legislatures of the
thirty-eight States to settle the question, where we shall have
a few representative men assembled before whom we can make our
appeals and arguments.
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