The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. AUGUST 13, 1892. Woman's Franchise

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 24, 13 August 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. AUGUST 13, 1892. Woman's Franchise

-<- The question of the rights and privileges of women continues to be discussed and in the Arena for May, Miss Willard discourses ou the bearing of the Woman's Movement ou society and character. She considers that the whole cause wiil rise aud fall according to the characterof. the women itdevelopes. Tbe question in a nutshell, the says, is that sons aud daughters ought to share and share alike. The progress of the world is impeded because women have fallen across the track in India, iv China, in Germany, and to some extent in America. She maintains that the time- has come when woman is risiug from the plane of sexhood to that of humanhood, and explains her meaning by saying that as long as people simply think of aex they restrict themselves to one, and that not the highest phase, of the individual. She denounces the use of the word " female " for, as used in current speech, it applies equally to a hen or the mother of Abraham Lincoln. In proof of her contention of the rise of woman she says three million women in tbe United States earn their owa living ; 4,400 different occupations are now open to wage earners; 40.000 girls are now studyingin the colleges. Education and property are the two great powers in the world, compared with which physical force is nowhere. She aims a telliug blow at the opposite sex, aud says alcohol aud tobacco are etuutiug the physique and tho brain of men to such an extent that the race would die out but for tho purer blood and better physique of the women, and iv this we believe she is perfectly correct. This forshadows the better time when all meu shall see that the woman vote is the highway to home protection and harmonious relations. But she will have none of the single woman franchise; it is a mistake to put a premium on old maids. She says, "it is the utmost uuwisdown to bestow the ballot on single women, and to withhold it from those who have given the costliest pledges to fortune " meaning we suppose —child ren. As for the fallacy that women should not have the vote because they cauuot fight, Miss Willard ia of opinion that would equally disenfranchise three fourths of our legislators, aud all the oldest and wisest of the Community. Force exists in other forms than that of bayonet and cannon ball.