Political Emancipation of Woman,

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 170, 18 September 1886, Page 1

Political Emancipation of Woman,

At Washington, U.S., recently forty-seven ladies, representing. twenty-three States of fehe,, Union, apptared before the Houjj* Committee of the Judiciary, and deliver©* addresses in behalf of rights which, though assured to theni' under .the. preamble of th« Constitution, are strangely omitted ' from the body of that important document. . The women 'want a sixteenth amendment, making tKonV the equate of hegroee and "enfranchised foreigners/ says the New York Herald: For actual ability, comprehending conciseness^ statement, and logical treatment, the speeches of several of the ladies were in every respect equalto any ever, made before the Committee. The members were surprised at the' ability shown by the speakers. After a brief statement by Miss Anthony, Mrs Merri weather, and Mrs Minor was heard, Mrs Eastman was then introduced. She is a woman of fine, almost commanding, presence, and was dressed' with perfect taste in a dark reddish brown suit. She spoke easily and with effect for ten minutes. She argued her «ause on Constitutional principle*. " Whatever be the promise of government," said she, "it rests upon the fundamental doctrine, that it is managed by ' we, the people.' Who are the people ? One-half of the citizens are ' the people.' " There were a score of neat epigrams in her smoothlyutt»red address. Mrs Nelson, of Minnesota spoke next, and with more incisiveness ttym rhetorical effect. " I was born in Connecticut," she began, " brought up in lowa, Ray taxes in Minnesota, and teach in the South. I am a widow, because my husband gave his life to his country, and in the twenty odd years since that event I have learned what a woman has to do for herself in th» fight for life. The relation between the bread and the ballot is direct. Women are paid less than men for the- same work* There is more prejudice against the female mx titan against colour." Mrs Bennett, of Kentucky, daughter of Cassium M. Clay, made a brief appeal to the religious aenseof the Committee. ' Mrs Gougar, from the Hoosier State, then made a speech. She is a 'tail woman ; her hair is somewhat gray, though it evidently was once yellow m colour.' She was dressed in a suit of turtle-back green satin and velvet. Uer speech was a revelation. There has notbaen an exhibition of cultivated oratoricalart seen in either House, of Congress this session. Any brief resume of it would utterly fail in doing justice to it. She sketched out m a doien concise sentences the struggle for human liberty since the Magna Charta, and aeked the Committee to report a bill to the House referring the rights of women to the Legislatures oftbfc various States. " Suffrage," she said in closing, "needs woman to-day far more than woman needs suffrage. Look at the condition of municipal affairs in New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati. Safety from the dangerous classes is found only in the home vote— and the home votw is the woman vote " Taken altogether, th« occasion was as interesting a3 it was remarkable; and the real pity is that such a speech as Mrs Eastman's was not made before the full House, instead of the members <»f a Committee.