effort made by many women and men of
excellent standing in the community to induce
our Constitutional Convention to strike out the word
“male” from the State Constitution, and thus to put
the two sexes upon a footing of political equality, has given the question of woman suffrage an unusual prominence. It is probable that if the people of the Empire State assented to so radical an innovation, the movement would receive a powerful impulse throughout the country, and have a chance of success where at present it appears hopeless. The action of this State is therefore likely to be of great influence far beyond its boundaries. It must also be admitted that in the public discussions of this subject now taking place the women who advocate woman suffrage have in some respects a decided advantage over their sisters who oppose it. The foremost among the female champions of “the cause” do not shrink from appearing upon the public stage; they are mostly “accustomed to public speaking,” and speak well; and they are able to turn to their advantage a good many of those catch phrases taken as political axioms by our people in revolutionary times, or on occasions of self-glorification, although those phrase were never intended to carry the meaning which the woman suffragists now give them. Still, they make captivating battle-cries, and are used sometimes with effect. On the other hand, the women who oppose woman suffrage, and who believe that the circle of the duties of woman centers in the family, and that she should not permit herself to be unnecessarily drawn into publicity, are by their very principles debarred from demonstrative public manifestations of their views. The “campaign” is therefore, so far as their aggressive vigor and their argumentative vocabulary are concerned, strongly in favor of the woman-suffragists.
But in another respect they find a difficulty in
their way which gives their opponents a decided
advantage. There was a time when the American people
flattered themselves with the pleasing thought
that they had succeeded in finally solving the problem
of democratic government. The public mind is
no longer in this state of self-congratulation. The
number of American citizens who are much troubled
by the miscarriages of democratic government in the
nation, in the States, and especially in our municipalities, is very large and constantly growing. We do not believe that many of them would seriously think of substituting for the present form of government another form not democratic. But we are very sure, the idea that the evils we now complain of can be cured by further extensions of the suffrage, is, after the experiences we have had, entertained by but very few, if any, thinking men. On the contrary, the belief is fast gaining ground that in the democratization of our institutions by enlargements of the suffrage we have gone fully as far as the safety of the republic will warrant, and that it is much more advisable to sift the body of voters by educational requirements and the like, than to expand it by indiscriminating additions.
The advocates of woman suffrage are certainly
entitled to great respect, and there is much force in
many of their arguments. When a woman of high
character and culture asks us why she should not
have the right to vote while a plantation negro or an
immigrant knowing nothing of American institutions
or of the English language has that right, the
appeal to our sympathies is very strong. But calm
reason tells us that, after all, the highly educated
woman and the plantation negro and the ignorant
man from abroad do not stand upon the same level
of comparison. If woman suffrage meant only the
enfranchisement of the women of high character and
good education, there would be little opposition among
the men, provided such women actually desired the
ballot. But the introduction of woman suffrage
means also the enfranchisement of those classes of
women who correspond in character and education
to the plantation negro and the ignorant immigrant. And now, admitting that among the men enjoying the right to vote there are very many whose mental and moral fitness for the exercise of political privileges is at least doubtful, the question arises whether it would be wise to increase in so sweeping a manner, as it would be done by the general enfranchisement of woman, the proportion of persons of doubtful fitness in the voting body.