Woman Suffrage—Cui Bono? [pp. 156-165]

WOMAN SUFFRAGE-CUI BONO?
WOMAN SUFFRAGE-CUI BONO?
VERY new project must expect to
be assailed with the prudent, utilitarian interrogatory, Cui bono?- what
good will it do? A scheme involving such
grave interests as that of woman suffrage, can be, by no means, an exception
to the rule. Confining ourselves to prescribed limits, it is impossible, in the
discussion of a subject so broad, to do
more than touch a headland here and
there. The brisk reconnaissance, not
the patient siege, is the plan contemplated. We shall indicate and suggest,
rather than explore and exhaust.
The greatest good to the greatest
number should be the inspiration and
principle of all human law. It does not,
however, follow, that what is really good,
and what is earnestly coveted, are necessarily identical. The good and the true
are one, and truth is eternal; and amid
the perplexing discussions and opinions
in regard to political economy, it is comforting to remember that truth or error,
justice or injustice, are in no way dependent upon our own interpretation of
them. No amount of legislation can
convert falsehood into truth, nor pervert
truth into falsehood. The ballot can
never transmute right into wrong, nor
wrong into right; these are inherent in
the very nature of things, and human
law seeks in vain to ignore or defy them.
They are not to be trifled with. Happy
the nation or the individual who discovers these truths, and yields cheerful obedience to the same. Civilization is but
another mode of expressing a wise and
reverent compliance with Nature's laws.
Mill expresses it another way when he
says, "Improvement consists in bringing our opinions into nearer agreement
with facts."
We live in stirring times, in the midst
of changes- religious, intellectual, social, and political. Questions profoundly
suggestive and perplexing are constantly
presenting themselves. Men and women
engaged in a hand-to - hand tussle with
life, have little time for carefully considering the pro's and con's of these agitating
topics. Conscientious, truth-loving, and
progressive, they would fain throw their
influence in the way of righteous reform;
and fearful lest an undue reverence for
the old may stand in the way of the new,
they often silence real conviction, and suffer themselves to be equipped with readymade arguments and motives. They
yield to the popular and the plausible,
for lack of opportunity to study and decide for themselves.
Whether or not suffrage is woman's
inalienable right, is a question we do not
now propose to discuss. That which is
inalienable is incapable of being put off or
transferred to another; and the political
Governments of the world would seem to
contradict the statement, that suffrage is
an inalienable right, even for man. That
woman, under our own Constitution, has
the right to vote, we are neither prepared
nor disposed to deny. We are not aware
that there is any thing in the Constitution
prohibiting her from digging trenches,
throwing up fortifications, leading armies, manning ships, building railroads,
constructing steam-engines, or butchering sheep; but, somehow, we have always been content to leave the monopoly of this kind of work to men, satisfied
to pursue avocations more in consonance
with feminine tastes and predilections.
We are clamorous neither for equality of
labor nor excess of it, and would exultantly second, by word and deed, every
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