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^ 165 21 september 1897 ••••••••• 67 • ECS to Clara Bewick Colby, with Enclosures [New York, c. 21 September 1897] Dear Clara Dont fail to read this letter & present these resolutions at the Nebraska convention & publish both in The Woman’s Tribune before you go. 1 I have talked to many leading men this summer & find them all in favor of an educational qualification & hope that women will take the lead in the agitation. Y AL possibly incomplete,Clara B.Colby Papers,Archives Division,WHi.Page struck out when enclosure given to typographers. First Enclosure 26 West 61st N.Y. Sept 21st [1897] Dear Mrs Colby, I send you a copy of the resolutions I shall try to have passed at every state convention & at our fiftieth anniversary if possible The greatest block in the way of woman suffrage to day, is the fear of the ignorant vote. They say to extend suffrage to woman is to double the ignorant vote, already so large that it threatens to swamp our free institutions . The most speedy way to limit the ignorant vote is to require an educational qualification. To this end we should demand that after the dawn of the next century, no one shall be permitted to exercise the right of suffrage unless they can read & write the English language intelligently.This would lengeth the way from the steerage to the polls, as it would take the ordinary foreigner at least five years, to acquire this knowledge, & stimulate our native population to prepare themselves early for citizenship.The boys in the streets would say to each other, you better go to school or you cannot vote when you are twenty one. Those who prize this right would be willing to work, in order to secure it. 166 & 21 september 1897 An educational qualification being an attainable one in in no way conflicts with our cherished idea of universal suffrage. We say now the voter must be twenty one before he can exercise this right, it is equally just & logical to say that he must read & write, intelligence is quite as important as years. The women of this nation should take the lead in this important reform. As they have no party ties nor official positions to lose they are in a position free nfreep to advocate vital principles in government. When our fathers made haste to establish free schools, they saw the importance of educated citizens in a republic Moreover as women have no choice in their laws or lawmakers, they have at least the right to demand that their rulers shall be able to read & write What an anomaly it is in a Republic that a large class of citizens, representing the virtue & intelligence, the wealth & position of the nation should be under the heels of the ignorant masses, foreign & native In all national conflicts nit was consideredp the most grievous accident of war, was for the native population should be left under a foreign yoke, yet that is the position of our educated women to day. The teachers in schools Professors in colleges, Lawyers, Doctors, Editors, ordained ministers, all wear a foreign yoke. Our Judges, Jurors, legislators, are foreigners so are our policemen who patrol the streets at night A girl of sixteen running for a physician for a dying father, & a woman accoucher hastening to her patient at midnight were both arrested & kept in the station house all night Although they protested & told the importance of their errands, the npolicemenp laughed in their faces & said “they had heard such excuses before, women had no business to be in the streets at night” It seems these women had very important business. Laws denying women the freedom of the city at night are an insult to the whole sex, & the excuse for such laws are  isas ridiculous as oppressive 2 Suppose a disreputable woman assaults a good man, has he not the strength in ordinary cases to push her aside & run home? Why deny freedom to all good women on errands of mercy, at night to protect men, when they are abundantly able to protect themselves. This is one of the penalties of disfranchisement, under a foreign yoke. It is truly lamentable to see the apathy with which women submit to to such indignities. Must each one of us, feel the iron teeth of the law in our own flesh before we can be roused to rebellion. It is absolutely necessary for the safety of the republic as well as ourselves that the educated women [3.145.119.199] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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