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FkM : OriirH, Fa" Pkms, Fre -1E6ruc.
VOLUME XL NO, .0.
PORTLAND, OREGON, THURSDAY,1 NOVEMBER; 10,1$81.
PfJILVYEAR $3 00.
--
THE pXHHL VTURE OF AVA81UN(JTQ
v ' ".' . I ' , r-." - i i '. '-avj...; :
THE STHLWLE WltlflIE WOMAN ttt'E8TIOJf A
. " SUFFRAGE B!I.t PARSES Til IT HOUSE, Bt'T
- I IUCKEAtED IN THE COL'NCILr '
THE RERlOR EDITOR MAKING WEEOUE IIEI.F (ir..V
TLEMKK HOlB rR TH. V?rrRE KKLrTION
--Lk -VAIK)T-ED MY KIEJnH or r(EEI01l
kvlouIk akd criticimrh. ' '
.Olymma November 7, 1W1.
"To th a Kra ntcwi or th a N ew North wkmtu
' The all-absorbing topic since our last has been,
a before, the omnipresent and Irrepressible wom
an question which, like Banquo's ghost, will
down at nobody's bidding. , . ' . '
Such solons of the aristocracy ot sex as, have
been chosep to represent the great body of voters
at the Territorial Capitol during the presenrses
slon declded,Iast week that they could' not permit
a member of the unrepresented class to-juldress
them while Tn official' order, lest by so doing they,
should seriously compromise their dignity ; but
they found a graceful way out of the difficulty by
jt little "adroit maneuvering,1 which was almost
feminine 1n Its 'cutehess; for they decided to ad
journ and let the women's cause be heard on the
.floor of the representatives' hall while outside of
"Ihelr nfflnUl environment- ,; .' .,' . ' "
" The welcome news of this decision reached the
undersigned at nightfall on Tuesday, the 1st Inst.
-No time was to be lost as the hour for the argu
ment Was placed at 3 o'clock P. M. on the dayToT
loWing, and the ladles of . Olympia must be
apprised of It, in order that they could muster
their forces at the appointed season. Ho we ap
pealed to our. good- friend Murphy, of the Stand
ard, who consented to print and circulate some
"dodgers" by 10 o'clock on the morning of the day
of the hearing, and he did his work well.
- A large crowd was-assembled promptly at the
hour designated, among them the Honbrables of
both Houses, the Governor",' the Territbrial Secre
tary ,'aud a host of other prominent gentlemen, ac
companied by wives and daughters" and lady
rcry en me u e la creme of fashionable
society.
The Legislature listened for a little' while .to a
"statement of, account" from Rev. IV 8. Knight
(an "outsider'! frqm Oregon, but a member of the
arIstocracy of sexAiul then adjourned- to hear an
'argument froqi a woman. We were becomingly
iLlhankfuLforJiieJfajforaslwel! OhehpnojLcqn
ferred, and, after a respectful introduction by the
Honorable Speaker of-the Houser we proceeded to
address the law-makers, who graciously accorded
our'hnrable effort the closest attention.-; -'"trAfter
briefly "explaining the basis of woman's
plea for enfranchisement-1 a plea which Is not'
. new to our readers and need., not be repeated
here we proceeded to discuss the objections urged
by Its opponents. . ; ' ,.
The declaration that women do not wish to vote
was answered by the presentation of the following
1 1st of - naraeSr-selected-liu rriedlyr at Tandom,'nd
without previous Intention,' from the thousands of
Washington Territory ladies who have from, time
..io 1 1 me d uring the past two years im port u nedji s
..personally, through friends, or by letter," to repre
r sent them in this manner during the present ses
sion : Mesdames Brents, Caton Vawter, Lacy,'
Mix, Stewart, Gilliam, Hay ward, Crawford,,
Keyes, Painter, Hansford and Cannon, of Walla
.Walla county; Eckler,' Day, Dayton, Gibson,'
Belcher, Steen, Hendetshott, Burke and Torrence,
of Columbia; Wolfard, Smith, Beach, Sullivan,
Renshaw, Davenport and James, of Whitman;
Still, Mount, Range, Stoughton, Sweltzer, Payne,
' Bybee, Meacham, Everest, Muzzy, McEerrin and
Warner, of Spokan; Whipple, Daniels, Stewart,
Brown, DeLay, Adams and Maxon, of Clark;
ITmoreTTJuTnjaTprjhap
Klickitat; Durgan, Ballard, Vansycle, Thomas,
Morgan and Nelson, of Yakima; Rogers, Barlow
and Chllberg, of Pierce; Hamilton, Moffett, Jones
and Jewett, of Skamania; Loomls, Clark, .Wirt,
Pike and Woodruff, of Pacific Sylvester, Brown,
Dobbins, Hale, Sbelton, Stuart, Smith, Henry,
Barnes, Blinn, Munson, Murphy and Manning, of
Thurston; and Lewis, George, Weed, Damon,
Smith, Yesler, Hall and Drlggs, of King county.
These, we explained, were not 'toothless old
maids," "divorced or dlscon ten ted wl ves," or
women Who were quarreling with their Maker
because- they - were not t treated men?- as had
been charged. They were In every case women of
Integrity, Intelligence and character. , A few were
young ladies, but the majority were wives and
mothers of good and true men women who had
learned that "governments derive their Just pow
ers from the consent of the governed." Many of
them were heavy tax-payers, and all were as
genial and Jolly and comfortable looking as their
OVUiauifiail.' ThPj weitdeiuandhigUig
ballorroreiame f reaoahatTtt.Tj?airA:aaaQf
demanded It; for the samereason that General
Washington fought for It ; hot because any body
.-iff- : ' ' " .-f- i
is abuHing theoi inersonlniyTbut becausiltTs Jthelr 1
right ; because "taxation without, representatlonfor the Goddess of Liberty haJJin 'nchalned
Is tyranny," and "reslstanca to tyranny isobedl--ence
eo-God.J' The "neglect'the home" argument,
he "if they vote they must flght" fallacy, the
""men would cease to love 'em"r nonsense, the
."bad'woman" cry, and every other objection pat
forward by silly voters in hostile' array against ;
common sense and simple Justice, received atten
tion In Its turn. Then came an appeal to the pa- '
triotlsm and pride of the solons They were urged
lbTpficeWahl ngtoji JnTihirieadlinihlirmlgbty.!
work ; to place Upon her brow the crown of glory
that belongs to her as the namesake of the Father
of his Country; to make her. the Mother of her
Country and the standard-bearer of equal rights
for all coming time. -
The concluding speech, by Mr.,W. H. White, a
lawyer from Seattle, who was Joudly called for,
was one of the happiest outbursts. of patriotic ora
tory we have ever heanfln halls'of legislation..
He was a native of the Pan Handle portion of Vir
ginia, where, prior to the clvljl war, noman dared
to say that slavery was wrong. He had watched
the growth of ideas In that part of our common
country, where slavery had blighted the other'
wise clear perceptions of men until the devasta
tions and carnage of bloody combat had beennec-.
,eary tojronvince'tlVemtbaTgijt was not. the
only right. . He was a Democrat, and he appealed
to Democrats to take the lead in the Woman Suf-
irage movement ana relieve ine moaners oi inei jinot,t. That ourthnk r da i Mmn. Allen,
lAngl8ax6nTfaceronTthe
J'rwl,hat-gopiThelnipuUtlon caat upon the
Howie hy ih eum-nt tory that It members Ev our llb
rrly bht ii majority vot on purpoa to eIy the Council
chance to defeat It la not true, sa It la an sc. of moral turpi
tude unworthy of the aoniof women.
riority enforced upon them by Republican rule.
His remarks created Intense enthusiasm, In the
nildst of which the meeting adjourned.- 1 ,
The Assembly the next day took up House Bill
No. TO, entitled, "An Act to Confer the Right of
Suffrage upon Woman Citizens ;" and, to the sur
prise and Joy of every lnver of Justice Inllie land,
It passed without debate. The vote stooI 13 to 11.
Tlie sol on s adjourned Immediately after, -and gen
eral congratulations were exchanged on all sides.
But after this came the tug of war The hosts
of rum got frightened, and, emerging from their
den,-besiegeu certain members of the Council
and Inspired them to kill the bill. s They, button
holed them in dark places, and treated them be
hind screens. Those of them who did not drlnkS
to exceis, but were weak In all things else save
tyranny, were Instructed to-4say- nothing but
stand by their rights !" And men whom women
are taxed to'sustain in office clung tenaciously to
mond, Itcea, Hmltb of Klngv Hmltb of Whitman, Hleri Snd
Taylor, of the Houae, and to Meaara.. Calhoun, Kvana,
Kerna, Hharpteln and Mr. Prealdent, of the Council, for
their affirmative .votea on the Woman HufTnue bill and
their manly defenae of our cauae upon flMra where we are
denied representation. ? t
Rrtolrrd, That we will watch with Interest and hol.rour-
aelvea ready to acknowledve with gratitude any future
leKlalatlve action that may bajiten our enfranchisement,
and will gladly Includv the name; of all the. members of
both Houses In oar next resolutions of thanks 'If they will
join the noble company of those sona of women who are
not afraid to entrunt their mothers with the sacred boon
of liberty. z '.. . .-
, . . '. f '
The adoption of the resolutions evoked the
heartiest applause, ana was followed by an houi'a
address from your correspondent. 7 , "
f Tlien came a thrilling speech from Mr. W. H.
Whlteln which that gentleman proclaimed that
the saloon power w behind the solons who were
voting against the suffrage bill. lie hal heard
women shame(ully slandered by the venders and
their masculine prerogative of dogged obstinacy,
exemplified In a silent negation, for which they
attempted to give ho reason except that they were
"agin equal rights!".. An. excuse was -made for
some of them" by .their well-meaning apologists,"
who said that a certain lloerty-lovlng girl had
offended them by a little plain truth, when flat
tery would have succeeded better; but the honor
able opppnents disclaimed the allegation, and we
cheerfully accord them the benefit of their denial.
It was all In vain, when the bill came up for
final action, that Hon. El wood Evans made an
appeal which would have electrified an English
House of Lords or thrilled a United States Senate.
Never have1 we heard a better speech, and never
did true womanhood .have-greater cause to honor
the truerlendHhlp of -a noble champion of simple I
Justice than . on that memorable Saturday morn
ing, when, in the midst of the Autumnal equinox
and under the general lamentations of the lower-,
lng heavens, Mr. Evans stood up In the Couucll
Chamber and fearlessly bombarded the dead Walls
of obstinacy and tyranny-with the logic that la
begotten of comprehension and the eloquence that
Is born of liberty.- He had appreclatlve'VIIJes on
thafloor," too ; noble champions of the right, who
like himself Were ready and willing to vote with
the minority and freedom rather than the major
ity arnHrppression. :
The opposition did not open Its mouth except
to say "No" when Its time: for arbitrary exercise
of power came." And yet among the seven oppos
ing members were a majority, at least, who are
men gf" brains and principle, who would gladly
have voted for equal rights for women if they had
been Just a little braver. xThelr excuse was that
their "voting constituents had not Instructed
them on the question," and their" mistake con
sisted In supposing they were sent there as ma
chines Instead of men a mistake which a little
more public experience ("will.", doubtless rectify; "
ThebilLwaslost byla maJorJtyj5fjtwpxandjhe
friends of Justice retreated for a season, to plan
new devices for storming the strongholds of
prejudice and tyranny , and lay new wires for
reaching the understanding of every law-maker
who Is an enemyr ... ' ':' "
keepfng"with the fitness of things we vaald, that
the heavens should enshroud themselves In mourn
lng and make the air resound with Utmentatlons,
anew In the hands if her.captors and all the hosts
oi nernppresROTs were giau. - .
Jdrs. C-E. Sylvester then cameforward with
the following resolutions; which were offered amid
marked silence and unanimously adopted without
debate: " ' --
Wherear. The llberty-lpvlng women of Washington Ter
ritory have been looking with longing eyea and waiting
wlih hopeful hearts for an affirmative vote In the Leglxla
ture upon House BlH.No.7U. to confer jhe elective franchise
upon ithewiutr-'";-.!-.'' ',' ,
Whereas, W are doomed to a temporary defoaithrough
a tie vote on Joint ballot of the two Houses; and.
Whereas, We are more than ever convinced that the
bralna of the voting power are on our side and cannot long
remain In a numerical minority ; therefore,
TfwWivvf, That we will gird on anew the armor of free
dom, and press on with fresh, courses In our endeavor to
awaken the understanding of our opponentsln the full be
lief that they will yet be ble to comprehend the plain
principles of Juntlcelhal andertle a government that ought
to be, but Is not, oj the pnfle and by the people,
Heioleed, That we will be dlseoiiraged by no defeat and
dUbeartened by no repulse.for our cauae la Just,and all the
hoatf'of tyranny abaA not prevail against It
Jieaotreit, That thr negative vote of. a claaa of men who
have no other reason to offer for ao flagrant a violation of
the laws of liberty and Justloe than "because t takes from
woman the ttttma of obstinacy and makea man an unrea-.
son lng animal In her stfiaA
men.ln the saloons urgingmerabersof the Council
to ttaiul flrm agnitutt woman's rights f His ex
coriation was one of the most spirited outbursts of
imiignation td whlchwe have ever listened. The
sympathy of the audience was with him, and he
retired amid prolonged cheers. 7 '"
"Miss Mary Shelton was then called for, and
coming forwardjproceedtHrto make her maiden
speech This young lady has a fine physique and
commanding presence and will, with a little ex
perience, make a'flrst-rate speaker. She said she
had ben d that she had spoken too plainly io
members of the Council, and had not usetl suffi
cient tact In canvassing her theme ttefore the1 men,
who make laws for women. If so, she was. sorry.
She had not meant to offend anybody. - She had
said to some of the members that she "knew more
than they djd.1' This was a fact, and she was
sorry it was trukl Great applause. All the
points In her brief address were logical and well
taken.' We know of no young man whose first
effort could equal h JjrHibJNhreaklngr-and
shall watch bef figure growth as a platform worker
with great Interest. , '
A little diversion was created at the close of the
meeting, by a paragraph from the Transcript, In
which Its. editor, "Mr. Gunn, had alluded to the
undersigned as an "advocate of the cause of her
d6wnroddenace7'elirvlledlh
If In the half, to come forward, and we'd put the
question to a vote of the audience as to which
looked the more "down-trodden," he or ourself.
It was a pity he wasn't there. If he had been,
or, rather, If he would go anywhere that "refined
and talented" women go, he wouldn't make such
blunders. But we charitably pass him by. '
The meeting adjourned amid great enthusiasm.
and the frleuds of liberty went to work to frame.
another Woman Suffrage bill.
Thls letter Is too 4ong topermltof further bf
servatlons upon current events.. Olympia, her
society, her' business, her hopes and prospects,
and the jtrrsonnrl of Legislators and other Hon-
orabies, will form a theme for our next letter, for
which our readers may look nextVeek., '
' . ' ' ' A. 8. I).
-,The Eugene city journal, in noticing the re
turn of Mrs. J. C. Hawthorne and . children from
An announcement for a Woman Suffrage meet
ing In the evening at Columbia Hall brought out a
larfra aitid lntlllirint aiu1lnst i h mil irli s A el I n tr
bUiuii yui irilJmmTTWTilnTrigTJ Asylumior lbe Jjiaajieat East . l!prtlandy an long
orderwnrairrote JIilAT I'j'Jl"'?
IhaEastern States, mentions the fact that she "is
carrying on without an material change the
The Grand Jury of this county speaks in exceed
ingly complimentary, terms or the manner in
which the Institution Is conducted. . -v
TH E PEN DINGAM EN DM ENT.
ADpRKSS OK J.' I. COLXIN8, OK PAI.LAS. BEKt)KE
THE OKKOON HTATE WOMAN BUK-
'KACJE AHHOC'IATIuX
Mr. JTetMlent, Laats,nn(t Uetulemen:l am
sorry that I have been called ;upon to address you .
this even I ng Jest what I shall say may In some
measure distract" your attention from what" has
been so ably and so well said by the gentlemen
who have preceded me 'and especially dp I besl-
Uterlt you may lose some part of the excellent "';rr
and eloquent address of Hon. Wm. Lloyd Garrl- ' t
son, Jr., who has Just taken his seat a gentleman
who Inherits a name that has long been watch
word, of liberty and progress throughout this
country. The hour Is wearing late, and you are
weary ; therefore, I must very much abbreviate
whatl wpuld like to say to you. --
At the, fast session of our State Legislature, a -resolution
was passed proposing an amendment
to the Constitution of this State, to the effect that
"the elective franchise In this State shall not
hereafter be prohibited to any citizen on account
of sex." The question was raised and discussed '
in the -Legislature and elsewhere, as to whether
this amendment to the Constitution would Itself .
be constitutional under the Article XVlI., on the
subject of amendments. ,r "
This la not a question tof the display, of oratory.
or eloquence, and It Is one that will be difficult to
laLjoaa..ta:iwattractlvMoouljcan.qnly
give you a few of - the broad, general and liberal -
rules and principles for the construction of consti
tutions and statutes,, with a mere salnple of thetlr.
application to the subject, and leave you to com-
plete the argument t your leisure. tThe article
of our Constitution on the subject of amendments -is
as follows: " T
ARTICLE XVII AMBRDMEifTS.
Hectlnn I. Any amendment or amendments to this Con.
at It ut Ion may be proposed In either branch of the legisla
tive assembly, and tt the same shall be agreed to by a mn
Jonty of all the members elected to each of the two Houses, ,
such proposed amendment or amendments shall, with the
yeaaand nays thereon, be entered on their Journals, and
jtefjirred to the legislative assembly to be chosen at the next
general election and If, In (he legislative assembly so next
fMSoaeri-, such proposed amendment or amendments shall
be agreed to by a majority of all j.be members elected to
each House, then U shall be the duty of the lgUlatlve as
sembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the
electors of the Hlate, and cause the same to lie published
without delay at least four consecutive week tn swiral-
nMrrMtnra tint.llMhA.1 In IKIm tkimtm t m mi 1 9 m m f n a
.1.1 ..I M.l..l . 1. . I I r r- wi.
AttJjiajituuitMiuj.iji'wi1.jvujitHtJJVRJV .aaldJelarfora-ahall ralify-He-juunsvsuch amendmewtor-
amendments snaU bceonte a part of this Copntllutlon.
Hec 1 If two or more amendments ahall he submitted In
such manner that the electors shall vote for or against',
each -of such amendments separately j .and while an
amendment or amendments which shall have been agreed
upon by one legislative assembly, shall be awaiting the
aVtloh of a legislative assembly, nr of the electors, tio-addl-tlonal
amendment or amendments shall be proposed. '
Now, before we can Intelligently understand
the bearing of these provisions uon the proposed
amendmentrwe most first understand some of the
rules by which It should be Interpreted. At-the
request of "m' friend, Mrs. Dun I way, I have
looked Into the books, from whieh I have digested
a number of principles In relation to Interpreta
tion and construction, which I will state. L
. The obscurities, ambiguities and other defects
of expression," which may render, the sense of a -law
dubious, and all the other difficulties of under
standing aright and Justly applying the law,
oughf to be resolved by the sense that Is most
natural, that has the greatest relation to thejiub-
Ject, that la most-conformabhJ to the I ntentlon of
the "law-giver, and most, agreeable, to equity.
These are to be discovered by the nature of the
law under consideration, Its' motive, the relation
it bears to the other laws, and by every circum
stance and sound principle that will cast upon It
a sure and steady light, by whjch Its true spirit
ass a -w. ' A i" : V " ' a '
mat we may rignuy unuersianu tne sense of a
law, we ought to consider the words of It, Its mo
tives, Its objects, and the jwhole tenor of Its pre
scriptions, and not to limit Its sense by anything
different from Its Intention, either In another part
of the same law or instrument, or by any dicct
In its expression. We must prefer that which ap
pears to be evident from the spirit of the whole law,
If the words of a. Uw express clearly the sense
and Intention of It, we must hold to that. But If
the true sense of a law cannot be understood suffi
ciently by the mere reading of It, we must resort
to lntrrpretatlonaud construe tionto ascertain Its
true Intent And meaning f for the sole object of In-
s a a a m a '
terpretatlon Is to learn from the very law under
consideration, If possible, Its true Intent and
meaning; and the sole object of construction Is to
.from tJhn.law lUdfaod from other laws, '
and the surrounding facts, -history, and all the
conditions and circumstances connected with It,
what H really means, and 'what was Intended to
WaflpnghMtynrrtof
tloTTWthretlrmw-tTOLIDtd. Ills laid down
In the books as one' of the chief rules) for the7 con ,
Concluded on eighth page.
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