This letter to the editor, appearing on Page 3 in the April 12, 1899, Morning Guardian, argues that intelligent, law-abiding women be given the vote and illiterate, criminal men have their electoral powers taken away.
It is not clear whether the author, G. A. Clay, is a man or woman, but he or she certainly has strong opinions about the franchise issue and -- as was almost always the case when the topic of giving women the vote arose -- temperance.
The full text reads:
Editor's Mail: April 12, 1899, The Morning Guardian:
Men and Women.
Sir, — In contemplating the respective worth of men and women, and their value to society and civilization, the average person has always been ready to ascribe all honor and praise to the men, for their heroic deeds on the field of battle, for their persuasive eloquence by which they sway the multitude, and for their inventive genius by which they have, over and over again, revolutionized the different methods of production.
Women have been known to display marvelous feats of courage, and when their duty lay in the path of danger they are not inclined to shrink. In this connection I may be permitted to speak of Deborah, who urged a timid halting Barak to battle and went with him to successful war; of Esther who by one heroic act which involved the risk of her own life saved her nation from destruction; of Grace Darling who is still the heroine of a true story of rescue on the stormy coast of England; of Joan of Arc, who girded the French troops, repulsed the legions of Bedford and carried succor to a straitened garrison; and of Charlotte Corday who seemed the embodiment of courage in the grim tragedy which ended the life of Marat. Many other citations might be given. Still greater proof of women's courage and fidelity is to be seen on the broad mission fields wither she has gone, and is still going, to spread the light of truth and love among the benighted sons of men; and the fact that women have not participated in the great wars of the world, is a strong factor in her favor. War is a sphere which men have created for themselves.
Let us not fail to reflect on what women have achieved in the literary world. Does not "Uncle Tom's Cabin" stand unexcelled by any book of its kind? And did it not appeal to the common people, and thus shape the national character on the question of human slavery as no other power would do? And does not the name of its author and the names of Harriet Martineau, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, the Cary sisters and Mrs. Hemans, and many other female writers deserve to rank with almost any others that might be named? And yet it is claimed that women are unfit for the full privileges of citizenship; and claimed by those who enjoy those peculiar rights by reason of an accidental condition which even in their own sex is often unaccompanied by any special adornments apart from ignorance, bigotry, and greed. The writer is not in favor of universal women suffrage; that would be no improvement on present conditions. But the ideal system of franchise would appear to be one which would make the qualifications, not wealth or sex, but loyalty to existing law, and a certain standard of intelligence.
We boast of having extended the franchise: But it is not possible that by extending it to the hopelessly ignorant man, it has been extended too far? And by denying to the intelligent woman it has been too much limited? Here is a woman who feels a deep interest in the commonwealth, and has a good mental grasp of what the word "government" implies, and a fair knowledge of current events, and is capable of choosing between conflicting issues; and she is lawabiding, loyal to the laws in the making of which she has no voice. The other side of the picture is the officials in the polling booth helping Jim Blank mark his ballot. Jim can neither read, write, nor think intelligently. He has been twice fined for misdemeanor, and served two terms in the county jail. He knows nothing of the issues before the people, nothing about politics, in fact, in knowledge he is true to his name, he is a blank. And now the election official is helping him mark his ballot for the man who, during the campaign, bought his vote for a debauch on bad whiskey. It has frequently been urged that women are not constituted by nature for the great work of making laws. This we shall not attempt to deny. But shall be content to let history show, as it clearly does, that the slowness with which the councils of men have yielded to the claims of justice and the right, only proves them, above all things, to be endowed by nature with power or to hold tenaciously to every form of ancient barbarism. And when we look at present conditions, to say nothing of the past, and see over five hundred thousand saloons existing under the protection of men-made laws, in this North America, pouring forth their black streams for the creation of criminals, and then see the gallows, prepared by the same laws, for the criminals thus created, we must confess we are not over burdened with a sense of adoration. How have our Canadian rulers been dealing with this momentous question? By vacillation, by cowardice, by burking and shelving the question, by useless commissions of inquiry, by meaningless plebiscites, by laxity in the enforcement of existing laws. In all these ways they have shown a despicable subservience to the rum power, and have forfeited every claim to be votes of a Christian people. It is difficult to imagine a council of women who could so completely mock and delude a long-suffering nation. Intemperance is one great national sin; and by its debasing effects on the individual, it tends to destroy the national life, overthrow the church and shroud the world in ignorance and vice. Our hope of rescuing our country from the grasp of this foe, rests in our willingness to invest with legislative power those who will dare antagonize it. To this end let us have a cleaner and more intelligent electorate. Let us enfranchise all loyal and enlightened citizens irrespective of sex; and to disfranchise all who are known to be corrupt or illiterate, or who ruthlessly violate our country's law. Then with woman (who according to your recently published penitentiary statistics have so far exceeded the other sex in the matter of self control) exalted to her rightful place in the family of man, she can work side by side with the best men for the ushering in of the "good time coming, when right and might shall be the lord," and when the glorious destiny of which we dream shall be a grand reality.
Yours, very sincerely,
G. A. Clay
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