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The Demand for Enfranchisement.
" Why do women want the ballot ?" is a question often asked, "and why, can they not trust men to legislate for them? " This question seems conclusive to those who ask, as they think by it they have put women in an attitude of unfairness toward men, the majority of whom are very just toward women, up to a certain point.
In America, it is perfectly true, women who do not earn their own living, are not only better off than in other countries-they are better off than many men. This being the undeniable fact, it is no wonder that, to people who do not seek for causes, the conduct of the "shrieking sistehod" sIms utterly inexplicable. But these women have looked below the surface, and have ascertained one great fundamental fact, on which their demand is founded; namely, that no one class can be trusted to legislate for any other.
It is often said that universal sufferage is the bane of this country, and the governments of our large cities are quoted in support of this theory. But that accusation is another of the results of superficial thinking. The evil, which is only too justly complained of, arises from the presence of a large, illiterate population, to whom the idea of self government is entirely meaningless. But who is responsible for the low condition of these men ? In the countries whence they come, the educated and property holding classes have had their own way since the beginning of government, with resuits that we know but too well. In the south the educated men had their own way with the negro for many years,-and the lamentable condition of many parts of the south to-day is sufficient proof of the assertion that government by any privileged class, is not the best government. And the        
principal that rendered it unsafe to allow the rich to govern the poor, or the educated to make laws for the illiterate, apply with double force in the government of one sex by the other.
Before 1848 the women of this country were under the old common law of England-no married women could own the money she earned-it was possible for a man to refuse to support his family, to compel his wife to work for him and to collect her wages from her employer, to use as he saw fit. In Massachusetts, in the same year that Mrs. Stowe wrote "UncleTom's Cabin," a bill was passed empowering a married woman to receive ten per cent. of her wages. Mrs. Stowe was awarded ten thousand dollars for the copyright of her book; of this she received ten dollars, the rest went to her husband. Although Mrs Stowe made a large fortune she could not make a will in Connecticut, providing for her children, because her husband would not give his consent. The law in that state was changed a few years ago. At present New York and Massachusetts are temporarily free from this iniquitous law. In Connecticut the law giving married women a right to their wages was, last year, revoked. The same thing may occur in the other state at any time.
The question of married women's right to their own property has been so widely discussed that it is not worth while to mention here more than two small points, less generally known.
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