To  that  effect  are  the  numerous  decisions  of  the  highest  courts
of  this  and  sister  States,  as  well  as  the  federal  courts,  and  we  know
of  none  to  the  contrary. Neither  on  principle  nor  legal  authority,
then,  do  we  think  the  question  one  open  to  discussion. Whether
or  not  a  large  number  of  men  and  women  ask  for  female  suffrage  —
whether  women  are  taxed  as  to  their  property,  or  pay  taxes,  or  not  —
are  considerations  of  very  minor  importance,  if  not  irrelevant. The
great  paramount  and  controlling  question  to  be  ever  kept  in  mind,
in  this  discussion  by  the  Convention  is,  is  it  so  clear  that  the  State


526  REVISED   RECORD. [Wednesday,

will  be  benefited,  and  so  benefited  that  we  are  called  upon  by  the
pressing  demands  of  the  State  to  undertake  an  experiment  so  revo-
lutionary in  its  character,  and  as  to  which  the  utmost  that  can  be
urged  is  that  the  effects  upon  the  State  and  nation  would  be  a  mat-
ter of  conjecture?

Shorn,  then,  of  all  irrelevant  matter,  the  precise  question  is,  not
whether  or  not  large  numbers  of  male  and  female  citizens  ask  for
it,  or  protest  against  it,  or  are  taxed  or  not,  but  is  it  for  the  benefit
of  the  State,  its  institutions,  and  all  its  citizens,  that  the  proposed
amendment  should  be  adopted?

Would  it  make  more  secure  the  stability  and  perpetuity  of  our
government  and  the  free  institutions  thereunder,  and  would  it
increase  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  citizens  of  the  State,
and  consquently  elevate  them  in  all  those  things  pertaining  to  the
good  order  and  obedience  to  law  which  the  State  expects  and  has
the  right  to  demand?

One  of  the  most  eminent,  and  we  think,  the  ablest,  advocate  of
female  suffrage  at  the  present  day,  with  great  fairness,  lays  down
the  proposition  that:  "The  advocates  of  female  suffrage  seek  to
change  the  relation  of  the  sexes  which  has  existed  since  the  founda-
tion of  the  earth."

Coming  from  such  a  source,  the  suffragists  must,  and  doubtless
do,  accept  the  declaration  with  its  full  import. 