hope you will do
this at no distant day. I hope you will not send my sister, the
honorable lady from Delaware, to the boy, Jo, to ask him to
define her position in the republic. I hope you will not bid any
of these women at home to ask ignorant men whether they may be
allowed to discharge their obligations as citizens in the matter
of suffrage. I hope you will not put your wives and mothers in
the power of men who have never given a half hour's consideration
to the subject of government, and who are wholly unfit to
exercise their judgment as to whether women should have the right
of suffrage.

I will not insult your common sense by bringing up the old
arguments as to whether we have the right to vote. I believe
every man of you knows we have that right--that our right to vote
is based upon the same authority as yours. I believe every man
understands that, according to the declaration and the
constitution, women should be allowed to exercise the right of
suffrage, and therefore it is not necessary for me to do more
than bear my testimony from the State of Connecticut, and tell
you that the women from the rank and file, the law-abiding women,
desire the ballot; not only that they desire it, but they mean
to have it. And to accomplish this result I need not remind you
that they will work year in and year out, that they will besiege
members of congress everywhere, and that they will come here year
after year asking you to protect them in their rights and to see
that justice is done in the republic. Therefore, for your own
peace, we hope you will not keep us waiting a long time. The fact
that some States have made, temporarily, some good laws, does not
weaken our demand upon you for the protection which the ballot
gives to every citizen. Our interests are still uncared for, and
we do not wish to be thus sent from pillar to post to get our
rights. We wish to take our stand as citizens of the United
States, as we have been declared to be by the Supreme Court, and
we wish to be protected in the rights of citizenship. We hope the
day is at hand when our prayers will be heard by you. Let us have
at an early day in the _Congressional Record_, a report of the
proceedings of this committee, and the action of the Senate in
favor of woman's right to v