This Municipal Suffrage Bill was taken up again in May and passed the House on the 19th with an educational amendment: "Women who are able to read the constitution of Michigan in the English language." The vote was 57 ayes, 25 noes. On May 25 it was considered in the Senate and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of 18 ayes, 11 noes. Gov. John T. Rich affixed his signature May 27, and apparent victory was won after ten years of effort. Representative Newkirk and Senator Hopkins received the heartfelt gratitude of those for whom they had given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee meetings. The newspapers of the State were unanimous in expressing welcome to the new class of voters.

Mary L. Doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing municipal franchise leagues for the study of city government, and everywhere was met with eager interest. She left a league in every place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. Thus in conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various municipalities passed the summer and early autumn of 1893.

Mayor Pingree of Detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient additional number of registration books, but Edward H. Kennedy and Henry S. Potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against Hazen S. Pingree and the Common Council to restrain them from this extra purchase. Mary Stuart Coffin and Mary E. Burnett "countered" by filing a mandamus September 30, to compel the election commissioners to provide means for carrying out the law. As these were cases for testing the constitutionality of the law they were taken directly to the Supreme Court. They were set for argument October 10, at 2 P. M., but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till 4 o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three advocates on each side. Two of the women's lawyers, John B. Corliss and Henry A. Haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the first attorney, Col. John Atkinson.

A decision was rendered October 24, the mandamus denied and the injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters. Those who gave this decision were Chief Justice John W. McGrath and Justices Frank A. Hooker, John D. Long, Claudius B. Grant and Robert M. Montgomery.[337]

In spite of this Waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten years' struggle, in the various sessions of the Legislature, stood as champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory. Besides those already given are Lieut-Gov. Archibald Butters, Senators Edwin G. Fox, James D. Turnbull, Charles H. McGinley and C. J. Brundage, and Representative Fremont G. Chamberlain. In both Houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of woman's equality.

No further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but in 1895 George H. Waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the House a joint resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." This was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the enfranchisement of women if elected. Although the officers of the State association did not believe the time to be ripe for the submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. The resolution was lost by one vote.

This Legislature passed what was known as "the blanket charter act," in which the substitution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth class as to create a general disturbance. It resulted in an appeal to Attorney-General Fred A. Maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining the suffrage of women in those cities.

In 1897 the main efforts of the association were directed toward securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the State Asylums for the Insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and in the Home for the Feeble-Minded. These measures were both lost; but on April 15 Governor Pingree appointed Jane M. Kinney to the Board of Control of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac for a term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the Senate confirmed the appointment.

Interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns of 10,000 inhabitants or more, which this year became law.

In 1899 a bill was again introduced into the Legislature to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the insane, the Industrial Home for Girls, the Home for the Feeble-Minded, the School for Deaf Mutes and the School for the Blind. This measure had now enlisted the interest of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and many other organizations of women, and thousands of petitions were presented. Emma J. Rose led the work of the women's clubs in its behalf. It passed the Legislature and became a law.

LAWS: In 1885 a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women must furnish seats for them; in 1889 that no girl under fifteen years of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period than fifty-four hours in a single week; in 1893 that no woman under twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment longer than sixty hours in any one week; in 1895 that no woman under twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[338]

A law enacted in 1897 prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a penalty for its violation.

Dower but not curtesy obtains. The widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her husband. She may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive reasonable support for one year. She is entitled to her apparel and ornaments and those of her husband, $250 worth of his household furniture and $200 worth of his other personal property, which she may select. If he die without a will and there are no children she inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all debts are paid, does not exceed $1,000. If there is excess of this it is distributed like real estate. This reservation is not made for the widower, but "no individual, under any circumstances, takes any larger interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased wife."

Where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or bequeath it as if she were "sole." The husband can not give full title to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower.

The wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband, but he may give to his wife her services rendered for another, whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for them in her own name. Damages for the loss of such services and society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. Her obligation to render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to support her. She can sue in her own name for personal injuries.

Husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal property owned by them jointly she is entitled to her share the same as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other proceedings.

A wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may form a business partnership with another. She can not become security.

All persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound mind, may submit differences to arbitration.

The father is legally entitled to the custody of the persons and education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections to the Probate Judge and appeal from his decision.

The husband must provide the necessities of life according to his station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. If she is deserted or non-supported, the Circuit Court of the county shall assign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real estate, which provision holds during their joint lives.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1895 a bill to raise the age from 14 to 18 was introduced in the Senate by Joseph R. McLaughlin. More than 10,000 persons petitioned for its passage, two similar bills having been introduced in the House. A hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committees, at which speeches were made by Senator and Mrs. McLaughlin, Clara A. Avery, Mrs. Andrew Howell, Dr. E. L. Shirley, the aged Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root. Mrs. Root also addressed the Legislature in Representative Hall. The bill was amended to 17 years and passed in the Senate. The next day, after its friends had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to 16 years, passing both Houses in this form. The penalty is imprisonment for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum penalty being named.

SUFFRAGE: When at the close of the Civil War the States eliminated the word "white" from their constitutions, Michigan in 1867 amended her School Law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for school trustees. In 1881 this law was further amended to include parents or guardians of children of school age. No woman can vote for county or State Superintendents, as these officers are provided for under the constitution. Tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and appropriations for school purposes.

The year of 1888 was marked by a test of the constitutionality of this School Law, which involved the right of the Legislature to confer any form of suffrage whatever upon women. The test was made through the prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of Flint by Mrs. Eva R. Belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being a qualified voter under the State law. Mrs. Belles won her case which was then appealed to the Supreme Court. This affirmed the decision of the lower court and sustained the law.

In May, 1893, the Legislature conferred Municipal Suffrage on women, but in October the Supreme Court decided it unconstitutional on the ground that "the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters." (See Legislative Action.) The Court held that it could, however, confer School Suffrage as "the whole primary school system is confided to the Legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the constitution." By this decision women can have no other form of the franchise except by constitutional amendment.

OFFICE HOLDING: Hundreds of women are serving as officers and members of school boards throughout the State, as township school inspectors and as county school commissioners and examiners.

A number are acting as deputy county clerks, and one as deputy clerk of the United States District Court. The latter frequently opens the court. Women serve as notaries public.

For thirty years women have filled the office of State Librarian, the present incumbent being Mary C. Spencer.

Dr. Harriet M. C. Stone has been for several years assistant physician in the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo.

The State Industrial School for Girls has two women on the Board of Guardians, one of whom, Allaseba M. Bliss, is the president and is serving her second term of four years, having been reappointed by Gov. Hazen S. Pingree.[339] Since 1899 the law requires women physicians in asylums for the insane and other State institutions where women and children are cared for.

In the autumn of 1898 Mrs. Merrie Hoover Abbott, law-partner in the firm of Abbott & Abbott of West Branch, was nominated on the Democratic ticket as prosecuting attorney of Ogemaw County. She was elected and entered upon her duties Jan. 1, 1899. Quo warranto proceedings were instituted by Attorney-General Horace M. Oren to test her right to the office, and October 17 the Supreme Court filed its opinion and entered judgment of ouster. In the meantime Mrs. Abbott had discharged successfully the duties of the position. The opinion was as follows: "Where the constitution in creating a public office is silent in regard to qualification to office, electors only are qualified to fill the same, and since under the constitution women are not electors, they are not eligible to hold such offices. The office of prosecuting attorney is a constitutional office which can only be held by one possessing the qualification of an elector."

From this opinion Justice Joseph B. Moore dissented, making an able argument. In closing he said:

The statutes of this State confer upon woman the right to practice law. She may represent her client in the most important litigation in all the courts, and no one can dispute her right. She may defend a person charged with murder. Can she not prosecute one charged with the larceny of a whip? To say she can not seems illogical.... Individuals may employ her and the courts must recognize her employment. If the people see fit, by electing her to an office the duties of which pertain almost wholly to the practice of the law, to employ her to represent them in their litigation, why should not the courts recognize the employment?... Where the constitution and the statutes are silent as to the qualification for a given office, the people may elect whom they will, if the person so elected is competent to discharge the duties of the office.... None of the duties of prosecuting attorney are of such a character as to preclude one from their performance simply because of sex.

Charles S. Abbott, Allen S. Morse and T. A. E. Weadock were the advocates for Mrs. Abbott, and she also made a strong oral argument in her own behalf. Unfortunately the case was not one which permitted an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden by law to women.

EDUCATION: All universities and colleges admit women. The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), one of the largest in the country, was among the first to open its doors to them. (1869.) Mrs. Lucinda Hinsdale Stone was a strong factor in securing their admission. In having women on its faculty, it is still in advance of most of those where co-education prevails.

In the public schools there are 3,471 men and 12,093 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $44.48; of the women, $35.35.

* * * * *

Michigan may truly be called the founder of Woman's Clubs, as the first one for purely literary culture of which we have any record was formed in Kalamazoo, in 1852, by Mrs. Stone, to whom the women of the State are deeply indebted in many ways. At present (1902) there are 133 in the General Federation with a membership of about 10,000, and a number are not federated. This State also leads all others in the number of women's club houses, ten of the leading clubs possessing their own. There are two of these in Grand Rapids—the St. Cecilia (musical) costing $53,000, and the Ladies' Literary costing $30,000, both containing fine libraries, large audience rooms and every convenience.

FOOTNOTES:

[330] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary L. Doe and Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs, both of Bay City and former presidents of the State Equal Suffrage Association.

[331] This year strong societies were formed in Detroit, Bay City and Battle Creek. Michigan sent three representatives, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root and Emily B. Ketcham, to the New England Woman Suffrage Bazaar held at Boston in December. Mr. and Mrs. Root had spent much time and money canvassing the State to arouse interest and secure contributions for this, and at its close New England gave to Michigan the total proceeds of her sales.

[332] Melvin A. Root presented at this convention a compact digest of The Legal Condition of Girls and Women in Michigan, which was published the following year. It has been used widely, not only in this but in other States, and has proved of inestimable service. A liberal gift of money came from the Hon. Delos A. Blodgett of Grand Rapids, a constant friend.

[333] See Chap. XVIII.

[334] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Clara B. Arthur; corresponding secretary, Alde L. T. Blake; recording secretary, Edith Frances Hall; treasurer, Martha Snyder Root; auditors, Margaret M. Huckins, Frances Ostrander; member national executive committee, Lenore Starker Bliss.

[335] Many petitions in favor of the bill had been sent unsolicited, this not being a part of the plan of work. After the quick defeat in the Senate it was found that the chairman of the committee to which these had been referred had on file the names of 5,502 petitioners (2,469 men, 3,033 women) out of twenty-one senatorial districts. These were in addition to many thousands sent in previous sessions, when petitioning had been a method of work.

[336] Although the Detroit women obtained the change in their law just before the spring election, they made a house to house canvass to secure registration and polled a vote of 2,700 women, electing Sophronia O. C. Parsons to the school board.

[337] It is interesting to note that in Wayne County women registered and attended primary meetings prior to this decision, but their votes were held not to invalidate the nominations, although at least one of the Judges of the Recorder's Court owed his election to being nominated through the votes of women.

[338] In April, 1896, a large number of the philanthropic women of Detroit, including many suffragists, organized the Protective Agency for Women and Children, opening an office in the Chamber of Commerce Building and employing an agent on salary. Since then it has done admirable work and has obtained some good legislation.

[339] Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs has been appointed (1901) a member of the Board of Control of the State Industrial School for Girls, by Gov. Aaron T. Bliss. [Eds.



CHAPTER XLVII.

MINNESOTA.[340]

The first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in Minnesota, and the first petitions to the Legislature to grant it, began immediately after the Civil War, through the efforts of Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns and Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, and the first suffrage societies were formed by these ladies in 1869. The work has continued with more or less regularity up to the present.

From 1883 to 1890 the State Suffrage Association held its annual meetings regularly in one or the other of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Mary A. Livermore, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles, Abigail Scott Duniway and other eminent advocates were secured as speakers at different times. Dr. Martha G. Ripley succeeded Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns as president in 1883, and was re-elected each year until 1889. She was followed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble for that year, and Dr. Mary Emery for 1890.

The association contributed toward sending Mrs. Julia B. Nelson to South Dakota to speak in the suffrage campaign of 1890. On November 18, 19, the State convention was held in St. Paul, Mrs. Stearns presiding. Mrs. Nelson was elected president. Among the speakers were Attorney-General Moses E. Clapp, the Reverends Mr. Vail and Mr. Morgan, Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. Priscilla M. Niles, Mrs. Ella Tremain Whitford and the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin.

In the autumn of 1891 the convention met at Blue Earth City. This place had not lost the savor of the salt which Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Phoebe W. Couzins had scattered in the vicinity thirteen years before, and the meetings were enthusiastic and well-attended. The Rev. W. K. Weaver was the principal speaker.

It was largely as the superintendent of franchise of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which was better organized, that Mrs. Nelson, president of the suffrage association from 1890 to 1896, was able to secure thousands of signatures to the petitions for the franchise which were sent to each Legislature during those years.

The meeting of 1892 took place at Hastings, September 6-8, and was welcomed by the Rev. Lewis Llewellyn. Letters were read from many noted people, and addresses given by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Stearns and several local speakers.

The convention met in Lake City, Aug. 24, 25, 1893, with the usual fine addresses, good music and representative audiences.

In 1894 Woman's Day was celebrated at the State Fair, its managers paying the speakers.

In the spring and autumn of 1895 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois and Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, national organizers, lectured throughout Minnesota and formed a number of clubs. They also attended the State convention, which was held in the Capitol at St. Paul, September 10, 11. Gov. D. M. Clough was among those who made addresses.

In 1896 the president, Mrs. Nelson, gave one month to lecturing and visiting societies.

In October, 1897, the acting president, Mrs. Concheta Ferris Lutz, made an extended lecture tour. The annual meeting convened at Minneapolis in November, at the same time as a conference of the officers of the National Association. All arrangements were made by Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Niles. The meetings in the First Baptist Church, one of the largest in the city, were very successful. On Sunday evening the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, preached in the Universalist Church, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, lectured in the Wesley M. E. Church, both to crowded houses. The next evening, when Miss Anthony, national president, and the latter spoke, every foot of standing ground was occupied, and on Tuesday, when Miss Shaw gave her lecture on The Fate of Republics, the church was equally well-filled.

Mrs. Nelson, after seven years' service, relinquished the office of president and Dr. Eaton was elected. Professional duties soon made it necessary for her to resign and her place was filled by Mrs. Lutz. Political equality clubs were formed in six different wards of Minneapolis by Dr. Eaton.

The convention of 1898 was called October 4, 5, at Minneapolis, with Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. The meetings were held in the G. A. R. Hall, the Masonic Temple and the Lyceum Theater. Mrs. Martha J. Thompson was elected president and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd corresponding secretary.

In 1899 the convention met in the court-house of Albert Lea, October 9, 10. On the first evening Mrs. Chapman Catt was the speaker, her theme being A True Democracy. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois lectured on The Crowning Race. Miss Laura A. Gregg and Miss Helen L. Kimber, both of Kansas, national organizers, gave reports of county conventions conducted by them throughout Minnesota, with the assistance of Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association. The records showed ninety-eight suffrage meetings altogether to have been held during the year.

In 1900 the convention took place at Stillwater, October 11, 12. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Maude C. Stockwell; vice-president, Mrs. Jennie E. Brown; corresponding secretary, Miss Delia O'Malley; recording secretary, Mrs. Maria B. Bryant; treasurer, Dr. Margaret Koch; auditors, Sanford Niles and Mrs. Estelle Way; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Martha J. Thompson.[341]

Judge J. B. and Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, C. W. and Mrs. Martha A. Dorsett have been among the oldest and most valued suffrage workers in the State. Miss Martha Scott Anderson, on the staff of the Minneapolis Journal, gives efficient help to the cause. Three presidents of the State W. C. T. U., Mesdames Harriet A. Hobart, Susanna M. D. Fry and Bessie Laythe Scoville have been noted as advocates of equal rights.[342]

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In February, 1891, at the request of Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president, and Mrs. A. T. Anderson, chairman of the executive committee of the State association, S. A. Stockwell introduced in the House a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage upon women. Mrs. Nelson spent several weeks at the capital looking after the petitions which came from all parts of the State, interviewing members of the Legislature, distributing literature and trying to get the bill out of the hands of the Committee on Elections, to which it had been referred. After repeated postponements a hearing finally was granted, at which she made a strong plea and showed the good results of woman suffrage in Kansas and Wyoming. The bill was indefinitely postponed in Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 52 yeas, 40 nays.

Among the leaflets placed on the desk of each member was one especially prepared by Mrs. Nelson, entitled Points on Municipal Suffrage. One of its twelve points was this: "If the Legislature has the power to restrict suffrage it certainly has the right to extend it. The Legislature of Minnesota restricted the suffrage which had been given to women by a constitutional amendment, when it granted to the city of St. Paul a charter taking the election of members of the school board entirely out of the hands of women by giving their appointment to the mayor, an officer elected by the votes of men only."[343]

Early in the session of 1893 Mrs. Nelson had a conference with Ignatius Donnelly, leader of the Populists, who was then in the Senate. He was willing to introduce a suffrage bill, but as the Republicans were in the majority it was thought best to have this done by John Day Smith, the leader of that party in the Senate. Mr. Smith consented, with the understanding that Mr. Donnelly should help by championing the bill. "Municipal Suffrage for women with educational qualifications," was all this bill asked for. Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Anna B. Turley and Senator Donnelly made addresses before the Judiciary Committee at a hearing in the Senate Chamber, with an interested audience present. Mrs. Nelson also gave an evening lecture here on The Road to Freedom.

In place of this bill one to submit an amendment to the voters was substituted. The suffragists were averse to this, but accepted it with the best grace possible, and enthusiastically worked for the new bill to amend the State constitution by striking the word "male" from the article restricting the suffrage. Senators Smith, Donnelly and Edwin E. Lommen spoke for the bill, and it passed the Senate by 31 yeas, 19 nays.

In the House it was persistently delayed by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, George H. Fletcher, and the friends could not get it upon the calendar in time to be reached unless it should be made a special order. Edward T. Young endeavored to have this done, but as there were several hundred other bills to be considered and less than three days of the session left, his motion was lost. On the last night, Mr. Young and H. P. Bjorge made an effort to have the rules suspended and the bill put upon its final passage. The vote on this motion was 54 yeas, 44 nays, but as a two-thirds vote is necessary it was lost. Speaker W. E. Lee voted with the affirmative.[344]

Three Suffrage Bills were introduced into the Legislature of 1895, two in the House and one in the Senate. The first, for an amendment to the State constitution, was offered by O. L. Brevig and was indefinitely postponed. S. T. Littleton presented the second, which was to give women a vote upon all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. This found favor in the eyes of the W. C. T. U., as did also the County Option Bill of J. F. Jacobson, but both were unsuccessful. George T. Barr introduced a Municipal Suffrage Bill into the Senate, but too late for it to be acted upon.

In 1897 Ignatius Donnelly secured the introduction of a bill to enfranchise taxpaying women. A hearing was given by the Judiciary Committee, at which Mrs. Nelson argued that in simple justice women who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure or be exempted from taxation, but the bill was not reported.

This year the State Federation of Clubs secured a resolution to submit an amendment to the electorate in 1898, giving women the privilege of voting for and serving on Library Boards.

In 1899 the Local Council of Women of Minneapolis obtained the Traveling Library Bill.

During this year no petitioning or legislative work was done by the suffragists. The previous legislature had submitted an amendment, which carried, providing that all amendments hereafter must receive a majority of the largest number of votes cast at an election, in order to be adopted. The precedent had been established in 1875 of requiring a vote of the electors on the granting of School Suffrage to women, and in 1898, of Library Suffrage, and it was held that the same would have to be done on granting Municipal or any other form of the franchise.

Dower and curtesy were abolished March 9, 1875. If either husband or wife die without a will, the survivor, if there is issue living, is entitled to the homestead for life and one-third of the rest of the real estate in fee-simple, or by such inferior tenure as the deceased was possessed of, but subject to its just proportion of the debts. If there are no descendants, the entire real estate goes absolutely to the survivor. The personal property follows the same rules. If either husband or wife has wilfully and without just cause deserted and lived separately from the other for the entire year immediately prior to his or her decease, such survivor shall not be entitled to any estate whatever in any of the lands of the deceased.

The estate of a child who dies without a will and leaves neither wife nor children, goes to the father; if he is dead, to the mother.

The wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the joinder of her husband. The husband can sell or mortgage all his real estate without her joinder, but subject to her dower. They are both free agents as to personal property.

If divorce is obtained for the adultery of the wife, her own real estate may be withheld from her, but not so in case of the husband.

In case of divorce, the court decides which parent is more fit for the guardianship of children under fourteen years of age; over fourteen, the child decides. Except when children are given to the mother by decree of court, the father is the legal guardian of their persons and property. He may appoint by will a guardian for a child, born or unborn, to the exclusion of the mother.

The husband must support the family according to his means. Failure to do so used to be considered a misdemeanor but it has recently been made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to three years unless he give bond for their maintenance. This is likely to be of little effect, however, because of the law of "privileged communications" which makes it impossible for the wife to testify against the husband.

In 1891 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years, after thousands of women had petitioned to have it raised to 18. If the child is under 10 years the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life; between 10 and 14 not less than seven nor more than thirty years; between 14 and 16 not less than one nor more than seven years, or it may be imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year.

SUFFRAGE: An amendment to the constitution was adopted in 1875, giving women a vote on all questions pertaining to the public schools. It being held afterward that this did not enable them to vote for county superintendents, an act for this purpose was passed by the Legislature in 1885. (!) The constitution was further amended by popular vote in 1898, granting to women the franchise for members of Library Boards, and making them eligible to hold any office pertaining to the management of libraries. On as harmless an amendment as this 43,600 men voted in the negative, but 71,704 voted in the affirmative; and it was adopted.

This was probably the last election at which any amendment whatever could have been carried; for, among four submitted in the same year, was one providing that thereafter no amendment could be adopted by merely a majority of those voting upon it, but that it must have a majority of the largest number of votes cast at that election.[345] None ever has been submitted which aroused sufficient interest to receive as large a vote of both affirmative and negative combined as was cast for the highest officer. Therefore in Minnesota it is impossible for women to obtain any further extension of the franchise. Their only hope for the full suffrage lies in the submission of an amendment to the Federal Constitution by Congress to the Legislatures of the various States.

OFFICE HOLDING: An act of 1887 declares that a woman shall retain the same legal existence and legal personality after marriage as before, and shall receive the same protection of all her rights as a woman which her husband does as a man; and for any injury sustained to her reputation, person or property, she shall have the same right to appeal, in her own name alone, to the courts for redress; but this act shall not confer upon the wife the right to vote or hold office, except as is otherwise provided by law. By a constitutional amendment adopted in 1875 women were made eligible to all offices pertaining to the public schools and to public libraries. They have served as State librarians.

Miss Jennie C. Crays was president of the Minneapolis school board for two years. There are forty-three women county superintendents at the present time, each having from 100 to 130 districts to visit. Women have served as clerks and treasurers of school districts.

A law of 1889 gave to women as well as men the powers of constables, sheriffs or police officers, as agents of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A law of 1891 enabled women to be appointed deputies in county offices.

Dr. Adele S. Hutchison is a member of the State Medical Board which examines physicians for license to practice. She was appointed by Gov. John Lind and is the first woman to hold such a position. Women can not sit on any other State boards.

There is no law requiring police matrons but they are employed in Minneapolis and St. Paul by the city charters.

The State hospitals for the insane are required by law to have women physicians. The steward's clerk in the State Institute for Defectives is a woman. The State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children has a matron, a woman agent and a woman clerk. The State Training School, once called the Reform School, has women for agent and secretary.

The State Prison has a matron for the eight women prisoners. There are about 500 men prisoners (1900).

The Bethany Home at Minneapolis was established by women in 1875, and is entirely officered by them. In 1900 it cared for 126 mothers and 226 infants, and had a kindergarten and a training school for nurses. The city hospitals send all their charity obstetrical cases here, and about half of its support comes from the city.

The Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children was founded by women in 1882, and until 1899 was entirely officered and managed by them.

The Maternity Hospital for unfortunate women was founded by Dr. Martha G. Ripley in 1888. In 1899 it cared for 103 mothers and 99 infants.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law. Women were admitted to the bar in 1877 by act of the Legislature. There are sixty-eight women doctors registered as in actual practice in the State. In Minneapolis there is an active Medical Women's Club of physicians of both schools. Women ministers are filling pulpits of Congregational, Universalist, Christian and Wesleyan Methodist churches, and the superintendent of the State Epworth League is a woman.

Women are especially conspicuous in farming, which is one of the greatest industries of the State.[346]

A number of women own and publish papers, and each of the large metropolitan dailies has one or more women on its staff.

EDUCATION: Women have been admitted to all departments of the State University since its foundation, and there are women professors and assistants in practically every department, including that of Political Science and the College of Engineering and Mechanic Arts. Of the four officers of the Department of Drawing and Industrial Art, three are women. The College of Medicine and Surgery also has women professors in every department, and women are on the faculty of the College of Dentistry.

The State School of Agriculture was established in the fall of 1888. In October, 1897, women were admitted to the regular course of study. In the Academic Department their class work is with the men, but instead of the especial branches of carpentry, blacksmithing and field work, they have sewing, cooking and laundering. They also have a department of home management, home economy, social culture, household art and domestic hygiene, Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith, preceptor.

All the other educational institutions are open to women, and the faculties of the Normal Schools are largely composed of women.

In the public schools there are 2,306 men and 9,811 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $46; of the women, $35.

* * * * *

The State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Lydia P. Williams, president, is in effect a suffrage kindergarten, many of its members working on committees of education, reciprocity, town and village improvements, household economics, legislation, etc.

In Minneapolis a stock company, capitalized at $80,000, is being formed to erect a club house for the women's societies.

The Local Council of Women of Minneapolis, organized 1892, is one of the strongest associations of the kind in the United States. During the past seven years it has been composed of nearly one hundred different organizations in the city, and now comprises twelve departments: reform and philanthropy, church, temperance, art, music, literature, patriotism, history, education, philosophy, social and civic. Honorary president, Mrs. T. B. Walker, acting president Mrs. A. E. Higbee, and corresponding secretary, Mrs. J. E. Woodford, are largely responsible for the success of the Council. (1900).

The School and Library Association was formed in 1899 at a meeting called by representatives of the Political Equality, the Business Women's, the Medical Women's and the Teachers' Clubs of Minneapolis. Eleven hundred signatures are required for the nomination of a member of the school board, but the women secured over 5,000 names on each petition for their candidates for school and library trustees, the largest one having 5,470. The association sent out dodgers with pictures and brief write-ups of the candidates, and also leaflets explaining to the women how to register and vote. Mrs. A. T. Anderson has been at the head of this work.

Women attend the conventions of the Prohibition and the People's parties as delegates, and are welcome speakers. Miss Eva McDonald (Valesh) was secretary of the Populist Executive Committee. Both Prohibitionists and Populists have passed woman suffrage resolutions in their State conventions. The Federation of Labor and the Grange have done the same.

FOOTNOTES:

[340] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Red Wing, who for twenty years has been the rock on which the effort for woman suffrage has been founded in this State. She acknowledges much assistance from Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Ethel E. Hurd, both of Minneapolis.

[341] Among the officers of the State association at different times have been Mesdames Harriet Armstrong, Sarah C. Brooks, S. P. T. Bryan, E. G. Bickmore, Fxine G. Bonwell, Annie W. Buell, Charlotte Bolles, Jessie Gray Cawley, E. L. Crockett, L. B. Castle and Hannah Egleston, Prof. S. A. Farnsworth, Mesdames Eleanor Fremont, Sarah M. Fletcher, May Dudley Greeley, Mary A. Hudson, Julia Huntington, Dr. Bessie Park Hames, Oliver Jones, Miss Anna M. Jones, Mrs. Charles T. Koehler, Miss Ruth Elise Kellogg, the Rev. George W. Lutz, Mrs. Julia Moore, William B. Reed, Mesdames Susie V. P. Root, Lottie Rowell, Antoinette B. St. Pierre, H. G. Selden, Miss Blanche Segur, Mesdames Martha Adams Thompson, T. F. Thurston, Mr. J. M. Underwood, Miss Emma N. Whitney, Mesdames Belle Wells, Roxana L. Wilson and Mattie B. Whitcomb.

[342] It would be impossible to name all of the men and women, in addition to those already mentioned, who have rendered valuable assistance. Among the more conspicuous are Miss Pearl Benham, Mesdames R. Coons, M. B. Critchett, J. A. Clifford, Edith M. Conant, Lydia H. Clark, Miss A. A. Connor, Mesdames Eliza A. Dutcher, L. F. Ferro, H. E. Gallinger, Doctors Chauncey Hobart, Mary G. Hood, Nettie C. Hall, Mesdames Norton H. Hemiup, Rosa Hazel, Julia A. Hunt, Doctors Phineas A. and Katherine U. Jewell, Mrs. Lucy Jones, Miss Eva Jones, Mesdames Leland, Kirkwood, A. D. Kingsley, V. J. D. Kearney, Frances P. Kimball, M. A. Luly, Viola Fuller Miner, Paul McKinstry, Jennie McSevany, the Rev. Hannah Mullenix, Mesdames E. J. M. Newcomb, Antoinette V. Nicholas, the Reverends Margaret Olmstead, Alice Ruth Palmer, Mesdames Pomeroy, E. A. Russell, D. C. Reed, the Rev. W. W. Satterlee, Mesdames Rebecca Smith, Abigail S. Strong, C. S. Soule, Anna Smallidge, M. A. Van Hoesen, Dr. Mary E. Whetstone, Mesdames L. May Wheeler, Sarah E. Wilson and E. N. Yearley.

[343] Mrs. Nelson published at this time, through financial aid from Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, a little paper for gratuitous distribution, called the Equal Rights Herald.

[344] This Legislature of 1893 provided for the adoption of a State Flag, and appointed a committee of women to select an appropriate design. At the request of a few women the Moccasin Blossom was made the State Flower by an act of the same Legislature, which was passed with great celerity.

[345] The vote on this was 69,760 for, and 32,881 against, a total of 102,641; yet the whole number of votes cast in that election of 1898 was 251,250. The amendment itself could not have been adopted if its own provisions had been required!

[346] The woman farmer turns up the soil with a gang-plow and rakes the hay, but not in the primitive fashion of Maud Muller. She is frequently seen "comin' through the rye," the wheat, the barley or the oats, enthroned on a twine-binder. The writer has this day seen a woman seated on a four-horse plow as contentedly as her city cousin might be in an automobile. Among the many plow-girls of Nobles County is Coris Young, a genuine American of Vermont ancestry, who has plowed 120 acres this season, making a record of eighty acres in thirteen days with five horses abreast.



CHAPTER XLVIII.

MISSISSIPPI.[347]

In 1884 the idea of an organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the "woman's cause" in Mississippi had not assumed tangible form, granting that even the audacious conception had found lodgment in the brain of any person. The nearest approach seems to have been a Woman's Press Club, which sprung into being about this time, but was short-lived, due to the fact, it is charged, that a little leaven of "woman's rights" having crept in, "the whole lump" was threatened.

To the Women's Christian Temperance Union the State is largely indebted for the existence of its Woman Suffrage Association, which was organized in Meridian, May 5, 1897, immediately upon the adjournment of a convention of the State W. C. T. U. The seed sown in 1895 by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and in 1897 by Miss Ella Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado, now produced a harvest of clubs, and resulted in a roster of friends in twenty-four towns. Mrs. Nellie M. Somerville was elected president of the association, and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson corresponding secretary.

The first annual convention was held in Greenville, March 29, 30, 1898. The second and third took place at Clarksdale, the former April 5, 6, 1899, and the latter in May, 1900.[348] At this meeting the report of the superintendent of press, Mrs. Butt, showed that twenty-two newspapers had opened their columns to suffrage articles. Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, were present, and the former gave an address to a large and sympathetic assemblage. She was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven other towns, among them Jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the House of Representatives. A work conference was held at Flora in September of this year.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The W. S. A. has not attempted any legislative work, other than the one effort made in 1900 to secure a bill providing for a woman physician at the State Hospital for the Insane. This was introduced and championed in the Senate by R. B. Campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation of a valuable pamphlet on The Legal Status of Mississippi Women). It passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the House.

The measure which provided for the State Industrial Institute and College for Women (white) was the conception of Mrs. Annie Coleman Peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, Judge S. R. Coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. It was sent to the Legislature as early as 1877, but was not at that time even considered. Mrs. Peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and succeeded in having it introduced in 1880 and in 1882, but it was twice defeated. By the time the Legislature convened in 1884, however, its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men and women of the State that the bill was passed at that session. Wiley P. Nash and Mac C. Martin were its earnest champions on the floor of the House; while Col. J. L. Power, the present Secretary of State, Major Jonas, of the Aberdeen Examiner, and Mrs. Olive A. Hastings were among the ablest coadjutors of Mrs. Peyton.

In 1900 the suffrage association petitioned Gov. A. H. Longino to appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be unconstitutional.

In 1880 the Legislature abrogated the Common Law as to its provisions for wives, being a pioneer among the Southern States to take such action. It declared:

The Legislature shall never create any distinction between the rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference thereto. Married women are hereby emancipated from all disabilities on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent the Legislature from regulating contracts between husband and wife; nor shall the Legislature be prevented from regulating the sale of homesteads.

The property belonging to the wife at the time of marriage no longer passes to her husband, although it is still largely under his control. He becomes her debtor and is accountable to her for her separate property; and she must have him account to her annually for the income and profits which he may receive from it, otherwise she will be barred. If the wife permit the husband to employ the income or profits of her estate in the maintenance of the family, he will not be liable to her therefor.

Dower and curtesy are abolished. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving no children nor descendants of any, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. But if there are one or more children or descendants by this or by a former marriage, the surviving wife or husband has a child's share of both real and personal estate.

Each has equal rights in making a will, although if the provisions are not satisfactory to the survivor he or she can take under the law, but this can not be done if separate property is owned equal to what would be the inheritable portion of the estate.

If the residence is upon the property of the husband, that is the homestead and exempt from his debts and he is the head of the family. If it is upon the property of the wife, that is the homestead and exempt from her debts, and she is the head of the family. In neither case can it be mortgaged or sold unless both join, but the one owning it may dispose of it by will.

A married woman may qualify as executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, and as guardian of the estate of a minor or person of unsound mind.

She may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own name as if unmarried and her earnings belong to her.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children and by will may appoint a guardian of their property, but he can not deprive the mother of the custody of their persons.

The husband is required by law to support and maintain his family out of his estate and by his services unless the wife sees fit to allow him to use her property for this purpose.

Alimony is allowed to the wife whether the suit for divorce is brought by her or against her, or whether she asks simply for separation; but, even if divorced, unchastity on her part will bar her right to further alimony.

The "age of protection" for girls remains at 10 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.

The Constitutional Convention of 1890 provided that no Legislature should repeal or impair the above property rights of married women.

This convention was called primarily to change the constitution with reference to the elimination of the negro vote. It was composed of representative men thoroughly alive to what they construed as the best interests of the State. As one way of circumventing the threatened supremacy of this vote, the enfranchisement of women was variously considered. The first amendment for this purpose was submitted by Judge John W. Fewell:

Resolved, That it is a condition necessary to the solution of the franchise problem, that the right to vote shall be secured by proper constitutional enactment to every woman who shall have resided in this State six months, and who shall be 21 years of age or upward, and who shall own, or whose husband, if she have a husband, shall own real estate situate in this State of the clear value of $300 over and above all incumbrances.

The vote of any woman voting in any election shall be cast by some male elector, who shall be thereunto authorized in writing by such woman so entitled to vote; such constitutional amendment not to be so framed as to grant to women the right to hold office.

This was referred to the Committee on Franchise, composed of thirty-five members, but was defeated. The idea was that a great many white women owned property, while very few negro women did, hence the woman vote would furnish a reserve fund which could be called out in an emergency, the author of the measure himself being "not an advocate of female suffrage generally," according to his remarks before the convention. Many, perhaps a majority, at one time favored the scheme, it was said, though comparatively few of the committee recognized the justice of woman's enfranchisement per se.

J. W. Odom offered, among other measures from the "California Alliance" of DeSoto County, a proposition that the right of suffrage be conferred upon women on "certain conditions" not specified. John P. Robinson and D. J. Johnson also submitted sections providing for "female suffrage under certain conditions." Jordan L. Morris offered the following:

The Legislature shall have power to confer the elective franchise on all women who are citizens of the State and of the United States, 21 years of age and upwards, who own, in their own right, over and above all incumbrances, property listed for taxation of the value of $500 or upwards, or who, being widows, own jointly with their own or their husband's children, property of said value listed for taxation; or who are capable of teaching a first-grade public school in this State, as prescribed by law, and who never have been convicted, and shall not thereafter be convicted of any crime or misdemeanor and not pardoned therefor, to such extent and under such restrictions and limitations as it may deem proper to prescribe.

All of these noble efforts resulted in no action whatever to enfranchise women.

SUFFRAGE: Since 1880 a woman as a freeholder, or leaseholder, may vote at a county election, or sign a petition for such an election to be held, to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting stock to run at large. She may also, if a widow and, as such, the head of the family, manifest by ballot her consent or dissent to leasing certain portions of land in the township, known as the "sixteenth sections," which are set apart for school purposes. As a patron of a school, which presupposes her widowhood, she may vote at an election of school trustees, other than in a "separate school district," which practically limits this privilege to women in the country.[349]

As a taxpayer a woman can petition against the issuance of bonds by the municipality in which she resides (except where the proposed issuance is governed and regulated by a charter adopted previous to the code of 1892), but if a special election is ordered she can not vote for or against issuing the bonds.

The Legislature in dealing with the liquor traffic may make the grant of license depend upon a petition therefor signed by men and women, or by women only, or upon any other condition that it may prescribe; and it seems to be equally true that the Legislature may grant to women the right to vote at elections held to determine whether or not local option laws shall be put in force, but it never has done so.

OFFICE HOLDING: The constitution provides that "all qualified electors, and no others, shall be eligible to office."

In the constitutional convention of 1890 Jordan L. Morris offered a resolution "that the Legislature may make women, with such qualifications as may be prescribed, competent to hold the office of county superintendent of schools." This amendment was tabled. J. W. Cutrer submitted a section "making eligible to all offices connected with the public schools, except that of State Superintendent of Public Education, all women of good moral character, twenty-five years or upwards of age," which was not favorably reported. A clause was introduced by W. B. Eskridge making "any white woman twenty-one years old, who has been a bona fide citizen of the State two years before her election, and who shall be of good moral character," eligible to the office of chancery or circuit clerk; and another, that "any white woman, etc., shall be qualified to hold the office of keeper of the Capitol and State librarian."

The last office, as recommended in a separate measure by George G. Dillard, which was adopted, is the only one to which women are specifically eligible, but none has held it.

In some counties the constitution has been liberally interpreted to make women eligible to serve on school boards; this, however, is regulated usually by the judgment of the county superintendent. Women are elected to such positions occasionally in the smaller towns.

The code of 1892 created the text-book committee, whose duty is to adopt a uniform series of books for use in the public schools of a county. An official record is kept of its specific functions, all members being required to "take the oath of office," etc., and thus constituted public officers according to a recent ruling of the Attorney-General. The majority of these committees are women teachers, appointed by the county superintendents, but no provision has been made for their remuneration.

Women can not serve as notaries public.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. They are licensed to practice medicine, dentistry and pharmaceutics. It is believed that the statute would be construed to enable them to practice law, but the test has not been made. Several women own and manage newspapers.

EDUCATION: The State University has been open to women for twenty years, and annually graduates a number. Millsaps College, a leading institution for men, has recently admitted a few women to its B. A. course, and this doubtless will become a fixed policy. The Agricultural and Mechanical College and the State Normal School (both colored) are co-educational. Several women hold college professorships.

In the public schools there are 3,645 men and 4,254 women teachers: The average monthly salary of the men is $32.18; of the women, $26.69.

* * * * *

The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and has a membership of fifteen societies.

Women have never actively participated in public campaigns except in local politics where the liquor question has been the paramount issue. Miss Belle Kearney is a temperance lecturer of national reputation, and a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage.

FOOTNOTES:

[347] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt of Clarksdale, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association and editor of the Challenge, a county paper.

[348] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt; vice-president, Mrs. Fannie Clark; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells; recording secretary, Mrs. Rebecca Roby; treasurer, Miss Mabel Pugh. Other officers have been Miss Belle Kearney and Mesdames Nellie Nugent, Charlotte L. Pitman and Pauline Alston Clark.

[349] Any municipality of 300 or more inhabitants may be declared a "separate school district" by an ordinance of the mayor or board of aldermen if it maintain a free public school at least seven months in each year. Four months is the ordinary public term, the additional three months' school being supported by special taxation. Thus as soon as a woman has to pay a special tax she is deprived of a vote.



CHAPTER XLIX.

MISSOURI.[350]

The movement toward equal suffrage in Missouri must always recognize as its founder Mrs. Virginia L. Minor. She was a thorough believer in the right of woman to the franchise, and at the November election of 1872 offered her own vote under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. It was refused; she brought suit against the inspectors and carried her case to the Supreme Court of the United States, where it was argued with great ability by her husband, Francis Minor, but an adverse decision was rendered.[351]

The first suffrage association in the State was organized at St. Louis in the winter of 1867. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured under its auspices at Library Hall in the autumn of that year, and a reception was given them in the parlors of the Southern Hotel. For many years meetings were held with more or less regularity, Mrs. Minor was continued as president and some legislative work was attempted.

On Feb. 8, 9, 1892, an interstate woman suffrage convention was held in Kansas City. Mrs. Laura M. Johns, president of the Kansas association, in the chair. Mrs. Minor, Mrs. Beverly Allen and Mrs. Rebecca N. Hazard were made honorary presidents and Mrs. Virginia Hedges was elected president. Addresses were given by Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York and Miss Florence Balgarnie of England. A club was formed in Kansas City with Mrs. Sarah Chandler Coates as president.

During the next few years the State association co-operated with other societies in public and legislative work. Mrs. Minor passed away in 1894, an irreparable loss to the cause of woman suffrage.

In May, 1895, the Mississippi Valley Congress was called at St. Louis under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and various other organizations participated. Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association, stopped on their way to California and made addresses. Just before Miss Anthony began her address, seventy-five children, some of them colored, passed before her and each laid a rose in her lap, in honor of her seventy-five years.

The preceding spring the National Association had sent Mrs. Anna R. Simmons of South Dakota into Missouri to lecture for two months and reunite the scattered forces. A State suffrage convention followed the congress and Mrs. Addie M. Johnson was elected president. At its close a banquet with 200 covers was given in the Mercantile Club Room, with Miss Anthony as the guest of honor. A local society, of nearly one hundred members, was formed in St. Louis. During October Mrs. Simmons again made a tour of the State at the expense of the National Association.

On June 15, 16, 1896, the annual convention took place in St. Louis with delegates present from seventeen clubs. Addresses were made by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado and others who were in the city trying to obtain some recognition for women from the National Republican Convention. Miss Ella Harrison was made president. Public meetings were called for November 12, 13, in Kansas City, as it was then possible to have the presence of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt on their return from the suffrage amendment campaign in California.

In January, 1897, Mrs. Bradford spent three weeks lecturing in the State, and the president devoted a month to this purpose during the autumn. The annual meeting convened in Bethany, December 7-9, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Hoffman being the principal speakers.

The convention of 1898 was held at St. Joseph, October 17-19, with Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance, and the board of officers was re-elected.

In the fall of 1899 a series of conferences, planned by the national organization committee, was held in twenty counties, being managed by Mrs. Johnson and Miss Ella Moffatt, and addressed by Miss Lena Morrow of Illinois and Mrs. Mary Waldo Calkins. These ended with a State convention at Chillicothe in October.

The annual meeting of 1900 was held in St. Joseph during October, and Mrs. Johnson was elected president.[352]

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1887, through the efforts of Mrs. Julia S. Vincent and Mrs. Isabella R. Slack, a bill was introduced in the Legislature to found a Home for Dependent Children. The bill was amended until when it finally passed it created two penal institutions, one for boys and one for girls.

In 1893 a bill proposing an amendment to the State constitution, conferring Full Suffrage on women, was brought to a vote in the Assembly and received 47 ayes, 69 noes. In 1895 a similar bill was lost in the Assembly.

In 1897, largely through the efforts of Miss Mary Perry, a bill was secured creating a State Board of Charities, two members of which must be women. This was supported by the Philanthropic Federation of Women's Societies, who also presented one for women on school boards, which was not acted upon.

Bills for conferring School Suffrage on women have been presented on several occasions, but never have been considered. One has been secured compelling employers to provide seats for female employes.[353]

Dower and curtesy both obtain. If there are any descendants living, the widow's dower is a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and a child's share of the personal property. If there are no descendants, the widow is entitled to all her real estate which came to the husband through the marriage, and to all the undisposed-of personal property of her own which by her written consent came into his possession, not subject to the payment of his debts; and to one-half of his separate real and personal estate absolutely, and subject to the payment of his debts. If the husband or wife die intestate, leaving neither descendants, father, mother, brothers, sisters, or descendants of brothers or sisters, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. If a wife die, leaving no descendants, her widower is entitled to one-half of her separate real and personal estate absolutely, subject to her debts. (Act of 1895.)

In 1889 an attempt was made to give a married woman control of her separate real estate, which up to that time had belonged to the husband. Endless confusion has resulted, as the law applies only to marriages made since that date. To increase the complications a wife may hold real property under three different tenures: An equitable separate estate created by certain technical words in the conveyance, and this she can dispose of without the husband's joining in the deed; a legal separate estate, which she can not convey without his joining; and a common-law estate in fee, of which the husband is entitled to the rents and profits. In either case, if the wife continually permits the husband to appear as the owner and to contract debts on the credit of the property, she is estopped from withholding it from his creditors. There may be also a joint estate which goes to the survivor upon the death of either.

No married woman can act as executor or administrator.

The wife's separate property is liable for debts contracted by the husband for necessaries for the family. If he is drunken and worthless she may have him enjoined from squandering her property. For these causes and for abandonment the court may authorize her to sell her separate property without his signature.

The wife may insure the husband's life, or he may insure it for her, and the insurance can not be claimed by his creditors.

A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name, and possess her wages. She may recover in her own name for injuries which prevent her from conducting an independent business, but not for those which interfere with the performance of household duties, as her services in the home belong to the husband. She may, however, bring suit in her own name for bodily injuries.

The wife may sue for alienation of her husband's affections and recover, according to a recent Supreme Court decision, "even though they may not be entirely alienated from her and though he may still entertain a sneaking affection for her."

The husband is liable for torts of the wife and for slanders spoken by her, although out of his presence and without his knowledge or consent. (1899.)

The father is the guardian of the persons, estates and education of minor children. At his death the mother is guardian, but if she marries again she loses the guardianship of the property because no married woman can be curator of a minor's estate.

If the husband abandon or fail to support his family, he may be fined and imprisoned and the court may decree their maintenance out of his property. The wife must live where and how the husband shall determine. If she chooses to live elsewhere his obligation to support her ceases. In case of divorce he must support the children, even if their custody is given to the mother.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years in 1889 and to 18 years in 1895. The penalty was reduced, however, and is at present "imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of two years, or a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, or imprisonment in the county jail not less than one month nor more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court." Between the ages of 14 and 18 years, the girl must be "of previously chaste character."

SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.

OFFICE HOLDING: In 1897 the Supreme Court decided that women may hold any office from which they are not debarred by the constitution of the State. They are now eligible as county clerks, county school commissioners and notaries public, and for various offices up to that of judge of the Supreme Court, which are not provided for by the constitution. It is the opinion of lawyers that they may serve on city school boards, and they have been nominated without objection, but none has been elected. Women are barred, however, from all State offices.

Two women sit on the State Board of Charities, but they can not do so on any other State boards.

A number are now serving as county clerks and county commissioners.

The W. S. A. and the W. C. T. U. have secured the appointment of salaried police matrons from the board of police commissioners in St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph. There are also depot matrons in these cities, and the first two have women guards at the jails and workhouses.

St. Louis has a woman inspector of shops and factories.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

EDUCATION: This was one of the first States in the Union to open its Law and Medical Schools to women. In 1850, when Harriet Hosmer, the sculptor, could not secure admission to any institution in the East where she might study anatomy she was permitted to enter the Missouri Medical College.

In 1869 the Law College of Washington University at St. Louis admitted Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, and she received her degree in 1872.

The State University and all the State institutions of learning are co-educational. The Presbyterian Theological School admits women.

In the public schools there are 5,979 men and 7,803 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $49.40; of the women, $42.40.

FOOTNOTES:

[350] The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of St. Louis, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[351] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 734, and following, or Wallace's Supreme Court Reports, Vol. XXI.

[352] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Mrs. Kate M. Ford; corresponding secretary, Dr. Marie E. Adams; recording secretary, Mrs. Sue DeHaven; treasurer, Mrs. Alice C. Mulkey; auditors, Miss Almira Hayes and Mrs. Ethel B. Harrison; member national executive committee, Mrs. Etta E. M. Weink.

Among those who have held official position since 1894 are: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Cordelia Dobyns, Mrs. Amelie C. Fruchte; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. G. G. R. Wagner, Mrs. Emma P. Jenkins; recording secretary, Mrs. E. Montague Winch; treasurer, Mrs. Juliet Cunningham; auditors, Mrs. Maria I. Johnston, Mrs. Minor Meriwether.

[353] In 1901 women obtained a law and appropriation for a State Home for Feeble-Minded Children.



CHAPTER L.

MONTANA.[354]

In August, 1883, Miss Frances E. Willard, national president, came to Montana and formed a Territorial Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Butte. At this time Miss Willard in her speeches, and the union in its adoption of a franchise department, made the initiative effort to obtain suffrage for the women of Montana. This organization has been here, as elsewhere, a great educative force for its members, training them in parliamentary law, broadening their ideas and preparing them for citizenship. Out of its ranks have come the Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes, Mesdames Laura E. Howey, Delia A. Kellogg, Mary A. Wylie, Martha Rolfe Plassman, Anna A. Walker and many other earnest advocates of the ballot for women. Within the past five or six years a number of professional and business women have joined the suffrage forces and to-day they compose a majority of the active leaders.

No attempt was made to organize the State until Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe was sent by the National Association in 1895. She visited most of the prominent towns and formed clubs or committees. The first State convention was called at Helena in September of this year by the suffrage association of that city, Miss Sarepta Sanders, president, and Mrs. Kellogg, secretary. It was assisted by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, to whose eloquent addresses was due the great impetus the cause received at this time.[355]

Mrs. De Voe again visited the State in the spring of 1896. The annual meeting took place at Butte in November. Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders, wife of Senator Sanders, having declined re-election, was unanimously made honorary president, and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell succeeded her in the presidency. Nearly 300 members were reported.

A large and successful convention met at Helena in November, 1897, when a State central committee was appointed, with Mrs. Haskell as chairman and members in nearly every county. Madame F. Rowena Medini was made president, but she left the State before her year of office had expired and Dr. Mary B. Atwater filled her place. No convention being held in 1897 or 1898 she acted as president until that of October, 1899, when Dr. Maria M. Dean was elected. Mrs. Chapman Catt was present.

To Mrs. P. A. Dann of Great Falls, a contemporary of Miss Susan B. Anthony, too much honor can not be given for her years of service and financial help. U. S. Senator Wilbur F. Sanders has been a loyal friend. Foremost among the early workers for woman suffrage in Montana was Mrs. Clara L. McAdow, whose energy and business talent made the Spotted Horse, a mine owned by herself and husband, a valuable property.

In July, 1889, Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the American W. S. A., came to Montana to present the question to the Constitutional Convention. His address was received with warm applause but the convention refused to adopt a woman suffrage amendment by 34 yeas, 29 nays. A resolution was presented that the Legislature might extend the franchise to women whenever it should be deemed expedient, thus putting the matter out of the hands of its proverbial enemies. The measure had able champions in B. F. Carpenter, W. M. Bickford, J. E. Rickards, Hiram Knowles, P. W. McAdow, J. A. Callaway, Peter Breen, T. E. Collins, W. A. Burleigh, W. R. Ramsdell, Francis E. Sargeant, William A. Clark (now U. S. Senator), its president, and others. Prominent among those opposed were Martin Maginnis and Allen Joy. It was lost by a tie vote, July 30. A proposal to submit the question separately to the electors was defeated by the same vote, August 12. The constitution conferred School Suffrage, which women already possessed under Territorial government, and gave to taxpaying women a vote on questions of taxation.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1895 women secured an enactment that the commissioners of any county, at the request of a certain number of petitioners, must call a special election for a vote on licensing the sale of liquor. A two-thirds vote is necessary to prohibit this. Women themselves can neither petition nor vote on the question.

This year a bill was introduced by Representative John S. Huseby for a constitutional amendment granting suffrage to women. It was passed in the House, 45 yeas, 12 nays; indefinitely postponed in the Senate by a "rising vote," 14 yeas, 4 nays.

In 1897 a systematic effort was made to secure a bill for this amendment. Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, chairman of the State central committee, invaded the legislative halls with an able corps of assistants from the W. S. A. Petitions signed by about 3,000 citizens were presented, and it looked for a time as if the bill might pass. It was debated in the House and attracted much attention from the press, but lacked five votes of the required two-thirds majority. It was not acted upon in the Senate.

In 1899 Dr. Mary B. Atwater, then president of the State Association, with other officers and members, succeeded in having a Suffrage Amendment Bill introduced. Some excellent work was done, but the measure was lost in Committee of the Whole.

Dower is retained but curtesy abolished. If there is only one child, or the lawful issue of one child, the surviving husband or wife receives one-half of the entire estate, real and personal; if there is more than one child, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more deceased children, the survivor receives one-third. If there is no issue living the survivor takes one-half of the whole unless there is neither father, mother, brother, sister nor their descendants, when the widow or widower takes it all.

The wife may mortgage or convey her separate property without the husband's signature. He may do this but can not impair her dower right to one-third.

A married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian. She may also sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name.

A married woman can control her earnings by becoming a sole trader through the necessary legal process. She thus makes herself responsible for the maintenance of her children.

The father, if living, or if not, the mother, while she remains unmarried and if suitable, is entitled to the guardianship of minor children. In case of divorce, other things being equal, if the child be of tender years, it is given to the mother, and if of an age to require education and preparation for business, then to the father.

By the code of 1895 the husband is required to furnish support for the family as far as he is able, and the wife must help if necessary. Her personal property is subject to debts incurred for family expenses. Even though divorce be denied, the court may award maintenance to wife and children.

Montana is one of three States which make 18 years the legal age for the marriage of girls. In all others it ranges from 12 to 16 years.

In 1887, on petition of women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 15 years, and in 1895 to 16. The penalty is imprisonment not less than five years.

SUFFRAGE: Women may vote for school trustees on the same terms as men, but not for other school officers. They had this privilege under Territorial government. Those possessing property may vote also on all questions submitted to taxpayers. These privileges were incorporated in the first State constitution.

OFFICE HOLDING: Women may serve as county superintendents or hold any school district office.

In 1884 there were two women county superintendents; now every county in the State has a woman in this office. The superintendent of the Helena schools is a woman. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes held the position of school trustee as early as 1888. Dr. Maria M. Dean has been elected three times in succession as a trustee in Helena. She is chairman of the board and has been influential in many progressive measures.

Women have served on library boards and been city librarians. Miss Lou Guthrie has been for a number of years librarian of the State Law Library, and Mrs. Laura E. Howey fills this position in the State Historical Library.

There has been a woman on the State Board of Charities since its organization in 1893, Mrs. Howey, Mrs. M. S. Cummins and Mrs. Lewis Penwell having been successively elected.

Dr. Mary B. Atwater has been for over three years chairman of the Board of Health of Helena.

Women served as notaries public until a ruling of Attorney-General C. B. Nolan (1901) declared this illegal.

In 1892, the first year the Populist party put a ticket in the field, it nominated Miss Ella Knowles for the office of Attorney-General. She made a spirited campaign, addressing more than eighty audiences, and alone organized some fourteen counties, being the first Populist to speak in them. She ran 5,000 votes ahead of her ticket, in a State which casts only about 50,000. The contest was so close that it was three weeks before it was decided who had been elected; but when the votes came in from the outlying precincts, where she was unknown, it was found that her Republican opponent, H. J. Haskell, had a majority. Miss Knowles was then appointed Assistant Attorney-General, an office which she filled for four years to the eminent satisfaction of the people. During this time she married her rival.

OCCUPATIONS: No occupation is now legally forbidden to women. Mainly through the efforts of Mrs. Haskell, a bill was passed by the Legislature of 1889 which gave women the right to practice law. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1896, and has preached regularly ever since. In 1889 she was chosen as moderator at the Conference of the Congregational Churches of Montana, at Helena.

EDUCATION: The educational advantages for women are the same as those accorded men. All institutions of learning—the State University, the Agricultural College, even the School of Mines—are open to both sexes.

In the public schools there are 201 men and 885 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $69.28; of the women, $48.61.

* * * * *

Montana women were awarded seven medals at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Their botanical exhibit was one of the most notable at the exposition. It was artistically arranged by Mrs. Jennie H. Moore, the flowers being all scientifically labeled and properly classified. Of the $100,000 appropriated to the use of the State Commission, the men assigned $10,000 to the women for their department, exercising no supervision over them. At the close of the exposition they brought back $2,800, which they turned into the State treasury, and $3,000 worth of furniture, which they presented to various State institutions.

In 1894 there was an exciting contest over removing the location of the permanent capital and some fear that Helena would lose it. A number of her leading women, in a special car provided by the Northern Pacific R. R., visited the prominent towns in Eastern Montana, speaking and working in the interest of their city and undoubtedly gaining many votes for Helena, which was selected instead of the rival, Anaconda.

In 1896 Mrs. Haskell was made a delegate to the Populist convention of Lewis and Clarke County, which met in Helena, and also to the Populist State and National Conventions. She took a prominent part in their proceedings, and was instrumental in securing a woman suffrage plank in the Populist State platform after a hard fight on the floor of the convention. At the Populist convention in St. Louis that year she was chosen a member of the National Committee.

In the autumn of 1900 a number of prominent women of Helena appeared as representatives of the suffragists before the Lewis and Clarke County Conventions, and before the State conventions—Republican, Democrat and Populist—asking that they insert a plank in their platforms recommending the submission of the question of woman suffrage to the voters. Only the Populists adopted it. The ladies also attended the State conventions of the three parties with the same resolution; but the Populists alone indorsed it, "demanding" suffrage for women.

One of the important factors in this movement is the Woman's Relief Corps, an organization which has grown in strength during the last decade and is making its members staunch patriots and woman suffragists. It has had an educative influence equal to that of the W. C. T. U. but on different lines. Women are actively identified with lodges and clubs, many of the latter being members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

FOOTNOTES:

[354] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Long Alderson of Helena, one of the first officers of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[355] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders; vice-president, Mrs. Martha Rolfe Plassman; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Delia A. Kellogg; recording secretary, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson; treasurer, Dr. Mary B. Atwater; auditors, Mrs. Martha E. Dunckel and Mrs. Hiram Knowles; delegate-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Wylie. Dr. Atwater has been elected to the same office at each succeeding convention.



CHAPTER LI.

NEBRASKA.[356]

After the defeat of the constitutional amendment to confer the suffrage, which was submitted to the voters of Nebraska in 1882, the women were not discouraged, but continued to hold their State conventions as usual. That of 1884 took place at York, in January, and was welcomed by Mayor Harlan.

On Jan. 16, 17, 1885, the annual meeting was held at Lincoln. Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender was the principal speaker, and the convention was specially favored with music by the noted singer of ante-bellum days, James G. Clark. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the Woman's Tribune, was elected president.

The convention of 1886 met at Madison, August 18, 19, and was addressed by Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans.

On Jan. 6-8, 1887, the convention assembled in the Hall of Representatives in Lincoln. It was fortunate in having Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was enthusiastically received by large audiences. The chancellor postponed the opening lecture of the university course so that the students might hear her address. Mrs. Saxon again rendered valuable assistance.

The convention of 1888 met in the opera house at Omaha, December 3, 4, memorable in being honored by the presence of the two great leaders, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president, and Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association. A reception was held at Hotel Paxton, and short speeches were made by prominent men. A notable feature was the exhibit of the rolls containing the names of 12,000 Nebraska men and women asking for equal suffrage.

The convention for 1889 took place in May, at Kearney, James Clement Ambrose being among the speakers.

Fremont claimed the tenth annual meeting, Nov. 12, 1890, Miss Anthony, and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota stopping off to attend it on their return from several months' campaigning in South Dakota.

The convention of 1891 was held at Hastings in October, and that of 1892 at Pender, July 1, 2. In 1893 all efforts were concentrated on the work done at the World's Fair in Chicago, and the raising of money to assist the Colorado campaign, and the convention was omitted.

Miss Anthony, now national president, also attended the meeting of 1894, in Beatrice, November 7, 8. This time she was on her way home from a campaign in Kansas for a suffrage amendment, to which the Nebraska association had contributed liberally. A telegram announcing its defeat was handed her on the platform, just as she was about to begin her speech, and no one who was present ever will forget her touching account of the efforts which had been made in various States for this measure during the past twenty-seven years. The delegates were welcomed by Mayor Schultz.

David City was selected for the next convention, Oct. 30, 31, 1895; and that of 1896 was enjoyed at the summer session of the Long Pine Chautauqua Assembly. Mrs. Colby had spent two months lecturing throughout the State and preparing for this meeting. Money was raised for the Idaho suffrage campaign, then in progress. Mrs. Colby and Miss Elizabeth Abbott addressed the Resolution Committee of the Populist State convention, asking for a woman suffrage plank.

The meeting of 1897, at Lincoln, September 30, was assisted by Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlett, a lecturer and organizer from Denver, who was engaged for State work.

In October, 1898, the convention was held in Omaha during the executive meeting of the National Council of Women, which enabled it to have addresses by Miss Anthony, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Adelaide Ballard of Iowa, and other prominent speakers. Mrs. Colby declining to stand for re-election, after sixteen years' service, Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward was the choice of the association. One hundred dollars were sent to South Dakota for amendment campaign work.

In October, 1899, the National W. S. A. sent eight organizers into the State to hold a series of forty-nine county conventions; 250 meetings were held, 18 county organizations effected and 38 local clubs formed. The canvass ended in an enthusiastic convention in the capitol building at Lincoln, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois, Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden of Iowa, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, among the speakers. State headquarters were opened at Omaha with Miss Gregg in charge. Her work has been so effective that it has been necessary to employ assistants to send out press articles, arrange for lectures, etc.

In 1900 a very successful annual meeting took place in Blair, October 23, 24, with a representation almost double that of the previous year and an elaborate program. Mrs. Chapman Catt was again present, there was much enthusiasm and it was resolved to continue the efforts to create a public sentiment which would insure a woman suffrage clause in the new State constitution which is expected in the near future.[357]

Among the many flourishing local societies may be mentioned that of Table Rock, which is so strong an influence in the community that the need of any other club for literary or public work is not felt. It holds an annual banquet to which husbands and friends are invited, and the husbands, in turn, under the name of the H. H. (Happy Husband) Club give a reception to the suffragists, managing it entirely themselves.

The society at Chadron, under the inspiration of Mrs. Hayward, is one of the most active, and has sent money to assist campaigns in other States. A canvass of the town in February, 1901, showed that 96 per cent. of the women wanted full suffrage.

Mrs. Colby organized a Club in Lincoln which has done excellent service under the leadership of Dr. Inez C. Philbrick.

Suffrage headquarters have been established at the Chautauquas held at Long Pine, Beatrice, Salem and Crete, and various Woman's Days have been held under the auspices of the State Association, at which speakers of national reputation have made addresses. Anthony and Stanton Birthdays have been largely observed by the suffrage clubs.

The history of the Nebraska work for the past sixteen years is interwoven with that of the president, Mrs. Colby, who has given her life and money freely to the cause. At a convention in Grand Island in May, 1883, it was voted to establish a suffrage paper at Beatrice, for which the State association was to be financially responsible, and Mrs. Colby was made editor. A year later, when the executive committee withdrew from the arrangement, she herself assumed the entire burden, and has edited and published the Woman's Tribune to the present time. In 1888 she issued the paper in Washington, D. C., during the sessions of the International Woman's Council and the National W. S. A., publishing eight editions in the two weeks, four of sixteen and four of twelve pages, each averaging daily 12,500 copies. A few years afterwards the office was permanently removed to Washington. As long as Mrs. Colby was a resident of Nebraska she stood at the head of every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women. Miss Mary Fairbrother, editor and proprietor of the Woman's Weekly, has made her paper a valuable ally.

Miss Helen M. Goff, a lawyer, acted as corresponding secretary of the State Association for many years, speaking for the cause in political campaigns, holding a suffrage booth at State fairs, and working in the Legislature for suffrage bills.[358]

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1887 a bill for Municipal Suffrage was introduced by Senator Snell of Fairbury, and by Representative Cole of Juniata. Mrs. Colby had secured 3,000 signatures for this measure, and with Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes, president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, worked all winter to secure its passage.[359]

In 1893 three bills were introduced into the Legislature relating to suffrage for women, and one asking for a law providing for police matrons in cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants. Miss Goff remained at the capital all winter looking after these bills. Mrs. Colby, representing the State W. S. A., and Mrs. Zara A. Wilson the State W. C. T. U., had charge of the Bill for Municipal Suffrage. J. F. Kessler introduced this in the House and worked for it. It was defeated by 35 ayes, 48 noes.

The bill for Full Suffrage was introduced into the House by G. C. Lingenfelter, and championed by W. F. Porter (now Secretary of State) and others. It was defeated by 42 ayes, 47 noes. The Populist members supported this, but considered that Municipal Suffrage discriminated against women in the country. The bill for extended School Suffrage was introduced too late to reach a vote. The Police Matron Bill was carried.

In 1895 the W. S. A. decided to do no legislative work except to second the efforts of the W. C. T. U. to have the "age of protection" for girls raised to 18 years; and to secure a resolution asking Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the Federal Constitution. The latter measure was not acted upon; the former was successful.

In 1897 bills were introduced for the Federal Amendment, for Municipal Suffrage, to allow women property holders to vote on issuing bonds, and to make the right of the surviving husband or wife equal in the family estate. Both branches of the Legislature invited Mrs. Colby to address them. Immediately afterward the House Judiciary Committee approved an amendment to the State constitution, striking out the word "male," but this was defeated later in the session. The other bills were not reported from the committees.