While the ballot was being taken Mr. Choate went on the floor among the delegates, and himself gave the last vote against the amendment. The ballot resulted—in favor of the amendment, 58; opposed, 98.

Even though a defeat, this was a decided advance over the Constitutional Convention of 1867, when there were but 19 ayes and 125 noes. Then less than one-seventh, this time more than one-third of the members were in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

The following month Miss Anthony and Mr. Lauterbach addressed the Committee on Resolutions of the State Republican Convention, and Miss Anthony and Mrs. Blake that of the Democratic, asking for a recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, but both ignored the request.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony were the pioneers in legislative work for woman suffrage, the former making her first speech before a committee—in behalf of property rights—as early as 1845, and continuing her appeals for the various rights of women during twenty-five years, after which her addresses were given usually before the committees of the United States Congress. Miss Anthony made her first appearance in Albany in 1853, and her last one before a committee there in 1897. She devoted her strongest efforts to the Legislature of her own State until the demands of national work became so great as to absorb most of her time, and then she, too, transferred her appeals to the legislative body of the United States, although assisting always the work in New York.

Meanwhile other competent laborers had come into the field. In 1873 Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake began her legislative work, and for twenty-five years there were few bills in the interests of women under consideration at Albany which were not managed by her, with an able corps of assistants, chief among whom was Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell.

For fifty years there is an almost unbroken record of the efforts of women to secure equality of rights from the Legislature of New York, and they have succeeded to the extent that now, with the exception of the statute providing for dower and curtesy, but few serious discriminations exist against women in the laws, although the injustice of disfranchisement has been mitigated in only a slight degree.

When the Legislature assembled on Jan. 1, 1884, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell were at hand to further the interests of the pending bill "to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex." On March 13 a hearing was held in the Assembly Chamber before the Judiciary Committee and a large audience. The speakers were Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Illinois and Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers. On May 8, after an exciting debate, the bill was defeated—57 ayes, 62 noes.

The bill of 1885 was drawn by Mrs. Blake and was accompanied by a strong written argument, with many court decisions to show that it was within the power of the Legislature itself to protect all citizens from disfranchisement. This was presented by Gen. James W. Husted, speaker of the House. Two hearings were given in the Assembly Chamber, at which addresses were made by Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Gov. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming.

The bill was debated April 7. General Husted, Mayor James Haggerty and Dr. J. T. Williams spoke in favor; Gen. N. M. Curtis and Kidder Scott in opposition. The vote stood 57 ayes, 56 noes, but a constitutional majority was lacking.

During the summer Mrs. Blake spoke in almost every district whose member had voted against the measure.

In 1886 a bill for Municipal Suffrage only was presented, drawn by Augustus Levy and introduced in the Senate by George Z. Erwin, in the House by Speaker Husted. On February 10 a hearing took place in the Assembly Chamber. Mrs. Blake presided and the speakers were Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller. On March 2 the Senate gave a hearing to Mr. Levy and James Redpath. The campaign this winter was one of the most vigorous ever made. Besides the executive officers of the State association, who were in Albany some days of every week, much help was secured by the occasional visits of prominent women and the numerous letters of influential people from all parts of the State. On the night of the final vote the Assembly Chamber was filled by friends of the measure and many officials were present, including the Lieutenant-Governor and the Attorney-General. As this bill would give women only the right to vote in municipal affairs, it had many supporters who would not have favored full suffrage. The debate was long and earnest, Mr. Erwin, General Husted, Mr. Longley of Brooklyn, Mr. Freligh of Ulster and others speaking in favor, and General Curtis, William F. Sheehan and others in opposition. The roll-call was taken in great excitement, and the ayes went up until their number reached 65, the constitutional majority. A round of applause broke out, but in an instant two men arose and changed their votes from the affirmative to the negative, so that on the final call the vote stood, 63 ayes, 52 noes.

This winter another law was enacted to remove all doubts as to the constitutionality of the one of 1880, which conferred School Suffrage on women in villages and country districts. Representative Charles Sprague introduced a bill making mothers and fathers joint guardians of their children, but it was defeated.

In 1887 Mrs. Howell drew up the Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was introduced by Senator Erwin. She spent ten days personally interviewing every senator until she had the promise of the twenty votes which were given the bill on its final passage, seventeen being necessary. There were but nine noes.

After the clerk had read the bill in the Assembly, Speaker Husted said: "If there is no objection this bill will go at once to the third reading." Wm. F. Sheehan, the leading opponent of woman suffrage, was asleep at the time and so it was thus ordered. Mrs. Howell continued her efforts, but the measure was defeated—48 ayes, 68 noes—by a moneyed influence from New York City, after nearly enough votes to carry it had been promised.

A bill providing police matrons in cities, with the exception of New York and Brooklyn, was secured from this Legislature. It had been passed in 1882, but not signed by Gov. Alonzo B. Cornell; passed again in the Assembly in 1883, but defeated in the Senate by the Police Department of New York City. The bill was finally secured by the Woman's Prison Association, but it was not made mandatory and no attention was paid to it by the city authorities.

A bill was presented this year to relieve women from the death penalty, on the ground that since they had not the full privileges of men they should not suffer equal punishment. The measure was ably supported, but failed to pass.

In 1888 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented in the Senate by Charles Coggeshall, and in the Assembly by Danforth E. Ainsworth. A hearing in the Senate Chamber on February 15 was addressed by Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Rogers and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Rhode Island. The bill was lost in the Senate by a tie vote, 15 ayes, 15 noes; in the House by 48 ayes, 61 noes.

Laws were enacted at this session providing that there shall be women physicians in all State insane asylums where women are patients; and also that there shall be at least one woman trustee in all public institutions where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals.

In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented in the Assembly by Mr. Ainsworth, but it was lost by 56 ayes, 43 noes, not a constitutional majority.

In 1890 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented by Speaker Husted, but was defeated by 47 ayes, 52 noes.

In 1891 no legislative work was attempted beyond the efforts toward securing a representation of women in the Constitutional Convention, which it was supposed would be held at an early date.

In 1892 an act was passed to enable women to vote for County School Commissioners, which received the signature of Gov. Roswell P. Flower.

This year a Police Matron Bill was obtained which was made mandatory in cities of 100,000 and over. This bill had been passed several times before and vetoed, but it finally obtained the Governor's signature. Even then the Police Commissioners of New York refused to appoint matrons until the matter was taken up by the Woman Suffrage League of that city. This was the end of a ten years' struggle on the part of women to secure police matrons in all cities. Most active among the leaders were Mrs. Mary T. Burt, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons and Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, backed by the W. C. T. U., the Prison Reform, the Suffrage and various other philanthropic and religious societies.

In 1892 Hamilton Willcox, who had worked untiringly in the Legislature for many years, had a bill introduced in the Assembly to give a vote to self-supporting women. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, but met with general disfavor. Mrs. Howell being in the Assembly Chamber with friends one evening, three of its members invited her to go to their committee room and draw up a bill for Full Suffrage, telling her they would report it favorably in place of the Working Woman's Bill. This she did and the new bill was at once reported. The next week she gave every moment to working with the members for it, aided by General Husted, Mr. Willcox and William Sulzer. On Friday morning, one week from the day the bill was reported, it came to the final vote and passed by 70 ayes, only 65 being required for the constitutional majority. Excitement ran high at this success and ten minutes were given for congratulations to Mrs. Howell by friends and foes alike. The Monday following she carried the bill from the Engrossing Committee to the Senate. Only three days of the session were left and the committee held no more meetings, so she saw separately each member of the Judiciary Committee and all gave a vote in favor of considering the bill. Mr. Sheehan was now Lieutenant-Governor and presiding officer of the Senate and would allow no courtesies to Mrs. Howell, but one senator, Charles E. Walker, arranged for her to see every member, and she secured the promise of 18 votes, 17 being required. On Thursday evening, although Senator Cornelius R. Parsons made many attempts to secure recognition, the bill was not allowed to come before the Senate. There was every reason to believe Governor Flower would have signed it.[389]

In 1893 Mrs. Cornelia H. Cary worked for a bill providing that on all boards of education one person out of five should be a woman, but it failed to pass. The measure making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children, so often urged, became a law this year chiefly through the efforts of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Buffalo, which had been hampered constantly in its efforts to care for helpless children by the interference of worthless fathers.[390]

A law also was enacted, championed by Col. George C. Webster, giving to a married woman the right to make a valid will without her husband's consent.

The season of 1894 was given wholly to the work of securing a woman suffrage amendment in the revised State constitution.

In 1895 Mrs. Martha R. Almy, as chairman of the Legislative Committee, began work in Albany early in January and was absent but one legislative day from that time until May. She was assisted by Mrs. Helen G. Ecob, and their effort was to secure a resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." In order to submit such an amendment in New York, a resolution must be passed by two successive Legislatures.

Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, the legal adviser of Gov. Levi P. Morton, drew up the resolution and it was introduced January 22 in the Assembly by Fred S. Nixon, and in the Senate by Cuthbert W. Pound. It was favorably reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee early in the session. The chairman of the Assembly Committee, Aaron B. Gardenier, was very hostile, and after every effort to get a report had been exhausted, Mr. Nixon and Mrs. Almy made a personal appeal to the committee and were successful. On March 14 six men brought in the mammoth petition for woman suffrage which had been presented to the Constitutional Convention the previous year. The resolution was passed by 80 ayes, 31 noes. This was a remarkable action for the first Legislature after the great defeat in the Constitutional Convention only a few months before.

When the measure came to the Senate it was moved by Senator Pound to substitute Mr. Nixon's resolution for his own, as they were identical. But Amasa J. Parker[391] objected in order to make it run the gauntlet of the Senate Committee again, and this gave the anti-suffragists an opportunity to oppose it. He then asked for a hearing for Bishop William Croswell Doane and others before the State Judiciary Committee, of which he was a member, which Chairman Edmond O'Connor granted. The committee met but once a week, and twice the hearing was postponed to accommodate the opposition. The second time, as no one appeared against the resolution, it was again reported favorably. Just after this had been done Mr. Parker appeared and objected, and the chairman agreed to recall it and give the opposition one more chance. On April 10, the time appointed for the hearing, Bishop Doane sent a letter declining the honor of appearing, but a delegation from New York City came up, and Mrs. Francis M. Scott and Prof. Monroe Smith of Columbia University addressed the committee opposing the measure. Mrs. Almy and Mrs. Mary H. Hunt replied in its behalf. For the third time the resolution was reported favorably by the Senate Committee, and April 18 the vote was taken. Senators Pound, Coggeshall and Bradley spoke in favor, and Jacob H. Cantor in opposition. It was carried by 20 ayes, 5 noes.

When the resolution went to the Revision Committee it was found that in one section there was a period where there should have been a comma. Mrs. Almy was obliged to remain two weeks and get an amendment through both Houses to correct this error. Finally the resolution was declared perfect, and was ordered published throughout the State, etc. Then it was discovered that the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen," and the entire work of the winter was void. As it is not required that copies of original bills shall be preserved, the responsibility for the mistake never can be located.

The Senate of 1896, by a change in the term of office, was to sit three years instead of two; and a concurrent resolution, in order to pass two successive Legislatures, would have to be deferred still another year, so no work was attempted.

On Jan. 4, 1897, when the Legislature assembled, every member found on his desk a personally addressed letter appealing for the right of women citizens to representation, signed by all the officers of the State Suffrage Association and by the presidents of all the local societies. The resolution asking for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the Senate by Joseph Mullen, in the Assembly by W. W. Armstrong, and was referred to the Judiciary Committees. Repeated interviews by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, chairman of the legislative committee, and other members were not sufficient to secure a favorable vote even from the committees, as they were frightened by the action of the preceding Legislature.

The New York Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was at work on the spot, and every legislator received a letter urging him not to consider any kind of a bill for woman suffrage. Finally a hearing was appointed by the Senate Committee for March 24. In the midst of a snowstorm, all the way from Rochester came the National president, Miss Anthony; from New York City, the State president, Mrs. Chapman; the chairman of the national organization committee, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis; from Syracuse, Miss Harriet May Mills; and in Albany already were Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Almy, Mrs. Julia D. Sheppard and a number of local suffragists. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mills addressed the committee. As the delegation withdrew one senator said to another: "I do not know what is to become of us men when such women as these come up to the Legislature." Nevertheless the resolution was not reported by the committee.

Under the auspices of a Civic Union of all the boroughs of the proposed "Greater New York," an active campaign was carried on during this winter to secure various advantages for women under the new charter, but it met with no especial success.

In 1898 Mrs. Mary Hilliard Loines was chairman of the legislative committee, and Mrs. Florence Dangerfield Potter, a graduate of Cornell and of the New York University Law School, acted as attorney. The Suffrage Amendment Resolution was introduced the first week of the session by Representative Otto Kelsey, a steadfast friend of woman suffrage. The usual number of letters was sent throughout the State to secure co-operation and a hearing was given March 2 in the Assembly library. The speakers introduced by Mrs. Loines were Mrs. Chapman, Miss Mills, Mrs. Craigie, Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler and Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine, a member of the Colorado Legislature. The Rev. William Brundage of Albany spoke forcibly in favor of the amendment. No opponents were present. Although the chairman and some members of the committee were in favor, it was learned that the majority were opposed, so a vote was not pressed. The Senate committee being the same as the previous year, it was thought not worth while to introduce the resolution into that body.

In 1899 the legislative work differed from that of the years directly preceding, the executive committee having decided that it might be wiser to ask for some form of suffrage which the Legislature itself could grant without submitting the question to the voters. The following bills were authorized:

1: To make it obligatory to appoint at least one woman on school boards in those cities, about forty-six in all, where the office is appointive.

2: To amend the village law, making it obligatory that in all charters where a special vote of tax-payers is required on municipal improvements or the raising or distribution of taxes, women properly qualified shall vote on the same basis as men.

A great many letters had been sent to Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, then newly elected, asking him to recognize the rights of women in his inaugural address, which he did by calling the attention of the Legislature to "the desirability of gradually extending the sphere in which the suffrage can be exercised by women." These two bills, therefore, were sent to him for approval and he appointed an interview at Albany with a committee from the State association. Mrs. Loines, Mrs. Blake, Miss Mills, Miss Mary Lyman Storrs and Mrs. Nellie F. Matheson went with the State president to this interview, and the Governor cordially indorsed the bills.

Letters were sent to the legislators and also to the presidents of the county suffrage societies, asking them to influence their representatives. The bill for the Taxpayers' Suffrage was introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. That good work was done was evident by the vote—98 ayes, 9 noes.

But the battle was with the Senate, where the bill was introduced by W. W. Armstrong. On February 22 a hearing was given in the Senate Chamber before the Judiciary Committee. Suffragists and opponents were there in force. The latter were represented by Mesdames Arthur M. Dodge, W. Winslow Crannell and Rossiter Johnson. The State president introduced the suffrage speakers, Miss Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, the last being qualified from residence to testify to the good effect of this kind of suffrage in England. Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller, Miss Anne Fitzhugh Miller and others were present. Owing largely to the influence of Elon R. Brown the committee brought in an adverse report.[392] Senator Armstrong moved to disagree and the vote, thus called for, in the Senate stood 21 ayes, 24 noes—a vote on the report, not on the bill, but it put the Senate on record.

The Bill for Women on Appointed Boards of Education, which had been changed under protest of the suffragists to "one-third of the members of the board" from "at least one woman," was voted on April 19. In the Assembly it received 59 ayes, 23 noes; but 76 was the constitutional majority, so Senate action was useless. It was bitterly opposed by many prominent school officers.

In 1900 the Legislature made a glaring exhibition of the position in which a non-voting class can be placed. Early in the session a resolution was offered on the motion of Senator Thomas F. Grady of New York City, "that it is not expedient or advisable to attempt at this session any changes in the constitution in regard to woman suffrage." It passed by 26 ayes, 17 noes. Let it be said, for the honor of the State, that there were senators who protested indignantly against such trampling upon the rights of the people. Several who voted in favor of this resolution afterwards voted for the suffrage bill.

The Bill for Woman Suffrage on Tax Questions was introduced the very next day by Senator Armstrong. Soon afterward it was presented in the Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. On March 22 it passed with only two negative votes—John Hill Morgan of Brooklyn and James B. McEwan of Albany. When this bill came to the Senate there were so many before it that April 4 its friends moved to take it up out of order by suspension of rules. Senators Armstrong, Coggeshall and Lester H. Humphrey spoke in favor, Senator Grady against. The vote in favor was 23 ayes, 19 noes (nine of these from New York City), but twenty-six votes were necessary to suspend. The situation, however, was more encouraging than the year before. The legislative committee of the State W. S. A. this year consisted of Mesdames Loines, Blake, Matheson, Priscilla D. Hackstaff and Ella Hawley Crossett.

In 1901 the committee was composed of Mesdames Loines, Hackstaff, Craigie, Jean Brooks Greenleaf and Lucy P. Allen. All efforts were centered on the bill to give taxpaying women the right to vote on questions of taxation. A conference with Governor Odell showed his friendliness to the bill and disclosed the fact that he had used his influence to amend the charter of his own city of Newburg to give this privilege to women.

Speaker Nixon, in his opening address, referred to the bill as a measure of justice which he hoped would be introduced every year until it became a law. Mr. Kelsey for the third time constituted himself its champion, and worked earnestly for its success. Letters poured in from all parts of the State, the W. C. T. U. co-operated cordially, and hearings were granted by House and Senate committees. The bill passed the Assembly February 26 by 83 ayes, 29 noes. Of the latter 18 were from New York City. Of the 38 absent or not voting 22 were from that city.

In the Senate the bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee as usual. On March 20 a hearing before this committee was arranged for those in favor and opposed. It was conducted by Mrs. Loines for the suffragists, who were represented by Mrs. Chapman, Miss Chanler, a large taxpayer in Dutchess County, and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell of Boston, but a taxpayer in New York. Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge was at the head of the eighteen women who came from the anti-suffrage society to protest against taxpaying women being granted a representation on questions of taxation. The other speakers were Mrs. Rossiter Johnson of New York City, Mrs. Crannell of Albany, and Mrs. William Putnam of Groton who read a paper written by Mrs. Charles Wetmore. The first took the ground that the bill was unconstitutional. The second protested against the attempt "to force widows, spinsters and married women to vote against their will." The third begged the members of the Senate Committee "not to be hoodwinked into believing this was not a suffrage measure," and assured them that "many of the members had pledged themselves to vote for it without recognizing that it was a suffrage bill." She also said: "For the last fifty years, while the suffragists have been wasting their strength in the effort to get the ballot, we, and women like us, have been quietly going ahead and gaining for women the rights they now enjoy in regard to education, property and the professions. The suffragists had nothing to do with it."

The friends of the bill in the Senate tried in vain to obtain a report from the Judiciary Committee, the chairman, Edgar Truman Brackett, being opposed to the bill. Finally, on April 11, Senator Humphrey moved "to discharge the committee from further consideration," which was carried by 22 ayes, 20 noes. On April 19 it was brought to a vote and passed by 27 ayes, 14 noes, 8 of the latter from New York City. Mr. Grady was absent.

The bill was signed by Gov. Benjamin F. Odell, April 24, 1901. It was generally understood that U. S. Senator Thomas C. Platt was in favor of the measure. Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, chairman of the Statutory Revision Committee, gave most valuable assistance.

The effect of this bill was far greater than had been anticipated, because of the importance of New York as a State. Before six months had passed women in considerable numbers had voted in a dozen different places. Although it applied only to towns and villages, these numbered about 1,800. What was of more importance, the principle had been recognized. There was scarcely a newspaper in the United States that did not contain an editorial upon the subject, which in the vast majority of cases declared the law to be just.

LAWS: Dower and curtesy obtain. If the husband die without a will the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate and, after the payment of the debts, to one-third of the personal estate absolutely. If there are no children she may have one-half of the latter—stocks, cash, furniture, pictures, silver, clothing, etc.—and the other half goes to the husband's relatives, even down to nephews and nieces. The widow may, however, have the whole if it does not exceed $2,000. If it exceed that amount, $2,000 may be added to her half. If there are no relatives of the husband she may have all the personal property. If there has been a living child the widower has a life interest in all the wife's estate. If there have been no children he takes all the personal property absolutely, and her real estate goes to her next of kin. If there is a child living he has one-third of the personal property absolutely.

The husband is liable for the wife's debts before marriage to the extent of any property acquired from her by ante-nuptial agreement. She holds her separate property, however acquired, free from any control of the husband and from all liability for his debts. She can live on her own real estate, and forbid her husband entering upon it.

Either husband or wife can make a will without the knowledge or consent of the other, the latter disposing of all her separate property, the former of all but the wife's life interest in one-third of the real estate. The law provides, however, that no person having husband, wife, child or parent can bequeath over one-half of his property, after payment of debts, to any institution, association or corporation.

The wife can mortgage or convey her real and personal estate without the husband's signature. He may do this with his personal property but not with his real estate.

A married woman may carry on any trade or business and perform any labor or services on her own account, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. She may sue and be sued as if unmarried, and may maintain an action in her own name and the proceeds of such action will be her separate property.[393]

She may contract as if unmarried and she and her separate estate are liable. A woman engaged in business can not be arrested for a debt fraudulently contracted. All women enjoy certain exemptions from the sale of their property under execution which in the case of men are granted only to householders—that is, a man who provides for a family.

The husband's creditors have no claim to a life insurance unless the annual premiums have exceeded $500; and it is also exempt from execution for the wife's debts.

Common Law marriages are legal, requiring neither license nor ceremony, and 14 years is the legal age for the girl.[394]

Absolute divorce is granted only for adultery. In case of either absolute or limited divorce the husband may be required to pay alimony to the wife during her life, even if she should marry again.

Every married woman is joint guardian of her children with her husband, having equal powers, rights and duties in regard to them, and on the death of either parent the survivor continues guardian. (1893.)

A husband is required to support his wife commensurately with his means and her station in the community, without regard to the extent of her individual property. If he fail to do this or if he abandon his family he may be arrested and compelled to give security that he will provide for them and will indemnify the town, city or county against their becoming a charge upon the public within one year. Failing, he may be sent to prison or penitentiary for not less than six months' hard labor, or until he gives such bond, but none of this is obligatory on the court.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years, and it was made optional with the court to impose less than the existing penalty of ten years' imprisonment. A few years afterward it was proposed to reduce the age to 12 years. Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, in behalf of the W. C. T. U., went before the Judiciary Committee and said: "I represent 21,000 women and any man who dares to vote for this measure will be marked and held up to scorn. We are terribly in earnest." The matter was dropped. In 1895 the age was raised from 16 to 18, with a penalty for first degree of not more than twenty years' imprisonment; for second degree, not more than ten. No minimum penalty is named. Trials may be held privately, and it is the testimony of the various protective associations of women that it is almost impossible to secure convictions.

The laws contain many provisions for the benefit of female employes; among them one that if any employer in New York City fail to pay wages due up to $50, none of his property is exempt from execution and he may be imprisoned without bail.

SUFFRAGE: In 1880 a law was enacted by the Legislature declaring that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer, or to vote at any school meeting, by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications now required by law."

It was the undoubted intention to give School Suffrage to all women by this law, but at once Attorney-General Hamilton Ward rendered a decision that it did not apply to cities but only to places where separate "school meetings" were held, mainly country districts and villages.

In 1881 another attempt was made by the Legislature to confer School Suffrage on all women by striking out the word "male" in an old statute of 1864, but as it failed to amend the very portion of the law which referred to School Commissioners, this left the condition unchanged.

In 1886 the Legislature tried it again by enlarging the qualifications of voters, but as the words "school district" were used it did not succeed in giving the suffrage to any women except those who already possessed it.

In 1892 the Legislature once more came boldly to the rescue, and undertook to enact that women should have a vote for District School Commissioners, which would bring under its provisions all the women of the State. The Act read: "All persons without regard to sex, who are eligible to the office of School Commissioner, and have the other qualifications required by law, shall have the right to vote for School Commissioner."

As the Act of 1880 had said specifically that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer by reason of sex," this seemed to settle the question. The Act further provided that "All persons so entitled to vote for School Commissioner shall be registered as provided by law for those who vote for county officers, and whenever School Commissioners are to be elected it shall be the duty of the county clerk to prepare a ballot to be used exclusively by those who, by reason of sex, can vote only for School Commissioner."

This Act went into effect in April, 1893, and in the autumn Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage registered in Manlius, Onondaga County. Immediately the board of inspectors were requested to remove her name from the registry. They refused and application was made to the Supreme Court to strike off her name, on the sole contention that she was not a lawful voter on account of her sex. The application was granted on the ground that the Act conferring upon women the right to vote for School Commissioner was unconstitutional. The inspectors obeyed the order. Mrs. Gage appealed to the General Term, where the order was affirmed, and then she carried her case to the Court of Appeals. The decision here was in brief that a School Commissioner is a county officer, and that by the State constitution only male citizens may vote for such officers. The decision closed by saying: "A Constitutional Convention may take away the barrier which excludes the claimed right of the appellant, but until that is done we must enforce the law as it stands."[395]

Thus after twenty years of time, four acts of the Legislature and three decisions of the highest courts, the School Suffrage for women is still confined exclusively to those of the villages and country districts. The law condensed reads as follows:

Every person of full age residing in any school district, etc., who owns or hires real property in such district liable to taxation for school purposes; and every such resident who is the parent of a child who shall have attended the school in said district for a period of at least eight weeks within one year preceding such school meeting; and every such person, not being the parent, who shall have permanently residing with him or her a child of school age, etc.; and every such resident and citizen as aforesaid, who owns any personal property, assessed on the last preceding assessment-roll of the town, exceeding $50 in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no other, shall be entitled to vote at any school meeting held in such district, for all school district officers and upon all matters which may be brought before said meeting. No person shall be deemed ineligible to vote at any such school district meeting, by reason of sex, who has one or more of the other qualifications required by this section.[396]

This was the only suffrage granted to women until 1901, when the following was enacted by the Legislature:

A woman who possesses the qualifications to vote for village or town officers, except the qualification of sex, and who is the owner of property in the town or village assessed upon the last preceding assessment-roll thereof, is entitled to vote upon a proposition to raise money by tax or assessment.

This law is believed to include about 1,800 places. The bill for it was managed by a committee of the State Suffrage Association in three successive Legislatures.

By the city charters of eleven of the thirty-six third-class cities—Amsterdam, Cohoes, Corning, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown, Newburg, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Oswego and Watertown, taxpaying women have a vote on special appropriations. Hornellsville also conferred this privilege but it was declared illegal by the corporation council, because the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen."

OFFICE HOLDING: By a statute of 1880 women are eligible for any school office. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected by the Legislature. Instead of county superintendents, as in most States, New York has District Commissioners. A district may comprise either a part or the whole of a county, but no city may form any part of it. At present ten women are serving as District Commissioners. A considerable number sit on the school boards of cities and villages but no exact record is kept. In Greater New York thirty women serve as school inspectors; there are also four supervisors in the departments of sewing, cooking, kitchen-garden and physical culture, at salaries ranging from $2,000 to $2,500.

The same law which enables women to serve as District School Commissioners makes them eligible to all district offices, including those of trustee, collector, treasurer and librarian, as the law in prescribing qualification, omits the word "male."[397]

Women also are eligible to the office of village clerk. They serve as notaries public, clerks of the Surrogate Court and deputy tax collectors. Miss Christine Ross of New York City is a certified public accountant and auditor.

Most cities have police matrons. Sixty fill this position in Greater New York at a salary of $1,000 per annum.

Women are employed as city physicians in several places. The law requires one woman physician in each State hospital for the insane and eleven are at present employed, leaving only the State Homeopathic Hospital at Gowanda[398] and the Manhattan Hospital on Long Island without one.

One woman trustee is required on the board of every State institution where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals, but this is not strictly obeyed. A list of the boards of eleven hospitals shows twelve women and sixty-five men, but four have no women members. Two women are on the board of Craig Colony of Epileptics; three on that of the Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded.

The following are serving as State officials: On State Board of Charities of twelve commissioners, one woman, with thirteen employed in different departments at from $480 to $1,400 per annum; State Superintendent Woman's Relief Corps, at $1,500; two State hospital accountants at $1,400, three at $700; principal of House of Refuge for Women at Hudson, $1,200; superintendent Western House of Refuge, $1,200; five in Commission of Lunacy Department, $700 to $1,400; fourteen in the State Library, $50 to $175 per month; seven in Administrative Department of the Board of Regents of the University of New York, and thirteen in the College and High School Departments (not teachers), $720 to $1,200 per annum; ten in Home Education Department, $50 to $150 per month; in the Department of Public Instruction, five confidential clerks at from $900 to $2,000; in Bureau of Examinations seven women at $900 (men in same positions receive $1,800); in State Museum one woman at $600; in Training Class Bureau two women clerks at $900; three women in office of Secretary of State at $900; one index clerk in Bureau of Charitable Institutions at $1,050; one in State Comptroller's office at $1,050; one examiner for Civil Service Commission at $900 (men receive $1,400 for same work), and three stenographers at $600 to $900; two State's prison stenographers at $1,000; a Bertillon indexer, $1,200; one clerk for Commission of Labor, $1,200; one for Free Employment Bureau, $900; under Superintendent of Insurance, five women, $1,200 to $1,400; in office of State Architect three, $626 to $900; in Bureau of Records two clerks, $1,200; thirteen women are Factory Inspectors or employes in that department, $600 to $1,500; twelve in the service of Commissioner of Excise, $720 to $1,080.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Several are presidents of banks, a number are brokers, many are directors of corporations and there are women managers of countless enterprises.

EDUCATION: The two great universities, Cornell at Ithaca and Columbia in New York City, admit women to all departments and grant them the full degrees. In Cornell they recite in the same classes with the men students, and have the additional advantage of a residential hall on the campus. There are no women on the faculty. Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, has been a member of the board of trustees for several years. The women undergraduates of Columbia have class-rooms and residence in Barnard, an independent corporation but an affiliated college, its dean having the same relation to Columbia as the heads of all the other colleges. The faculty is composed partly of the regular Columbia staff and partly of special professors, among whom are a number of women. The seniors attend certain courses in philosophy and science in the regular university classes, and all of these are open to post graduates. The University of New York, situated in and near the city, is co-educational in its post-graduate courses and in its Departments of Law, Pedagogy and Commerce. Its Law Department is celebrated for the prominent women it has graduated. Pratt Institute of Brooklyn is open to both sexes alike.

The Universities of Syracuse and Rochester are co-educational. The latter was opened in 1900 through the efforts of the women of the city in raising a fund of $50,000. The project would have failed, however, had it not been for the assistance of Miss Anthony. On the morning of the day when the limit would expire which had been fixed by the trustees for the raising of this sum, $8,000 were still lacking. Every possible source had been exhausted and in despair the women appealed to Miss Anthony, who already had collected and turned over a considerable amount. She set out with the wonderful determination which always has characterized her, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon she went before the board of trustees with the full quota in checks and pledges, making herself responsible for the last $2,500.

Union Theological Seminary of New York City (Presbyterian) is one of the very few orthodox institutions of this kind which admit women.

The State is distinguished by having in Vassar the first of the great colleges for women which offer a course of study approximating that of the best universities. It was founded in 1861. Over 700 students are in attendance.

Besides seven large co-educational institutions there are eight or ten smaller ones for boys alone and several for girls alone.

In the public schools there are 5,405 men and 28,587 women teachers; in New York City 1,263 men and 10,949 women. The average annual salary for teachers in the cities outside of New York is $597; in that city, which employs one-third of the whole number, $1,035. The average annual salary in the commissioner districts is $322.49. There are women in Greater New York receiving $2,500; there are hundreds in the State receiving one-tenth of that sum. So far as it has been possible to secure an estimate there is fully as much discrepancy between men's and women's salaries for the same work as in other States.

* * * * *

The women of Greater New York take a prominent part in political campaigns. There are seven or eight Women's Republican Clubs, a Health Protective Association and a Woman's Municipal League which were active in 1897 when Seth Low, president of Columbia College, was candidate for mayor on the Reform ticket.[399] There is also a flourishing Ladies' Democratic Club.

A unique observance is the annual Pilgrim Mothers' Dinner at the renowned Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This was instituted in December, 1892, by the New York City Suffrage League, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, president, in memory of those noble women, who are apt to be overlooked at the celebrations in honor of the Pilgrim Fathers.

New York divides with Massachusetts the honor of forming the first Woman's Club—Sorosis, in 1868—and it continues foremost among the States in the size and influence of its organizations of women. Over 200, part of them suffrage societies, belong to the Federation of Clubs, and these represent only a portion of the whole number. There are eighty auxiliaries to the State Suffrage Association.

FOOTNOTES:

[376] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman of Brooklyn, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf of Rochester, and Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, the presidents of the State Woman Suffrage Association during the past twenty years.

[377] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.

[378] Those making addresses were Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Gannett, Mrs. Searing, Rabbi Max Landsberg, the Hon. Charles S. Baker, the Hon. John Van Voorhis, the Rev. H. Clay Peeples, the Rev. Ward Platt, the Rev. H. H. Stebbins, the Rev. J. W. A. Stewart and Prof. S. A. Lattimore, acting president of the Rochester University.

Addresses of welcome: Miss Mary S. Anthony for the City Political Equality Club, the Rev. W. C. Gannett for the church that welcomed the first convention, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf for the State association.

The committee of arrangements were Mesdames S. A. West, Amy E. T. Searing, J. G. Maurer, S. C. Blackall, Florence D. Alexander, Mary L. Gannett, D. L. Kittredge, Emma B. Sweet, A. B. Taylor, D. L. Johnson, F. B. Van Hoesen; Misses Jessie Post, Frances Alexander; Messrs. C. G. Alexander and Joseph Bloss.

[379] The others who have held office since 1883 are as follows: Mary S. Anthony, Martha R. Almy, Elnora Monroe Babcock, Henrietta M. Banker, Ella Hawley Crossett, Hannah B. Clark, Elizabeth Burrell Curtis, Everline R. Clark, Charlotte F. Daley, Margaret H. Esselstyne, Mrs. Hannah L. Howland, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia K. Hood, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Seymour Howell, Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, Ada M. Hall, Martha H. Henderson, Helen M. Loder, Anne F. Miller, Jennie McAdams, Harriet May Mills, Clara Neymann, Eliza Wright Osborne, Mary J. Pearson, Helen C. Peckham, Mary Thayer Sanford, Kate Stoneman, Kate S. Thompson, Emily S. Van Biele, Emilie J. Wakeman.

[380] Aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to occur most often in looking over the records are those of Dr. Sarah L. Cushing, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Zobedia Alleman, Abigail A. Allen, Kornelia T. Andrews, Amanda Alley, Mary E. Bagg, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Ida K. Church, Susan Dixwell, Eliza B. Gifford, Esther Herman, Ella S. Hammond, Mary Bush Hitchcock, Belle S. Holden, Mary H. Hallowell, Emeline Hicks, Mary N. Hubbard, Marie R. Jenney, Rhody J. Kenyon, Lucy S. Pierce, Harriet M. Rathbun, Martha J. H. Stebbins, Julia D. Sheppard, Chloe A. Sisson, Delia C. Taylor.

[381] Much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to Miss Harriet May Mills, State organizer, daughter of C. D. B. Mills of anti-slavery record. Miss Mills is a graduate of Cornell University, and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman suffrage.

[382] The story of this canvass, the largest and most systematic which ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in "Record of the New York Campaign of 1894," a pamphlet of 250 pages, issued by the State association in 1895, and placed in many libraries throughout the country. It is given also, with many personal touches, in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLII.

[383] From treasurer's report: Emily Howland generously contributed $1,200. That staunch friend, Sarah L. Willis of Rochester gave $720. Abby L. Pettengill of Chautauqua County, $220. Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Greenleaf of Rochester, $200. General C. T. Christiansen of Brooklyn began the contributions of $100, of which there were eight others from our own State—Semantha V. Lapham, Ebenezer Butterick, Mrs. H. S. Holden, Marian Skidmore, Hannah L. Howland, Cornelia H. Cary, Mr. and Mrs. James Sargent; Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio.

[384] One who was a witness gives this description:

"There were no more dramatic scenes during the convention than those afforded by the presenting of the petitions. The names were enrolled on pages of uniform size and arranged in volumes, each labeled and tied with a wide yellow ribbon and bearing the card of the member who was to present it. At the opening of the sessions, when memorials were called for, he would rise and say: 'Mr. President, I have the honor to present a memorial from Mary Smith and 17,117 others (for example), residents of —— county, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from the Constitution.' Often one after another would present a bundle of petitions until it would seem as though the entire morning would be thus consumed. They were all taken by pages and heaped up on the secretary's table, where they made an imposing appearance. Later they were stacked on shelves in a large committee room.

"Mrs. Burt, the president of the W. C. T. U., brought in the petitions of her society all at once, many great rolls of paper tied with white ribbon. A colored porter took them down the aisle on a wheelbarrow."

[385] Mesdames Cornelia K. Hood, Cornelia H. Cary, Mariana W. Chapman, Mary E. Craigie, Cora Sebury, Martha R. Almy, A. E. P. Searing, Elinor Ecob Morse, Marcia C. Powell, Helen G. Ecob, Susie M. Bain, Carrie E. S. Twing, Clara Neymann, Selina S. Merchant, Henrietta M. Banker, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Lewis Gannett; Dr. Sarah H. Morris; Misses Arria S. Huntington, Emily Howland, Elizabeth Burrill Curtis.

[386] A hearing, on June 14, was given to the "Antis," as the press dubbed the remonstrants. Their petition against being allowed the suffrage was presented by the Hon. Elihu Root, and the speeches were made by Francis M. Scott, the Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, the Hon. Matthew Hale and J. Newton Fiero. Letters were read from the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt and Austin Abbott.

[387] Among the earnest advocates of the suffrage article were Judges Titus and Blake of New York, Judge Towns of Brooklyn, Judge Moore of Plattsburg, Messrs. Lincoln, Church and McKinstry of Chautauqua, Maybee of Sullivan, Cornwall of Yates, Powell of Kings, Cassidy of Schuyler, Kerwin of Albany, Phipps of Queens, Fraser of Washington, Arnold of Dutchess, Bigelow and Campbell of New York, Roche of Troy.

Speeches in opposition were made by Messrs. McClure, Goeller and Platzek of New York, Fuller of Chenango, Griswold of Greene, Mereness of Lewis, Sullivan of Erie, Lester of Saratoga, Hirshberg of Newburg, Kellogg of Oneonta, Mantanye of Cortland, Cookinham of Utica.

[388] Members of committee in favor of woman suffrage clause: Edward Lauterbach, Mirabeau Lamar Towns, Vasco P. Abbott, John Bigelow, Gideon J. Tucker. Opposed: William P. Goodelle, Henry J. Cookinham, John F. Parkhurst, Henry W. Hill, D. Gerry Wellington, John W. O'Brien, Henry W. Wiggins, Thomas G. Alvord, David McClure, De Lancy Nicoll, John A. Deady, William H. Cochran.

[389] In the work for other bills Mrs. Howell was assisted by Miss Kate Stoneman, New York's first woman lawyer, Mrs. Sarah A. Le Boeuf, Mrs. Joan Cole and Miss Winnie, all of Albany. George Rogers Howell, assistant and also State librarian, aided his wife in every way. As a State officer for many years he had strong influence and it always was used for woman's political freedom. During these years Mrs. Howell, as president of the Albany Political Equality Club, conducted many public meetings in the Senate Chamber of the historic old Capitol building until it was torn down. Legislators and State officers came each Tuesday night to hear the suffrage speeches.

[390] In 1860, after ten years of persistent effort by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and other pioneer workers, who had gathered up thousands of petitions and besieged the Legislature, session after session, a law was secured giving father and mother joint guardianship. In 1862, so quietly that the women were not aware of it, the Legislature repealed this law and again vested the guardianship solely in the father. Although repeated efforts were afterwards made to have the mother's right restored, this was not done for thirty years.

[391] Senator Parker is a brother of Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn, who organized the first anti-suffrage society in the State, at Albany.

[392] In Senator Brown's own city of Watertown, over 50 per cent. of the women had just voted to bond the city for a new High School, the press giving them full credit for it, but he persistently opposed this bill.

[393] It was not supposed that this right could be questioned, but in 1901, in New York City, a woman who was supporting her children by washing while her husband was in the hospital, was thrown from a trolley car with her baby in her arms and injured so that she could not work. She brought suit against the Street Railway Company before a municipal court, and was awarded $147.50. The company appealed to the Supreme Court and Justice David Leaventritt reversed the decision, saying in his opinion, "At Common Law the husband was absolutely entitled to the earnings of his wife, and neither the Enabling Act of 1860 nor the broader one of 1864 has affected the right, unless the service and earnings were rendered and received expressly upon her sole and separate account." Afterwards in explanation he said that the woman had not made it clear in her suit that she was working for herself and not performing service for her husband.

In 1902 a law was passed securing absolutely to married women their own earnings and the right to sue for damages by loss of wages in case of personal injury.

[394] In 1901 an attempt was made to correct this evil, and a ridiculous law was passed and duly signed by Governor Odell providing that a couple may become husband and wife by signing an agreement before witnesses, but in order to make this legal it must be recorded within six months. If at the end of this time it has not been recorded both are free to marry somebody else. If the fourteen year old wife should not know of this legal requirement she may find herself abandoned without redress.

[395] This decision covers many pages with hair-splitting definitions, tracing the laws governing School Commissioners back to 1843, and summing up with the following unintentional satire.

"The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, prescribes the qualifications of voters 'for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elected by the people,' and confines the franchise specifically to 'male citizens.' The office of School Commissioner was one thereafter made 'elective by the people,' through the operation of the alternative given by Article 10, Section 2, which provides that 'all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law shall be elected by the people or appointed as the Legislature may direct.' That is, in such cases, it may choose between election and appointment and in the latter event may dictate the authority and mode of appointment. The Legislature chose that the office should be elective, and, becoming such, it fell within the scope and terms of the constitutional provisions applicable to elections by the people."

[396] By the charters of the third class cities of Auburn, Geneva, Hornellsville, Jamestown, Norwich, Union Springs and Watertown women have School Suffrage on the same terms as men. The city of Kingston is divided into several common and union free school districts and women are authorized to vote.

[397] For legal opinion see Appendix for New York.

[398] In 1902 the hospital at Gowanda, the largest of the kind in the State, placed a woman on its staff as specialist in gynecology.

[399] In 1901, when Mr. Low was again a candidate and was elected, these clubs were a prominent factor in the campaign. They arranged meetings, addressed large audiences, raised $30,000 and circulated 1,000,000 pieces of literature. Their work was commended by the press of the whole United States and much credit was given them for the success of the Reform ticket. When the Board of Education of forty-six members was appointed by Mayor Low, various societies petitioned him to give women a representation upon it, but he declined to do so.



CHAPTER LVII.

NORTH CAROLINA.[400]

The only attempt at suffrage organization in North Carolina was made by Miss Helen Morris Lewis, Nov. 21, 1894. A meeting was called at the court house in Asheville and attended by a large audience, which was addressed by Miss Lewis and Miss Floride Cunningham. Thomas W. Patton, mayor of the city, made a stirring speech in favor of giving the ballot to women. At his residence the next day a society was formed with a membership of forty-five men and women; president, Miss Morris; vice-president, T. C. Westall; secretary, Mrs. Eleanor Johnstone Coffin; treasurer, Mayor Patton. The next mayor of Asheville, Theodore F. Davidson, also advocated woman suffrage.

In 1895 addresses were made in various cities by Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, who had been attending the national convention in Atlanta.

Later on Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Miss Belle Kearney, a noted lecturer from Mississippi, aroused considerable enthusiasm in various places by pleas for woman suffrage in their temperance addresses. Miss Lewis has spoken in a number of towns and at the State Normal School. No organized work has been done, however, and but little public interest is felt.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Early in February, 1895, as a result of the suffrage meeting held in Asheville, a bill was presented in the Legislature to place women on school boards. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, a native of North Carolina, addressed the legislators in its behalf and upon the rights of women. The bill provoked a hot discussion but was defeated. It is impossible to obtain a record of the vote.

In 1897 a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was defeated in the House on the ground that it would be unconstitutional, as this is a State office. The same year a bill providing for the appointment of women physicians in the State insane asylums was referred to a committee and never reported.

Bills also have been presented for full suffrage and suffrage for tax-paying women, but none has been acted upon. Several Acts have been passed prohibiting employers from working women in the chain gangs on the public roads in different counties.[401]

The most unjust discriminations against women in the property laws were removed by the Constitutional Convention of 1868. Since then a married woman may acquire and hold real estate and have the enjoyment of its income and profits in her own separate right, and she may dispose of it by will subject to the husband's curtesy (the life use of the whole); but she can not sell any of it without his consent. The husband can not sell his real estate so as to cut off the dower of the wife (the life use of one-third) without her consent.

The code of 1883 stipulates that if the husband receives the income of the wife's separate property and she offers no objection, he can not be made liable to account for his use of it for more than one year previous to the date of the complaint or of her death. By an act of 1889, the husband is required to list the property of the wife "in his control."

Both dower and curtesy obtain. If there are neither descendants nor kindred the widow is heir of the entire estate. If there are not more than two children, and the husband die without a will, one-third of the personal property goes to the widow; if there are more than two children, she shares equally with them; if there be no child or legal representative of a deceased child, one-half goes to the widow, the other half to the kindred of the husband. If a wife die without a will, the widower has a life estate in her real property, if there has been issue born alive, and all of her personal property absolutely, subject to her debts.

A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempt from sale during widowhood unless the widow have one in her own right.

The wife is not bound by contract unless the husband joins in writing. In actions against her he must be served with the suit.

The wife can not be a sole trader without the husband's written and recorded consent, unless living apart from him under legal divorce or separation, or unless he is an idiot or a lunatic, or has abandoned her or maliciously turned her out of doors. She controls even her wages only under these circumstances.

The divorce laws make the discrimination against women that while the husband can secure a divorce for one act of adultery on the part of the wife, she can secure one from him on this ground only if he separates from her and lives openly in adultery.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and education of the minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will even for one unborn. The court appoints the guardian for the estate.

Wilful neglect by the husband to provide adequate support for the wife and children is a misdemeanor.

The "age of protection" for girls still remains 10 years, with a penalty of death. Over 10 and under 14 the crime is a misdemeanor, punishable with fine or imprisonment in the penitentiary at discretion of the court, if the child has been previously chaste.

SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.

OFFICE HOLDING: By the State constitution only those entitled to vote are eligible to office. Women are thus barred from every elective and appointive office, even that of notary public.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. They are admitted to the State Medical Society and made chairmen of various sections. There has been a revolution of public sentiment during the past twenty years in regard to women in wage-earning occupations. What formerly would have caused ostracism is now regarded as proper and commendable.

EDUCATION: In 1897 the post-graduate work of the State University was opened to women. The undergraduate departments are still closed to them. Other institutions are about equally divided among co-educational, for boys only and for girls only. The State Normal and Industrial School for Girls (white) and the Agricultural and Mechanical College for Boys (colored), both at Greensborough, offer excellent opportunities. There are four other universities and colleges for colored students.

In the public schools there are 4,127 men and 4,077 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $25.07; of the women, $22.24.

FOOTNOTES:

[400] The History is indebted for most of the information in this chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Russell of Wilmington, the wife of Gov. Daniel L. Russell.

[401] In 1901 a bill, supported by a petition largely signed by women, which provided for a reformatory for youthful criminals where they might be separated from the old and hardened, was introduced in the Legislature but never was brought to a vote.



CHAPTER LVIII.

OHIO.[402]

The second Woman's Rights Convention ever held took place at Salem, Ohio, in April, 1850, and such meetings were continued at intervals until the beginning of the Civil War. After the war a State association was formed, but the records of its existence are not available. In the early summer of 1884 Mrs. Rachel S. A. Janney, whose husband was president of the State Agricultural College (now the State University), called a convention in Columbus, at which Mrs. Rosa L. Segur, Mrs. Ellen Sully Fray, Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Peters, Mrs. Elizabeth Coit and family, Mrs. Ammon of Cleveland, and other well-known advocates were present. So few were in attendance, however, that it was thought best not to organize permanently, but Judge Ezra B. Taylor of Warren was chosen president and Mrs. Frances M. Casement, vice-president. Judge Taylor, in declining because of Congressional duties, expressed sympathy and interest in the movement. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee of the U. S. House of Representatives for thirteen years, and through his influence when chairman, in 1890, a majority report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution to enfranchise women was submitted to the House for the first and last time.

Mrs. Casement did very efficient work, especially in the northern part of the State, and as a result a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at Painesville, her home, in May, 1885, and a State association regularly organized. On the list of officers were placed three persons who through all these years have made the enfranchisement of women their paramount work—Mrs. Casement, Mrs. Segur of Toledo and Mrs. Coit of Columbus. Mrs. Casement, who was made president, always has given generously of time and money and is still a member of the executive committee. Mrs. Segur, who was elected corresponding secretary, also continues her activity. She does much press work and is one of the main supports of the Toledo W. S. A., which has held regular monthly meetings since its organization in 1869. Mrs. Coit was chosen treasurer and held the office fourteen years, during which she seldom missed a convention or an executive meeting. In 1900 she was made honorary president without one dissenting vote.[403]

In addition to the State conventions from two to five executive committee meetings have been held yearly since 1885. Before the adoption of the biennial sessions of the Legislature, there were usually conferences at Columbus in midwinter to influence legislation, and different members remained there for weeks. Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Mrs. Martha H. Elwell and Mrs. Louisa Southworth rendered especially valuable service in such matters.

Mrs. Southworth, in her home at Cleveland, also had charge of the systematic enrollment of persons indorsing woman suffrage, which has been very effective in answering the objection that women do not want to vote. This was begun in 1888, when she was made national superintendent of enrollment, as she was a thorough advocate of this method of petition. Bills for woman suffrage introduced into the Legislature need the backing of many names, and in this way more can be added each year. The blanks are headed: "We believe that women should vote on equal terms with men;" and an effort is made to keep the names of men and women separate. The original lists are carefully preserved, but typewritten copies for reference are made and classified according to towns, counties and Congressional districts, pains being taken each year not to register duplicates. The entire expenses, amounting to several thousand dollars, have been borne by Mrs. Southworth. All of the canvassers have contributed their services.[404]

Good educational work has been done through Woman's Day at colleges, camp meetings and county fairs. A memorable occasion was that of the Centennial Celebration of the city of Cleveland in 1896. One day was devoted to the consideration of the advancement of woman in philanthropy, education, domestic science, etc. Although the speakers had been requested not to touch upon the question of her political enfranchisement, three women indirectly mentioned it and these received the heartiest applause of any brought out in the course of a whole day of able speechmaking. One of them was not permitted to retire until she acknowledged in a graceful word or two the enthusiasm of the audience. The committee having charge of this celebration asked a woman in each township on the Western Reserve to gather facts in regard to its early women, and over 200 granted the request. These papers when published made four volumes of valuable information respecting the pioneer women of this famous section of Ohio.

In 1896 the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore, a Universalist minister of Springfield, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, visited seventeen towns and cities in the interest of the State W. S. A. and formed numerous organizations.

A conference of national and State officers, with several public meetings, was held at Toledo in the autumn of 1897, Mrs. Fray, president of Lucas County, making the arrangements. The following spring Mrs. Harriet Brown Stanton of Cincinnati did the preparatory work for a two days' meeting in that city, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee of the National Association, being the speakers.

In the spring of 1900 Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the State association, visited fifteen principal towns preparing the way for organization, while in others plans were made by correspondence. Five persons participated in the campaign made later: Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt as speakers, each contributing two weeks of time; Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay, of New York, national organizers; Mrs. Upton accompanying the party. The object was to ascertain suffrage sentiment and to organize the northwestern part of the State. The next work was done in the southern part, Ohio women making the arrangements and Dr. Frances Woods of Iowa acting as speaker and organizer. At the close of 1900 the State had twice as many members as the year before, with vastly increased interest and activity. This growth was due to many causes, not least among them being the work and inspiration of Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, who was corresponding secretary for five years, and for ten has scarcely missed a convention.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: In 1888 the Legislature was asked to submit to the voters an amendment giving Full Suffrage to women. This measure was lost, and a Municipal Suffrage Bill met a like fate.

In 1889 a bill for Full Suffrage was defeated in the Senate by 19 ayes, 9 noes, a three-fifths majority being required.

In 1890 a similar bill was introduced in the House and discussed at length. It received 54 ayes, 47 noes, but not a constitutional majority.

In 1891 the Legislature was petitioned without result, and in 1892 and 1893 School Suffrage Bills were defeated by small majorities.

It was enacted in 1893 that mayors in cities of 10,000 inhabitants and upward shall furnish proper quarters for women and female children under arrest, and that these shall be out of sight of the rooms and cells where male prisoners are confined. The law further provides for the appointment of police matrons.

In 1894 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced but was not reported from committee. This year, however, School Suffrage was granted to women.

To Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard and Mrs. Katherine B. Claypole, president and recording secretary of the State W. S. A., women are largely indebted for this law. Like all reform measures, it was preceded by many discouraging defeats. In 1892 a bill was introduced into the House by E. W. Doty, providing that women should vote for and serve as members of school boards. It was lost by seven votes, reconsidered in the adjourned session of 1893 and lost again by six votes. Another bill was introduced into the House in January, 1894, by Gustavus A. Wood, but was defeated by 47 ayes, 43 noes. Mrs. Everhard then made an earnest appeal to Senator William T. Clark to introduce the same bill. He promptly acceded and it passed the Senate on April 10 by 20 ayes, 6 noes. It was returned to the House and passed April 24 by 55 ayes, 26 noes, 11 not voting. Mr. Clark at once sent a telegram to the president of the association: "Woman suffrage bill a law; truth is mighty yet."

In 1894 the Legislature was asked to enact a law making women eligible as trustees of homes and asylums for women and children. The request was refused on the ground that the law would be declared unconstitutional because such trustees must be electors.

In 1896 Free Traveling Libraries were established.

In 1898 the Legislature provided that a woman could be a notary public. Two months later the law was declared unconstitutional, as notaries must be electors.

LAWS: In 1884 a law was enacted giving a married woman the right to sue and be sued and to proceed in various other matters as if unmarried. Her personal property and real estate were liable to judgment, but she was entitled to the benefits of all exemptions to heads of families.

In 1887 married women obtained absolute control of their own property. This act gave a wife the right to enter into any engagements or transactions with her husband, or any other person, to hold and dispose of real and personal property and to make contracts.

Dower was retained but curtesy abolished, except for a man married before 1887 and regarding property owned by his wife before that date. Either husband or wife on the death of the other is now entitled to one-third of the real estate for life. If either die without a will, and there are no children or their legal representatives living, all the real estate passes to the survivor, and the personal property subject to the debts. If there are children, or their legal representatives, the widow or widower is entitled to one-half of the first $400, and to one-third of the remainder subject to distribution. A homestead not exceeding $1,000 in value may be reserved for the widow.

In 1893 it was made legal for a married woman to act as guardian; and in 1894 as executor or administrator.

By the code of 1892 the father is legal guardian of the children and may appoint a guardian by will, even of one unborn. If he has abandoned the mother, she has custody.

The husband must support his wife and minor children by his property or labor, but if he is unable to do so, the wife must assist as far as she is able. The father or, when charged with maintenance thereof, the mother of a legitimate or illegitimate child under sixteen, who being able, either by reason of having means or by labor or earnings, shall neglect or refuse to provide such child with proper home, care, food and clothing; or, if said child is a legal inmate of the county or district children's home, shall refuse to pay the reasonable cost of its keeping, shall upon conviction be guilty of felony and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than three years nor less than one, or in a county jail or workhouse at hard labor for not more than one year nor less than three months.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12 years; in 1894 from 12 to 14; in 1896 from 14 to 16. The penalty is imprisonment not more than twenty nor less than three years.

SUFFRAGE: The law of 1894 permits women, on the same terms as men, to vote for members of the boards of education (trustees), but not for State Commissioner (superintendent) nor on any question of bonds or appropriations. There are no county commissioners in Ohio.

The history of this law, after it passed into the Revised Statutes, is as follows: In December, 1894, Mrs. Ida M. Earnhart of Columbus, whose husband, Senator M. B. Earnhart, had championed the bill, was one of the first women to register for voting at the school election to be held the next April. For the purpose of a test case a written request was made of the board of elections to strike her name from the list; they refused and suit was brought in the name of the State of Ohio against the board and Mrs. Earnhart. The case was argued in the Circuit Court of Franklin County in January, 1895. Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard, president of the State W. S. A., attended the hearing. Senators William T. Clark and M. B. Earnhart ably defended the law. On February 1 the decision was rendered by Judge J. G. Shauck, Judges Charles G. Shearer and Gilbert H. Stewart concurring in the opinion, which declared the law to be constitutional. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court was sustained. This completed the victory which the State suffrage association had worked so hard to win. More than 30,000 women voted at the first election following. In the spring of 1902, 14,800 women registered in Cleveland and 80 per cent. voted.

Everything was quiet until the winter of 1898, when the activity of the suffragists was again called out by the introduction into the House of a bill by A. J. Hazlett to repeal the School Suffrage law. The board of elections of Cleveland had asked for this. Forthwith letters were sent to all the suffrage clubs by Mrs. Everhard, and requests were made to many prominent persons to use their influence against it. Protesting petitions were circulated and, with more than 40,000 names, were sent to the Legislature in a very short time. On Feb. 10, 1898, members of the legislative committee of the State W. S. A. appeared before the House Committee on Elections and spoke against the bill. Through courtesy to Mr. Hazlett, who was a member of this committee, it was reported back, but without recommendation, and when brought to a vote in the House it was overwhelmingly defeated—76 against repeal, 22 in favor.

OFFICE HOLDING: No woman can be elected or appointed to any office, with the exception of that of school trustee, as the statutes provide that all incumbents must be electors. The same law applies to the boards of all State institutions. It also prevents women from serving as notaries public.

They can act as deputies, since these are considered merely as clerks. The law specifies that women can be Probate Court deputies because minors are eligible to that office.

Women can not be State School Commissioners, and there is no office of county commissioner. They are serving acceptably on the school boards of various towns and cities, but no official record is anywhere kept of the exact number.[405]

A law of 1892 says: "In all asylums for the insane there shall be employed at least one female physician." There are eight such institutions in the State and at present only four have women physicians.

The same year it was made mandatory on every Judge of Common Pleas to appoint in his county a board of visitors consisting of three men and three women, whose duty it is to make periodical visits to the correctional and charitable institutions of the county and to act as guardians ad litem to delinquent children.

A law of 1893 requires police matrons in all cities of 10,000 inhabitants and over. They must be more than thirty years old, of good moral character and sound physical health, and must have the indorsement of at least ten women residents of good standing. Their salary is fixed at not less than two-thirds of the minimum salary paid to patrolmen in the same city, and they may serve for life unless they are discharged.

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

EDUCATION: Oberlin was the first co-educational college in the United States (1833). Antioch was the second (1853). The State University and all other State institutions of learning always have been open to both sexes alike. Of the thirty-four colleges and universities twenty-seven are co-educational, five are for men and two for women. There are seventy-nine higher educational institutions other than colleges, such as academies, normal and business schools, theological seminaries, etc. Of these eight are for men, ten for women, fifty-nine co-educational and two without statistics.

In the public schools there are 10,556 men and 15,156 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $50; of the women, $40.

* * * * *

Ohio is one of the leading States in the number of women's clubs—289, with a membership of 10,300, being enrolled in the General Federation. It was principally through the efforts of this large body of women that a bill was passed in 1896 providing for Traveling Free Libraries and 900 are now in circulation, more than in any other State. It also was instrumental in securing a bill for the establishment of State Normal Schools in connection with Ohio and Miami Universities.

The Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, which has more than a national reputation, is the result of the intelligence and well directed efforts of a woman—Mrs. Maria Longworth Nichols (now Mrs. Bellamy Storer). Inspired by the Japanese display at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876, she began experimenting with the clays of the Ohio valley and eventually developed the exquisite pottery which is found in every art museum and large private collection in the country, and whose manufacture employs a number of skilled artists.

FOOTNOTES:

[402] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton of Warren, treasurer of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association since 1892 and president of the State association.

[403] Presidents of the State association: Frances M. Casement, 1885-1888, Martha H. Elwell, 1888-1891, Caroline McCullough Everhard, 1891-1898, Harriet Brown Stanton, 1898-1899, Harriet Taylor Upton, 1899 and now serving.

State Conventions: Painesville, 1885, Toledo, 1886, Cleveland, 1887; Chillicothe, 1888, Akron, 1889, Massillon, 1890, Warren, 1891, Salem, 1892, Delaware, 1893, Cincinnati, 1894, Ashtabula, 1895, Alliance, 1897, Cincinnati, 1898, Akron, 1899, Athens, 1900. During the Presidential campaign of 1896, when William McKinley, a resident of Ohio, was a candidate, the excitement was so intense that it was thought wise to abandon the convention, which was to have been held in October at Springfield.

[404] When the State Suffrage Association decided to abandon this work, Mrs. Southworth was elected State superintendent of franchise by the W. C. T. U. and the enrollment was continued. At their national convention, in 1901, it showed 50,000 names and aroused great enthusiasm. Of these, 9,650 were collected in the four cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo; during the year 7,500 names had been added to the list. The system has been adopted by the unions in many States.

[405] Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the author of this chapter, is now serving her second term on the board of education in Warren, O. In the spring of 1898 the local political equality club determined to have some women in this position and selected Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Carrie P. Harrington. Two vacancies having occurred, the board (which fills such vacancies) was asked to appoint them but refused. Their names therefore were presented to the Republican caucus in the spring of 1898. Instead of two candidates, as usual, there were four, as the two vacancies were to be filled for the remainder of the term. The board and the politicians still refused to recommend the women, so six names went before the caucus. The women were asked whether they wanted to run for the short term to fill the vacancies or for the full term of three years. They refused to say, but simply asked that their names should be considered. They had little hope of anything but to fill the vacancies, as the president and treasurer of the present board were candidates for the long term. The night of the caucus was very stormy, but the women of the city turned out in force and, with the assistance of the men, the two women were nominated for the long term. A Republican nomination is equivalent to an election in Warren.

The board was magnanimous, both ladies were placed on committees and most courteously treated. The next year Mrs. Upton was made chairman of the most important committee, that on supplies, buildings and grounds, which expends nine tenths of all the money used by the board. The other woman member was added to this committee when the new grammar school was begun in 1899. It is considered one of the best ventilated and best planned buildings in that part of the State.

In the spring of 1901 both were triumphantly re-elected. Mrs. Upton was continued as chairman of her committee, and Mrs. Harrington was made chairman of the next in importance, that on text books. [Eds.



CHAPTER LIX.

OKLAHOMA.[406]

Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement April 22, 1889, and its first woman's organization was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in Guthrie, March 10, 1890, by Mrs. Margaret O. Rhodes, under the direction of Miss Frances E. Willard. In the following April a convention was called at Oklahoma City, delegates coming from ten societies, and Mrs. Rhodes was elected president. In October, 1890, the first annual convention was held in Guthrie, the capital, Mrs. Alice Williams of Missouri being the principal speaker. The first Legislature was in session and she also addressed this body making a strong plea for legislation in favor of temperance and woman suffrage.

In 1895 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee of the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a lecturer to visit all the principal towns on the Rock Island and Santa Fe Railroads, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas was selected for this pioneer work. She came into the Territory the first week in October and lectured in twelve places, forming clubs. Her campaign closed at Guthrie where the first suffrage convention was held, November 11, 12, and an association organized. Miss Margaret Rees was elected president,[407] Mrs. J. R. Keaton, secretary, and Mrs. R. W. Southard, delegate to the national convention.

Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota was sent into the Territory by the National Association for three months in May, 1896. She spoke in twenty-three towns, organizing a number of clubs, and on June 7, 8, closed her work with a mass meeting in Guthrie.

The third convention was held in Perry, Nov. 13, 14, 1897, Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas being present as the chief speaker. Mrs. Celia Z. Titus was elected president; Margaret Rees, corresponding secretary; Sarah L. Bosworth, recording secretary; Eva A. Crosby, treasurer.

In September, 1898, Miss Mary G. Hay, organizer for the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a campaign, preparatory to asking the Legislature to grant woman suffrage, as in a Territory full suffrage can be given by legislative enactment. In October Mrs. Chapman Catt came on and meetings were held in the chief towns, where committees were appointed to look after petitions and other necessary work. This series of meetings closed November 6, 7, with the annual convention in Oklahoma City. Mrs. Rhodes was elected president, Mrs. Della Jenkins, vice-president, Miss Rees continued as secretary, Mrs. Minnie D. Storm made treasurer.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: In the first Legislature, in 1890, specific work was begun for woman suffrage. When the law regarding the franchise was under discussion a petition was presented praying that it should read, "Every citizen of the age of 21 shall have a right to vote," instead of "every male citizen." A proposition for this was lost by three votes in the House and was not considered by the Council. School Suffrage was granted to women.

In 1897 a bill asking for the enfranchisement of women was prepared by Miss Margaret Rees and introduced in the House, where it was carried by a vote of 13 yeas, 9 nays, but was killed in the Council. Mrs. Johns, who had been sent by the National Association, labored most earnestly for the bill and won hundreds of friends for the cause by her wise council and able management.

After the suffrage convention in 1898, described above, Miss Hay returned to New York and Miss Laura A. Gregg was appointed by the National Association to co-operate with the Oklahoma women in securing the franchise from the Legislature of 1899. Their efforts and the results were thus related in the report to the National Suffrage Convention at Grand Rapids, Mich., in April, by Mrs. Chapman Catt, who had remained in Guthrie most of the winter looking after the interests of the bill with the discretion and ability for which she is distinguished:

Last November headquarters were opened in a business block at Guthrie, in charge of Miss Gregg, from which an active correspondence was conducted, resulting in a large petition and a constant accession of new recruits. There was a most thorough system of press work, nearly every newspaper in the Territory aiding the movement. The strongest and best men espoused our cause and the outlook seemed propitious. The Legislature convened the first week in January, but an unfortunate quarrel arose between it and the Governor which hindered legislation and compelled our campaign to drag throughout the entire sixty days' session. Miss Gregg continued her work at headquarters during the winter, and Miss Hay spent a month in Guthrie looking after the interests of our bill. It finally passed the house, 14 yeas, 10 nays, the week before the session was to close, and immediately the opposition concentrated its efforts on the Council. However, a majority were pledged to support our measure, and we felt little fear.

As soon as the news spread that the bill was through the House, a telegram was received by each member of the Council from the Albany (N. Y.) women remonstrants. These were not all phrased alike, but each asked the recipient: "What can be done to defeat the woman suffrage bill? Answer at our expense." At nearly the same moment, the chief agent of the Saloonkeepers' League, an association recently organized, as they claimed, "to protect our interests from unjust legislation," appeared upon the scene. Only a week remained of the legislative session. Whether this agent of the Oklahoma saloons came at the invitation of the Albany remonstrants, or the Albany remonstrants sent their telegrams offering assistance at the instigation of the Saloonkeepers' League, or whether their simultaneous appearance was by chance, I am unable to say. That they appeared together seems significant. If they work as distinct forces, a study in the vagaries of the human reason is presented in the motives offered to the public by these two organizations. The Albany remonstrants would protect the sweet womanly dignity of Oklahoma women from the debasing influence of politics. The Saloonkeepers' League would save the debasing influence of politics from the sweet womanly dignity of Oklahoma women. So these Albany women, who never fail to inform the public of their devotion to the church, join hands with the Oklahoma saloonkeepers, who never fail to declare that the church is a fanatical obstacle to personal liberty. A queer union it is, but some day the world will discover the mystery which has consummated it!

It so happened that in this Legislature there was a member who for thirty years, in a neighboring State, had been an avowed friend of suffrage. This was known to all Oklahoma, and even the enemies expected him to lead our forces in the Council. This man not only betrayed us, but headed the opposition in a filibustering effort to keep the bill from coming to a final vote and succeeded. Now, why did he fail us? Did he renounce the faith of a lifetime? No. Did the suffragists offend him? No; but even if they had done so a man of character does not change his views in a moment for a personal whim. Why, then, this change? Any member of the Legislature, for or against suffrage, if he would speak as frankly to others as he did to us, would tell you it was for money. Rumor was plentiful stating the amount and the donor. The saloons all over Oklahoma, with a remarkable unanimity of knowledge, boasted beforehand that the bill was killed and that this man was the instrument which they had used, and while they were boasting he was conferring with us and promising us his faithful support, hoping to conduct the filibustering so adroitly that we could not detect his hand in it....

To come to the main point, we had won the victory but a crime robbed us of it. Suffragists know how to bear defeats with fortitude, for each one is only a milestone showing the progress made on a journey, but a defeat by the defection of a friend is a new thing in the history of our movement.

Dr. Delos Walker of Oklahoma City was one of those who assisted in every way possible to give the ballot to the women of the Territory. Dr. C. F. McElwrath of Enid championed the bill in the House and secured its passage over the head of every opponent. The efforts of the women were supplemented also by those of Senator I. A. Gandey and Representative William H. Merten, both of Guthrie, and T. F. Hensley of El Reno, editor of the Democrat.

LAWS: Dower and curtesy do not obtain. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one child, the survivor receives one-half of both real and personal property. If there is more than one child or one child and descendants of one or more deceased children, the widow or widower receives one-third of the estate. If there is no issue living the survivor receives one-half; and if there is neither issue, father, mother, brother nor sister, the survivor takes the whole estate. A homestead may be occupied by the widow or widower until otherwise disposed of according to law.

Husband or wife may mortgage or convey separate property without the consent of the other.

A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name. She may carry on business as a sole trader and her earnings and wages are her sole and separate property.

The usual causes for divorce exist but only a 90 days' residence is required. A wife may sue for alimony without divorce. In cases where both parties are equally at fault the court may refuse divorce but provide for the custody and maintenance of children and equitable division of property.

The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the mother becomes the guardian, if a suitable person, but if she remarries the guardianship passes to the second husband.

The husband is expected to furnish a suitable support for the family, but no punishment is prescribed for a failure to do this.

No law existed for the protection of girls until 1890 when the age was made 14 years. In 1895 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is first degree (under 14), imprisonment not less than ten years; second degree (under 16), not less than five years. In both cases the girl must have been "of previous chaste character."

SUFFRAGE: The first Territorial Legislature (1890) granted School Suffrage to the extent of a vote for trustees.

OFFICE HOLDING: Women may hold all school offices. Eleven of the twenty-three counties have women superintendents. They are not eligible to State offices but are not prohibited by law from any county offices. One woman is registrar of deeds and one is deputy U. S. marshal. There are at the present time about one hundred women notaries public.

OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Ten hours is made a legal working day.

EDUCATION: All educational institutions are open alike to both sexes. In the public schools there are 914 men and 1,268 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $31.93; of the women, $26.20.

* * * * *

Thirty Federated Clubs in Oklahoma, with over 700 members, are taking up successfully a great variety of public work. Guthrie contains eight of these, with a membership of more than one hundred, and the library committee has succeeded in starting a library, which has now seven hundred volumes.