The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-09-04
WYOMING WOMAN VOTERS.
rHR ACTUAL RESULTS or MIXING
THE SEXES At THE POLLS.
"Rvcrythina Just ms u was Before, only
Moro so"-A Failure In tho jury Box but
n Fair success at the Ballot Box.

In no part Of the luntry Is the peculiarly Of
wyoming so little talked of a. in wyoming.
The papers are silent on It Tor the most part aud
politicians seem by common consent To lave
chat woman suffrage had worRcd the rcgcnera-
tiOn Of wyoming, abOii,hng all saloons and
social evils. and all that sort Of thing; Tut one
Ia all nonsense. Eut think we should assume
In starting that the system here Is no test what.
ever either for or against. rs 10 what II would
produce In the East, for not only - there no cx-
tended government here as there, but there ere
so few TO he governed that ono cln really deter.
mine very little about It. wyoming I. twice the
size OF rcnns ylvana. aud has only hall the pop.
ulation Of an average county in ohioi ana on
tbat half only one-tcnth Is made NJ of women
of voting rgc. Obviously, under the mos favor
able circumstances, civil government could nave
no such extended functions ~ In the states.
All officers of importance arc appointed NJ Nash-
ing,on. .,,..r,. ..,.,,.n.
I'm Wyoming ~ reported all the way from llD to
1850. ! think the latter number entirely too
grcat, but accept It - the basis ui nv notes.
Woman suffrage III Springfield ohio, would DO
much fairer test than hero, for Springfield has
population equal 70 that OF wy ming, and
onoh II females. The sociil and moral stalls
tics Of this Territory may throw a side Hight on
the question. The total white population q set
at $4,000. OF these LILO children are In school,
and 1t l. estimated that there are enough out OF
school TO make the entire number under IN Jur-
ity 700 THIS leaves 1900 adults. Placing the
women NJ the largest number claimed, this
leaves 1850 adult IN lca ten men to one NO.
man. To suppnsc that this little handful could
work n moral revolution 10y their votes In n
wild, mountainous country twice the rize OF
PENNSYLVANIA, Il to credit thom with supcrhu-
man powers Int there are other figures to
subtract F,om the police reports learn tn 1t
the Territory contains at tho lowest calculations
ono hundred soloons and tnrcc hundred nrosti-
tutes. This includes onc-nfth OF the female
voters In The last class, and gives one saloon tO
hun red and eighty inhabitants.
WHAT HAS woMAN SUFFRAGE EFFEcTED2
First-lt has certainly had no particular OF
When Grst adopted one woman was elected
superintendent OF Public Instruction, aud an.
other appointed Justice Of the Peace. That
ends tho list. No woman haa been chosen OF
nominated for Delegate, Councilman. Repre-
sentative, Police judge, or to any clerical office
The Offices aro held W men lust the same a. be
fore. and as far ~ can learn most women
would rather vote for men than women.
Sccord--In the courts " madc a wonderful
change for ycar or so; women served on both
grand and petit Jures. snd wc we're promised a
renovation OF society Ia consequence VI theii
rno moral sense and strictncss In enforcing tue
law. Nobody has anything to say abou, It now
but 1t seems reasonable To conclude that II the
system had worked well. IL would not have been
abandoned In a year or two and never revived
One man only found who would talk freely on
this point. lie was an enthusiastic believer In
mo sex In politics" and served on one jury
with Ave ladies'. Two ladies from long sitting
got nervous and sick The jury had to be locked
up seven hours The two ladies were very sick
by the time a verdict was found. and the whole
matter was so horribly Involvement that my IN
fOrmant declared he would Nv the Territory
rather than alt on jury with women again
The territory contains only loo women old
be exempt from the nature Of the case-ail nrrs
ing mothers, all pregnant women, all with SICK
or very Young children demanding their care
all delicate, nervous OF hystcrical women, all OF
notoriuusly bad character, aud all who would
De exempt for the same reasons "a men. In any
country this would exclude Nineteen out OF
twenty in fact, IL leaves only the perfectly
healthy unmarried women. and those married
who have no children or are old enough 10 have
afani'y grown up. There Is not ono unmarried
woman in a hundred who would sit on jury u
she could help It, and In this country, not NOR,
than one criminal case In ten Is ut for an un
married woman TO hear For the present W.
have probably heard tbs last VI women Juries In
THRIFT has made no noticeable difference
public morals, though some insis
suffrage ladies in Cheyenne, both insist there
been "A marked imprOyement In direct conse.
quence Of women suffrage. Others say not.
can only present my own observation. l wal
here In 1903, teforo society, government, or any
thing else was organlZ ed. and lound II a rough
country. | visited ali the towns again In 1859
after the visilants had hanged the cut-throat.
and run on the thieves, and government wa
country. II there has necn any notlc sable i'm
provement since 1870, when the women began I,
word for It.
IMPROVING THE POLLS.
Fourth--At the polls 1t certainly has had on,
good efect-to produce better order. The ladie
usually come In carriages. making sort VI gal
y Of IL. and pass through the crowd, which
treats them with the utmost respect. In fact
one Simply sees there what ono sees everywher'
IN Amo ica-when sdies are presents decen
respect Tor them. There have been few hgau
about ladies being challenged. The first younl
lady VINO was challenged at Laramie droppe,
her ballot and began to cry, upon which he
escort "wnaed away at tho man who chal
leneed her vote, and sent him into the often
After this had occurred few times no NOR,
ladies' votes were challenged, and In that respec
they have the advantage OF men.
Fifth-Another Marked effect has been I,
vastly Increase the coat Of running for ONCE. /
seems the ladies may be divided into thre
classes "a slnsii nuinocr OF inc rather reserved
VINO never vote under any circumstances
larger class who always vote, and the great md
die class who vote or do not vote, Just as 1t hap
pens, or Just as they may be solicited. Tn
candidates must see to getting these out, an,
carriage hire is awful. Ia fact, so great grew
this evil, and SO much was II becoming a matte
OF money. that the ladies' few weeks ago Il
full convention, protested against II, and de
clarod they would walk to tho polls or not g
at al.
sixth-As TO its effect on the ladies them
selves, there are almost as many opinions a
there are people In wyoming. Most probably /
has had no effect ut all. rs, even did the suffrage
possess some mysterious innate power OF i'm
proyement, II has not been established here lon
enough to produce noticeable effect. The womeI
who come to the Territories in nincty-nin
chsrs out OF hundred, have their character
nxod for good or EVIL before they srtlye. The
are generally OF decided characters and Urn
convictions, and II does not 3. EN- probable tina
could affect them either way. he politici
power Of prostitutes, which some have dread ed
does not seem TO be AN imminent i.ct. The
only constitute one NTH OF the yotin, womer
and candidate who should bid openly Tor tn el
support would certainly lose ni lrl tnan h
as RUE. utterly without any logical compre
hensiou ~ how political or NUM- ipal question
would affect them. and totally lirking Ia IN
faculty OF organization. SoCiil cohesion
probably less among item than any other cl.-
Of people ana IA thousand II then. tifuWn &,
getner in convention would not organize I
twenty-five years. AS a rule, they Autc for q
with their rsonal trends, as do hund eds T.
good women, and thus their vote Is divide
very much as that OF any other cl ts-,
IN FAMILIES.
Nor have there been those family disturbance
which some anticipated. At le Il nucty-nln
times out Of a hundred man and wife are 81 IN
sane politics. II Is Ia this IS In many otht
things low, brutal man cuercts hi, Wifr h
violence a high-tOned and honorable d an VIII
disdans to usurp authority over h,a wife. doe
IN fact, govern her tenfOld more cNcciunly h.
:Le cOnstraint OF affection. Every one mus
have observed that the honorable and grneruu
man really governs his wife (virngoes always eN
cepted) far more than the domestic tyrant; fo
the formers IS al empire over the soul and min
a. well as the body great fool as well rs
great brute must that man DO wno can not re
strain wife far more etfectually than 10y usln
force. The abused wife may swinde her hus
band In the ballot, as In hundred other way
but the woman whose husband refuses the clair
OF power votes with him almost universalll
The exceptions are SAID To balance about equal
between parties, and exist without trOubl,
hTs. A. IL. Post Is an active Republican, her hui
band a Democrat Mrs. Arnold Is Democrat
her husband "A HeBublicau. " niie the lato In,