The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-11-22
a FALSE
Capt. Winsor on Woman Suffrage in wyo.
ming.

ming.
A friend OF the LEADER sends to this
office a clipping from q st. Louis paper,
which copied the following article
from the indianapolis Journal:
WOMEN IN WYOMING.
The Test of Female Suffrage IN Wyo-
ming Pronounced a Failure.
"a representative of the Journal
yesterday encountered Capt. 5. Fl. Win
sor, Of this city, who lived several
years in Wyoming, and asked for some
Information concerning the operation
of women suffrage in that territory.
Capt. Winsor Is an educated and OBJ
servant gentleman. He vas receiver
of the public land-office at Cheyenne,
and was a resident Of the territory
when the woman suffrage law took
effect, and for several years afterward.
The substance Of his views is as fol-
lows:
81 regard woman suffrage in Wyo-
ming as an utter failure, and / think it
SO regarded by the best men and women
of the Territory. SO far as can be dis
covered 1t has accomplished no good
results, while 1t has certainly worked
badly in many respects. For about
two years after the law was passed
nearly all the women in the territory
used to vote, my wife among the rest.
But after this experience the better
class became disguised with the opera
tion of the law, and quit voting.
AS an instance of the d~emoralizing
influence of politics on women, / re-
member seeing a lady, the wife of a
candidate for office, standing at the
counter of q beer saloon drinking beer
with q parcel of colored men. l could
mention her name, but will not. She
was from Ohio, was well educated, and
entirely respectable; but she was so in
tensely interested in her husbands sue
cess that she resorted to this means Of
getting votes for him. / saw this same
lady and a school teacher Of Cheyenne
in their buggies driving colored men
and women, and even known harlots,
to and from the polls. In such ways
as this 1 regard the operation Of the
law as demOralizing to the women.
There may be others who differ with
me, but simply give my views Of sew.
eral years. experience Of the law. ]
may add. that my wife, who enjoyed the
elective franchise during the period Of
our residence in Wyoming, entirely &C
cords with these views"
Capt. Winsor's reputation for trutl
and yeracity, while a resident of Wyo
ming, would make a denial of thi,
story superfuous, II we had only tc
consider its effects upon the people Of
this territory. We are moved, how.
ever, to reply to his statement al
length, for the reason that similar sto.
ries have been repeatedly published
abroad and believed by many intelli-
gent readers, who had no other sources
of information on this subject.
Capt. Winsor, formerly q resident OF
this territory and q government official,
is supposed to know whereof he speaks;
but we will prove how utterly false are
his assertions, and how untenable are
his conclusions. We will prove this
from the published reports of high gov.
eminent officers, and from the facts as
they are found at the present day.
The law comforting upon women the
right of suffrage, was enacted in 1869,
at a time when the people of Wyoming
were almost unanimously opposed to it.
The situation was accepted with good
nature and a general disposition to give
the law a fair trial. AT the end of two
years, Gov. Campbell, in his message
to the legislative assembly, expressed
himself on the subject, as follows:
"There is upon our statute book ian
act granting to the women of Wyoming
territory the right of suffrage and to
hold of1ice,n which has now been in
provisions women have voted in the ter.
ritory, served on juries and held office.
1t is simple justice to say that the
women entering, for the first time In
the history of the country, upon these
new and untried duties, have conducted
themselves in every respect with n:
much tact, sound judgment, and good
sense, as men. While it would bt
claiming more than the facts justify, tc
say that this experiment, in n limited
field, has demonstrated beyond a doubt
the perfect fitness of woman, ut all
times and under all circumstances, fol
taking a part in the government, il
furnishes at least presumptive evidence
in her favor, and she has a right Ia
claim that, so long as lone but good
results are made manifest, the law
should remain unrepealed.rN
A two years. trial, therefore gave
the ladies another chance, and while
our legislators were disposed to dissent
from the governor, the law was per.
mitted to remain on our statute book.
Two more years passed by, and we
give here Gov. Campbell's opinion OF
woman suffrage and its effects, after
an experience of four years. The gov.
ernor says to the legislators:
1.-The experiment of granting to wo-
man a voice in the government, which
was inaugurated for the first time in
the history Of our country, by the first
Legislative assembly Of Wyoming, has
now been tried for four years. l have
heretofore taken occasion to express my
views in regard to the wisdom and JUS
tice of this measure and my conviction
that its adoption has been attended only
by good results. Two years more Of
observation of the practical working of
the system have only served to deepen
my conviction that what we, in this
territory, have done, has been well done,
and that our system Of impartial suf-
frage is an unqualified success"
The legislative assembly, c~oinciding