Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-20
Tuesday, November 20, 1883.


 VVO1EE IN POLITICS IN WYOMING.
 In the Territory of Wyoming women have voted for fourteen years. The advocates of woman suffrage have pointed with pride" to the Wyoming women's political doings. The governors of the Territory in their annusl messages have said great many geod words for woman suffrage, and the general opinion is that it has worked pretty well. But now comes 8 correspondent of the New York Times who has not the fear of the woman saffrasists before his eyes. and who tells a story somewhat different from that which we have been accustomed to hear.
 According to this correspondent, since the passage of the act granting suffrage to the women of Wyoming, December 10, 1869, but two women have held office in the Territory. During three or four years following the passage of the act which gave women their ''rights' in Wyoming, few acted as jurors, but no woman is ever seen nowadays in the jury box. The women of Wyoming do not aspire to hold office, and they stand aloof from the irksome task of doing jury duty. In fact, they take no share whatever in the drudgery of administering the laws, nominat- ing candidates, formulating platforms or making stump speeches. They electioneer among their friends when their male rela- tives are candidates, but they perform no other political act save voting. Their only influence in politics is felt by the effect of the number of ballots they put in the box.
 The correspondent, who writes from Cheyenne, has talked with a great many of the inhabitants of that place concerning the workings of woman suffrage, and he gives some of the answers to his questions. A workingman replied: 'When I lived in Colorado would have scorned an offer of few dollars for my vote on election day. Here in Wyoming, when I ana offered $50 for the vote of my family-myself. wife and three daughters-I find that scorn gives way to calculation that $50 is equal to what I earn in five weeks work. It doa't matter much to me who holds office. T live all the same." A leading citizen of the Territory said: ''We vote our women relati yes to coun- terbalancs the votes of the degraded classes,' pregnant sentence, indeed, and most significant in it's first five words. A dis tinguished member of the bar answered:
 
 to make our politics source of greater cor ruption and immortality than ever." man who acted for years as police officer, sheriff and city marshal said f'The bad women are all for sale on election day. and the good ones knife candidate who don't attend Sunday school" The replies of women were mostly that they were glad of 8 chance to vote against bad men or for good man. Some said they never had voted, excepting once or twice to enjoy the novelty. A few avowed that they had no taste for politics and never voted The correspondents opinion Is that by the enfranchisenent of woman, corrupt ion, trickery. fraud, vice, ss political forces already existing. have been reinforced by weakness, indifference, ignorance cowardics and imbecility. As consequence public morals are laid low and practicable plans for reform lack intelligent support
 This is not very encouraging. It has been said and believed by the advocates of wom- an suffrage that woman would have a good upon politics if she were allowed to vote. It is certain that such experiments as have been made in Vermont and Massa- chusetts cannot be called powerful argu- ments for woman suffrage. It has, however, been claimed that the case was different in the wild West. But if the correspondent whose letter we have quoted from tells the truth, or comes anywhere near is, the wom- sn of Wyoming have not puriasd the politics of the Territory to any great extent Doubtless his assertions will provoke re- plies and those interested may be able to learn something.