The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-11-29
THE LATEST TRIUMPH OF NO
NAN SUFFRAGE.

New York sun: There seems tn be
no doubt that women will vote in Wash
ington Territory at the election in No
Yember of next year. Several weeks
ago bill striking out the word male
from all election laws of the terri tory
passed the lower house of the legIsla-
ture, and on Thursday 1t also passed the |
upper house by a large majority. The
governor, it is said, has declared his in
tentIon to sign the bill.
Consequently the women suffragists |
on the Pacific are rejoicing over their |
triumph. But, judging from their ex- |
perience in Wyoming. they have no: won |
victory which will prove of much AL |
vantage tn them elsewhere in the Union,
and especially in states where the female |
population is large.
81 long ago as 1869 wOmenii wers en-
franchiaesl in Wyoming Territory, and |
admitted Into the courts as jurors. A
woman. Esther Norris, was made JUS
Iice nf the peace, and seems To have
given general satisfaction in The thickly
setllad region where she held court. The
then governor OfIhe territory. Gov. Lee.
bore witness that cher court sessions
were characterized by a degree ot sraV-
ity and decoTum rarely cx-
hihiied ia the jurisdiction
OF border precincts" and that
''her decisions In civil causes, in nearly
every instance, were confirmed by the
appellate court; and the laws had never
been so ably administered in that
vicinity" But, according TO a Wyom-
ing correspondent of the Times, no wO-
man nowadays holds offices or sits on
Iuries, and woman suffrage Is disaG-
vantage rather than u benefit tn the ter
ritOry.
IL seems, moreover, according to Gov.
Lee that woman sntieFage, adopted by
the first legislature. was not granted as
a matter "f principle but because the
territorial law giVers believed 1t womb
operate "a n Grst-Class advertisement,
resnlting in increased immigration,
and large accrutiOns of capital To their
new and comparatively unknown terri
tory" Whether the legislature of Wash
ington has had similar purpose in AL
hitting women tn tae polls We are not
told, bnt the experience If Wyoming
would har1ily encourage il Ia resort 10
that methGd Of advertising the territory.
Wyoming. which had eight or nine
thousand inhabitants in 1869. hal in
creased tn only twenty Thousand in 1880.
a small actual increase "a compared
with other territories. Washington Ter
rii0ry having advanced during the same
period from %, 90 To 1916
Two or three years after Wyoming
had enfranchised women, however, a
strong and nearly successful effort was
made iO take back the privilege. The
legislature repealed the Woman Suf
irAge law, and when the governor vetoed
the act the lower house passed It again
over his veto, and It was defeated In the
council by only one vote.
Meantime woman suffrage has made
little progress elsewhere in the Union.
There seems, indeed, to be less interest
In It than there was ten or fifteen years
ago. Partial suffrage has. it is true,
been granted to women in New York
and Massachusetts,, hut the indIspOsi.
ton of the women of these states 10 take
advantage OF their privilege has given
discOuraging blow tn the project
The reasonable inference is that women,
in the Older communities at least, do
not want To vote, and that in giving
them the suffrage YOU Ghrnst On them q
duty they are unwilling 10 perform, and
which the chief part If the hest Of them
gre likely to neglect tn the posslble
: detriment Of the state. EYen in wy
! oming, the Tunes correspondent tells u.
: some Of the women are Indifferent aboa
D voting, and 'others said they had neve
{ voted excepting once or twice to enjo|
/. the novelty"
:; 1t il not likely. therefore, that tn
8 precedent established by Wyoming an.
u Washington territories Will he folIowec
n At the east until women really NANTES
desire 70 assume the same duties q
q citizenship which men ara called ON {,
perform. That they do not now shnI
e any such desire is IndisputAble. WheI
70 propositions in regard 10 woman sn
If frAge have been before our Legislature
lie for instance. they have found female I'd
10 vocAtes only among the very small bod
a of women who are pronounced agitatoE
&c OF the subject. and whom the great mas
d OF Womea utterly refuse 10 accept &
" their IeadeFs.
ID When women generally demand til
a. suffrage they will get in New Yorl
I'd There Is no doubt about that. Eithe
is one Of the two paruas Will be ready
O. make them voters whenever II become
Is evident that the greAA hnfIy sar them y,
) ally wantthesuffraee. ~.
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