The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-07
HEN-PECKED TOWN.
SKETCH OF a CITY UNDER
ILL., woMANs RULE


ZION, the Boston GLOBE
town of but few more than
uA',-[ oIitants in the earlier settled cor
aeL % g. cbapter in the battle history OF
var was made in that region
Ll9 ~ -. north and south first grappled In
IlG-0 1orc and bloody fight. 1t country
'Is-- In its rocks and brooks, ups and
"ni1u' LIS very much like a good deal
49,. the free state men from New England
.ua' LID them. They must have felt at
90 a. once. and fought as men always
Il srbt who feel at home.
70 os,,oloosa wears the airs of age, and the
~ and a half stage drive from the rail-
,,sd station to the town Is eViueiloo 'n',
o.l,aloosa was there before the railroad
also they would be together The
~ ,.oLs the glare and rudeneSs that the
- - Generally finds in Kansas towns.
;asV I--a seasoued aud stable look. mere
II nao stir about it, and people from
& Is no Nc o+har parts of Kansas call IL lazy
WgH .iaanv The town is built around
anu I-{lino court house IN the center OF
-, .ouare. The trees have been pianueu
Long and are so numerous that they loIHl
i sosnsr7obe forest The gardens nave 81, an
oId smell that is sweet and peacelul. me
& uiaca is much of stranger to booms as II
p1.-.,taro3 IN an out-of-the- valley up
!. E,artlin county. Yet Oskaloosa IS the
Asst mnnicipality in America ana prop
aEv the first in the world to give lis gov
eminent over entirely TO women.
IN Kansas both sexes are allowed TO vote
=; ~ ta,yn and CITY elections and to hold local
adcas This same measure is rejected by
,ba (,arersI court of Massachusetts every
wear Some time it may have better luck.
Hence we ought to feel peculiar interest
Il in the experiment which Oskaloosa Is max
ng. ;.
0skaloosa is city. ANY community IN
Kansas with 500 people or more may nave
a city government. While ! was OUT III
Kansas not long ago visited Oskaloosa.
Tntil nv stage driver had brought me to
the court house square, where the little
stores are. he was the only man saw In
O,kalOosa. We met women in the streets
and saw them in their gardens, but 1T hap
naned that we did not come in sight OF
man until we arrived in the court house
square. | began to feel
PITY FOR THE MEN,
and when saw them lounging silently about
feel like apologizing for drawing their
breath. 1t is no fancy of mine that they
looked meek and hushed. | had expected
TO see them restless and c0ntemptuous un-
der the political domination of women.
But | was disappointed. A good many of
them told me the town was disgracing itself;
that the women had not had time to fit
themselves to run the government alone.
and tn it would lever happen again. But
there was no radical talk about taking the
ballot way from them. | did not hear a
man hint such a thought or hope. Woman
suffrage in municipal elections is accepted
as thoroughly in Oskaloosa as manhood
suffrage is in New York.
Its astonishing to find that nobody there
sees anything humorous in the situation.
The new departure is no longer a laughing
matter with the townspeople. Their solem
earnestness is the funniest element in the
whole affair. These city mothers, in their
private characters, are treated with gal
lant Difference, but in their official charac-
tiers they do not get off but very little
more easily than city fathers generally do.
However, when an aggrleved citizen of
Oskaloosa wishes to go the full length of
denunclation and imputation ne finds it
convenient as rule to apply himself to an
energetic apOthecary, locally derided as
Of misleading the women of the
the city government When a citizen is
content mildly to disapproye of any meas
ure taken by the mayor and aldermen, he
lltying!y says that the ladies mean well
but DOME know If, however, he wishes to
60 more deeply into the subject, he lights
into Boss Beasley and gives him hail Column
Tia.
The local editor is a woman'S man: that
Is what the opposition calls supporter of
The city government. This gentleman told
me that the new administration was with
OUT Nav. lie said that the first sugges-
tlon Oh elec lng Woman's ticket was not
serl usly made. That was in the spring of
1881 aad ticket put up by few woInen
was defeated. The next year, however.
lhe men sid that shey would
NOT PLAY HOG,
ana so small group of them made nm
ucket composed entirely of women. The
candidates were all amiable and nonnlar
wives and mothers; there we're no short
ualrs OF cofkscreW curls among them. But
even Vheh The proposition was not seriously
.aAen' ana IL was IN the spirit of a Joke that
NJ NE enGIfe Woman'S ticket was elected. Mrs.
r ra"IJ u Lo"man, the candidate for mayor
received Il6 votes, while the maa who on
posed her received only 6S. Then OskaIoota
iel1 lunny. Within forty-eight hours the
ne:H,Spaper men swarmed the town. talked
WIN rhe men and looked at the women
~ ~ wrote up Oskaloosa by the column
-; 80 A,DtuElety vas unexpected and astound
-. Inc tOWnspeOple had regarded il as
!pAe among themselves, and it fairly took
T1en breath to look at the Kansas CITY
SSopeka' y. Louis and Chicago paners
3ulne or the women thus suddenly thrust
nlojl tne bright sunlight of publicity ac-
rao4 c !iied over the descriptions that thew
b. VI Gueir own faces and gowns.
ve a'av lney wiped away their tears and
ende4 9" . IN. by the time their year was
ar-on,. ti,ley mad long ceased to be a Joke
into s2,, IHeT constituents, who had formed
tba "uooorn factions in the discussion of
'lT ~ mel Of the new administration -
5ne aldermen had passed b1t o siro.,o
s1b banallce and had conducted Themselves
i evcIn3{. ana patiently. This one ordinances
4 of fra ae9 from the town center the business
snbiaete qlliig horses, and immediately this
poitioa oeGafne the chief issue in municinal
syyIros those who favored the old nfan
rnnes ' " !, Tie trade of the town wonld ha
1 mt ~. onls ordnance should be enforced
4 oDesti ie VI dinance was enforced. and on the
X were Il. u u It's enforcement the women
e against Hcted last spring. The fight
4 tie ant; s'ieul was earnest and warm b,,t
4 3Iavorr 'Te Woman's ticket was s1ccesfni
Il that wer nowtnan receiving 1877 votes to 100
ONGALLANT TowNsMAN.
M; oeLeS the name of Noble.
"A that Of Nv toOo was almost twice as great as
Very at vuo year before. The election 80 S
n v,4A'c'Ing. Jealous women rodo &c
n polls S. and buggies all day wbi1o +hn