The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-13
TOWNS RULED BY WOMEN
WHERE THEY HOLD EVERY OFFICE
FROM MAYOR TO JAEIToR


Mayor stops Cleaning Her House
and Talks.
From. the PHILADELPHIA Press
ToprrA. KAN, April 9.-Mauhattan and
o.l,a1oosa are two Kansas towns whers
,,,o women have everything their own way.
w. have turned the men out OF all the
1ooaI POLITICAL offices and have run the town
..or since both sexes have voted in local
elections in Kansas.
1,ha revolution i'll Oskaloosa was accom-
,,lisbed two wears ago and in Manhattan
,-oar ago. The act enabling women to vote
:: L-o,1sas became law three years ago.
,rho women captured all the city Offices in
..osa towns. and since that time women
- administered all the departments OF
thocitv government from the mayor down
,hrouCb the council to the janitorship of
oi,v hall. The women had another
!;ctet in the field for the regular spring
lection on April /, and it was elected over
.ta three other tickets. They mad control
Of all the election machinery, having ap-
,,ointed women judges and clerks Of elections
at all the precincts.
This. and the sister town Of Oskaloosa,
sre the first municipalities in America. and
,,rohaDlV the Uf5I III JDS WOklQ W kAf6 lu6lI
government over entirely TO wome ]. a
grummer who visited Oskaloosa the week
.fter election. SAYS: when | saw men
jonnoing silently around the public square
wondered if they did not feel like apollo
Giving for drawing their breath. IL is no
fancy Of that they looked meek and
hushed. / had expected to see them restless
and contemptuous under the political domin-
nation of women. But | was disappointed.
g - frld MO = a
vas dsgracing itself, that the women had
not time TO fit themselves to run the gov
eminent alone and that it would never nap
nan again But there was no radical talk
about taxing the ballot away from them.
did not hear a man hint such thought or
hope Woman suffrage in municipal cleo
tions is accepted as thoroughly in Oska-
Ioosa as manhood suffrage is in Pelnsyl-
vania.
ut is astonishing to find that nobody
there sees anything humorous in the situa
ton The new departure is no longer q
laughing matter with the townsDeople.
Their solemn earnestness Is the funniest
element in the whole affair These city
mothers in their private characters, are
treated with gallant Difference, but in their
official characters they do not get off but
very little more easily than city fathers
generally do. However, whenever an ag-
full length OF denunciation and imputa ion
he finds it convenient, as rule, to apply
himself to an energetic woman, locally de-
rided as Boss Ellen Beasley, and who is
commonly accused of misleading the women
Of the city government.
THE EDITOR WAS A woMAN's MAN.
1.-THE editor is woman's man; that is
what the opposition calls the supporters Of
the city government. This gentleman told
me that the new administration was without
a flaw. He said that the first suggestion of
eecting woman's ticket was not seriously
made That was in the spring of 1887, and
the ticket put up by few women was de-
feated. The next year, however, the men
said that they would not play hog, and SO a
small group of them made up ticket COM
posed entirely of women. The candidates
were all amiable and popular wives and
mothers; there were no short hairs or corr
crew curls among them. But even then
the proposition was not seriously taken and
it was in the spirit of a joke that the entire
woman's ticket was elected. Mrs. Mary ID.
Lowman, the candidate for mayor, received
l16 votes, while tire man who opposed her
received only sixty-eight. Then Oskaloosa
fet funny. The townspeop' regarded it as
joke among themselves, and it fairly took
their breath to look at the Kansas City,
Topeka, st. Louis, and Chicago papers.
into the bright sunlight of publicity actu-
ally cried over the descriptions that they
read of their own faces and gowns.
''But they wiped away their tears and
were sworn in. BY the time their year was
ended they had long ceased to be joke
among their constituents, who bad formed
into stubborn factions of the discussion OF
the merits of the new administrator. The
aldermen had passed but single ordinance.
and had conducted themselves soberly and
patiently This one ordinance excluded
from the town center the business OF breed
ing horses, ard Immediately this subject
became the chief issue in municipal politics.
Those who favor the old plan swore that
the trade of the town would be ruined If
this ordinance should be enforced; but the
ordinanc was enforced, and on the question
of its enforcement the women were re-
elected. The fight against them was earn
est aud warm, but the entire woman's
ticket was successful, Mayor Lownan re-
ceiving 1917 votes to 12S that were cast for
an ungallaut townsman who bellies the
name of Noble.
WOMEN AS ELECTION 'BoYs.n
'tThe election was very exciting. Jealous
women rode in carriages and 'buggles all
day, while the polls were open, seeking re-
luctant sisters. The scenes about the voting
place were, am assured by both sides,
worthy OF tue SOOu pSupI6 VI Tue W H. L ne
only exception was the disposition of the
women to cheat, so say their opponents.
have heard men from all parts of Kansas
say that women cheat at the polls as eadiiy
as they are widely believed TO cheas at
euchre. have asked all these accusers
why they not prevent the cheatinga
"'Whatr they would exclaim. Challenge
woman's votes guess not; why I'd be
run out of town..
Very often in the Oskaloosa election
husbands and wives came together and
voted the same til ket, but there was num-
Der of instances wherein the two heads of
families stood apart; always without any
unhappy effect on their domestic relations
] heard of wives who voted the mems
ticket, while their husbands supported the
the women candidates. The sexual line as
not drawn, for it is estimated that in spite
Of the success of the women's ticket half the
women who voted threw their ballots for
the men Social jealousy and notion that
the women in office were foolishly making
talk about themselves were the motives
generally ascribed to such voters.
''HER HONOR, THE MAYOR"
When visited the registers office there
was no woman to be seen, but man with
pleasant, intelligent face and only one arm
was seated at a desk writing in big book.
asked, is the mayor hereH
No. he answered. She's at home to-
dev I5r,D bac husband ord ano doing har