The morning call., 1893-06-28
WINNING THEIR WAY.
PROGRESS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE

WINNING THEIR WAY.
PROGRESS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
To the Editor OF The Cali: A writer re-
Gently SAID in the columns OF THE MORNING
CALL:
In many Countries 1t has been proposed TO en-
dow women with the suffrage, and several times.
In different places. II has seemed that the conces-
sion was about granted. But 1t is noticeable that
Just as female suffrage seems on the point OF win
ming it is defeated on some SIDE issue, ana it Is
relegated to the limbo o. dead projects That was
the experience in Ohio. Indiana and Oregon;
Crest Britain has the same record on the subject
II seems that while men often willing to give
the ladies' a complimentary vote Wyoming is the
only modern community in which they have gone
further.
a few facts on this subject may be OF Inter-
est. In 1S45 school suffrage was granted to
women in Kentucky. and In 1861 in Kansas
In 1869 fun suffrage was granted TO The women
OF wyoming. and municipal suffrage TO me
single women and widows OF England. In 1875
school suffrage was granted by Michigan and
Minnesota; in 1876, by Colorado: in 1873. by
New Hampshire and Oregon; in 1879, by
Massachusetts; In 1880. by New York and
Vermont. In 1881 municipal suffrage was ex-
tended 10 the women OF Scotland. In 1888
school suffrage was granted by Nebraska; in
1885, by Wisconsin, and in 1886. by Washing
ton. In 1887 municipal suffrage was granted
In Kansas, and school Suffrage IN North and
South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and
New Jersey. In 1891 school suffrage was
granted in Illinois. In 1892 New York gave
women the right 10 vote for County Commission
ers of Schools. IN addition 10 the vote for School
Trustees which they had had since 1880. In
1898 Michigan gave municipal suffrage to all
women who can read and write. During the
last twenty years municipal suffrage has also
bsen given TO women Single women and
widows throughout most OF the British prov
inces in North America and Australia, but
am unable 10 give the exact dates.
In view of these facts, is there not something
a little risky about the statement of the writer
IN The CALL who says:
Nothing appears to be better settled than that
in the present condition of public opinion there is
no chance that men viii admit women to equality
at the ballot-boL.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Dorchester, Mass, June 10, 1898.
For the correction of its mistakes, and
for Miss BlackweiPs rebuke, THE CALL
desires to express its thanks. 1t is happy
to lay before its readers the evidence of
the steady progress of the sex in dividing
with men the control of schools and NUM-
cipalities. Few people are aware of the
ground which the ladies are conquering
year by year.
In the article which Miss Blackwell cor
reefs. The CALL expressed no opinion on
the question whether the control of public
affairs should or should not be divided
evenly between the sexes. 1t merely noted
the fact that the agitation for female suf-
frage did not appear to be gaining ground
either in this country or elsewhere; that,
in fact, the demand for the reform, which
at one time came near being embodied in
the constitutions of Ohio, Oregon and In
diana, now rarely makes its voice heard.
Whether the ladies have given up the
struggle as bad job, or mems gallantry
has cooled, politicians will agree that even
in the most advanced States the prospect
Of a constitutional amendment giving
votes to women is not as bright as it was
fifteen years ago. though the arguments
pro and con are the same as ever. This
need not necessarily discourage Miss
Blackwell; the tide of reform always has
its ebbs and its flows; no great public i'm
provement was ever accomplished with
out encountering preliminary defeats.
Radical reforms are always slow in their
evolution.
If, in any enlightened country, a DELHI
crate act of the Legislature should co nfer
the suffrage upon women the event would
set all other enlightened countries think
ing, and if. after a few years trial, the
experiment were found to work well the
example would probably be followed by
some of them. Everybody is waiting to
see some one else test the idea. The period
of expectancy is the more patiently borne
as men of broad, sympathetic minds,
loving women as good men should, are
inclined to think that il is more important
for women at the present time 60 emanci-
pate themselves from male control by
securing an Independent livelihood than to
get the right of voting. The subsection of
women is not due tn their disfranchise.
ment but to their poverty. So long as they
depend on men for their bread and butter
they will be under the orders of men, and
it will only help them indirectly to obtain
the suffrage. When the day comes that
girls are educated to earn their own living
like boys, and that they are no more
trained to make the capture of husband
their objective in life than boy is brought
up to look to matrimony as a means of
support, women will taste real emancipa-
ton. and it will be to them a matter of
comparative Indifference whether they can
accompany husband and brother to the
polls or not.
Miss Blackwell must have noticed with
pleasure that girls are making steady prog
ress in bread winning. They are filling
with success positions which few years
ago were supposed to be beyond female
capacity. In every city large proper
ton OF the cashiers, clerks. typewriters,
copylsts. doctors, nurses, writers. workers
in factories, and sellers in stores belong to
the female sex. Not one Of these ladies
needs to marry for a home. If every girl
were as happily situated there would be
fewer unhappy homes. fewer divorces,
less crime aud less misery. That might
be a smaller gain than the conquest of po-
litcal rights by women. but it would be
gain of which the profits would be imme-
date and incontesta bic.
MAKING PROGRESS.