Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-02-28
woMAN's KINGDOM.
THE DEMONSTRATION OF EQUAL SUI
FRAGE IN WYOMING.
ITS FRIENDS AND ENEMIES.


mind waiting for enlightenment should
have found it necessary to study it at
long range-through a telescope, igu-
ratively speaking-on the other side OF
the globe, when it has been in active
operation for some years, within our
own borders, in the State of Wyoming.
There, in the territorial Government,
it had proved all that its friends had
p%rophecied, and so salutary had been
its influence that the people were not
willing to accept Statehood if the wo-
men we're to be deprived of their rights
as citizens. The voting has gone on
uninterruptedly in Wyomingf for years.
There have been during this period no
records of political scandals in which
women have been involved, no domes-
tic upheavals in which the homes have
been desecrated, and no women demon
allied by political freedom have thrown
off social and domestic restraint, or
have violated those traditions that wo-
men hold sacred throughout civiliza-
ton.
Indeed, Wyoming in her political ex-
perience illustrates that ideally happy
country which has no history. Its gov
eminent, notwithstanding this unpre-
cedented departure from the beaten
track of politics, has gone IN smoothly
and quietly. Women have been nomi-
mated for office, have been elected, dis
charged their duty, and have retired
again 10 private life, not spoiled by the
experience, but, on the contrary, with
broadened minds and deepened sym
pathies, the better able to meet the
petty trials that make up the sun of
the average life. Last summer the
people at the Worlds Fair had the priv
ilege of hearing Gov. Hoyt give some
account of the actual workings of
equal suffrage in the State which he
represented and of which he was SO
justly proud. 1t was an inspiring re-
cord of empty jails and teeming school
houses; of comfortable prosperity ard
a minimum of lgorance and pauperism.
There vas a willingness on the part of
the women to be advised by men who
had had a greater experience in public
affairs, which was not servile submits
sion, but discretion and caution, which
demanded in return, in any and all
candidates, sobriety, integrity, and
ability.
Women, he told us, did not always
vote with their husbands, but this did
not result in d~issension and strife. as
had been foretold; they apparently
agreed to disagree, as men and women
do and will, in every country and upon
every question.
1t can not be said that all this has
been accomplished because the civilian
ton Of Wyoming is exceptional. On
the contrary, it is q well known fact
that the Western States have among
their population a large percentage of
men who have found the restraints of
the East somewhat CALLING, and for
reasons of their own have emigrated.
This element has its representation in
Wyoming as it has in Colorado, Mon
tana, and Idaho, and that the inhuence
of women in politics could bring about
such admirable results, in view of all
this, is the strongest proof of its reform
atory and educational influence.
Colorado also has just given its hearty
sanction and approval of the enfran-
chisement of women. Shei is Mornings
near neighbor; the men of Colorado
had only to look across the border line
to see all its merits and failures for
themselves. Had there been turmoil
and corruption and the Dissertation of
the home, it would have been known
throughout the State, from one end of
il to the other. But they saw instead
how the Wyoming women valued their
franchise and used it; how temperance
and intelligence and prosperity pre-
vailed where women voted, and how
vice and igorance and pauperism were
opposed whenever and wherever a vote
could be made practicable in the CON
test against evil.
Colorado very naturally and very
wisely concluded that what had been a
benefit to Wyoming would be an equal
benefit to herself. Consequently the
women of Colorado share in that JUS
tice which makes the intelligent woman
citizen the peer of the man; she has
stricken the restriction of sex from her
constitution. And Kansas is destined,
in the near future to conclude the work
which sh, only partially performed,
and take her place in line with these
TWO liberal and enlightened common
wealths.
But we need not even cross the Mis-
sissippi River to study the practical
workings of woman suffrage. In those
States, where school suffrage is now
granted, enough may be noted to give
the disinterested mind food for bene-
fetal reflection.
In the first place it is well to know
what class of women want the suffrage
and exercise 1T when they get it; who
are their friends and who are their OPP
ponents.
The m who have asked the
franchise represent the highest culture,
virtue, and intelligence of these United
States. They are the women Of the
universities, the schools, and the pro-
fessions. The very great majority of
th6nr Are mother nf foniliaa davotad