The record-union., 1896-05-24
SMYTHE ON SUFFRAGE.
Particularly With Reference to the
Women.
A Few Illustrations of Hcw the
Women Voted in Large Cit-
in Kansas.
(F'rom the Los Angeles Express. )

suffrage plank on election day." ejacu-
lated the scribe of the Express" as he
fillipsed the ashes OF a cigar which
Colonel Smythe had given to him.
''How's that, how's that" replied
Colonel Smythe, as he family realized
that he was getting some of the smoke
of the cigar which he had given the
scribe, and which his wife had presented
tc him ON his birthday
81 said" replied the scribe, that they
won't do thing to that woman's suff-
rage plank on election day.
'Oh, 1 heard what you said" returned
Colonel Smythe, but 1 merely got a
whiff of that cigar and wished to get out
Of its scope"
Then Colonel Smythe got on the wind
ward side of the scribe, and proceeded
to light a cigar which he had taken from
another pocket, and which was not a
part of the present which his wife had
given to him on his birthday. After
Cne or two premonitory puffs Colonel
Smythe debonairly and carelessly placed
the thumb of his right hand in the aper-
ture of his WaiStcoat and with an owl
like cast of cOuntenance, whicn states
men generally assume previous to esti-
mating the cost of drink and said: 'I
don't know so much about that, young
man.
Il am surprised, Colonel" spoke up
the scribe, quickly, 81 thought that you
were irrevOcably and unalterxbly op-
posed to woman's suffrage AS far as
[ am concerned, L do not care a red cop
per whether women vote or not, but I
merely made the remark tentatively in
order to draw you out on the subject
A sudden attack of strabismus came
over Colonel Smythe's left eye. and re-
leasing the thumb of his right hand
from the aperture of his waistcoat he
remarked: well, young man. I will
admit that I was once, as you say, un-
alterably and irrevocably opposed to
woman's suffrage; but 1 have since
changed my mind"
Then you believe in woman's suf-
frage," responded the scribe, quickly.
Now don't be so quick" returned the
Colonel, as he took a few more puffs
Il think may say that L have no opin-
ion on the subject at all. Ever since
Mrs. Snaythe made up her mind that she
was no longer to be classed with idiots,
paupers, convicts and immigrants and
was as much entitled to vote as was
have had no opinion on woman's suf-
frage. The fact of tine case is, young
man, / can't afford to have any opinion
or that subject We have been married
too long to break into the divorce courts,
and our domestic tranquility has never
been marred by any breaches about any
little matter like an opinion ON wOrnan's
suffrage. l am not now going to let it
subvene and subvert the peaceful rela-
tions and entente cordale that have al
ways existed in the Smythe meange
The fact of the case is that the subject
of woman's suffrage is a mare clausum
up at our house"
"Oh!" responded the scribe, as he
threw the cigar that Colonel Smythe
had given to him and which Mrs.
Smythe had given to the Colonel on the
occasion of his birthday, into the mid
die of the street. 81 see, it is a matter
of expediency and discretion"
you may call it expediency, discre-
tion, diplomacy, tact, policy or any
thing else you please; the fact still re-
mains that 1 have no opinion on
woman's suffrage. The women can
vote if they want to; they can stay at
home if they want to. Being a good
Republican, and this being a plank in
the platform, L will try my best to stand
on it and eat the crow Of past admiS-
sionS or convictions. haven't the
slightest objections to women voting.
I think perhaps it would be a good
thing to let them try it. There are
lots of women who would vote more in
telligently than some men. AS a mat
ter of fact, taking them, woman for
woman, they are more intelligent than
the rank and file of the male sex
have yet to find woman who does not
the spirit and purposes of
this country; the need of honesty and
probity in office, and the necessity of
purity in politics..
Don't you believe that the exercise
of the suffrage by women would be
a succesS?'
Now, then, this is a leading ques-
tion," replied Colonel Smythe, land as 1
have no opinion on the matter l refuse
to be unwittingly or otherwise drawn
into the trap. Suppose l should say
that it would not be a success. and you
would put it in the paper. Why that
would be the very first thing that would
arrest the eye of Mrs. Smythe, and then
l would have to go to San Francisco for
two weeks and probably be served with
a summons on my return. No Stree
young man; you cannot catch me by
any such device.
when the Suffrage Act was first
passed in Kansas, / was residing in
Kansas City. Mo.
Desiring to see how 1t worked on the
first election day 1 went over into what
is called Kansas City, Kas., now, and
which then was Wyandotte, the larg-
est city in Kansas. l have seen some
pretty exciting times around the polls
in nearly every large city in the United
States, but the scenes around the polls
on the first day when women cast their
votes in that place were the most excit-
ing things that l ever witnessed in my
life. Talk about toughs and blacklegs
the polls; they were not in
it little bit with the big, fat, colored
mammies and the swift and assertive
white women of unspeakable nature.
who were on hand engineering the Jobs.
The colored women, with great elation.
felt that there was one day when they
were on an equality with all the world,
and they signalized it by chewing snuff.
smoking cigars and cob pipes, and in
dulging in such pyrotechnical language
as would even make the most hardened
ward heeler in de ate ward of this city
blush from. sheer modesty. When a re-
spectacle woman would come up to the
polls Ito vote she would be immediately
surrounded by this peculiar conglomer-
alton of femininity, and become so
frightened at the profanity and so dis
gusted with the familiarity that she