The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-24
THEFIRSTWoMAN A
she rs MARTHA HUGHES CANNON
AND WAS ELBCTED IN n.

SbN -" 80 ~"
AND WAS ELECTED IN
Her Defeated Opponent Was Her Husband
She Is = Plural wife mad Believes In
Polygamy Resides Woman Sufrrnge-She
Thinks tho MiIiennium Is at Hand.
ave have Just elected n woman to our state
Senate" tie people of Utah are saying with a
great show of pride. Martha Hughes Cannon
" the hrst woman ever elected to n State SEN
ate In America. Her home Is in Salt Lake City.
According TO the San Francisco Examiner, Mrs.
Cannon is q remarkable woman with remarka-
BILE Views. She 10 remarkable inasmuch as she
ran against her husband in the same district
and beat him into the Senate by n satisfactory
majority of 4, 200 votes. Angus NJ. Cannon, her
husband, is an elder in tine Mormon Church,
standing in the first order Of precedence for
appointment rs one of the twelve apostles.
The newly elected Senator Is called the fourth
wife OF MIR. Cannon. She and his other three
wives live in friendly communion, and not one
has the least legal claim to the name sho bears.
Every polyRamous husband had the right TO
choose one woman for hts legal wife when the
law against polyGamy was enforced. Being
very gallant, MIR. Cannon refused to make n
choice. To choose vas too much TO expect OF
him. since ho had just taken two sisters to him
self with one swipe.
Martha Hughes Cannon is n doctor by pro-
fession and has an excellent practice. She is
described as being a small woman. between 30
and 80, with a mass of brown hair plcntifully
sprinkled with gray; brilliant hazel eyes, ever
on the alert: q clear skin. and vcSy small feet
and hands. She has a clear voice, n fine flow
OF words. and is not conceited. She is well
groomed, and always wears good clothes OF an
inconspicuous kind. She has two children, IL
girl OF IL and q boy of 4.
Mrs. Cannon is a Democrat: her husband Is n
Ranuhlfcan, She pnf intn pplitina in thia
In 1895 the Democratic women of Utah wanted
suffrage. They formed n woman's Democratic
campaign club and started in TO. raise funds for
the campaign. The Supreme Court decided
This didn't phaze the women's clubs. They
worked right on. and this year they got the suf-
when her party decided that they ought to have
q woman IN the Senate u committee asked her
IL she would run. She said =" yes and went to
the nominating Convention as a delegate. She
was duly nominated. and finally, after much
hard campaign work, was elected; She didn't
didn't bother herself about kissing unattractive
babies; She studied all the questions OF the
cam paign and made q lot OF speeches, staying
election day she went early to the polls. voted.
The Senator-elect announces that she will
take special interest in all sanitary bills and in
all bills pertaining to educational matters. She
is a strong believer in woman suffrage, and says
TIM! Il VIII help women and purify politics.
Women are better than men" she Is wont to
remark. Slaves ars always better than their
masters. A slave learns obedience. self-control,
the world OF politics good. They have been
slaves SO long: They will teach some of the
This fourth wife of a man doesn't seem TO
realize that most women would look on her as n
slave, Notwithstanding her recent political vic
tory. But IL lie natural that she should be a
Mormon. Her father and mother were Nor
MONS and she believes in the religion Just as a
faith believes in 1t. She thinks a plural wife is
not half as much of a slave as ID single, wife, for
weeks of freedom every month in the year.
Plural wives, she says. look upon marriage as a
vanity. Consequently. polygamy is freer from
jealousy and unhappiness than monoRamy.
Mrs. Cannon stands with her party on tho
saloon question. but IL was a visit to Europe
that strengthened her views,
don't believe any ono who has lived in IN
rnps much can scaro up such n terrihcaily
strong hatred Of the demon, rum. Besides.
rrShieltion doesn't prohibit" she often asserts;
Mrs. Cannon took her children and went along
with q great many other plural. wives across the
claims that the women OF Utah were better of
in a state Of Polygamy than they are now; sixty
WOMEN, too. and Know just What suffrage
means TO them and the community:
to do with her children while She was attending
TO her Senatorial duties. She promptly replied.
the same thing that she does with them while
practising medicine. Her opinion is that the
women who stay at homo ali the time make the
most unpleasant homes. while those who think
about something besides cook stoves. wash tubs.
and baby nannels make the best mothers.
Mrs. Cannon Is very emphatic in her views of
the relation OF women TO public office. She
doesn't want her sex to run for unseemly offices, |
and she thinks the GubernatoriRl chair too
mannish altogether for n woman to occupy. Sho
hates u mannish man rs wei ns a mannish wo-
man. and By mnnnishnesS she means not AN in
hcrent quality but something assumed. All OF
her best men acqualntances are ~ladylikc. she
says. and all OF her women friends g~entlemauly. |
Brigham Young once said:
The day shall como when men and women
shall walk together side bv side in the Temple
The first woman Senator in America thinks
that day Is dawEing now. that electricity is do
ing away with domestic drudgcry. that women
are growing wise, and that men are growing
gentle. In short, she believes that the mil
al n 4, :, I q an "a "a n pn,nH n n N MA ,,aopIa ana |