The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-13
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
COLORADO ASSOCIATION AN
SWERS SOME STATEMENTS.
Equal Suffrage in the Centennial
State Has Resulted in Better Gov
eminent and Purer Methods.

| OelNSI, OOl., May 10--I ne COlOIduO
Equal Suffrage association and the
Civic Federation of Denver make the
following statement in reply to reports
circulated of late regarding the results
of woman suffrage in Colorado:
We, the members of the Colorado
Equal Suffrage association and of the
Civic Federation of Denver, having had
our attention called to the sensational
and misleading reports of some eastern
| journals concerning the reports of i'm
partial suffrage in our state. are i'm
PEELED to issue a brief answering state
ment.
| We do not claim that phenomenal
good has been secured by the vote Of
women The tyranny of political ma
chinery made effective by long usages
under the management of trained
workers cannot be overcome bv the
enthusiasm Of raw recruits. We do
claim that the women of Colorado have
vital part in the great movement that
is everywhere seeking a better social
order.
The successful outcome of the late
municipal election in Denver, occurring
as it did three years after our enfran-
chisement, was the first triumph of an
organized effort made by women to ia
fluence conventions and carry an cleo
ton.
Never before since the establishment
of impartial suffrage in our state has
there been here such concentrated Ell
fort on behalf of reform legislation
Bills relating to civil serVcice," local
option" ''indeterminate sentence a
new primary law and improved
election laws" were all proposed and
endorsed by organizations of women
The first legislature of the new order
passed a bill giving the Wife equal
rights with her husband in the posses
sion of their children and a bill raising
TO IS years the age of legal protection
for girls.
In our present house of representa-
tives the effort toward practical eco
nomic reform is illustrated in the care
full work of the printing committee,
which, under the craftsmanship OF Mrs.
CONNIE, is found to have cost the state
s.. 900 less during the session lately ad-
journed than ever before To the ef-
ficiency of Mrs. Peavey's administra-
ton of the office of state superintend-
ent of public instruction, commissioner
of school lands and state librarian, fine
testimony is given by the German eie-
ment of our population, which is usual
" opposed to the recognition of women
as citizens of the commonwealth.
If the absurd and unfounded COM
ments of the eastern press in regard
10 the liability of Colorado women TO
the requirements of military service
and rumors of unwomanly violence of
temper in important state conventions
be worthy of notice, it may be an
swered that the women of the Centen-
NAL state are as securely exempt from
military duty as are the women
living under the control of those
states which still deny to them the
Of he. hl1 /
lot Further, we answer that no rep
resentative convention has had such
experience of wild disorder as has been
by misinformed eastern pa
2ers
In regard to the effect of universal
suffrage in Colorado upon the temper
ance question it is found that although
the ranks of the temperance party
have not been largely recruited, be-
cause women as we'll as men are in
doubt as to the wisdom of working for
through a distinct party,
legislation has been ma
terially assisted. Three years ago only
three Colorado cities prohibited the
sale of intoxicantS. Now q munich
palities refuse to grant license for
their sale.
An interesting fact has lately been
noted in regard to the relative dignity
of the two houses of our legislature. !
The lower house outranks |the senate
in the serious decorum of Legislative
deliberation. The few women who sit
as members in the representatives hail
of our beautiful Colorado capitor seem, /
unconsciously, to impose upon its pro-
ceedings a greater regard for the /
amenities of speech and conduct than /
is observed in the upper house, where !
there are yet no women to be conSid !
cred.
No less characteristic of western ]
is the improvement that wom
ans presence has made in the localities /
Of primary meetings and polling booths. !
In many precincts, where formerly I
they were held in stables or drinking
saloons, primaries are now convened in I
home parlors and polling booths are
in respectable buildings and /
voting is invariably conducted with de-
corum.
Since the success of the legislative >
of 1893 the women of Colo
RADIO have evinced a remarkable inter-
est in all things pertaining to the gen
eral good.
Because their opinions expressed
through the ballot box have due weight
n bringing about actual results they
nave felt il their duty to make them
selves acquainted with the principles
and methods of government. For this
Jealous obedience TO duty they have
been doubly rewarded in finding that !
heir zeal has acted as a Ieaven whose
power has been irresistible, as is proved
~ the fact that the science of political
has been more generally and
studied in Colorado during
he last three years by both men and
women, than in all the previous his
cry of the state