Washington sentinel., 1899-06-03
ProbibitIonistS Take UD Woman
Suffrage.

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parts Of the Hawkeye State, de
clared unequivocallV for woman
suffrage as the second OF thei
platform planks, constitutions
prohibition being first. Thereb.
they have brought into the canvas
for Governor, which takes place
this year in that State, new queS
tiOn which is certain to be OF i'm
portance in the great trans Missis
sppI territory in which for so long
a period prohibition was the rally
ing cry.
Iowa shares with Kansas the
claim to pre- eminence as the pio-
neer prohibition State in the West.
Prohibition was adopted by con
stitutional amendment in Kansas
in 1883, but seven years before
that the prohibition statute, which
the constitutional amendment was
Intended to buttress and reinforce,
had been adopted as the law oi the
State, and is in effect there to-day.
Iowa adopted its first prohibitory
law in 1855; it did not cover cider
and native wines, and the exemp.
ton was afterwards extended to
beer. In 1882 prohibitory
amendment to the State Constiru-
ton was adopted, but it was held
invalid by the courts, and in Jam
uarY, 1884, statutory prohibition
was enacted, though it has since
been modified by the "Mulct law"
applying to towns of less than
900 population, where 65 per
cent. OF the voters at the last pre-
viOus election have signed their
consent.
While there is some desultory
opposition among Prohibitlonists
in Iowa to this law the fact that it
is yielding a considerable revenue
to the State, where under positive
prohibition there is none, has
modified the objection to it. Many
OF the more radical Prohibitionists
have totally forsworn allegiance
to it. With the Prohibitionists in
the West split in two, and with the
utility Of any present prohibition
agitation manifest to every one,
the Prohibition party is very little
m lore than Renaissance in its
former strongholds west Of the
Mississippi. At the State election
last year IN Nebraska there were
on v 800 Prohibition votes polled
for Governor. In Kansas there
we're 1900. In Colorado there
we're 1900, and in Iowa 1900, a
total OF less than 10000 in four
States in which the total vote was
100000.
While the Prohibition party in
these States is falling back, the
movement for woman suffrage,
regarded by many sincere prohi-
bitionists as the first essential step
toward the acceptance of their
views. has been making great head.
way in that regioA. AT the last
Presidential election there was
equal suffrage. regardless of sex,
In the States OF Colorado, Utah and
Wyoming. Since that time the
Constitution of Idaho has been
amended, and now provides-Ar.
ticle VI, Section 2--that "every
male or female citizen OF the United
States, al years DID," and a resi-
dent OF the State for six months
and Of the election district for
thirty days, is qualified for suffrage
if registered. In South Dakota
the sufragists polled 20, 900 votes
last year in support OF the pro-
posed woman's suffrage amend
ment to the Constitution Of the
State, and some practical headway
toward the acceptance OF their
views has been made by the wo-
mans suffrage advocates in some
other far Western States. In
Kansas there is female suffrage in
municipal elections, and in Iowa
and Nebraska there is conditional
woman's suffrage for school off,
GERS.
The explicit demand OF the Iowa
Prohibitionists for woman's sui
irage on the same conditions as
now prevail by law in Colorado and
Wyoming brings into the political
contest of this year a question
which may possibly affect party
lines. The group OF States be-
tween the Mississippi and Rocky
Mountains have been the rallying
point tor agitators generally from
their admission to the Union.
Since the close Of the civil war