The times., 1899-05-28
QUALIFIED WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
How the Right Is Exercised in
Massachusetts.
From The New York SUM-

In those States-forty Zone of the forty
fve-in which tril fsmale suffrage does
not exist some effort has been made to
determine the propriety or advantage of
qualified female suffrage. Some States have
female suffrage for municipal officers, some
have female suffrage for school officers.
some have female suffrage for those paying
taxes for certain amount, and some have
female suffrage, regulated by local au-
thority. In New York the law providing
for school elections accords suffrage to all
persons of full age. and thirty days resi-
dence in the school district, who own or
hire or are in possession of real property in
such district liable to taxation for school
purposes or who are the parents of children
attending school within that district during
the year preceding. The concluding Part
of the State statute is: mo person shall
be deemed to be ineligible to vote at any
school district meeting by reason of SEX"
In Massachusetts, section II of the cleo
toral statute provides that Every female
citizen having the qualifications OF male
voter may have her name entered upon
the list OF. voters for school committee, and
shall have the right to vote for members
of the school committee
In the State of Massachusetts the records
of public elections, as kept by the Secre-
tary of the Commonwealth, are Of much
3
| ter than perhaps those in any other State
OF the country. There are thirty-two cities
| in Massachusetts. and there are in a so
voting precincts in the State, of which 191
are in the city of Boston and 2I2 in the
small towns. There has recently appeared.
under official authority. the record OF the
| December elections of 1898 for city and
| school officers. and they show some curious
results as to the extent to which women
utilize the right of suffrage in Massachu-
setts. In the State election of 1898. at
which the vote was wholly cast for male
citizens, there were 1861 voters in Mass
achusetts. In the city and town election
succeeding the total number of male vet
ers was 356, ,175. or 80 900 more than at the
| November election, while the number OF
female voters in the entire State was only
12,O59, total 500 less than that at the sim
liar city and county election OF the yeaI
before.
OF 12,O59 votes, 5,201 were cast in the
city OF Boston, but were uneyenly dis
tributed throughout that city. In ths
Sixth ward of Boston, for instance, II
which there were $500 male voters, there
were only 2S female voters. The Sixth
ward of Boston includes most of the wa
terfront from the Charles River bridge
On the south end of the town to Centra
Wharf, opposite East Boston, and CORE
spends quite closely to the Fourth anc
Sixth wards OF New York. In the wealth.
Ter parts of town, on the other hand, tht
proportion OF the female vote was larger
and in the Twelfth or Back Bay ward tht
division was as follows: Male, 1882. ant
female 294 In the manufacturing city o
Fall River the total female vote cast wa!
665, and in the manufacturing city o
Lynn It was 1893. In the town of Pitts
field in western Massachusetts, in thu
heart of a rich agricultural district, Their
were only female votes cast In th
city OF Springfield there were Al, in Taun
ton IS, and in Worcester $50. In Holyoke
which has a very large French Canadian
population, there were II female vote
cast, and in Fitchburg in which the pro
portion of native population is much larg
er, the number was 359. In Somerville
long noted for the controversy waged II
it on the temperance question, there wer
only 50 female votes cast In New Bed
ford there were 40, in Medford-wher
the rum comes from-33, in Chelsea u;
and in Cambridge, the university town
l61.
Both the advocates and opponents of tn
principle of woman suffrage find encour
. agement in the figures shown at the las
election in Massachusetts. and it may b
: said generally, with special reference t
? the views of either. that while the disiu
l clination to vote under the prescribed con
ditions of suffrage is almost general i
Massachusetts. the exercise of the fran
I chise by women is greatest in those com
: munties in which the standard of intelli
gence is highest.