The Portland daily press., 1900-11-07
WHERE WOMEN MAY VOTE,
In -Four states They Can Cast Ballots
for President.

: Women will vote in four states at this
for the first time In three other states,
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, they have
already voted once for the President Of
their choice, SO that the experience will
be no novelty and IL is predicted there
that many who cast a ballot at the polls
in 1895 will not take the trouble to do SO
in 1900 In all OF the tour states IN which
female Suffrage has been ad gptsd only
comparatively small proportion of the
women take any real interest in pol tigs
1t is declared Fifty par cent. of tn, =
male population of tina proper age may
perhaps cast vote, but ire great ma
jority will choose the candida ties their
male relatives or male friends favor and
will vote for them for that reason alone
There will bs few oases proportionately
In which the wife vote Will not count
in favor OF her husbands party and the
unmarried woman's for her brothers. OF
perhaps the party Of man friend WI o
Just at this time may be dsarer than a
brother.
viii In fact be large estimate Of the
women voters In the four female suffrage
states, If the male politicians judge cor
reculy. Political women. even in the
West, form a very small minority of the
sex, and there Is o much larger number
of women who are opposed to female
suffrage, and according to present indioa
-.
lave that their SEX has no business to in
terfere in politics at all and they stead
lastly decline to go to ths polls to vote
for anybody, holding that women's true
sphere Is at home and the responsibility
for deciding the policy Of the nation
should be mans. Between these and the
women In public life who demanded and
obtained the suffrage for their sex there
are those who voted four years ago, and
now that the experience Is no longer a
novelty think 1t ism t SO much after all.
These either VIII not go to the polls at
all this year or II they do will fiatter
their men folks for a season by depend
ing on their political guidance and cast
ing their ballots on the side the men do
oming and Utah the woman vote Will be
very small factor In deciding the cleo
ton. though a large female vote was
polled theirs four years ago.
In Idaho, where women VIII vote this
year Tor President for the first time In
the history of the state, the vote Will
probably be larger 1t VIII probably ee a
Mckinley vote, too, for several reasons
About one-third or the population OF the
state are Mornnons The Mormon leaders
have usually sided with the winning par
ty and their sympathies are believed to lie
Republican In this slectIon, though In
1895, when Bryan's influence WAS uomi-
nant in the West aod 1t WIS generally be-
Iieved there that he would DO elected. the
influence Of the Mormon church was cast
for Bryan. The stand the church taxes
will undoubtedly greatly influence that
section of the female vote. The other In
nuences are that the domestic side OF
President McKinley's lite appeals strong
~ to women, and moreover women are
conservatives IN politics as some of the
Western politicians have been surprised
10 learn. Last and greatest reason OF all,
the West has experienced prosperity I'M
der Mckinley and Western women, who
first OF all are keeB1y practical, eannot
easily be made to see this advantage OF
changing an administration under which
they have benefiufsd for one whtch Pre-
poses to tear down the existing order Of