The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14
CAN WOMEN COUNT?
Here IL Statement That Ought to
settle the Question.

few days ago at the Republican
| primaries of a city in Kansas. the men
selected women TO receive and count the
votes. They acquitted themselves salts
| factorily. contributor to the Boston
! Transcript relates that this fact should
| be commended to Mr.. Charles r. Saund-
ers, who In the recent legislative debate
! is reported TO have urged as an objection
| to equal suffrage that women would be
| too eXcitable to count ballots correctly.
In proof of this. he quoted an incident
| that happened in California in 1895 In
that year an equal suffrage amendment
was submitted to the voters, and carried
the State outside of San Francisco and
Oakland. The Board of Election Commits
| sioners in Oakland allowed woman to be
present at each polling-place to watch the
counting of the voters. One young news
paper woman who acted as a watcher
wrote afterward:
The booth was in a bird store. Imagine
the odor! began to get sick (this was
after several hours. The woman who
owned the store had taken the birds into
the back room, and some one came into
the booth with dog The dog got into
the back room and caught one of the old
lady parrots, which at once began TO
scream, and all the others took it up OF
course, they had TO get the bird away and
put the dog out and all the time the door
between was open. Now when the door
was closed there was the usual birdstore
odor In the booth, but when the door was
open in came waves of hot bird store odor.
II is impossible to describe it. The woman
had a hot fire to cook by and waves of
TINS heated air came i'm and filed the
booth.
The excitement in the booth stopped.
put there was an excitement in my head
that had not been there before. Every
thing got black and began to go round
They could have counted US out a dozen
times and | should never have known the
difference"
She adds that she got cup of coffee
and afterwards was all right.
Mr.: Saunders has been in the habit of
reading the last few sentences of this
account, emitting what led up to them,
and giving the impression that the young
womans faintness was due to political
excitement. This time one of the other
members of the Legislature interrupted
him and said: You have told that story
every year for the last four years But
women are not the only persons who make
mistakes in counting votes. In one ward
of Boston the recount showed that the
first count had been go out of the way"
Mr.. Saunders retorted, Yes. but as men
were in charge the mistake was found out
and corrected. If women had been in
charge, II never would have been found
out
This is fair sample of the way in
which the opponents OF equal rights make
mountains out of mole-hills. In cities
where women do not vote the polls are
sometimes located in dirty and Disagree
able places and a solitary woman who is
allowed to be present OH sufferance may
be made faint by bad smells. But where
half the voters are women, the polls are
at once transferred to clean and respect
able quarters. Equal suffrage in Color
ado has brought about marked hange
in this respect. Mrs. Helen Campbell has
told us lately how she saw women acting
as judges and clerks of election in Pen
yer, and how entirely clean. comfortab bic
and orderly the polls We're. There has
been no complaint that the women were
found inherently unable to count votes
No woman is appointed to such a posi-
ton unless her fellow-citizens think she
can count, and she is not Obliged to &C
cept it If she has any doubt about the
matter herself. But neither the men nor
the women of the unfranchsed States
seem to be worried on this subject
1t may be added that when Hon George