The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-08
WOMEN IN POLITICS.

1t is related in history that for terri
BILE attention to detail, there never ex-
listed a more wariike tribe than the an
cient Amazons The Grecian fighting
men We're all right for plain. unenbel-
hshed carnage, but when it came to
slipping up on an enemy at the dead of
night. and carving artistic frescoes on
the features of the foe, there were none
of them who could equal the master
hand of the Amazons.
1t is not likely that the women poll
ticians of Topeka are descended from
the Amazonian stock. because on good
authority it is stated that the bloody
yarns of the warrior women were
myths invented for the edi1cation of
the infants at Ephesus and Athens.
There is no trace of myth about the wo-
men politicians of Topeka
The Third ward is strewn with the
wreckage ofthe women's raid onthe Snat-
finger camp. Where once stood hand
some, well built and unobstrueted boom,
there is now nothing but ruin and desc
lation. A cyclone came in contact with
the boom, and the boom never knew
what hit it.
As the women politicians of the Third
ward stand and gaze upon the disaster
which they wrought, they are prepared
to answer the old question, Are women
fitted for politics?"
They are. They have proved it. But
the men were slow to believe it before.
Men have to be batted on the head a
few times by an argument before it
strikes in. But when the men saw their
pet politicians caught asleep and slaugh-
tered by a women's scheme and by wo-
mems votes, they decided that it was
time to be good. There is not a man
in Topeka now who will deny that wo-
men, or at least some women, have po-
htical sense.
The women wanted to beat Snattinger
They We're told they could not do it.
He is too popular" said the
men; ''he will have to be given
a second term, no matter how
much we want him out" The women
suggested that a still hunt be organ
lied. and plans made to capture the
election by a trick. 1T won't work"
said the men. still hunts are danger
Gus, and usually fail And the men
mentally added that a still woman was
a good joke.
So the women went to work on their
own hook. They put up blind in the
shape of a committeeman" fight in
the Third ward. Under this pretext
they organized the women voters. They
did not tell the mass of the voters of
their scheme. They simply told the wo-
men that it was necessary for every
body to get outsand vote for committee
men, and the women believed it.
And the enemy slept on undisturbed
Election day came. Enough women
were on hand at each voting place to
organize the polls. Suitable clerks and
judges were selected. A dozen trusted
workers were on duty at each polling
place. A dozen private carriages COM
menced bright and early to bring wo
men voters to the polls. Each voter was
carefully instructed how to vote
against Snattinger.
Then the enemy awoke and commenc-
ed to rub it's eyes. 1t was powerless.
Its weapons were gone. and it's strength
was lost. 1t did about the best thing
it could do under the circumstances. 1t
went to sleep again.
Fearing that the enemy was playing
'possum, the women kept at work all
day. They buttonholed the voters, and
hustled out every known friend of the
cause. They drove their victory clear
through and clinched it on the other
side.
The men politicians know more now
than they did before election. They
have found that the sphynx is an auto
matte, self winding photograph COM
pared to the woman politician. The
question is now how to get the women
on your side. That is the only safe way.
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