The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1902-12-12
INDIANS AND WOMEN
W0man'S Suffrage Debate Held and
Discussions on the Merits Of
the Ballot.
CODtended That Indians Were More
Eligible to the Ballot Than
Women.
Tho Talks Here Not Of a Serious
Nature and the Negatives
Won Out.
INDIANS AND NEGROES MT
Not as Eligible to Vote as the Won.
en- of the State = Negative
Won the Case.

en- OF the State = Negative
Won the Case.
There was not very large crowd
out to the debate Friday evening at
the court house, when it was expect
ed to be shown that the Indians and
negroes of the state were more elig-
ible to vote than the woman. Those
who stayed away because they thought
the discussions might be dry and un-
interesting missed pretty good
treat.
Mrs. c. E. Vermilyea presided over
the affair of the evening, which, by
the way, was given under the aus
pices Of the W. G. T. U. Previous
to the debate there were several
musical numbers given. Vocal solos
we're renedred by Miss Sara Scallin
and Mrs. D. W .Burright and their
singing was very much appreciated
indeed. Paul Williams, of the Uni
versity, played violin solo and his
effort was heartily applauded. Mrs.
R. N. Kratz and Mrs. A. f. Hitch
cock played the accompaniment on
the organ for the musicians.
The subject for debate was taken
up by the statement Of the PROPOSE
tion by Mrs. Vermilyea, which was
Resolved, That the Indians and Ne
groes of South Dakota are more
eligible to vote than the women Of
our state" This arrangement Of
the question placed the affirmative
speakers at a disadvantage when it
came down to argument, for it placed
those two races above the women
and the debators did not think it
a fair propositio to start out on.
The affirmative speakers wanted to
draw on the experiences of other
states, where women had been allowed
the freedom of the ballot, to make
their argument stronger, but under
the rules of the debate the negative
side objected to crossing the state
line to secure any food for thought
or argument.
DR.. B. A. Bnbh opened the affirma-
tive side of the question and stated
three propositions to convince his
hearers that he was on the right
side. They were, 1st, because man
was placed in the consti tuition of the
United States and women was not
recognized; I'd, because the history
of Greece and Rome, etc., showed
plainly that they had risen to their
greater heights, and had fallen, with
out the aid of woman, that is, she
had no voice in the councils. His
third proposition was located in
Colorado, where woman have the
right Of franchise, but it was at this
point that the negative side objected
to going outside Of the state for
argument, and this robbed the DR..
of a good deal of his thunder.
Prof o. W. Coursey opened for the
negative, and declared that from the
legal standpoint of residence woman
was eligible to vote, and along the
lines of morality. intellectually,
educationally, and industry, there
was no comparison between the Indi-
ans and the negroes and woman. 1t
was self-evident fact that she was
too far above them to admit of any
argument. He believed that lnasmuch
as the Indian was Indifferent to
even earning his own living that he
should not have the ballot.
Mrs. c. E. Hager, for the aftirma-
tive side, attacked the statements of
the previous speaker, and thought it
was presumptious for women to think
they were eligible to the ballot when
the wise men of the state adopted
the constitution and considered that
they were not eligible to the franchise
She said the women were TOO busy
to vote. as they were kept hustling
around with petitions for women
suffrage to present to the legislature,
which were voted down, to still kept
them busy in circulating them
again. Mrs. A. Thompson for the
negatives made a brief argument that
illustrated the point thoroughly as
to why woman should have the
ballot. Mrs. A. E. Hitchcock, for
the Affirmative, argued that the