Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-11-16
MAINTAIN LOBB Y
AMENDMENT TO STATE coNsTl.
TUITION DEMANDED BY EQUAL
suFFRAoIsTs OF IOWA


suFFRAelsTs OF IOWA
Annual Meeting At Panora - ottum-
vans in Attendance - Mrs. Iona
Robinson of Des Molnes Makes Ad-
dress on "Independence In Dress."
At the annual convention Of the
Iowa Equal Suffrage association held
in Panora last week it was decided to
press the constitutional amendment for
women's suffrage before the legisla-
tive session which convenes January 8,
1906. Mrs. Emily Phillips and Mrs.
w. G.. Walker were the representa-
tives of the Ottumwa branch of the
organization at the state convention.
Selection of a representative to do
the work in the legislative halls this
winter was postponed, but probably
Miss Daisy leighton, of Shenandoah,
will again have charge Of it. She was
very effective in her work Of two and
four years ago, though unsuccessful,
owing to the fact that the legislature
had just defeated the proposition in
the session of 1900.
The lobbying has begun already,
however The suffragists have circu-
lated widely in the state cards which
are in the form of q petition to the
legislature asking for the adoption of
the resolution Of submission of the
amendment. These cards will be sent
to the members of the assembly and
the delegates to the state convention
at Panora are certain that the resolu-
ton will pass. They have received
many individual assurances from as
ssemblymen that they will vote for it
lat this session.
Depores the Fashion Plate.
Quite sensation was caused by the
address Of Mrs. Iona I. Robinson, of
Des Moines, on Independence in
Dress" Mrs. Robinson deplored this
Externally feminine chase through jun
giles Of patterns and deformed
fashion plates after something
that shopgirls call SWELL" and said
that what women really want is ZAP
parel that combines beauty, health
and comfort"
cat whose dictation were women In
the late COS obliged to wear wraps Of
some kind on the street to conceal
their forms and who designed the lat
tice trimmed street waists last season
through which whole sections of the
spinal column can be SEEM" she de-
manded.
"Some years ago decolette waists
were at reasonably high tide, but now
they seem to nave reached very low
ebb indeed. Once little girls fretted
when their outgrown skirts betrayed
them to be last years gowns left
over; now they are fearful if their alb
surd little ruf11es reach more than half
way to the knees.
"a woman has no more call to get
her fashions from the streets than she
has her morals or her politics. And
right here let me suggest that child
hood is the best age in which to Guilt
waite independence in dress. The
courage that is, developed by wearing
a faded frock, an antique sack, or
patched trousers to school, where
these exceptions are not the fashion,
will last girl or boy lifetime"
"There is a great problem confront
ing the women of Iowa toda..-," said
Mrs. Mary j. Coggeshall. the president
in her address. Mrs. Coggeshall has
been president for three consecutive
terms and 1t was the unanimous wish
of the convention that she accept an
other term, but she positively refused
''It is the same kind of problem that
has given interest to men and women
since government began" she contin-
ued
"It is how to obtain political free
dom. The declaration of independ-
ence is slowly and painfully being in
terpreted Alright. 1t required one hun
dred years and the blood Of nation
to teach us that all men are created
equal Is it a wonder that it has TAX
en- even longer to convince us that all
men and women were created equal?
1t is said that the trainers of our ma
tional constitution builded better than
they knew Yes, and they builded
worse. In their recent escape from
kingly rule themselves in their inspir-
ing zeal to vest all authority in the
sovereign men people like all before
them, they ignored the fact that wom-
en- were people and vested all author
ity in sovereign men.
Legal Clothing outgrown.
Women are finding to their distress
and dismay that the legal clothing
with which the men Of the eighteenth
century invested them are too small
for their expanding bodies and more
than this, we find that fret and chafe
as we may in these outgrown gar
ments, we cannot cast them off until
men, the makers Of these garments,
see fit to remove them. We have a
world old prejudice to combat The
fathers and grandfathers and great
grandfathers taught that woman's
place was that of political under.
ling. 1t is bad enough to be governed
by living men, but to be governed
everlastingly by men who for more
than century have been in their
graves is more than women of the
present day are willing to stand. AS
Colonel Ingersoll used to say, When
a mans dead, let him keep STILL"