The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-10-06
SEVEN SPEAKERS
ADDRESSED MEETING
WOMAN SUFFRAGE. AMENDMENT
PRE.ENTED FROM VARIOUS
STANDPOINTS AT FIRST
MEETING.

MEETING.
The woman suffrage amendment
aad its first hearing in this city Mon
day evening at the city nall, when
perhaps a hundred persons gathered
here to listen to the views of local
speakers on the proposition, which
was arranged for by Mrs. Mary e.
Craigie, of New York, who has come
into this state to aid in carrying the
amendment to give women the bal
lot.
The meeting was opened with
prayer by Rev. e. M. LETTERS, and a
solo was rendered by Eugene Hager,
With Miss Hager as accompanist. MIR.
Hager also sang later in the evening.
Mayor Hitchcock consented to act
N the capacity of opening the meet
ing. He read the amendment that is
60 be voted upon at the November
election, and added that South Da-
kota had shown quite a progressive
spirit in the recognition of woman,
Il that she was vested with the same
property rights as nan when the con-
st1tutlon was adopted. The mayor Of
sered this suggestion: If women are
allowed to own property and earn
lheir livelihood in Industrial pur-
suits, why should they not be per-
mitted to have something to say
through the ballot.
q. D. Hardy spoke with reference
to the intellectual capacity of men
and women, and said that Of the men
and women who have passed through
his n1occnc tho u,Or,a~ L1-. ...-
The greater ability in the development
OF things intellectual. Her mind is
as keen and penetrating ana he be-
ileved that she could solve problems
IN the business affairs of life with the
same alacrity as the men. He felt
chat it was a just proposition, in that
women had to pay taxes and he be-
lieved that she should have some
voice in making the laws which af.
fects her interests.
A. T. Downey assumed the chair
manship of the evening when the
mayor went to the city council meet
ing. Mr.. Downey's remarks were
along the line of curing the evils
which exist in the ballot by some oth-
er method than by giving it to wom-
an; that education would serve a bet
ter purpose; and that girls would
make a better success in life if they
learned the essentials of housekeep-
ing rather than to spend four a
at college. He believed that there is
a dividing line for man and woman
in some things, and where they work
in the best of harmony in others. La
ter speakers disagreed with Mr..
Downey in his views of woman suf-
frage. He advanced the idea that
legislation has wrought little bene-
fit in the solution of a moral question,
and set forth the idea that education
would serve the purpose much bet
ter.
G. F. lynn thought the best way out
of the situation would be to give.
woman the ballot because she want
ed it. he expressed the idea that.
taxation without representation was
not a just thing, and he found that
right here in Mitchell the existence
of that offensive idea.
DR.. j. s. Hoagland touched in a
sympathetic way concerning the right
of woman to vote as her just and
moral right; believed that woman
could use the ballot with the same
intenlgcnce as man and that she
would use it on the side of moral
uplift. He thought that the moral
atmosphere around the polls would
be greatly improved.
Lauritz Miller gave his personal
testimony as to why he thought
woman should vote. For eight or ten
years he has been clerk at cleo
lions and he had a chance to view
the class of men that came to the
polls to vote; he believed that of all
he saw there should be no hesitancy
in rendering woman the ballot. He
spoke of the vicious men who have
the ballot and compared them with
the thousands of pure women who
could improve the situation with their
influence at the polls n on great
questions. &
Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, of New York,
closed the addresses of the evening
by giving a of the work done
in New York, where she said condi-
tons at the present time were hope
less. The ballot in the hands of wom-
an, she said, is the hope Of civiliza-
ton. She did not believe it to be
fair to deny the women the power
that men have to wipe out the sa-
looms. Mrs. Craigie emphasized the
point on the matter of taxation with
out representation. Her address was
we'll received.