Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-07-28

To accomplish certain things that she
? felt necessary Mrs. Grarnis saw that legis-
r latiou was Indispensable. The result Of
an experience with a lad she had tried to
/ help and set upon the road TO good citi-
zenship led her to have drawn a bill to
| restrict the use of tobacco in prisons
I among minors. This bill she mOthered Il
5 years ago, and it became a law through
her own individual efforts, unaided, eX-
cept by the lawyer who drew it. Years
before that Mrs. Grannis and other pub
Iic-spirited citizens had become interested
in the conditions that obtained in the city
police stations in regard to women pris-
onerS. In those days they were given
sleeping accommodations n the station
houses. The quarters We're crude, crowd
ed, and usually ringing with loud ana
worse than vulgar talk. The women, a
rough and degraded lot for the most part,
became lower still through the influence OF
these conditions, and it became evident TO
Mrs. Grannis that to have matrons IN
charge of these female prisoners would
help matters. Others thought as she did
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, being prominent
among them-so they joined hands IN an
~endeavor to have the conditions amelio-
rated through the passage of the Police
MatrOn bill. 1t met with opposition from
dGormen, patrolmeu and other minor Of
tcials of the police department, who fore
saw a possible curtailment of their
authority and perquis.tes. The bill was
finally passed as a 'perruissive' measure
that it is, women were thereafter permit
ted 10 serve as matrons in charge of
female prisoners in the police stations.
1t took just three years more of hard
lighting and innumerable lobbying"
trips TO Albany 10 get the bill made man
datory. as il exists today. Mrs. Grannis
and five male men" worked for six
years before this bill became law,
There are other laws to the credit Of
this smal! Lady CT the iron will, in the
engineering of which she has spent days
and nights in the senate and house at AL
bany, TO say nothing Of thousands of dol
lars, every cent of which she has earned
herself. She tells of the nervous strain Of
waiting about n the corridors hour after
hour for word that her measure was be-
ing acted upon. Every time a member
left the room her heart sank with the
fear that in even his mOmentaTy absence
her bill would be brought up, only to be
cast aside for lack of that one mans
vote. Each time a member entered the
legislation chamber she trembled lest his
be the influence that would kill the meas
ure. The thrill of victory as her" legis-
lator at last sent a message. You bill
has gone through without amendment"
was something TO live for!
II feel" she says, that you have
made a law is, indeed, to feel the exhila-
ration of real accomplishment" And the
fact that a woman can do il, and has
done it, solely through ~others-without
direct voice or vote in the matter-should
be good food for discussion among both
the suffragists and the ~'antis-"
For many years. at each election, Mrs
Grannis went regularly to the polling
places and made p~erfunctory application
TO register, which was. of course, as reg
ularly refused. The officials got to know
her quite well by sight. treated her re-
spectfully-and enjoyed the joke. To the
representatives at the state capitol she is
also a familiar figure, with her chiffons
and feathers, her immaculate kid gloves
and her quiet, adamantine insistence-
only she is not a joke UP there, and she
is at present engaged in a consistent and
steady campaign In the legislature of New
Jersey.
Fourteen years ago Mrs. Grannis,
backed by the League for Social Purity,
Of which she is president, began a strug-
gle 10 secure an act making the statutory
ground for divorce in New York state a
criminal offense. The criminal bill was
drawn by Judge w. II. Arnoux. who told
Mrs. GTannis that, while he was willing
to help her, the bill would never pass a
New York legislature. Commodore Ell
bridge Y. Gerry ~prophesied the same thing
that no Legislative body would pass a
measure which would virtually turn to
sting any proportion of its own members.
The discouragementS Of these male
men," however, never for one moment
deferred this woman, who was used to
fighting, and to whom a struggle against
violent opposition had on the contrary,
always acted as a stimulant.
1t took her II wears hut gha pot bar
bill through, Governor Hughes having set
his signature to 1t in 1907. Whether the,
law is a dead letter" as claimed by
some. or not is another question. Mrs.
Grannis firmly believes it is at least a
deterrent and that its existence upon the
statute books exerts an influence for the
protection of family LIE.
Mrs. Grannis is at work now. with her
usual earnestness, upon the most vitalIy
important piece of legislation. in some
ways, ever put forth. 1t is known as the
sterilization BILL and the woman who
is working for ii, in the face OF discour-
agenlents that would daunt any other
woman of II, believes il 4 could be placed
upon the statute books of every state in
the union It's effect for good upon both
present and future generations would be
beyond compute. The sterilization of de-
~fectives has become a law in the state of
Indiana and is being carried out at the
Indiana reformatory. The bill also has
passed the lower house in New Jersey.
and has been reported favorably in Ore
gon and Wisconsin.
Mrs. Grannis believes that 4 1t were
widely known how simple and merciful
this remedy is, yet how directly II strikes
at the root OF untold evils and suffering,
legislators could not long delay the enact
ment of a law for its operation. She will
have the bill recast each year and laid
before the Legislature at every term so
long as she Ives. And when | de-" says
she. II shall leave the, work in some one
else's hands. and the money to help it to
Ultimate success
Years ago a well known man. meeting
Mrs, Grannis on a railway train. said. as
he got off at his city: Well, / wish you
success In your mission out west. L shall
hope to hear OF your safe arrival. If 1
don't | shall give the alarm and adver-
tise for the railroad company to find a
little bundle of lace rags with the spirit
of q lion inside.'