The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-10-19

1oIkn she meE1lIE Jared t0&th8 NoE6
0f Arden, with gallant curtleax
and q boar speer in her hand. Rosa
lind was at heart q sunragist, at least
as were most Of Shakespeare's her
Dimes, though she took the cause
more jocundIy than her sisters Of o
day. There is nothing Ightsome Of
purpose to these twentieth century
Rosalinds. The boar spear and The
curtle-axe are not enough. They
must have votes to boot; and votes
they are getting.
We are gloriously happy" exc
claims DR.. Anna Shaw, national pres
ident Of the Woman's Suffrage asso-
citation. .our victory in California
marks the beginning of the end"
DIR. Shaw, to be sure. wa speaking
under the first flush of Fridays news
from the far west, and her estimate
of the elections meaning must be
taken with a grain of caution. It Il.
nevertheless, a interesting fact b
California adds a sixth member to
the family Of states that have grant
ed women complete suffrage.
1t was a long time ago-so long
ago, indeed, that few ladies now Hv-
ing will admit any personal knoW-
edge Of the event-when Wyoming
led the way toward letting women
vote. TVen as far back as 1880 the
sunragist movement, in those days
known as eWomen's Rights was mill
liant. And the work Of its pioneers
is an enduring part of the nations
history. Susan b. Anthony. Frances
Wright and Lucy Stone rendered a
vital service in awakening their gem
Grafton to the need of good schools
for girls, and to their earnest labors
are due, in a large measure. the fruits
OF higher education for women, as we
know it today
The suffrage movement itself, how
ever, proceeded in slow and desert
stages. 1t was some forty years be-
fore Wyoming broke the ice, and them
there was a monotonous stretch OF
over two decades until Colorado fol-
lowed in 1888. The trouble seems to
have been not that men were opposed
to the cause. but that so few women
were interested in it. (Let us hasten
t~OU0Ap104A@ b4dL VIC 1Ol0I OILY u COu@
ditions as they were in the benighted
past)
Since the nineties progress has
moved more briskly. At the begin
ming of that decade was formed the
National Woman's Suffrage assocfa-
ton. In 1895 Utah and, the year fol-
lowing. Idaho, Joined the suffrage
column. And now, after several
stout sieges, California has surren-
dered.
In nineteen other states women en-
10Y more or less liberal, though not
unlimited, power at the polls. In
Louisiana they may vote on uestions
that involve public expenditures. In
many cities they vote for members OF
school boards and on bond issues.
And who has not heard Of Her Honor
Mayor Wilson, the aggressive and
] competent head of HunneweIl, Kan?
In the teeth OF perpetual storm the
English parliament has refused the
female ballot but a number of the
more enlightened British colonies
have granted it, notably New Zealand
and South Astra1ia. Only two years
! ago twenty-five women sat in the Fin
mis- Legislature an dat the same time
Norway, Sweden and Denmark ac-
cord their DANES and damsels a fran
chise that is virtually complete.
BY no means, therefore, is the poll
itics Of the world altogether under the
masculine thumb. Indeed. it never
ha sheen and never could be. Who
knows but that the boss of the home
may become also the boss of the
party? Certainly, If a few other
states follow in CALIFORNIA; footsteps
that will be the case.-Atlanta Jour-
nal.