Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1912-03-23
WOMEN TO VOTE
FOR PRESIDENT
More Than a Million Eligible
at Next Election q. 81.
NUMBER MAKES THEM FACInR

Il 10 Greater Than the Usual Plurality
Of Presidents--Womsn Of Wyoming
Have Been Voting For Forty-threo
Years.
! 1t has been varionsly estimated that
from a million to million and half
women will have voice In the choos-
ing of the next president of the United
States. ~ u, c,A..s =
In the six states where they will vote
in November they constitute somewhat
less than one-half of the total voting
population. A recent. quotation from
the census report is authority for the
statement that men are increasing In
this country more rapidly than women,
due to the lnrger number of men imni-
grants The excess male population Is
fixed at 100000. In the western states
men are not so much In the majority,
however, as they were In earlier pio.
neer days. Moreover, 1t seems to be
very generally conceded that women
register and vote in larger proportion
than do men. To take the woman's
vote. therefore, ut approximately half
the entire voting population of the six
states where the eternal feminine's in
fiuence is direct" would not be far
wrong.
Estimating Washington's total yot,
ing population Inclusive Of the new wo'
man vote) at 100000. Idaho's at 125, 600,
Wyoming's at $4,000, Utah's at $50, 900,
Colorados at 100000 and. CALIFORNIA;
Inclusive OF the woman vote) at 9O0,-
600, we have an aggregate of nearly
100000 voters In the six states. Pos
sibly the fairest estimate would fx the
quota of women voters at about 800,.
600, an army sufficiently large to
cause the newspapers of the country
to put 1t in the category Of factors to
be reckoned with" as the campaign
opens. 1t is more than the total vote
for Andrew jackson In 1924. 1t counts
in its ranks more women than were In
the whole thirteen colonies in the mo.
mentous year 1776. ~
One-third Total vote.
1t is, despite the fact that the United
States is sometimes called slow Of pers
suasion by suffrage enthusiasts, one
third Of the women voters Of the world,
the other two-thirds being, In Austria.
liza, Finland, Norway and New Zea-.
land. 1t Is more than the usual presi.
Dental plurality, and II the 100000 vot.
ed solidly they might decide the presi.
dency.
However, the women viii not vote
solidly any more than men will vote
solidly.
The exercise Of the voting. privilege
in 1912 will be no novelty to the wo-
men of Wyoming, where they have
been voting since 1859, the franchise.
having been bestowed upon them q.
year after the organization of the ter
rtory. When the. territory became a
state in 1890 woman suffrage was writ.
ten In the constitution, wyoming wo-
men have exactly the same political
significance that men have, and, ac-
cording TO figures from the state, 90,
per cent of them make the most of 1t,
registering and voting dutifully. They
often sit as jurors and serve as jus
tees Of the peace, and they are often
nominated as school superintendents,
and yet oftener as city treasurers. 4
Nineteen Years' Experience.
Nor are the women OF Colorado nov
Ices at voting in presidential elections.
It was back in 1898 that they were
enfranchised, so that they have been
voting for presidents, when opportu.
nifty has offered, for nineteen years. !
Utah women voted when the state
was still a territory. The territory be-
oar fat In, ~ H. l.t.k j
women to vote was established in the
constitution. A woman has once been
elected to the senate in Utah, and wo.
men have served in the house of repre-
sentattves. Idaho women win cast
their fifth presidential vote this year,
having had the franchise since 1895
Washington women also voted when
Washington was territory. In 1887
woman suffrage was declared unconsti.
tutional and was not put Into the con
stitution Of the new state upon Its adj
mission to the Union. In 1910, how.
ever, 1t carried the state by vote Of
8 to 1. G1sS a.
California women, the infants I'M the |
woman's family Of voters, will bel the
first in the United States to have an
opportunity to vote directly for presi-
dent. The presidential primary. law
passed both houses OF the California
legislature In extra session not long
since. (Six other states where iwo-
men do not vote have passed laws
comforting the same privilege upon |
men voters) There are SIX American
cities, with populations of more than |
100000 each. where women vote, for
president. congressman and all other
officials on the same footing as men,
Three Of the six are in California, San
Francisco leading as the most popu-
lous OF all. ~s.
Re-enforced Concrete In The Louvre.