Evening journal., 1912-12-05
aRawrH OF wommAarS ssrffr HiAiifs.IE..

@ UFFRAG1sTs unQuestionably have good cause to
- be delighted with the results they achieved in the
recent election For the nrst time in the history OF the
movement they three States to their cause.
They Arizona. Kansas and Oregon. Previously
the great banner year in the suffrage calendar had
been 1896 when two States. Utah and Idaho granted
votes to That three States should swing into
line in year shows how powerfully public sentI
ment is working In the direction Of granting
electoral equality with Sooner later it will
sweep the entire country
The fight the women Of the United States have made
for electoral equality has been long one beset by
many difficulties. 1t not until 1869 that they
their first State Wyoming, which has $4,000 women
who eligible to vote and of whom so to 80 per
cent do vote. There then gap of twenty-four
years, without anything Of practical value being
complished unless it were the working up of public
sentiment In other words the nation not yet
ready to accept the movement. Wyoming regarded
by many unthnking persons, who could not penetrate
the future as freak State that would regret its
electoral innovation. But it neQer did so and the
there still were voting when, in 1885, the sufra
gists captured Colorado. That State has 100000
who qualified to vote and rs to So per cent
Of them do vote and take active interest in the
affairs Of the State.
The experiment in Colorado turned out so satsfac-
toriy that in 1896 Utah and Idaho declared votes
for women and gave great stimulus to the movement
i'm all sections Of the United States. Utah today has
$4,000 who have the right to vote and So to 80
per cent exercise that right In Idaho $4,000
are eligible to vote and from IS to IS per cent
do IT,
For four years following their victory in 1896 the
of the nation worked and waited and then, in
1870 they swept Washington, with $4,000 vot-
ers, of whom from IS to 80 per cent vote, into
the suffrage net. One year later they captured the
State Of California which now has 67O9s7 women
who are qualified to vote and of whom from 80 to SO
per cent. exercise the right And come Arizona,
Kansas and Oregon with their hundreds Of thousands
of women voters to swell the ranks.
Nor does IL end with that Women have partial
suffrage in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Connecticut New York New Jersey, Delaware Ohio,
Kentucky Mississippi Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Minnesota North Dakota, South Dakota Nebras-
ka, Oklahoma Montana and New Mexico. In all those
States the are working Systematically and
getcally win equal suffrage and the drift of
indicates that they will be victorious and that too,
within the next decade
The only States in the Union today in which
have absolutely no measure of suffrage are Maine
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania Maryland Virginia, West
Virginia, North Carolina South Carolina, Georgia, Ala
bama, Florida, Indiana Missouri Arkansas Texas and
Nevada There is not one Of those States in which
women are not at work creating public sentiment
favorable to their cause.
is useless for anyone to speak lightly Of the
ment those engaged in It. The time for that has
passed. Suffrage for women is something that must
be reckoned with whether one wishes to reckon with
it to ignore it. It is something that cannot be g
nored It must be recognized Is a great compelling
force that is being felt by the body polite in every
State in the Union.