The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-03-20
TO KEEP UP FIGH1
Women in Hard Fight at
Madison to Get Suffrage
Question Before Voters.
MANY CITIES ARE INTERESTED
Workers for the Women Bring Many
Arguments Before the Legislature
for Proposed Amendment-Anti-
ragist Workers Prove Very Active.

Woman suffrage will have harder
time before this Legislature than was
looked for even early in the session.
Although the chances seem to favor
a woman suffrage bill passing the sem
ate, the measure on the subject is go
ling to have a hard time in the assem-
| bly,. The lower house has a great
many members who are unalterably
| opposed to woman suffrage and they
are going to fight any woman suffrage
bill with great deal Of vigor. From
appearances, the organization work
which was done by the Personal
Liberty League in the last campaign
| to prevent the adoption of the woman
suffrage bill at the polls has been
counting and there are many members
who are opposed to q woman suffrage
who claim that before they were elect
ed they pledged their constituents
| they would not vote for any measure
which was favorable to woman stuff
rage or aid in obtaining any measure
| for the submission to the people again
These people claim they are backed
up in their position against woman
suffrage by the action Of the people in
the referendum vote on woman suff
rage in Overwhelmingly rejecting wom-
an suffrage at the polls, and in the
| debates over the woman suffrage qneS
lt1aa hafsrc.this sssgislas9e.s I've will
be good deal said about the referen-
| DUN vote at the election last fall and
Of how strongly the people went on
record at that time against the woman
suffrage issue. The overwhelming ex-
preston of the voting population Of
Wisconsin against woman suffrage was
of a character which cannot be ignor-
ed these people say, and they declare
that it is all folly to press through the
legislature another referendum bill on
the subject.
The initial hearing before a commit
tee on the question Of woman suffrage
was held before the assembly commit
tee on elections. 1t developed in that
hearing that there is some opposition
even in the committee room to wom-
an suffrage bill and the indications
were quite strong that the report of
| the committee will be by no means
unanimous in favor of the measure.
/ The fact was remarked on by commit
| tee members during the hearing that
the legislature Of two years ago had
given the women a chance to obtain
an expression from the people of the
state on the subject Of woman suffrage
and that when the vote was taken it
was sufficiently strong against woman
suffrage to show conclusiyely that the
voting population of Wisconsin was
against the measure. Some Of the
committee men even went so far as to
say that they did not favor having
the issue threshed over right away
again in this state.
On the other hand it can be said
that the women do not seem at all
daunted by their defeat and they seem
to think the adverse feeling toward the
woman suffrage bill is confined to a
few members and that when it comes
down to the votes there will really be
no more opposition to the measure
than there was two years ago. The
women leaders who are making the
fight before this Legislature for woman
suffrage declare their position is right
and that the fact that some Of the
members Of the legislature are opposed
to the bill should have no more weight
with this legislature than it has had
with previous legislatures.
The women claim that they were
greatly hampered in the campaign in
this state in favor Of the referendum
bill by the fact that they were moi
4
unit in their work in the campaign
This position, they declare, greatly
lessened their influence and prevented
them from accomplishing all they
should have been able to accomplish
in the campaign. IF they had beer
united Tor the fight, they say they
wOuld have hnan q hla IN mako !, -, /
more favorable impression and they
declare that the fact that the twc
woman suffrage societies III this stat,
are now practically merged means
that the next battle for a referendum
bin viii be carried oil with far greatel
! centralized effort aud VT much NOR,
hope Of results.