Connecticut western news., 1913-03-13
suffrage Hearings Next Week.

The biggest event on the suffrage hor- izon of this state is the suffrage hear ings at the capitol next Tuesday and Wednesday. Women from all parts of Connecticut are preparing to make the pilgrimage to Hartford for the occasion, and the Hartford Equal Franchise League expects to keep open house for the two days at the headquarters. at 24 Ford street. As the suffrage headquar- ters is halfway between the station and the capitol it will form a very conyen. tent rendezvous for the meeting of friends or for waiting and resting be- tween trains.
 The arrangements for the hearings are in the hands of Mrs. M. Toscan Ben nett, of Hartford, who is chairman of the Committee of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association for Legis- lative Work. The women who will plead the cause of suffrage before the Legislators will all be Connecticut women, and they will be aided by mem bers of the Connecticut Mems League for Woman Suffrage. Each speaker will confine her remarks and the time of each will be strictly limited. There will thus be an opportunity to hear al- most all the prominent leaders of the suffrage movement in the state, and the hearings will be an occasion for getting together on the part of the workers from the smaller towns as we'll as from the large cities.
 The only measure which is being urged by the O. W. s. A. is the resolu- tion for the amendment of the State stitution giving the full franchise to the women. There are however, bills before the Legislature for municipal suffrage tor tax paying women-which was suggested by Governor Baldwin Tn his message to the legislature and for full municipal suffrage. This latter message was favoured last session by the suffragists. but they now feel that the time has gone by for any half meas ure and that experimental legislation in woman suffrage is no longer necessary. With nine of the states granting full suffrage to women. woman suffrage can no longer be called experimental. and Connecticut women cannot feel that they are so far behind the women of Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Cali fornia, Washington, Arizona, Oregon and Kansas that the men of this state need fear entrusting them with right which has already been conferred on the women of all these other states.
 Only the House of Representatives is concerned with the resolution for the amendment of the constitution. The women are glad however that the intro duction of the municipal suffrage bills gives them the opportunity of address ing the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage as well as the House Commit the which has charge of constitutional amendments. The chairman at the hearing will be MT. Frederick Johnson, of New London. who is senate chairman of the Woman Suffrage Committee. MT. Johnson is good friend of the. Suf- fragists, and Mrs. Johnson is an active worker in the 0. w. s. A. In any case the women would be sure of what has always been accorded to them by mem bers of the Connecticut State Legisla ture-a courteous reception and fair hearing; but it is pleasure to feel that they have friends at court. who will listen with more sympathy than has been given their pleas i'll some of the many years in winch they have been urged at the Capitol.