Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-03-31
PROGRESS OF SUFFRAGE IN
AMERICA,

The Illinois Equal Suffrage associa-
ton watches with great interest the
increase in woman suffrage in Canada.
Alberta will be the second Canadian
province to give women the vote since
1916 came in. Manitoba was the first
With the acknowledgements sigma
ture for the second, both Alberta and
Manitoba will have provincial suffrage
Alberta is bordered on the south by
Montana where the women were
granted full suffrage in November,
1914. 1t is near the Dakotas and its
influence will doubtless be felt there
According to the last census returns,
the population of Alberta is 374 663.
Its area is 255,2S5 square miles,
which represents an area almost as
large as Texas and greater than Cal
ifornia and Oregon combined 1t is
larger than the combined areas of
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississ-
ippi, South Carolina, Rhode Island
and Connecticut
With full suffrage for women pre-
vailing just across the northern Dor
der of the United States, the pres
sure for equal rights on this side of
the line is bound to grow stronger
The women Of this country will not
be satisfied to go on Indefinitely hold
ing lower political status than the
women of Canada, nor will American
men be willing to let them.
Detailed figures of the recent pri-
mary elections in Illinois rebound
strikingly to the praise of women vot-
ers. They cast a larger proportion
of their ballots for better candidates
than did the men, and the defeat of
some undesirable nominees was owing
wholly to their vote. In Chicago, in
a former election, the women of seven
wards turned the scale in the cleo
ton of a councilman, their vote in
each case giving the majority to the
good government candidate At this
last election they did it once more
Most women are Independents, and
therefore, refuse to register for the
primaries because only party tickets
can be voted and the ticket Of the
same party must be voted for two
successive years at the primary. Yet
despite the light vote of the women on
that account, a larger proportion OF
women than men voted for the bet
ter candidates especially in the test
wards of Chicago. One of them owes
his nomination to the majority of wo-
mems votes which was greater than
that of the men against him. In the
April election Independent voters
both men and women, will be heard
from most emphatically.
The growth of and interest in the
state association is most satisfactory
During the past few days the womer
of Pittsield, Rochelle, Rushvire
Quincy, Virginia Greenwich, Hamil
ton, Marion, Seaton, and three new
clubs in Peoria have affiliated with
and are now part of the state asso
citation. Very recently the state ha!
welcomed into membership a number
VI "oiHou NiuDSr NcOpCl tIuDS
Parent-Teacher associations, republi
can and democratic organizations, do
y. nestle science clubs and civic leagues
When so many different organiZa
tons are working toward the same
end only good results will follow.
Any woman, or group of women, il
Illinois who desires any information
pertaining to suffrage should write tn,
state president, Mrs. Harrison Monrt
Brown, at 604 Tower building, Chi
cago. Thas is the association head
quarters for the whole state and al