The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-25
TIE TOPEKA STATE JoUKNAL
APPROXIMATIONS BUREAU
NJ 1xEDERIC .. HAsKIN. Dtrssssr.
Washington, D. @.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
IH.-The Women Use the Vote.

the women usen the vote?
Inasmuch as the woman vote may
be within a few years as great factor
in national affairs as that of the men,
this question is exceedingly important.
Nor is it any longer a matter for
theories as some legislators seem to-
think. The twelve states where wo-
men have been given the vote furnish
abundant evidence as to how they
use it.
The election returns in those states,
for example, furnish evidence enough
to settle the question whether women
exercise the right to vote. With the
exception of the state of Illinois, the
ly, but it is possible to get an approx
mate estimate thru other statistics.
Consider the state of Arizona: In
1912, with total population OF 222,-
563, the male vote in this state was
23,9S7 Women did not vote in Ari-
iona then. In 1916 they did. Then,
with total population of 255, 544, the
total vote, including both men and wo-
men, was 5S,021. Allowing for the
! a per cent increase in the population,
the male vote should have been a.
345, leaving a female vote of 10000.
Yet there are 169 men to every 100
women in Arizona.
Again, take Idaho. In 1892, 16,4o9
men voted in this state. At the next
presidential election in 1896. when The
20, 900 men might have been expected
to vote. AS a matter of fact, the total
number of voters, including both men
and women was $1,000, so nearly SO
per cent of the vote in this year may
be attributed to women, in a state
which, according to the 1910 census
has % per cent more men than
women.
In Illinois it is not necessary to
he
presidential elections. The exact fig
ures for 1916 are known, because the
women voted on different ballots,
S76,700 female votes being cast to
1,316,007 male votes. In other words,
the women cast 40 per cent of the
votes in a state where they form about
4S per cent of the population.
From this it may be seen that this
particular question no longer remains
unanswered. These are the figures
for only three states. but the evidence
is similar in all the others-namely,
that women exercise their right to
vote when they have it.
The next question IS, What effect
does the woman vote have upon
society. politics and the women them
selves?
When the amendment was before
the house committee on woman suf-
frage recently enthusiastic kilograms
were received from the governors and
state officials of all the eQuaI-suffrage
states, urging the passage of the meas
ure. Governor Capper of Kansas
wired: Woman suffrage has been an
unqualified success in Kansas. 1 hope
congress will pass the federal amend
ment and give the women of the ma
ton the right to vote, a right which
should never have been denied them"
And the governor of wyoming sent
, this message: after forty years ex-
perience with woman suffrage Wyom-
ing enthusiastically and unqualifiedly
recommends the adoption by the ma
ton of the federal amendment
In every equal suffrage state the
women are organized under a state
federation of womens clubs. This
federation convenes once a year for
the purpose of discussing all bills then
pending before the legislature, de-
Gliding which measures it wishes to be
defeated. New bills are also drawn
up. Then everything is turned over
to a legislative committee that is prac-
tically an unpaid lobby. This COM
mittee, co posed of from ten to sew
enty members. remains at the state
capital turnout the sessions of the leg
islaturc and carefully watches the
progress of all bills introduced into that
body. No bill endorsed by the fedora
ton is allowed to be quietly pigeon
holed--a practice conveniently resort
ed to in some states-and on the other
hand, at the first sign of an undesira-
Bile bill the committee Immediately
sounds the alarm turnout the state,
from whence presently will come hum
dreds of belligerent kilograms directed
to the erring legislators.
Under this system, which is practi-
cally the same in every equal suf-
frage state, the women have passed
many "women's laws" There is Colo
| RADIO, for instance. In this state since
| 1893, the women secured state home
for dependent children; a state indus
trial school for girls; child labor law
limiting the hours of labor of chill
dren; a minimum wage board to fix
the wages of women and minors; a law
raising the age of consent to eighteen:
law providing for the inspection of
all maternity and lying-in hospitals; a
law establishing juvenile courts, deten-
ticn homes and probation officers, and
law providing for the recall of Off
Gals, with special reference to the
| judiciary.
| In Arizona women have voted ONLY
! since 1912. but they have managed to
make their influence felt In 1914.
one woman became a state senator:
two were representatives and seven
I were county school superintendents
! The prohibition amendment was an
: neXed to the state constitution largely
by force of the women's vote; an
eight-hour law for women has been
enacted: red light abatement law; a
| law eXempting the property of widows
up to two thousand dollars when their
| total property is worth less than
$4,000. an old age and mothers PEN
sion laws were carried by popular
vote, but afterwards were declared I'M
constitutional.
Kansas also has had equal suffrage
on all questions since 1912, but women
were allowed to vote on municipal af-
fairs for fifteen years before that.
Some laws attributed to the voting
! power OF kansas women are: a law
providing for free public libraries.
reading rooms, rest rooms, parks and
hospitals in each municipality; a
| mothers pension law; a provision for
boards of public welfare for the super
vision of da Ia nd