Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1918-05-24
WOMAN'S CITIZENSHIP
Woman Suffrage VIII Bring
Disappointment to Many
of the Other Sex.


within year or two, disappointment
is in store for some women eager to
avail themselves Of their new oppor-
tunity. These women, if foreign born,
will learn, for the first time perhaps
when they attempt to vote, that they
cannot vote because they are not nat
uralized citizens.
If native born and married to for
eigners they will learn that they can
not vote because their husbands are
not citizens and that married women
may not choose their citizenship but
become automatically of the citizen
ship of their husbands.
Indeed some women, as women of
other states, may learn these lessons
at almost any hour. The President of
the United states has issued a procla-
nation that the regulations Of enemy
alien men shall apply equally to enc
my alien women, perfectly proper
provision. But by virtue of other laws
on our statute books an American
woman who marries German or Aus
TRAN also weds German or Austrian
citizenship and thus becomes an enc.
my alien, subject to necessary regula-
tions, of registration, of being barred
from certain zones, turned out from
the District of Columbia, even possib-
~ interned.
She may be passionately devoted to
the ideals and the government of the
United States. The law presumes
shat, if married, woman is not suffi-
ciently capable of the sentiment of
patriotism so that she is entitled to
!. choose her own country just as a few
years ago, under the old common law
of England, a married woman was
not considered capable of holding or
managing her own property or collect
ing her own wages even though she
earned them.
The war brings this question Of
citizenship of women acutely to our
attention, in this country and in other
countries where similar conditions
prevail. In European nations, where
there has naturally been much inter-
marriage among peoples now hostile
to each other, women are learning
the unfairness, the cruelty, of this
conception of womanhood, under
which a woman is considered capable
only of loyalty to her husband, not to
her country. European women are
demanding that women though mar
ried may choose their citizenship.
Women Of the United States are
making the same demand. A bill is
now pending in Congress which pro-
vides that an American woman mar
ried to a foreigner may retain her
own nationality or she may renounce
her nationality in court competent
TO grant naturalization. Wisconsin
people will be interested in the fact
that this bill was drawn by Mrs. FL
Zen Spencer Mussey, sister OF the late
Robert G. Spencer of the Spencerian
Business College and aunt of Edward
w. Spencer of Milwaukee. Mrs.
Mussey is very distinguished wom-
an, "a lawyer practising in the Su-
preme Court Of the United States
and having served for>many years as
attorney for the Norwegian and SWe-
dish legations in this country. The
measure permitting American mar
ried women to choose their citizen
ship is supported by great organiza-
tions of women and was presented in
Congress by Miss Jeanette Rankin.
It is curious fact that under the
old common law conception of wom-
3nhood, the single woman was a fair
ly intelligent and responsible being,
her capacities being blighted only by
marriage. This conception prevails
in the naturalization laws now in
force. The single woman may be-
come naturaliZed just as man Goes
by making application to the proper
court lin this state the circuit court)
securing first papers on declaration of
intention to become a citizen, and
after period of two years, with two
witnesses testifying to good charac-
ter and citizenship, securing final pa
pers. One becomes naturalized in
Wisconsin only after five years resi-
dence in this country, and the law
provides for some knowledge of the
English language by the incoming
fcitizen, a provision that does not
appear TO be applied very stringently
in all cases.
In Wisconsin now for several years
only persons of full citizenship have
been permitted to vote. Previously
the foreigner who had previously de-
clared his intention tobecome acitizen
was as potent voter as any one else
and he still is in six or eight states
of the Union. He is not subject to
the draft but he may vote, a situa-
fiOn NOT only unreasonable hut 1,ndor