The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-17
TOLOSE 10000
WOMEN VOTES?
Age Ruling Bar to Registration,
Says Mrs. Monroe.
Suffrage Leader Takes Dig at
Mems Sensitiveness.
CITES COLORADO STATUTES
Provides Woman Must Say
Merely "Over 81"
Good Government Club Is Into
Fight in Earnest.
CITES COLORADO STATUTES

The little word "age" may send
Kansas back to pre-suffrage times so
far as the general election this year is
concerned. Mrs. Lila Day Monroe.
president of the Kansas Women Law
yers' association, asserted today that
the state will lose 10000 woman votes
If the ruling requiring registrants to
give their ages is enforced.
Mrs. Monroe today made public her
report on the legal side of the ques-
tiOn. which she spent all day Friday
investigating at the request of the ex-
ecutive board of the Good Govern
ment club. The club. she declared, is
getting into the fight in earnest
Scores of women have called her, Mrs
Monroe said, with the assertion that
they viii not vote if they have TO give
their ages to obtain the essential quail
iftcation- She declared the club is TAX
ing up the fight, not merely on behalf
of Mrs W. a. McCarter but on behalf
of every woman in the state as well
as many men who hesitate to give
their ages.
Men Are Sensitive, Too.
Mrs. Monroe concludes her state
ment with the assertion that a great
number of men are also sensitive as to
their ages and that as many men as
women have turned away from the
registration books because the age is
demanded as part of the information
for registration.
Mrs Mouroe's report follows:
Chivalry says: a woman is no older
than she looks; a man is no older than he
feels
But chival=s has nothing to do with
the question at issue which is blocking
the wheels of registration, and, contrary
to much of the effort 10 befOg the issue,
i 5
neither does it hinge on whether Ann
wishes that age published or not
The question is simple: Briefly, what
Is meant by the legal age Of voters:
How shall this age be expressed on the
poll books: In years, months. days, to
be exact, or does the law contemplate just
one requirement in asking for the age of
registrants-one age for all regardless of
birthdays What is the literal meaning
Of various statutes which go to make up
the election laws of Kansas
I. In seeking to find the exact meaning of
a statute. our supreme court has held time
and again that not only the wording but
the intent of the legislature must De taken
saS. Landrum VS.. Flanagan, the court
Now in determining the intent of the
legislature We are not limited to a mere
consideration of the language employed
We may properly look to the purpose to
be accomplished
Purpose of Registration.
What was the purpose of registration
originally: To prevent the repeating.
ballot-bo stuffing by voters. and TO this
end the law bears down heavily on regis
tering under an assumed name. placing
heavy penalty thereon, but not a word
about falsifying the age or telling the age.
What is the. purpose of the new regis
tration law of 1920: Avowedly TO weed
out the foreign unnaturalized vote-not
word about his age in years-simply his
legal age rs a qualified voter.
The oath required in this new law to
establish right to vote says; i will be
more than Il years of age at next general
election"
II the law were deeply interested in exact
age it could not be given except in years.
months and days in order to make pro
vision for birthdays. and there would be
penalty attached for falsifying the same;
also provisions for birth certificates, affi-
davits to establish the age to day. But
law does not care how much over u the
voter is; 1t is only concerned with his legal
age.
The law makes provision for change in
residence. but not for change in age. be
cause the statute age for voting is made by
the constitution of the United States and
must remain Interchangeable. And all the
years over y do not augment voting
qualifications: that is TO saw. the perso1
over 30 years is, so far as the law is CON
cerned. more highly qualified than the
voter barely over y.
The Colorado Law
Colorado. anticipating that this question
might abridge OF restrict regist ra ton. PRO
Vides in the eighth schedule of interroga-
tories for electors
j.. 1t shall only be necessary for female
voter to state that she is twenty-one (21)
years Of age ana over. in answer to ali
questions relating TO her age
In order that we might be prepared for
this we had prepared and ready to present
as a companion bill to our amendment the
Following taken from ColOrados schedule
AN ACT concerning the registration of
women Tor voting purposes.
Section 1. That whenever anv woman
snail appear before any officer in this
stare whose duty il is TO register wom-
en- Tor voting purposes, if such woman
shali state that she is twenty-One years
OF age no further question may be
asked her by such officer relative to
her age: provided, however If suth
officer shall not be satisfied that sueh
woman Is twenty-one years of age he
may require her to make an affidavit
that she Is tWenty-One years of age
sec : This act shall take effect and
~ oe IN IoFee upon and after its publica-
uon IN the statute book.
But the opinion of the then attorne,,
general was that il was absolufeIv nm
necessary 10 clutter up the statutes with
suGn a law as It was evident that the laws
all-and that the legal majority. voting
Judge c W. Smiths View.
Judge Charles ". Smith. in commenting
on the matter. said: .CndoubtedIv The
spirit Of the law is fulfilled with the
'o suSM - t oteF - years, as the common
sense OF the officer in a majority of cases
tellS hlm without asking whether the an
plcant Is Of legal voting age"
Judge Smith mentioned occasions where
on the stand a witness in answer to ace
question said of mature age the legal
quahflcatlen Tor witnesses, and the Judge
accepted it without quibble.
In attaeSing the whims of individuals.
or their sensitiveness in answering queS-
tions, or their religious srrupleS. one may
with advantage ask: Why a registration
Office
The answer must be: ITO save to the
individual his right TO vote" Not to lay
a straw in the path of his citizenship not
. abridEe his right. limit the number
o. reglstrants, but to enable him to go
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