"No further advance was made until 1869, when the first legislative council was in session after the organization of Wyoming as a territory. Mrs. Esther Morris, who with her husband had gone out from New York as a pioneer, appealed to the president of the Council, Col. William H. Bright, for a bill enfranchising women. She was sustained by his wife and he succeeded in having the bill passed. The Council was Democratic and it hoped to embarrass the Republican Governor, John A. Campbell, whom it expected to veto the bill. On the contrary he signed it; and when two years later the Council repealed it he vetoed the repeal. The Council were unable to pass it over his veto and no effort to abolish woman suffrage was ever again made in Wyoming."

"In 1889 a convention composed entirely of men met to form a Constitution for Statehood, and after twenty years' experience they adopted unanimously as its first clause, 'equal political rights for all male and female citizens.'

The Constitution was ratified by more than a three-fourths majority of the people and sent to Congress. That body, always hostile to the enfranchisement of women, fought in the House for three days to have this clause eliminated and the Territorial Delegate telegraphed to Wyoming that it looked as if this Iwould have to be done. The Legislature, which was in session, wired back: 'We will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage.' The same struggle took place in the United States Senate and pages of the Congressional Record were filled with awful Senatorial prophecies as to what would happen to the country if Wyoming should come into the Union with women voters. After days of oratory they were obliged to face the calamity, and President Harrison signed the bill admitting the new State in June, 1890. Thus Wyoming became the first commonwealth in history to grant to women the same rights in the government that men possessed."

The accompanying map shows the growth of the woman suffrage movement. When the Nineteenth Amendment ex

tended suffrage to all the States, full suffrage was already enjoyed by the women of fifteen States, primary suffrage by two States in which nomination was practically equivalent to election, and the right to vote for presidential electors by twelve States.

While the women of the United States were acquiring par

tial or full suffrage, the women of nineteen other countries 1

Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

1918

Sweden, Germany, Holland, Italy, Serbia, and Luxemburg

arguments in favor of woman suffrage are representative of those advanced by suffragists: 1

(1) Women need the ballot because of new industrial conditions. The discovery of steam power and electricity and the invention of machinery have shifted the production of most articles of food and clothing from the home to the factory; hence women are forced to work in factories, stores, and offices.

Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

A SUFFRAGETTE SPEAKING TO WALL STREET MEN.

Her new experiences prepare her for the use of the ballot, because she sees whether shops are unsanitary, whether occupations are dangerous, or whether foods are adulterated. Those who suffer from evils should have the power of the ballot as a means of remedy.

(2) Suffrage promotes patriotism. In Mexico, where few can vote, a bloody revolution is necessary to remove officials, but in

1 A suffragist is one who favors equal suffrage and may be either a man or a woman; a suffragette was a woman who actively advocated equal suffrage for her sex.

the United States, where suffrage is extensive, we have a peaceful revolution at every election.

((3) When women are given the ballot they take more interest in

civic duties than in idle pastimes. The best way to make people feel their responsibilities to the state is to assign them duties. We learn to do by doing.

(4) More girls than boys are being educated in the high schools and about the same num

ber of girls as boys are in

the colleges.

(5) Persons who train citizens should understand the political duties of citizens. Most of our children are taught by women - whether at home or in school.

(6) Both by nature and of necessity women have better moral habits than men and their votes therefore assist moral legislation.

(7) The most dignified way for women to influence legislation is by the

Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. FORTY THOUSAND WOMEN SUFFRAGISTS PARADING ON FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.

secret ballot. Without equal suffrage a woman who works for legislative reforms must go to the legislative halls and impress her views upon the legislators by "lobbying."

230. Every Right Implies a Duty. - Some women did not desire the right of suffrage, but inasmuch as suffrage has become the right of both good and bad, it becomes the duty of a good woman to cancel the vote of a bad woman or of an intelligent woman to cancel the vote of an ignorant woman.

Every woman owes to her country her assistance in making its laws as perfect as possible. To aid in the fight for good