History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 4/Chapter 72

 

CHAPTER LXXII.

WYOMING.^[1]

It is said that a contented people or a happy life is one without a history. The cause of woman suffrage in Wyoming has not been marked by agitation or strife, and for that reason there is no struggle to record, as is the case in all other States. In its story Mrs. Esther Morris must ever be considered the heroine. A native of New York, she joined her husband and three sons in 1869 at South Pass, then the chief town of Wyoming. She was a strong advocate of the enfranchisement of women and succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of Col. William H. Bright, president of the first Legislative Council of the Territory, which that very year passed a bill conferring on women the full elective franchise and the right to hold all offices. Gov. John A. Campbell was in some doubt as to signing it, but a body of women in Cheyenne, headed by Mrs. Amalia Post (wife of Morton E. Post, delegate to Congress), went to his residence and announced their intention of, staying until he did so. A vacancy occurring soon afterward in the office of Justice of the Peace at South Pass, the Governor appointed Mrs. Morris on petition of the county attorney and commissioners. She tried between thirty and forty cases and none was appealed to a higher court.^[2]

In 1871 a bill to repeal this woman suffrage law was passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Governor Campbell. An attempt to pass it over his veto failed. No proposition to abolish it ever was made in the Legislature thereafter.

In 1884, fifteen years after women had first voted in Wyoming, U. S. District Attorney Melville C. Brown, at the request of Miss Susan B. Anthony, sent to the National Association an extended résumé of the status of women suffrage in the Territory, to which he himself had been opposed in 1869. It expressed throughout the most emphatic approval without any qualifications. Some of the statements were as follows:

Women have exercised their elective franchise, at first not very generally but of late with universality, and with such good judgment and modesty as to commend it to the men of all parties who hold the good of the Territory in high esteem. .... It has been stated that the best women do not avail themselves of the privilege. This is maliciously false. The foolish claim has also been made that the influence of the ballot upon women is bad. This is not true. It is impossible that a woman's character can be contaminated in associating with men for a few minutes in going to the polls any more than it would be in going to church or to places of amusement. On the other hand women are benefited and improved by the ballot. .... The fact is, Wyoming has the noblest and best women in the world because they have more privileges and know better how to use them. To conclude I will say: Woman suffrage is a settled fact here, and will endure as long as the Territory. It has accomplished much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor, and none can be found to raise a voice against it.

In the convention called the first Monday of September, 1889, to prepare a constitution for admission as a State, this was the first clause presented for consideration:

The right of citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.

After just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the members, one delegate, A. C. Campbell of Laramie, proposed to amend this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart from the rest of the constitution. He supported his amendment by a long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of the article and, from his observations throughout the Territory, he believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the Union, and if they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express themselves, they would vote against the whole constitution."

The other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of the opponents, and Mr. Campbell had no support to his proposition. On the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by George W. Baxter, Henry A. Coffeen, C. W. Holden, Asbury B. Conaway, Melville C. Brown, Charles H. Burritt and John W. Hoyt demanding that the suffrage clause should stand in the constitution regardless of consequences. Space will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.^[3]

Mr. Baxter: .... I defend this because it is right, because it is fair, because it is just. .... I shall ever regard as a distinguished honor my membership in this convention, which, for the first time in the history of all this broad land, rising above the prejudice and injustice of the past, will incorporate into the fundamental law of the State a provision that shall secure to every citizen within her borders not only the protection of the courts, but the absolute and equal enjoyment of every right and privilege guaranteed under the law to any other citizen.

Mr. Coffeen: .... The question, as I take it, is already settled in the hearts and minds and judgments of the people of our glorious State proposed-to-be, and shall we stand here to-day and debate over it when every element of justice and right and equality is in its favor; when not one iota of weight of argument has been brought against it; when every word that can be said is in favor of continuing the good results of woman suffrage, which we have experienced for twenty years? .... I shall not go into the policy or propriety of submitting such a proposition as this now before us to the people of this Territory. ....

Mr. Holden: I do not desire at this time to offer any reason why the right to vote should be granted to women; that is not the question before us. The question is, shall we secure that right by fundamental law? The proposition now under consideration is, shall we leave it to the people of Wyoming to say whether or not the privilege of voting shall be secured to women? Now, Mr. Chairman, I believe that I voice the wishes of my constituency when I say that rather than surrender the right which the women of this Territory have so long enjoyed — and which they have used not only with credit to themselves but with profit to the country in which they live — I say that rather than surrender that right we will remain in a Territorial condition throughout the endless cycles of time.

Mr. Conaway: .... The sentiment of this convention, and I believe of the people whom we represent, is so nearly unanimous that extended discussion, it seems to me, would be a waste of time. .... If it were proposed to submit to a vote of the people whether the property of the gentleman from Laramie should be taken from him, or my property should be taken from me and given to somebody else, there would be no difference of opinion upon it. In Wyoming this right of our women has been recognized, has been enjoyed; there are such things in law as vested rights, and the decisions of our courts are unanimous that it is not within the power of the Legislature ever to take away from any person his rights or his property and to confer them upon another, and that is what this clause proposes to do, to submit to a vote whether we shall take away from one-half of our citizens — and, as my friend has well stated, the better half — a certain right, and increase the rights of the other half by so doing. ....

Mr. Brown: I was a member of that second Legislature which tried to disfranchise women. .... From that day to the present no man in the Legislature of "Wyoming has been heard to lift his voice against woman suffrage. It has become one of the fundamental laws of the land, and to raise any question about it at this time is as improper, in my judgment, as to raise a question as to any other fundamental right guaranteed to any citizen in this Territory. I would sooner think, Mr. Chairman, of submitting to the people of Wyoming a separate and distinct proposition as to whether a male citizen of the Territory shall be entitled to vote. ....

Mr. Hoyt: .... For twenty years the women of this Territory have taken part with the men in its government, and have exercised this right of suffrage equally with them, and we are all proud of the results. No man in Wyoming ever has dared to say that woman suffrage is a failure. There has been no disturbance of the domestic relations, there has been no diminution of the social order, there has been no lessening of the dignity which characterizes the exercise of the elective franchise; there have been, on the contrary, an improvement of the social order, better laws, better officials, a higher civilization. Why, then, this extraordinary proposition that, after so many years, having exercised with us the right of suffrage since the foundation of this Territorial government, women are now to be singled out, to be set aside, and the question submitted to a vote as to whether they shall have a continuance of the rights which have been given to them by unanimous consent, and which they have exercised wisely and properly and, as my friend says, with profit to the whole Territory? This is indeed an extraordinary proposition, to submit to a vote the continuance of a vested right. I will not impugn the motives of the gentleman who makes it, but I demand as a matter of justice that it shall be voted down by an overwhelming majority, and I would that he had never presented it. .... We are told that if we put this clause into our constitution as a fundamental law, we shall fail to secure its approval by the people of Wyoming and its acceptance by the Congress of the United States; but if it should so prove that the adoption of this provision to protect the rights of the women should work against our admission, then I agree with my friend, Mr. Holden, that we will remain out of the Union until a sentiment of justice shall prevail. ....

Mr. Burritt: .... Mr. Campbell destroyed any argument that he made in favor of this amendment by saying, first, that woman suffrage as a principle is right: second, that he would vote for it if presented to the people. And he further said that he was not afraid, in defending the right of petition, to come before this convention and indorse this proposition to be separately voted upon, even if it cost him the ladies' vote or the votes of any other class. That certainly is very courageous on the part of the gentleman from Laramie. .... But I will say this much in addition, which he did not say, that, as a member of this convention and believing the right of suffrage to be a vested right, of which it would be wrong and wicked for us to attempt to deprive women, I have also the courage to rise above the single constituent that I have in Johnson County who is opposed to woman suffrage (and I know but one) and to rise above the majority even of its citizens if I knew they were opposed, and I am sure that this convention and this State have as much courage as I have. Believing that woman suffrage is right, I am sure that this convention has the courage to go before Congress and say that if they will not let us in with this plank in our State constitution we will stay out forever. .... I stand upon the platform of justice, and I advocate the continuance of the right of women to vote and hold office and enjoy equally with men all civil, religious and political privileges, and that this right be incorporated as a part of the fundamental law of the State. ....

The woman suffrage clause was retained as a part of the constitution, which was adopted by more than a three-fourths majority of the popular vote.

A bill to provide for the admission of Wyoming as a State was introduced into the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 1889, and later was favorably reported from the Committee on Territories by Charles S. Baker of New York. A minority report was presented by William M. Springer of Illinois, consisting of twenty-three pages, two devoted to various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to objections because of the woman suffrage article.

As it was supposed that the new State would be Republican, a bitter fight was waged by the Democrats, using the provision for woman suffrage as a club. The bill was grandly championed by Joseph M. Carey, delegate from the Territory (afterward United States senator) who defended the suffrage clause with the same courage and ability as all the others in the constitution.^[4]

The principal speech in opposition was by Joseph E. Washington of Tennessee, who said in part:

My chief objection to the admission of Wyoming is the suffrage article in the constitution. I am unalterably opposed to female suffrage in any form. It can only result in the end in unsexing and degrading the womanhood of America. It is emphatically a reform against nature. . . . . I have no doubt that in Wyoming to-day women vote in as many [different] precincts as they can reach on horseback or on foot after changing their frocks and bustles. . . . . Tennessee has not yet adopted any of these new-fangled ideas, not that we are lacking in respect for true and exalted womanhood.^[5]

William C. Oates of Alabama also delivered a long speech in opposition, of which the following is a specimen paragraph:

I like a woman who is a woman and appreciates the sphere to which God and the Bible have assigned her. I do not like a man-woman. She may be intelligent and full of learning, but when she assumes the performance of the duties and functions assigned by nature to man, she becomes rough and tough and can no longer be the object of affection.

He concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage should prevail the Government would break to pieces of its own weight.

The enfranchisement of women was also vehemently attacked by Alexander M. Dockery of Missouri, George T. Barnes of Georgia, William M. Springer of Illinois, and William McAdoo of New Jersey. It was strongly defended by Henry L. Morey of Ohio, Charles S. Baker of New York, Daniel Kerr and I. S. Struble, both of Iowa, and Harrison B. Kelley of Kansas.

Every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only six votes. The bill of admission was passed March 28, 1890, after three days' discussion, by 139 ayes to 127 noes. During the progress of this debate Delegate Carey telegraphed to the Wyoming Legislature, then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if Statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came back: "We

will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."^[6]

In the Senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with added intensity. The bill for the admission of Wyoming was reported favorably through the chairman of the Committee on Territories, Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, in January, 1890, but was not reached on the calendar until February 17. On objection from Francis M. Cockrell of Missouri, that there was not time then for its consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the calendar. Not until May 2, however, did it come up again as unfinished business, and only to be -again postponed. On May 8 the bill was set down' for the following Monday, but it was June 25 before it finally received extended consideration. The debate continued for three days and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place.

George G. Vest of Missouri led the opposition and said in the course of his lengthy oration:

I shall never vote to admit into the Union any State that adopts woman suffrage. I do not propose to discuss the sentimental side of the question. .... In my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic to the spirit, to the institutions, of the people of the United States. It is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the Government as the fathers made it and left it to us. If there were no other reason I would never give the right of suffrage to women because the danger to the institutions of the United States to-day is in hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage. .... I believe that with universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our suffrage of all the-women of the United States would be the greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our institutions and people. .... If there were no other reason with me, I would vote against the admission of Wyoming because it has that feature in its constitution. I will not take the responsibility as a senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman suffrage. I repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a calamity but an es crime against the institutions of the people of the United States. ....

In an extended speech John H. Reagan of Texas said:

But what are we going to do, what are the people of this Territory going to do, by the adoption of this constitution? They are going to make men of women, and when they do that the correlative must take place that men must become women. So I suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and make stump speeches in canvasses. .... Mr. President, when the Almighty created men and women He made them for different purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in this arrangement. It is only latterly that people have got wiser than their Creator and wiser than all the generations which have preceded them. .... The constitution of society, the necessity for the existence of society, the necessity of home government, which is the most important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their sphere.

It is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who soothes the passions of the day by the sweetness of her temper, the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she brings around the family circle. But if the wife and the husband are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches, electioneering with voters, pushing their way to the polls, they will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which follows such a scene. And while they are both out what will become of the children? Are they to take care of themselves?

What rights can women expect to have that they do not have now? They are clothed with the protection of law.^[7] In my judgment, Mr. President, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached the point at which decay and ruin begin. .... Why, sir, what is the advantage? If the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect the views of the family. It is more convenient than to have all the family going out to vote.

Wilbur F. Sanders of Montana interrupted Senator Reagan to ask if the law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

John T. Morgan of Alabama entered into a long and sarcastic argument to prove that if a woman could vote in Wyoming she might be sent to Congress and then she could not be admitted because the law says a senator or representative "must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen." He ignored the fact that all legal papers are made out with this pronoun, which presents no difficulty in their application to women.

Henry B. Payne of Ohio said that he was not in favor of woman suffrage, and that no woman in England ever had been permitted to exercise the elective franchise. (Women then had been voting in England for twenty-one years, the same length of time as in Wyoming.) He asked, however, if these little technical objections would not be more than overcome by the moral influence that a woman Representative might exert in the committee rooms and on the floor of the House.

Mr. Morgan at once launched forth into a panegyric on the moral influence of woman which certainly demonstrated that if sentimentalism were a bar to voting, as Senators Vest and Reagan had insisted it should be, the senator from Alabama would have to be disfranchised. Part of it ran as follows:

It is not the moral influence of woman upon the ballot that I am objecting to, and it is not to get rid of that or to silence or destroy such influence that I oppose it, but it is the immoral influence of the ballot upon woman that I deprecate and would avoid. I do not want to see her drawn into contact with the rude things of this world, where the delicacy of her senses and sensibilities would be constantly wounded by the attrition with bad and desperate and foul politicians and men. Such is not her function and is not her office; and if we degrade her from the high station that God has placed her in to put her at the ballot-box, at political or other elections, we unman ourselves and refuse to do the duties that God has assigned to us.

 

I can say for myself and for those who are dearest to me of all the objects in this life, that I would leave a country where it was necessary that my wife and daughters should go to the polls to protect my liberties. I would just as soon see them shoulder their guns and go like Amazons into the field and fight beneath the flag for my liberties, as to see them muster on election day for any such purpose.^[8]

James K. Jones of Arkansas based his argument on the estimate of an equal number of men and women in Wyoming, and assumed that all the women had voted in favor of the suffrage clause and that therefore it did not represent the wishes of men, thus denying wholly the right of women to a voice in a matter which so vitally concerned themselves. In reality women formed considerably less than one-third of the adult population, while the constitution was adopted by more than a three-fourths vote.

William M. Stewart of Nevada and Algernon S. Paddock of Nebraska defended the right of the Territory to decide this question for itself.

George Gray of Delaware declared his belief that "woman suffrage is inimical to the best interests of society." John C. Spooner of Wisconsin disapproved the enfranchisement of women, but believed Wyoming had a right to place it in its constitution.

Orville H. Platt of Connecticut in urging the acceptance of the report said:

I never have been an advocate of woman suffrage. I never believed, as some senators do, that it was wise. But with all that, I would not keep a Territory out of the Union as a State because its constitution did allow women to vote, nor would I force upon a Territory any restriction or qualification as to what its vote should be in that respect. When Washington Territory came here and asked for admission and the bill was passed, it had had woman suffrage, and I was appealed to by a great many citizens all over the United States to keep it out of the Union, so far as my action could do so, until it restored the right of women to vote which had been taken away under a decision of its own courts — taken away, as I thought, unjustly; for I did not consider that decision good law. The senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Hoar, interrogated me when I was advocating the admission of Washington as to why we did not incorporate into that enabling act some language that should undo the wrong which had been done by the Supreme Court of the Territory and restore to women the right of voting. I said then, as I say now, that I think this is a matter which belongs to the Territory; and I am surprised that gentlemen who are so devoted to home rule as a sacred right which should never be interfered with in this republic, should not be willing to allow to a Territory, when it asks for admission, the right to determine whether women should or should not be permitted to vote by the constitution of the proposed State. .... Why should we, the Congress of the United States, stand here and say to that Territory, where women have enjoyed the right of voting for twenty years, and nobody arises to gainsay it or to intimate that they have not exercised the right wisely, why should we stand here and say: "Keep out of the Union; we will let no community, no Territory, in here which does not deprive its women of the right they have enjoyed while in a Territorial condition"?

After every possible device to strike out the obnoxious clause had been exhausted, the bill to admit Wyoming as a State was passed on June 27, 1890, by 29 ayes, 18 noes, 37 absent.^[9] Although Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire and Henry M. Teller of Colorado interposed remarks showing a thorough belief in the enfranchisement of women, there was no formal argument in its behalf, it being generally understood that all Republicans would vote for the bill in order to admit a Republican State, and a number did so who were not in favor of woman suffrage.

When the people of Wyoming met at Cheyenne, July 23, to celebrate their Statehood, by Gov. Francis E. Warren sat Mrs. Amalia Post, president of the Woman Suffrage Association. The first and principal oration of the day was made by Mrs. Theresa A. Jenkins, of which the History of Wyoming says:

Proceeding to the front of the platform, Mrs. Jenkins, in clear, forceful tones which penetrated to the very outskirts of the crowd, delivered without manuscript or notes an address which in logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equaled by any woman in the land.

.... At its conclusion she received an ovation and was presented with a magnificent basket of flowers.

The great incident of the celebration, the presenting of the flag, next followed. Mrs. Esther Morris, the "mother" of the woman suffrage movement in this State, who is widely respected for her great ability and heroic womanhood, was by general consent accorded the post of honor and made the presentation to Governor Warren. Gathering its folds about her she said:

"On behalf of the women of Wyoming, and in grateful recognition of the high privilege of citizenship which has been conferred upon us, I have the honor to present to the State of Wyoming this beautiful banner. May it always remain the emblem of our liberties, 'and the flag of the Union forever.'"

The Governor, on receiving it from Mrs. Morris, made an eloquent response during which he paid this tribute to women:

"Wyoming in her progress has not forgotten the hands and hearts that have helped advance her to this high position; and, in the adoption of her constitution, equal suffrage is entrenched so firmly that it is believed it will stand forever. .... Women of Wyoming, you have builded well, and the men of Wyoming extend heartiest greeting at this time. 'They congratulate you upon your achievements, and ask you to join them in the future, as in the past, in securing good government for our commonwealth."

The poet of the day was a woman, Mrs. I. S. Bartlett, who gave The True Republic. In every possible way the men showed

their honor and appreciation of the women, and from this noble attitude they never have departed.,

In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, carried out a long-cherished desire to visit Wyoming. She was on the way to take part in the Woman's Congress of San Francisco, accompanied by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, and they stopped at Cheyenne where they were the guests of Senator and Mrs. Carey, who gave a dinner party in their honor, attended by Governor and Mrs. Richards, Senator and Mrs. Warren, Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Post and other distinguished guests. They went immediately from dinner to the new Baptist church, which was filled to overflowing, and were introduced by the Governor. At the close of the lecture Mrs. Jenkins said, "Now I desire to introduce the audience to the speakers." She then called the names of the Governor and all his staff, the attorney-general, the United States judges, the senators and congressmen, the mayor and members of the city council. Each arose as his name was mentioned, and before she was through it seemed as if half the audience were on their feet, and the applause was most enthusiastic.

Miss Anthony often spoke of this as one of the proudest moments of her life — when it was not necessary to beg the men in her audience to do justice to women, but when these men, the most eminent in the State, rose in a body to pay their respects to the women whom they had enfranchised without appeal, and to those other women who were devoting their lives to secure political freedom for all of their sex.

During the more than thirty years which have elapsed since the suffrage was given to women, not one reputable person in the State ever has produced any evidence or even said over his or her own signature that woman suffrage is other than an unimpeachable success in Wyoming.

Every Governor of the Territory for twenty years bore witness to its good results. Governors of Territories are appointed by the President, not elected by the people, and as they were not dependent on women's votes, their testimony was impartial.

Year after year the State officials, the Judges of the Supreme Court, ministers, editors and other prominent citizens have testified in the strongest possible manner to the beneficial results of woman suffrage.^[10]

Gov. Francis E. Warren said in 1885: "I have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage. I have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing therefrom. Our women nearly all vote." He also reported to the Secretary of the Interior: "The men are as favorable to woman suffrage as the women are. Wyoming appreciates, believes in and indorses woman suffrage." In his official report the next year he stated: "Woman suffrage continues as popular as at first. The women nearly all vote and neither party objects." And in 1889: "No one will deny that woman's influence in voting always has been on the side of good government. The people favor its continuance." In the same year, while still Governor, he wrote:

After twenty years' trial of woman suffrage in Wyoming Territory, it is pronounced an unqualified success by men and women alike, and of both political parties. .... I sincerely hope that all the new States will so provide that it may prevail immediately, or that it can be extended at any time hereafter when their Legislatures desire, if they are not now ready to take the step. The women of Wyoming have been exceedingly discreet and wise in their suffrage, so much so that the different Legislatures have not attempted its overthrow, although majorities have sometimes been largely Republican and at other times largely Democratic.

During all his years as United States senator Mr. Warren never has failed to give his testimony and influence in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

In 1889 Delegate Joseph M. Carey wrote from the House of Representatives at Washington: "Wyoming Territory has for twenty years had full woman suffrage. It has commended itself to the approval of our people of all parties. .... I sincerely hope the new States will adopt suffrage principles without regard to sex, or provide by a clause in their respective constitutions that the Legislatures may by statute confer the right of franchise upon women." Throughout his subsequent term in the United States Senate he was consistent in this attitude and has remained so ever since.

Following the example of every Territorial Governor, Amos W. Barber, the first State Governor, declared:

Woman suffrage does not degrade woman. On the contrary, it ennobles her and brings out all the strong attributes of true womanhood. To their credit be it said, the women are almost a unit for ability, honesty and integrity wherever found, in high life or low life. A man must walk straight in Wyoming, for the women hold the balance of power and they are using it wisely and judiciously. The cause of education is their first aim. They are making our schools the model of the country, and, too, they can make a dollar go much further than their husbands can.

In 1900 a petition was circulated in the State, asking Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex. It was signed by the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor of State, the State Superintendent of Instruction, the State engineer, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the United States district attorney, the United States surveyor general, the director and the observer of the United States Weather Bureau, the mayor of Cheyenne and a long list of editors, ministers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and the most prominent women in the State. Mrs. Carey, who had the petition in charge, wrote to Miss Anthony: "Thousands of names could be secured if it were necessary.

Literally speaking the testimony from Wyoming in favor of woman suffrage is limited only by the space for this chapter.^[11]

In 1901 this joint resolution was passed:

Whereas, Wyoming was the first State to adopt woman suffrage, which has been in operation since 1869 and was adopted in the constitution of the State in 1890; during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been elected for office, methods of election purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,

Resolved, By the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order;

Resolved, That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and Territory, and that the press be requested to call public attention to these resolutions.

Edward W. Stone, "President of the Senate."
J. S. Atherley, "Speaker of the House."

Approved Feb. 13, 1901.

Deforest Richards,"Governor."

For a number of years women served on grand and petit juries. In compiling the first volume of the Laws of Wyoming, Secretary and Acting Governor Edward M. Lee said:

In the provisions of the woman suffrage clause, enacted in 1869, we placed this youngest Territory on earth in the van of civilization and progress. That this statement has been verified by practical experience the testimony is unanimous, continuous and conclusive. Not a link is wanting in the chain of evidence and, as a Governor of the Territory once said: "The only dissenting voices against woman suffrage have been those of convicts who have been tried and found guilty by women jurors." Women exercised the right of jurors and contributed to the speedy release of the Territory from the régime of the pistol and bowie-knife. They not only performed their new duties without losing any of the womanly virtues, and with dignity and decorum, but good results were immediately seen. Chief Justice J. H. Howe, of the Supreme Court, under whose direction women were first drawn on juries, wrote in 1872: "After the grand jury had been in session two days the dance-house keepers, gamblers and demi-monde fled out of the State in dismay to escape the indictment of women jurors. In short, I have never, in twenty-five years' experience in the courts of the country, seen a more faithful and resolutely honest grand and petit jury than these."

The best women in the Territory served as jurors, and they were treated with the most profound, respect and highly complimented for their efficiency. The successor of Chief Justice Howe was opposed to their serving and none were summoned by him. Jury duty is not acceptable to men, as a rule, and the women themselves were not anxious for it, so the custom gradually fell into disuse. The juries are made up from the tax lists, which contain only a small proportion of women. There are no court decisions against women as jurors, and they are still summoned occasionally in special cases.

Women have not taken a conspicuous part in politics. "The population is scattered, there are no large cities and necessarily no great associations of women for organized work. They are conscientious in voting for men who, in their opinion, have the best interests of the community at heart. More latitude must necessarily be permitted in new States, but in 1900 they decided that it was time to call a halt on the evil of gambling, and as the result of their efforts a law was passed by the present Legislature (1901) forbidding it. The Chicago Tribune gave a correct summing-up of this matter in the following editorial:

The women of Wyoming are to be credited with securing one reform which is a sufficient answer, in that State at least, to the criticism that woman suffrage has no influence upon legislation and fails to elevate political action. There will be no legalized gambling in Wyoming after the first of January next, the Legislature having just passed a law which makes gambling of every kind punishable by fine and imprisonment after the above date.

 

This has been the work of the women. When they began their agitation about a year and a half ago, gambling was not only permitted but was licensed. The evil was so strongly entrenched and the revenue accruing to the State so large that there was little hope at first that anything would be accomplished. The leaders of the crusade, however, organized their forces skilfully in every town and village. Their petitions for the repeal of the gambling statute and for the passage of a prohibitory act were circulated everywhere, and were signed by thousands of male as well as female voters. When the Legislature met, the women were there in force, armed with their voluminous petitions. The gamblers also were there in force and sought to defeat the women by the use of large sums of money, but womanly tact and persuasion and direct personal appeals carried the day against strong opposition. The Legislature passed the bill, but it was the women who won the victory.

The most prejudiced must admit that women could not have done this if they had not represented at least as many votes as the gambling fraternity.

Laws: The first Legislature (1869), which conferred the suffrage upon women, gave wives exactly the same rights as husbands in their separate property.

Dower and curtesy have been abolished. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving descendants, one-half of the estate, both real and personal, goes to the survivor. If there are no descendants, three-fourths go to the survivor, one-fourth to the father and mother or their survivors, unless the estate, both real and personal, does not exceed $10,000, in which case it all passes to the widow or widower. A homestead to the value of $1,500 is exempted for the survivor and minor children.

A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name.

The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death the mother. There is no law requiring a husband to support his family.^[12]

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1882, and from 14 to 18 in 1890. The penalty varies from imprisonment for one year to life. Seduction under promise of marriage up to the age of 21 years is a penitentiary offense. Male and female habitues of a house of ill-repute are considered guilty of the same offense, but the man is liable for a fine of $100 and imprisonment for sixty days, while the woman is liable for only half this punishment.

Suffrage: Women have had the Full Franchise since 1869.

No separate record is kept of their votes, as they have exercised the suffrage so long that this would seem no more necessary than to keep one of the men's votes. The census of 1900 gives the percentage of men in the State as 63 (in round numbers) and of women as 37. The estimate of those who are best informed is that 90 per cent. of the women who are eligible use the suffrage.

Office Holding: Since the organization of the Territory in 1869 women have been eligible to all official positions, but there never has been any scramble for office.

No woman ever has served in the Legislature.

Miss Estelle Reel was State Superintendent of Public Instruction for four years. She is now National Superintendent of Indian Schools, appointed by President William McKinley, and has 300 of these under her charge.

Miss Grace Raymond Hebard is librarian of the State University, and for the past ten years has filled the position of secretary of the board of trustees, upon which women serve.

Miss Bertha Mills is clerk of the State Land Board, with a salary equal to that of any clerk or deputy in the State House.

Miss Rose Foote was assistant clerk in the House of Representatives of the last Legislature, and as a reader she left nothing to be desired. Women frequently serve as legislative enrolling clerks. There have been women clerks of the courts.

Women hold several important clerkships in the State Capitol and are found as stenographers, etc., in all the State, county and municipal offices.

In many districts they serve on the school board, and nearly all of the counties elect them to the responsible position of superintendent. As such they conduct the institutes, examine teachers and have a general supervision of the schools.

Occupations: The only industry legally forbidden to women is that of working in mines.

Education: All educational advantages are the same for both sexes.

By a law of 1869 Wyoming requires equal pay for men and women in all employment pertaining to the State. This includes the public schools, in which there are 102 men and 434 women teachers. But here as elsewhere the men hold the higher positions and their average monthly salary is $60.40, while that of the women is $42.86.

 

1. The History is indebted to the Hon. Robert C. Morris of Cheyenne, clerk of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, for much of the information contained in this chapter.
2. Mrs. Morris is the mother of Robert C. Morris, and this paragraph is inserted by the editors. A full account of this first experiment in woman suffrage will be found in Vol. III. Chap. LII.
3. Published in full in Wyoming Historical Collections, Vol. I.
4. In an address Mr. Carey said later: "I was agreeably surprised to have so many of the ablest men in Congress, both in public and in private conversation, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout the United States."
5. See laws for women in Tennessee chapter.
6. Miss Susan B. Anthony was an interested and anxious listener to this debate from the gallery of the House, and a joyful witness to the final passage of the bill.
7. See laws for women in Texas chapter.
8. In 1901, when a convention in Alabama was framing a new constitution, Senator Morgan sent a strong letter urging that this should include suffrage for tax-paying women.
9. A telegram announcing that President Harrison had signed the bill was handed to Miss Anthony while she was addressing a large audience at Madison, S. D., during the woman suffrage campaign in that State, and those who were present say, "She spoke like one inspired." By request of Miss Anthony and Lucy Stone, officers of the National W. S. A., the woman suffrage clubs of the entire country celebrated on the Fourth of July the admission into the Union of the first State with the full franchise for women, and an address from Mrs. Stanton was read — Wyoming the First Free State for Women.
10. From 1876 to 1883 Edgar Wilson Nye (Bill Nye) was editor of the Laramie Boomerang, in which he published the following as the result of his eight years' observation of woman's voting:   "Female suffrage, I may safely and seriously assert, according to the best judgment of the majority in Wyoming Territory, is an unqualified success, An effort to abolish it would be at once hooted down. Its principal opposition comes from those who do not know anything about it. I do not hesitate to say that Wyoming is justly proud because it has thus early recognized woman and given her a chance to be heard. While she does not seek to hold office or act as juror, she votes quietly, intelligently and pretty independently. Moreover, she does not recognize the machine at all, seldom goes to caucuses, votes for men who are satisfactory, regardless of the ticket, and thus scares the daylights out of rings and machines."
11. See Appendix — Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
12. When the attention of a distinguished jurist of Wyoming was called to these laws he said the question never had been raised, but there would be no objection to changing them.