Volume IV Part 156 (1/2)

It gives me pleasure to say briefly that the extension of the franchise to the women of Idaho has positively purified its politics.

It has compelled not only State conventions, but, more particularly, county conventions, of both parties, to select the cleanest and best material for public office. Many conventions have turned down their strongest local politicians for the simple reason that their moral habits were such that the women would unite against them, regardless of politics. It has also taken politics out of the saloon to a great extent, and has elevated local politics especially to a higher plane.

Every woman is interested in good government, in good officers, in the utmost economy of administration, and a low rate of taxation.

FRANK W. HUNT (Dem.), _Governor_. (1900.)

Woman suffrage has been in operation in Idaho for over four years and there have been no alarming or disastrous results. I think most people in the State, looking over the past objections to the extension of the right of suffrage, are now somewhat surprised that any were ever made.

As to advantages--it is, as in all matters of this kind, difficult to measure them exactly, because the benefit is largely indirect. I think, however, that it has exercised a good and considerable influence over conventions, resulting in the nomination of better men for office, and that it has been of considerable weight in securing the enactment of good laws.

S. H. HAYS (Fus.), _Ex-Attorney-General_. (1901.)

The adoption of equal suffrage has resulted in much good in Idaho. The system is working well, and the best result therefrom is the selection for public positions, State, county and munic.i.p.al. Our politics in the past has been manipulated by political adventurers, more or less, without regard to the best interests of the people, but princ.i.p.ally in the interests of a small coterie of politicians of the different parties, who have depended upon the public treasury for subsistence.

The partic.i.p.ation of our women in the conventions of our various political parties and in elections has a tendency to relegate the professional politicians, at least the worst element, and bring forth in their stead a better cla.s.s of people. This tendency is of vast importance to the State. It compels leaders of political parties to be more careful in the selection of candidates for different offices of trust and profit. RALPH P. QUARLES, _Justice of the Supreme Court_.

(1902.)

The Chief Justice and all the Judges of the Supreme Court have published a statement saying in part: ”Woman suffrage in this State is a success; none of the evils predicted have come to pa.s.s, and it has gained much in popularity since its adoption by our people.”

UTAH.

The lawmakers seem to be afraid of enfranchising women because of the deteriorating effect which politics might have on womankind. If this be true let the experience of Utah speak. For six years women in this State have had the right to vote and hold office. Have the wheels of progress stopped? Instead we have bounded forward with seven-league boots. Have the fears and predictions of the local opponents of woman suffrage been verified? Have women degenerated into low politicians, neglecting their homes and stifling the n.o.blest emotions of womanhood?

On the contrary women are respected quite as much as they were before Statehood; loved as rapturously as ever, and are led to the altar with the same beatific strains of music and the same unspeakable joy that invested ceremonials before their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt.

The plain facts are that in this State the influence of woman in politics has been distinctly elevating. In the primary, in the convention and at the polls her very presence inspires respect for law and order. Few men are so base that they will not be gentlemen in the presence of ladies. Experience has shown that women have voted their intelligent convictions. They understand the questions at issue and they vote conscientiously and fearlessly. While we do not claim to have the purest politics in the world in Utah, it will be readily conceded that the woman-vote is a terror to evildoers, and our course is, therefore, upward and onward.

One of the bugaboos of the opposition was that women would be compelled to sit on juries. Not a single instance of the kind has happened in the State, for the reason that women are never summoned; the law simply exempts them, but does not exclude them. Another favorite idiocy of the anti-suffragists is that if the women vote they ought to be compelled to fight. In the same manner the law exempts them from military service.

For one I am proud of Utah's record in dealing with her female citizens. I take the same pride in it that a good husband would who had treated his wife well, and I look forward with eager hope to the day when woman suffrage shall become universal.

HEBER M. WELLS (Rep.), _Governor_. (1902.)

There is literally no end to the favorable testimony from Utah, given by Mormons and Gentiles alike.

WYOMING.

Gov. John A. Campbell was in office when the woman suffrage law was pa.s.sed. In 1871 he said in his message to the Territorial Legislature:

There is upon our statute book ”an Act granting to the women of Wyoming Territory the right of suffrage,” which has now been in force two years. It is simple justice to say that the women entering, for the first time in the history of the country, upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves in every respect with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense, as men.

In 1873 he said: ”Two years more of observation of the practical working of the system have only served to deepen my conviction that what we, in this Territory, have done, has been well done; and that our system of impartial suffrage is an unqualified success.”

Governor Thayer, who succeeded Campbell, said in his message:

Woman suffrage has now been in practical operation in our Territory for six years, and has, during the time, increased in popularity and in the confidence of the people. In my judgment the results have been beneficial, and its influence favorable to the best interests of the community.

Governor Hoyt, who succeeded Thayer, said in 1882: