Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/1081

 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.

In 1901 this joint resolution was passed:

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,