Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/1083

 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.

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