Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/1161



Hall, Sir John, M. P.

No attempt is made to give here the mass of testimony which is easily available from the States where women vote, but only enough is presented to show its nature and the character of those who offer it. In the four States where women have exercised the full franchise for from six to thirty-three years, not half a dozen reputable persons have said over their own names that any of the evils which were so freely predicted have come to pass or that its effect upon men, women or the community has been other than good. The small amount of criticism which has been openly made has been anonymous or from those whose word was entitled to no weight. There is not another public question on which the testimony is so uniformly one-sided, and similar evidence on any other would be accepted as sufficiently conclusive to demand a unanimous verdict in its favor.

In 1901 Amos R. Wells, editor of the Christian Endeavor World, wrote to twenty-five ministers of several different denominations, choosing their names at random among his subscribers in the equal suffrage States, and asking them whether equal suffrage was working well, fairly well or badly. One answered that it worked badly, three that it worked fairly well, and the twenty-one others were all positive and explicit in saying that it worked well. One point upon which they laid stress was the increased intelligence and breadth of mind of the women, and the good influence of this upon their children. Mr. Wells said in summing up: "Woman suffrage makes elections more expensive, but it is a grand school for the mothers of the republic."

In 1898, in answer to the continued misrepresentations of the Eastern press, the friends of woman suffrage issued the following:

We, citizens of the State! of Colorado, desire, as lovers of truth and justice, to give our testimony to the value of equal suffrage. We believe that the 'greatest good of the home, the State and the nation is advanced through the operation of equal suffrage. The evils predicted have not come to pass. The benefits claimed for it have been secured, or are in progress of development A very large proportion of Colorado women have conscientiously accepted their responsibility as citizens. In 1894 more than half the total vote for Governor was cast by women. Between 85 and 90 per cent of the women of the State voted at that time. The exact vote of the last election has not yet been estimated, but there is reason to believe that the proportional vote of women was as large as in previous years. The vote of good women like that of good men, is involved in the evils resulting from the abuse of our present political system; but the vote of women is noticeably more conscientious than that of men, and will be an important factor m bringing about a better order.