Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/799

 and the minority report in favor of the bill was substituted for the adverse majority report by a vote of 104 yeas, go nays.

On February 2 Senator Arthur H. Wellman urged the adoption of his order that the Justices of the Supreme Court should be required to give their opinion to the House on three questions:

. Is it constitutional, in an act granting to women the right to vote in town and city elections, to provide that such act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth?

2. Is it constitutional to provide in such an act that it shall take effect in a city or town upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of such city or town?

3. Is it constitutional to provide that such an act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth, including women specially authorized to register and vote upon this question?

Alfred S. Roe and the other leading advocates of Municipal Suffrage withdrew their opposition to the order, saying that they preferred the bill as it stood, but that if amendments were to be added to it at any subsequent stage it would be well to know whether they were constitutional. The order was adopted.

On March 3 four Justices of the Supreme Court — Field, Allen, Morton and Lathrop — answered "No" to all three questions. Justices Holmes and Barker answered "Yes" to all three; and Justice Knowlton answered "No" to the first and third and "Yes" to the second. These opinions were published in full in the Woman's Journalof March 10, 1894.

On March 14 Municipal Suffrage was discussed in open session. An amendment was offered to limit the right to taxpaying women and a substitute bill to allow women to vote at one election only. The latter was offered by Richard J. Hayes of Boston, who said, "You would see the lowest women literally driven to the polls by thousands by mercenary politicians. The object lesson would settle the question forever." The amendment and the substitute were lost and the bill was passed to its third reading by a vote, including pairs, of 122 yeas, 106 nays.

On March 29 the galleries were crowded with women. Richard Sullivan of Boston offered an additional section that the question be submitted to the men at the November election for an expression of opinion. This was adopted by 109 yeas, 93 nays.