Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/956

 Women can not be State School Commissioners, and there is no office of county commissioner. They are serving acceptably on the school boards of various towns and cities, but no official record is anywhere kept of the exact number. Mrs Harriet Taylor Upton the author of this chapter, is now serving her second term on the board of education in Warren, O. In the spring of 1898 the local equality club determined to have some women in this position and selected Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Carrie P. Harrington. Two vacancies having occurred, the board (which fills such vacancies) was asked to appoint them but they refused. Their names therefore presented to the Republican caucus in the spring of 1898. Instead of two candidates, as usual, there were four, as the two vacancies were to be filled for the remainder of the term. The board and the politicians still refused to recommend the women, so six names went before the caucus. The women were asked whether they wanted to run for the short term to fill the vacancies or for the full term of three years. They refused to say, but simply asked that their names should be considered. They had little hope of anything but to fill the vacancies, as the president and treasurer of the present board were candidates for the long term. The night of the caucus was very stormy, but the women of the city turned out in force and, with the assistance of the men, the two women were nominated for the long term. A Republican nomination is equivalent to an election in Warren. The board was magnanimous; both ladies were placed on committees and most courteously treated. The next year Mrs. Upton was made chairman of the most important committee, that on supplies, buildings and grounds, which expends nine-tenths of all the money used by the board. The other woman member was added to this committee when the new grammar school was begun in 1899. It is considered one of the best ventilated and best planned buildings in that part of the State.

In the spring of 1901 both were triumphantly re-elected. Mrs. Upton was continued as chairman of her committee, and Mrs. Harrington was made chairman of the next in importance, that on text-books. [Eds.

A law of 1892 says: “In all asylums for the insane there shall be employed at least one female physician." There are eight such institutions in the State and at present only four have women physicians.

The same year it was made mandatory on every Judge of Common Pleas to appoint in his county a board of visitors consisting of three men and three women, whose duty it is to make periodical visits to the correctional and charitable institutions of the county and to act as guardians ad litem to delinquent children.

A law of 1893 requires police matrons in all cities of 10,000 inhabitants and over. They must be more than thirty years old, of good moral character and sound physical health, and mu have the indorsement of at least ten women residents of good standing. Their salary is fixed at not less than two-thirds of the minimum salary paid to patrolmen in the same city, and they may serve for life unless they are discharged.

No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Oberlin was the first co-educational college in