A Short History of Women's Rights Part 31

1879 Ma.s.sachusetts Do.

1880 New York Do.

Vermont Do.

South Australia Munic.i.p.al suffrage.

1881 Scotland Munic.i.p.al suffrage to the single women and widows.

Isle of Man Parliamentary suffrage.

1883 Nebraska School suffrage.

1884 Ontario Munic.i.p.al suffrage.

Tasmania Do.

1886 New Zealand Do.

New Brunswick Do.

1887 Kansas Do.

Nova Scotia Do.

Manitoba Do.

North Dakota School suffrage.

South Dakota Do.

TIME PLACE KIND OF SUFFRAGE

1887 Montana . . . . . . . School suffrage Arizona . . . . . . . Do.

New Jersey . . . . . Do.

Montana . . . . . . . Tax-paying suffrage.

1888 England . . . . . . . County suffrage.

British Columbia. . . Munic.i.p.al Suffrage.

Northwest Territory . Do.

1889 Scotland. . . . . . . County suffrage.

Province of Quebec. . Munic.i.p.al suffrage, single women and widows.

1891 Illinois. . . . . . . School suffrage.

1893 Connecticut . . . . . Do.

Colorado. . . . . . . Full suffrage.

New Zealand . . . . . Do.

1894 Ohio. . . . . . . . . School suffrage.

Iowa. . . . . . . . . Bond suffrage.

England . . . . . . . Parish and district suffrage, married and single women.

1895 South Australia . . . Full State suffrage.

1896 Utah. . . . . . . . . Full suffrage.

Idaho . . . . . . . . Do.

1898 Ireland . . . . . . . All offices except members of Parliament.

Minnesota . . . . . . Library trustees.

Delaware. . . . . . . School suffrage to tax-paying women.

France. . . . . . . . Women engaged in commerce can vote for judges of the tribunal of commerce.

Louisiana . . . . . . Tax-paying suffrage.

1900 Wisconsin . . . . . . School suffrage.

West Australia. . . . Full State suffrage.

1901 New York. . . . . . . Tax-paying suffrage; local taxation in all towns and villages of the State.

Norway. . . . . . . . Munic.i.p.al suffrage.

1902 Australia . . . . . . Full suffrage.

New South Wales . . . Full State suffrage.

1903 Kansas. . . . . . . . Bond suffrage.

Tasmania. . . . . . . Full State suffrage.

1905 Queensland. . . . . . Do.

1906 Finland . . . . . . . Full suffrage; eligible for all offices.

1907 Norway. . . . . . . . Full parliamentary suffrage to the 300,000 women who already had munic.i.p.al suffrage.

Sweden. . . . . . . . Eligible to munic.i.p.al offices.

Denmark . . . . . . . Can vote for members of boards of public charities and serve on such boards.

England . . . . . . . Eligible as mayors, aldermen, and county and town councilors.

Oklahoma. . . . . . . New State continued school suffrage for women.

1908 Michigan. . . . . . . Taxpayers to vote on question of local taxation and granting of franchises.

Denmark . . . . . . . Women who are taxpayers or wives of taxpayers vote for all offices except members of Parliament.

Victoria. . . . . . . Full State suffrage.

1909 Belgium . . . . . . . Can vote for members of the conseils des prudhommes, and also eligible.

Province of Voralberg Single women and widows paying taxes (Austrian Tyrol) were given a vote.

Ginter Park, VA . . . Tax-paying women, a vote on all munic.i.p.al questions.

1910 Was.h.i.+ngton. . . . . . Full suffrage.

New Mexico. . . . . . School suffrage.

TIME PLACE KIND OF SUFFRAGE

1910 Norway. . . . . . . . Munic.i.p.al suffrage made universal.

Three-fifths of the women had it before.

Bosnia. . . . . . . . Parliamentary vote to women owning a certain amount of real estate.

Diet of the Crown . . Suffrage to the women of its capital city Prince of Krain Laibach.

(Austria) India (Gaekwar of . . Women in his dominions vote in munic.i.p.al Baroda) elections.

Wurttemberg . . . . . Women engaged in agriculture vote for Kingdom of members of the chamber of agriculture; also eligible.

New York. . . . . . . Women in all towns, villages and third-cla.s.s cities vote on bonding propositions.

1911 California. . . . . . Full suffrage.

Honduras. . . . . . . Munic.i.p.al suffrage in capital city, Belize.

Iceland . . . . . . . Parliamentary suffrage for women over 25 years.

1912 Oregon. . . . . . . . Full suffrage.

Arizona . . . . . . . Do.

Kansas. . . . . . . . Do.

1913 Alaska. . . . . . . . Do.

Norway. . . . . . . . Do.

Illinois. . . . . . . Suffrage for statutory officials (including presidential electors and munic.i.p.al officers).

1914 Iceland . . . . . . . Full suffrage.

In the United States the struggle for the franchise has entered national politics, a sure sign of its widening scope. The demand for equal suffrage was embodied in the platform of the Progressive Party in August, 1912. This marks an advance over Col. Roosevelt's earlier view, expressed in the _Outlook_ of February 3, 1912, when he said: "I believe in woman's suffrage wherever the women want it. Where they do not want it, the suffrage should not be forced upon them." When the new administration a.s.sumed office in March, 1913, the friends of suffrage worked to secure a const.i.tutional amendment which should make votes for women universal in the United States. The inauguration ceremonies were marred by an attack of hoodlums on the suffrage contingent of the parade. Mr. Hobson in the House denounced the outrage and mentioned the case of a young lady, the daughter of one of his friends, who was insulted by a ruffian who climbed upon the float where she was. Mr.

Mann, the Republican minority leader, remarked in reply that her daughter ought to have been at home. Commenting on this dialogue, _Collier's Weekly_ of April 5, 1913, recalled the boast inscribed by Rameses III of Egypt on his monuments, twelve hundred years before Christ: "To unprotected women there is freedom to wander through the whole country wheresoever they list without apprehending danger." If one works this out chronologically, said the editor, Mr. Mann belongs somewhere back in the Stone Age. In the Senate an active committee on woman suffrage was formed under the chairmans.h.i.+p of Mr. Thomas, of Colorado. The vote on the proposed new amendment was taken in the Senate on March 19, 1914, and it was rejected,[428] 35 to 34, two-thirds being necessary before the measure could be submitted to the States for ratification. In the House Mr. Underwood, Democratic minority leader, took the stand that suffrage was purely a State issue. Mr. Heflin of Alabama was particularly vigorous in denunciation of votes for women. He said[429]:

"I do not believe that there is a red-blooded man in the world who in his heart really believes in woman suffrage. I think that every man who favours it ought to be made to wear a dress. Talk about taxation without representation! Do you say that the young man who is of age does not represent his mother? Do you say that the young man who pledges at the altar to love, cherish, and protect his wife, does not represent her and his children when he votes? When the Christ of G.o.d came into this world to die for the sins of humanity, did he not die for all, males and females? What sort of foolish stuff are you trying to inject into this tariff debate?... There are trusts and monopolies of every kind, and these little feminine fellows are crawling around here talking about woman suffrage. I have seen them here in this Capitol. The suffragette and a little henpecked fellow crawling along beside her; that is her husband. She is a suffragette, and he is a mortal suffering yet."

Mr. Falconer of Was.h.i.+ngton rose in reply. He remarked:[430]

"I want to observe that the mental operation of the average woman in the State of Was.h.i.+ngton, as compared to the ossified brain operation of the gentleman from Alabama, would make him look like a mangy kitten in a tiger fight. The average woman in the State of Was.h.i.+ngton knows more about social economics and political economy in one minute than the gentleman from Alabama has demonstrated to the members of this House that he knows in five minutes."

On February 2, 1914, a delegation of women called upon President Wilson to ascertain his views. The President refused to commit himself. He was not at liberty, he said, to urge upon Congress policies which had not the endors.e.m.e.nt of his party's platform; and as the representative of his party he was under obligations not to promulgate or intimate his individual convictions. On February 3, 1914, the Democrats of the House in caucus, pursuant to a resolution of Mr. Heflin, refused to create a woman suffrage committee. So the const.i.tutional amendment was quite lost. In the following July Mr. Bryan suddenly issued a strong appeal for equal suffrage in the _Commoner_. Among his arguments were these:

"As man and woman are co-tenants of the earth and must work out their destiny together, the presumption is on the side of equality of treatment in all that pertains to their joint life and its opportunities. The burden of proof is on those who claim for one an advantage over the other in determining the conditions under which both shall live. This claim has not been established in the matter of suffrage. On the contrary, the objections raised to woman suffrage appear to me to be invalid, while the arguments advanced in support of the proposition are, in my judgment, convincing."