The Skeptic's Case Against Women's Suffrage
A skeptical editorial piece argues that women are uninterested in the ballot and warns that the pulpit would use the female vote to enforce moralistic politics.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The select committee on woman suffrage has reported to the United States senate a joint resolution to amend the constitution by extending the right of suffrage to women. This report is made regularly at every session of congress and the resolution is always voted down by a large majority. Contrary to the predictions of the evangelists of woman suffrage, the women of Wyoming are passive on moral questions in politics. There has never been in the state a prohibition movement of any consequence. Gambling is licensed and there are games in every saloon in every town. Married women in Wyoming generally vote with their husbands. It is hopeless to ask men for the suffrage so long as the great mass of women are not only indifferent to the appeal but aggressively opposed to its grant. Under the stimulus of religious quarrel over school boards, women have been exhorted by priests and ministers to go to the polls, confirming the view that women would generally neglect the ballot save when some emotional appeal from the pulpit swept them to the polls. There has as yet been produced no evidence that any appreciable number of women desire to assume the responsibility of suffrage.
“Woman suffrage would probably be silent in the practical politics that makes for good government, but would be an effusive unit in the sentimental politics that always establishes bad government.”
This editorial reflects the intense, high-stakes opposition to the suffrage movement in the Pacific Northwest during the 1890s. While today we celebrate the expansion of the franchise, this text provides a visceral, unfiltered look at the 'anti' rhetoric that suffrage organizers in Washington State had to overcome before women finally won the vote in 1910.
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