The need of a Police Matron in Indianapolis was so obvious and it had been so impossible to persuade the authorities of this fact, that in November, 1890, the Meridian W. C. T. U. obtained permission from the Mayor and Commissioners to place one on duty at the central station house at their own expense. This was continued until March, 1891, when a change in the city charter vested the authority in a Board of Safety. The matron, Mrs. Annie M. Buchanan, had given such satisfaction that on petition of the Woman's Local Council she was regularly employed by the city, with full police powers, at a salary of $60 per month and two furnished rooms for her occupancy. The first year 852 women and children came into her charge, 24 of the latter being under five years of age.
The State W. C. T. U. appointed Mrs. Buchanan as the head of a movement to secure Police Matrons in all cities of 7,000 inhabitants. A bill for this purpose was presented in 1893 but failed to pass. In 1895 the Local Council of Women also made this a special line of work, and to Mrs. Buchanan's petition, signed by one hundred of the leading men and women of the State and the entire Common Council, were added the names of the presidents of the forty-nine societies composing the Council of Women, representing 8,000 members. It asked for a law compelling the appointment of Police Matrons in all cities of 10,000 inhabitants. This time the bill passed both Houses but so altered as to merely permit the Mayor and Commissioners to appoint such Matrons, a power they already possessed.
Mrs. Buchanan remained in office seven years, until her marriage. The experiment in Indianapolis has been so successful that matrons are now employed in Evansville, Terre Haute, Richmond and Lafayette, but these by no means include all of the cities of over 10,000 inhabitants.
Occupations: The only occupations forbidden to women are those of working in mines and selling liquor. Women have served as bank cashiers and directors for twenty years.
In 1875 Miss Elizabeth Eaglesfield was admitted to practice law at the Vigo County bar, through the efforts of Judge William Mack, and had a number of cases in the courts of Indianapolis. Eighteen years later Mrs. Antoinette D. Leach, although properly qualified, was refused a license to practice in Greene County. The lower court based its refusal on a clause in the State Constitution which says: "Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be entitled to practice law in all the courts of the State." She carried the case to the Supreme Court which reversed this judgment. Its decision, June 14, 1893, says that "while voters are granted admission to practice there is no denial of such right to women, and it must be held to exist as long as not forbidden by law. That which is expressed does not make that which is silent cease." (See Suffrage on previous page.) The decision continued:
The right to practice law is not a political question, but belongs to that class of rights inherent in every citizen, and pertains to the fundamental duty of every inhabitant to gain a livelihood. Judge Cooley says: "To forbid to an individual or a class the right to the acquisition or enjoyment of property in such manner as should be permitted to the community at large, would be to deprive them of liberty in particulars of primary importance." In Story on the Constitution it is said that the right to acquire, possess and enjoy property and to choose from those which are lawful the profession or occupation of life, are among the privileges which the States are forbidden by the Constitution to abridge.[257]
Basing her claims on this decision, a woman the next year, 1894, applied for license to sell liquor. This was refused on the ground that the statute reads: "Any male inhabitant having certain other specified qualifications may obtain a license." The Supreme Court decided that "by the use of the word 'male' women are inhibited from obtaining license to vend intoxicating liquor at retail."
Thus within three years—1893, '94, '95—the same Supreme Court rendered three decisions each absolutely reversing the others.
Education: The State University was opened to women in 1867. They are admitted on equal terms with men to all State institutions of learning, including Purdue University (agricultural). The only colleges closed to them are Wabash at Crawfordsville, and the Rose Polytechnic at Terre Haute. There are women on the faculties of most of the co-educational universities. A number of women have been graduated from the various Law and Medical Schools.
In the public schools there are 7,252 men and 8,236 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $48.80; of the women $43.55.