The opponents of woman suffrage insist that the lower classes freely exercise the franchise, while the higher classes generally refrain from voting. As women in registering usually give their vocation as "housekeeper" it is impossible to learn from that record what particular ledge of the social strata they stand upon, therefore, in order to locate them as to trades, business, etc., I give them the positions occupied by their husbands and fathers. I take the 17th voting precinct of Kansas City as a typical one. It is about an average in voting population of white and colored men and women and in the diversified industries. The 149 white women who registered in this precinct, as indicated by the vocations of their husbands, fathers, etc., would be classified thus:
The trades (all classes of skilled labor), 32; the professions, 26; merchants (all manner of dealers), 16; laborers (unskilled), 15; clerks, 10; public officers, 8; bankers and brokers, 7; railroad employes, 7; salesmen, 5; contractors, 2; foremen, 2; paymaster, 1; unclassified, 16. Thus, if the opponents of woman suffrage use the term "lower classes" according to some ill-defined rule of élite society, the example given above would be a complete refutation. If by "lower classes" they mean the immoral and dissolute, the refutation appears to be still more complete, for the woman electorate in the 17th precinct is particularly free from those elements.
It is extremely rare to find a prominent man in Kansas, except certain politicians, who openly opposes woman suffrage. With a very few exceptions the most eminent cordially advocate it, including a large number of ministers, lawyers and editors. It would require a chapter simply to catalogue the names of well-known men and women who are heartily in favor of it. Had Kansas men voted their convictions, Kansas women would long since have been enfranchised, but political partisanship has been stronger than the sense of justice.
FOOTNOTES:
[263] The History is indebted for this chapter principally to Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Topeka, State Librarian and former president of the State Woman Suffrage Association. The editors are also under obligations to Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina and Mrs. Anna C. Wait of Lincoln, former presidents.
[264] See [History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 191].
[265] See [History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. L.]
[266] At this meeting, on motion of Mrs. Johns, the yellow ribbon was adopted as the suffrage badge, in honor of the sunflower, the State flower of Kansas, the one which follows the wheel track and the plough, as woman's enfranchisement should follow civilization. It was afterwards adopted by the National Association in recognition of Kansas, then the most progressive State in regard to women. Those of a classical bent accepted it because yellow among the ancients signified wisdom.
[267] Secretary, May Belleville Brown; treasurer, Elizabeth F. Hopkins; Mrs. S. A. Thurston, Mrs. L. B. Smith, Alma B. Stryker, Eliza McLallin, Bina A. Otis, Helen L. Kimber, Sallie F. Toler, Annie L. Diggs; from the National Association, Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Rachel Foster Avery and Alice Stone Blackwell, corresponding and recording secretaries.
[268] Now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas.
[269] Of Mrs. Diggs' speech Mrs. Johns writes: "It was one of the most masterly arguments I ever heard. At one point she said: 'The great majority of you declare that woman suffrage is right, (a roar of 'yes,' 'yes,' went up), and yet you oppose this plank. Are you afraid to do right?' Her reply to the flimsy objections of the chairman, P. P. Elder, was simply unanswerable. She cut the ground from under his feet, and his confusion and rout were so complete that he stood utterly confounded. That small woman with her truth and eloquence had slain the Goliath of the opposition!"