In 1884 Attorney-General M. C. Brown said in a public letter:
My prejudices were formerly all against woman suffrage, but they have gradually given way since it became an established fact in Wyoming. My observation, extending over a period of fifteen years, satisfies me of its entire justice and propriety. Impartial observation has also satisfied me that in the use of the ballot women exercise fully as good judgment as men, and in some particulars are more discriminating, as, for instance, on questions of morals.
At another time he said:
I have been asked if women make good jurors, and I answer by saying, that so far as I have observed their conduct on juries, as a lawyer, I find but little fault with them.... They do not reason like men upon the evidence, but, being possessed of a higher quality of intellectuality, i. e., keen perceptions, they see the truth of the thing at a glance. Their minds once settled, neither sophistry, logic, rhetoric, pleading nor tears will move them from their purpose. A guilty person never escapes a just punishment when tried by women juries.
The effect of woman suffrage upon the people of Wyoming has been good. It has been said by one man that open, flagrant acts of bribery are commonly practiced at the polls in Wyoming, and this statement is made to show that the effect of woman suffrage has not been good. The statement is not true. In the last election there were in Cheyenne large sums of money expended to influence the result, and votes were bought on the streets in an open and shameless manner. As U. S. Attorney for the Territory, it became my duty to investigate this matter before a grand jury composed of men. The revelations before the jury were astonishing and many cases of bribery were clearly proven; but while a majority of those composing the jury were men of the highest integrity, there were so many members who had probably taken part in the same unlawful transactions that no indictment could be obtained. The circumstances attending this election were phenomenal. It would be unjust to the women, however, if I should fail to add that, while it was clearly proven that many men sold their votes, it was strikingly apparent that few if any women, even of the vilest class, were guilty of the same misconduct.
The Hon. John W. Kingman, for four years a Judge of the U. S. Supreme Court of Wyoming says:
Woman suffrage was inaugurated in 1869 without much discussion, and without any general movement of men or women in its favor. At that time few women voted. At each election since, they have voted in larger numbers, and now nearly all go to the polls. Our women do not attend the caucuses in any considerable numbers, but they generally take an interest in the selection of candidates, and it is very common, in considering the availability of an aspirant for office, to ask, 'How does he stand with the ladies?' Frequently the men set aside certain applicants for office, because their characters would not stand the criticism of women. The women manifest a great deal of independence in their preference for candidates, and have frequently defeated bad nominations. Our best and most cultivated women vote, and vote understandingly and independently, and they can not be bought with whiskey or blinded by party prejudice. They are making themselves felt at the polls, as they do everywhere else in society, by a quiet but effectual discountenancing of the bad, and a helping hand for the good and the true. We have had no trouble from the presence of bad women at the polls. It has been said that the delicate and cultured women would shrink away, and the bold and indelicate come to the front in public affairs. This we feared; but nothing of the kind has happened. I do not believe that suffrage causes women to neglect their domestic affairs. Certainly, such has not been the case in Wyoming, and I never heard a man complain that his wife was less interested in domestic economy because she had the right to vote and took an interest in making the community respectable. The opposition to woman suffrage at first was pretty bitter. To-day I do not think you could get a dozen respectable men in any locality to oppose it.
In 1895 U. S. Senator Clarence D. Clark wrote as follows to the Constitutional Convention of Utah which was considering a woman suffrage plank:
So far as the operation of the law in this State is concerned, we were so well satisfied, with twenty years' experience under the Territorial government, that it went into our constitution with but one dissenting vote, although many thought that such a section might result in its rejection by Congress. If it does nothing else it fulfils the theory of a true representative government, and in this State, at least, has resulted in none of the evils prophesied. It has not been the fruitful source of family disagreements feared. It has not lowered womanhood. Women do generally take advantage of the right to vote, and vote intelligently. It has been years since we have had trouble at the polls—quiet and order, in my opinion, being due to two causes, the presence of women and our efficient election laws. One important feature I might mention, and that is, in view of the woman vote, no party dare nominate notoriously immoral men, for fear of defeat by that vote. Regarding the adoption of the system in other States I see no reason why its operation should not be generally the same elsewhere as it is with us. It is surely true that after many years' experience, Wyoming would not be content to return to the old limits, as, in our opinion, the absence of ill results is conclusive proof of the wisdom of the proposition.
In 1896 the Hon. H. V. S. Groesbeck, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, thus summed up the results of twenty-seven years' experience: