still remains at ten years in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina. In Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia the age is twelve years, but in Tennessee it is only a "misdemeanor" between twelve and sixteen. (For the recent efforts of women in Georgia and Florida to have the age advanced, and their failure, see the chapters on those States.) In Delaware the Common Law age of ten years was reduced to seven by the Legislature in 1871, and no protection was afforded to infants over seven until 1889 when the age was raised to fifteen, but the crime was declared to be only a "misdemeanor."
Women who have "all the rights they want," and men who insist that "the laws are framed for the best interests of women," are recommended to make a study of those presented herewith.
Under the head of Suffrage it is stated whether women possess any form of it and, if so, in what it consists. The story of the four States where they have the complete franchise—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho—naturally is most interesting, as it describes just how this was obtained and gives considerable information on points which are not fully understood by the general public. The chapter on Kansas doubtless will come next in interest, as there women have had the Municipal ballot since 1887. It is frequently said in criticism that women have School Suffrage in twenty-six States and Territories, including the five mentioned above, but they do not make use of it in large numbers. What this fragmentary suffrage includes, the restrictions thrown around it and the obstacles placed in its way, are described in the chapters of those States and Territories where it prevails—Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin.
It will be seen that in New York women tax-payers in villages, and in Louisiana and Montana all tax-paying women, may vote on questions submitted for taxation, and an account is given of the first use which women made of this privilege in Louisiana in 1899. In Iowa all women may vote on the issuing of bonds. In Mississippi they have the merest form of a franchise on a few matters connected with country schools and the running at large of stock. In Arkansas they may sign a petition against liquor selling within certain limits and their names count for as much as men's. After a careful study of the situation the wonder will not be that women do not exercise more largely these grudgingly-given and closely-restricted privileges, but that in many States they think it worth while to exercise them at all. In the four, however, where they have the Full Suffrage, and in Kansas where they have the Municipal, the official figures which have been carefully tabulated will demonstrate beyond further controversy that where they possess exactly the same electoral rights as men they use them in even a larger proportion. These statistics answer conclusively the question, "Do women want to vote?"
The information as to Office-Holding is necessarily somewhat desultory as there is no record in any State of the women in office. This is true even of those pertaining to the schools, and in very few cases does the State Superintendent of Public Instruction know how many women are serving as county superintendents and members of school boards. The information on these points contained in the State chapters was secured principally through personal investigation and by an extended correspondence, and while it is believed to be entirely correct so far as it goes, it does not by any means include the total number of offices filled by women. Imperfect as is the list it will be a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural prerogative of man. A stock objection to woman suffrage is that women will be wanting the offices. An examination of the reports here submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of States where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those where they have the full franchise. Probably the majority of State constitutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general satisfaction.156
The necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined, is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such institutions. The objection to these matrons on the part of the police force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do not understand how the department got on without them. It ought to be equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all institutions which care for women and children, but, although in most instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be wrung from Legislatures in the few States where it has been obtained. The right of women and their value to school offices is now partly conceded in about half the States. Women librarians also have met with some favor. As to offices in general, most of which carry either salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with which to reward political service, although all of them are proportionately supported by women tax-payers.
As regards Occupations, the census of 1900 shows 3,230,642 women engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service, and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest. Women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and are usually compelled to accept unequal wages for equal work. This is partly due to disfranchisement and partly to economic causes and can be remedied only by time. In many of the States of which it is said, "No profession is forbidden to women," the test has not been made, and until some woman attempts to be a minister, physician, lawyer or notary public it can not be known whether she will encounter a statutory prohibition.
The department of Education presents the most satisfactory condition. The battle for co-education, which means simply a chance for women to have the best advantages which exist, has been bitterly fought. A guerilla warfare is still maintained against it, but the contest is so nearly finished as to warrant no fears as to the future. Every State University but those of Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia, is open to women on exactly the same terms as to men (with the exception of some departments of Pennsylvania). They have full admission to Chicago and Leland Stanford Universities, two of the largest in the United States. They may enter the post-graduate department of Yale and receive its degrees. Harvard and Princeton are still entirely closed to them, as are a number of the smaller of the old, established Eastern universities, but this is largely compensated by the great Woman's Colleges of the East—Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith and Vassar—which accommodate nearly 4,000 students. The Medical Department of Johns Hopkins, and Medical, Theological, Law and Dental Colleges in all parts of the country, admit women to their full courses. This is true also of Agricultural Colleges and of Technical Institutes such as Drexel and Pratt. There is now no lack of opportunity for them to obtain the highest education, either along the line of general culture or specialized work.157
The details of the following chapters will show that the civil, legal, industrial and educational rights of women are so far secured as to give full assurance that they will be absolute in the near future. The political rights are further off, for reasons which are presented in the introduction to this volume, but the yielding of all the others is proof sufficient that the spirit of our institutions will eventually find its fullest expression in perfect equality of rights for all the people.
151 The names of newspapers which have supported this cause are not given, partly for these reasons and partly because on this question they reflect simply the personal views of the editors, and a change of management may cause a complete reversal of their attitude toward woman suffrage.
152 A reading of these chapters will show that the suffrage societies have started many progressive movements and then turned them over to other organizations of women, believing they would thrive better if freed from the effects of the prejudice against woman suffrage and everything connected with it.