steem woman suffrage was held in Wyoming twenty-five years
after its introduction, may be gathered from the address issued on
November 12, 1894, to the Parliaments of the world by the Legislature of
that State. It says:

"The possession and exercise of suffrage by the women in Wyoming for the
past quarter of a century has wrought no harm and has done great good in
many ways; it has largely aided in banishing crime, pauperism, and vice
from this State, and that without any violent or oppressive legislation;
it has secured peaceful and orderly elections, good government, and a
remarkable degree of civilization and public order; and we point with
pride to the facts that after nearly twenty-five years of Woman Suffrage
not one county in Wyoming has a poorhouse, that our jails are almost
empty, and crime, except that committed by strangers in the State,
almost unknown; and as the result of experience we urge every civilized
community on earth to enfranchise its women without delay."[154]

While giving fullest credit to the political activity of the women of
Wyoming, we cannot go to the extreme, reached by the enthusiastic
defenders of woman suffrage in the Legislature of that State, of
ascribing exclusively to the ballot in woman's hands the enviable
conditions, which, according to the account of the address, Wyoming
rejoices in. A number of social causes of other nature contribute
thereto. Nevertheless, the fact is unquestionable that female suffrage
has been accompanied by the most beneficent results for that State, and
without one disadvantage. That is the most brilliant justification of
its introduction.

The example of Wyoming found followers. To-day there are a number of
countries in which woman enjoys political rights to greater or less
extent. In the United States, women obtained several years ago the
ballot in Colorado, and in 1894 they elected a number of
representatives; likewise in Arizona, and still more recently in
Minnesota. In New Zealand, they took a lively part in the parliamentary
elections of 1893, livelier, in fact, than the men, although they were
only qualified to elect: only men were qualified to be elected. In
March, 1894, the Prime Minister declared to a deputation of women that
he would advocate their qualification to be elected. In 1893, there were
twenty-two States in the North American Union where women were qualified
both to elect and be elected for the School Boards. In Kansas, Nebraska,
Co