of men to the very idea of woman suffrage. In 1887 the
Legislature of New Jersey passed a law granting School Suffrage to
women in villages and country districts. After they had exercised it
until 1894 the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional, as
"the Legislature can not enlarge or diminish the class of voters." The
women decided it was worth while to preserve even this scrap of
suffrage, so they made a vigorous effort to secure from the
Legislature the submission of an amendment which should give it to
them constitutionally. The resolution for this had to pass two
successive Legislatures, and it happened in this case that by a
technicality three were necessary, but with hard work and a petition
signed by 7,000 the amendment was finally submitted in 1897. The
unvarying testimony of the school authorities was that the women had
used their vote wisely and to the great advantage of the schools
during the seven years; there was no organized opposition from the
class who might object to the Full Suffrage for women lest their
business should be injured, or that other class who might fear their
personal liberty would be curtailed; yet the proposition to restore to
women in the villages and country districts the right simply to vote
for school trustees was defeated by 75,170 noes, 65,029 ayes--over
10,000 majority.

South Dakota as a Territory permitted women to vote for all school
officers. It entered the Union in 1889 with a clause in its
constitution authorizing them to vote "at any election held solely for
school purposes." They soon found that this did not include State and
county superintendents, who are voted for at general elections, and
that in order to get back their Territorial rights an amendment would
have to be submitted to the electors. This was done by the Legislature
of 1893. There had not been the slightest criticism of the way in
which they had used their school suffrage during the past fourteen
years, no class was antagonized, and yet this amendment was voted down
by 22,682 noes, 17,010 ayes, an opposing majority of 5,672.

With these examples in two widely-separated parts of the country, the
old and the new, representing not only crystallized prejudice in the
one but inborn opposition in both to any step toward enfranchising
women, and with this depending absolutely on the will of the voters,
is it a matter of wonder that its progress has been so slow? If the
question were submitted in any St