pt
out. This fatal mistake is even now beginning to dawn upon the minds
of those who have cherished an ideal of the grandeur of a republic,
and they dimly see that in woman lies the highest promise of its
fulfilment. Those who fear the foreign vote will learn eventually that
there are more American-born women in the United States than
foreign-born men and women; and those who dread the ignorant vote will
study the statistics and see that the percentage of illiteracy is much
smaller among women than among men.

The consistent tendency since the right to individual representation
was established by the Revolutionary War has been to extend this
right, until now every man in the United States is enfranchised. While
a few, usually those who are too exclusive to vote themselves, insist
that this is detrimental to the electorate, the vast majority hold
that in numbers there is the safety of its being more difficult to
purchase or mislead; that even the ignorant may vote more honestly
than the educated; that more knowledge and judgment can be added
through ten million electors than through five; and also that by this
universal male suffrage it is made impossible for one class of men to
legislate against another class, and thus all excuse for anarchy or a
resort to force is removed. Added to these advantages is the
developing influence of the ballot upon the individual himself, which
renders him more intelligent and gives him a broader conception of
justice and liberty. All of these conditions must lead eventually to
the enfranchising of the only remaining part of the citizenship
without this means of protection and development.

The gradual movement in this direction in the United States is seen in
the partial extension of the franchise which has taken place during
the past thirty-three years, or within one generation. During this
time over one-half of them have conferred School Suffrage on women;
one has granted Municipal Suffrage; four a vote on questions of
taxation; three have recognized them in local matters, and a number of
cities have given such privileges as were possible by charter. Since
1890 four States, by a majority vote of the electors, have
enfranchised 200,000 women by incorporating the complete suffrage in
their constitutions, from which it never can be removed except by a
vote of women themselves. During all these years there have been but
two retrogressive steps--the disfranchising of the women of Washingto