n
Territory in 1888 by an unconstitutional decision of the Supreme
Court, dictated by the disreputable elements then in control; and the
taking away of the School Suffrage from all women of the second-class
cities in Kentucky by its Legislature of 1902 for the purpose of
eliminating the vote of colored women. In every other Legislature a
bill to repeal any limited franchise which has been extended has been
overwhelmingly voted down.

Another favorable sign is the action taken by Legislatures on bills
for the full enfranchisement of women. Formerly they were treated with
contempt and ridicule and either thrown out summarily or discussed in
language which the descendants of the honorable gentlemen who used it
will regret to read. Now such bills are treated with comparative
courtesy; a discussion is avoided wherever possible, members not
wishing to go on record, but if forced it is conducted in a respectful
manner; and, while usually rejected, the opposing majority is small,
in many instances only just large enough to secure defeat, and
frequently members have to change their votes to the negative as they
find the measure is about to be carried. Several instances have
occurred in the last year or two where the bill passed but during the
night the party whip was applied with such force that the affirmative
was compelled to reconsider its action the next day. There is little
doubt that even now if members were free to vote their convictions a
bill could be carried in many Legislatures.

A most encouraging sign is the attitude of the Press. Although the
country papers occasionally refer to the suffrage advocates as hyenas,
cats, crowing hens, bold wantons, unsexed females and dangerous
home-wreckers--expressions which were common a generation ago--these
are no longer found in metropolitan and influential newspapers. Scores
of both city and country papers openly advocate the measure and scores
of others would do so if they were not under the same control as the
Legislatures. Ten years ago it was almost impossible to secure space
in any paper for woman suffrage arguments. To-day several of the
largest in the country maintain regular departments for this purpose,
while the report of the press chairman of the National Association for
1901 stated that during the past eight months 175,000 articles on the
subject had been sent to the press and a careful investigation showed
that three-fourths of them had been published. In additio