uffrage by women. Emeline B.
Wells, wife of the Mayor of the city, writing to a Washington
convention, in 1894, said of the many complications growing out of
various bills before Congress to rob women of this right:

"Women have voted in Utah fourteen years, but, because of the
little word 'male' that still stands upon the statutes, no woman is
eligible to any office of emolument or trust. In three successive
legislatures, bills have been passed, providing that the word
'male' be erased; but, each time, the Governor of the Territory,
who has absolute veto power, has refused his signature. Yet women
attend primary meetings in the various precincts and are chosen as
delegates. They are also members of county and territorial central
committees, and are thus gaining practical political experience,
and preparing themselves for positions of trust.

"In 1882 a convention was held to frame a constitution to be
submitted to the people and presented to the Congress of the United
States. Women were delegates to this convention, and took part in
all its deliberations, and were appointed to act on committees with
equal privileges. It is the first instance on record, I think,
where women have been members and taken an active part in a
constitutional convention.

"Much has been said and written, and justly, too, of suffrage for
women in Wyoming; but, in my humble opinion, had Utah stood on the
same ground as Wyoming, and women been eligible to office, as they
are in that Territory, they would, ere this, have been elected to
the legislative Assembly of Utah.

"It is currently reported that Mormon women vote as they are told
by their husbands. I most emphatically deny the assertion. All
Mormon women vote who are privileged to register. Every girl born
here, as soon as she is twenty-one years old, registers, and
considers it as much a duty as to say her prayers. Our women vote
with the same freedom that characterizes any class of people in the
most conscientious acts of their lives."

These various questions were happily solved in 1895, when Utah became a
State. Its Constitution gives women the right to vote on all questions,
and makes them eligible to any office.

The journey over the Rocky Mountains was more interesting and wonderful
than I had imagined. A heavy shower the morning we rea