. E. F. Gray
had begun speaking in favor when Victor Vifquain moved the
previous question. A lively debate followed this, but it did
not prevail. Mr. Mason said: "If we hold the right on this
question let us challenge discussion and meet the
opposition. It is not a wasted time that sows the seed of
truth in the brain." Mr. Manderson urged the number of
petitions that had been sent in as a reason for full
discussion. R. F. Stevenson said he was opposed to it in
every form. A. L. Sprague was against submitting this
question at any time, that neither by the laws of God nor of
man were women entitled to vote. Seth Robinson would like to
hear the social aspects of the question discussed. He said:
"I would like, gentlemen, to show whether it would not have
a tendency to regenerate our social system and make women as
a class more efficient than they are." The motion for the
previous question being lost a motion was made to strike out
this section. While this was pending General Estabrook
insisted that it should be re-committed, saying: "It is the
only political question that has essential principle in it.
There are not brains enough in this convention to show the
justice of taxation without representation. Judge George B.
Lake warmly seconded Mr. Estabrook's motion. O. P. Mason
wanted the proposition to be submitted to both sexes
separately. J. E. Philpott advocated woman suffrage in a
comprehensive argument. In closing, he said:

I demand that suffrage shall be extended to females for the
reason that they have not adequate representation in the
electoral department. As evidence of this I cite the
undeniable facts that in this State woman has not fair wages
for her work--has not a fair field to work in. The law, with
all its freedom, does not place her on the same footing as
to property that it does males. She has no voice as an
elector in the making of the laws which regulate her marital
union, no voice in the laws which sever those ties. The
motto of the State is "Equality Before the Law." This can no
more be among us with women disfranchised than in our nation