of
the personal, civil and political rights of
one-half--unquestionably the better half--of the people cannot be
laughed down or sneered down, and recent indications are that
they cannot much longer be voted down. It was quite clear on
Friday and Saturday, when petitions from the best citizens of
twenty-three States were presented in House and Senate, that the
leaders of the two political parties vied with each other in
doing honor to the grave subject proposed for their
consideration. The speaker of the House set a commendable example
of courtesy to women by proposing that the petitions be delivered
in open House, to which there was no objection. The early
advocates of equal rights for women--Hoar, Kelley, Banks, Kasson,
Lawrence, and Lapham--were, if possible, surpassed in courtesy by
those who are not committed, but are beginning to see that a
finer element in the body politic would clear the vision, purify
the atmosphere and help to settle many vexed questions on the
basis of exact and equal justice.

In the Senate the unprecedented courtesy was extended to women of
half an hour's time on the floor for the presentation of
petitions, exactly alike in form, from twenty-one States, and
while this kind of business this session has usually been
transacted with an attendance of from seven to ten senators, it
was observed that only two out of twenty-three senators who had
sixteenth amendment petitions to present were out of their seats.
Senator Sargent said the presence of women at the polls would
purify elections and give us a better class of public officials,
and the State would thus be greatly benefited. The subject was
receiving serious consideration in this country and in England.
Senator Dawes, in presenting the petition from Massachusetts,
said the subject was commanding the attention of both political
parties in his own State.

The officers of the National Association, who had been able to
give only a few days' time to securing the cooeperation of the
women of the several States in their present effort, held a
caucus after the adjournment of the Senate, and decided to
immediately issue a new appeal for a mammoth petition, which
would even more decidedly impress the two houses with the
importance of protecting the rights of w