as an argument for woman
suffrage having injured the women, whatever it may have done to the
men."[34]

The committee were particularly interested in the speech of former
Governor Alva Adams, which gave much information on the voting of
women and called out many questions from the committee. Representative
Littlefield of Maine inquired: "What do you say, Governor, about Miss
McCracken's article in the _Outlook_?" and he answered: "I call it
infamous, to use the proper term. It was an absolute falsehood. It was
based upon no facts, because no decent women in Colorado would make
the statements that she quotes. She may have found one woman who would
say that they were using philanthropy and charity for political
purposes but to admit that the women of the State would do a thing of
that kind--would so debase themselves--would be an impeachment of the
decency and honesty of womankind everywhere. I am not prepared to make
that admission and the citizens of Colorado cannot make it. There are
100,000 honest women in the State who are voters and there are not
100 who will subscribe to the sentiments she gave voice to."[35]

Mrs. Catt closed the hearing with an earnest appeal for action, saying
in part:

When the constitution of Colorado was first made in 1876 a
provision was placed in it that at any time the Legislature might
enfranchise the women by a referendum of a law to the voters.
That was done in 1893 and it was passed by 6,000 majority. Last
year an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the
electors, now both men and women, concerning the qualifications
for the vote and in it there was included, of course, the
recognition of the enfranchisement of women quite as much as that
of men, so that it was virtually a woman suffrage amendment. It
received a majority of 35,000, showing certainly that after ten
years of experience the people were willing to put woman suffrage
in the constitution, where it became an integral part of it and
permanent.

When the American constitution was formulated it was the first of
its kind and this was the first republic of its kind. Man
suffrage was an experiment and it was considered universally a
very doubtful one. We find overwhelming evidence that the
thinkers of the world feared that if this republic should fail to
live it would come to its end through the instability of the
mi