ishment, for two generations.

Practically all of the state federations of women's clubs have
legislative committees, and it is usually the business of these
committees to codify the laws of their respective States which apply
directly to women. In some cases a woman lawyer is made chairman, and
the work is done under her direction. Sometimes, as in Texas, a well
known and friendly man lawyer is retained for the task. Almost
invariably the report of the legislative committee contains disagreeable
surprises. American women have been so accustomed to their privileges
that they have taken their rights for granted, and are usually
astonished when they find how limited their rights actually are.

There are some States in the Union where women are on terms of something
like equality with men. There is one State to which all intelligent
women look with a sort of envious, admiring, questioning curiosity,
Colorado, which is literally the woman's paradise. In Colorado it would
be difficult to find even the smallest inequality between men and women.
They vote on equal terms, and if any woman deserves to go to the
legislature, and succeeds in convincing a large enough public of the
fact, nothing stands in the way of her election. One woman, Mrs. Alma
Lafferty, is a member of the present legislature, and she has had
several predecessors.

But Colorado women have a larger influence still in legislative
matters. To guard their interests they have a Legislative Committee of
the State Federation of Women's Clubs, consisting of thirty to forty
carefully chosen women.

This committee has permanent headquarters in Denver during every session
of the legislature, and every bill which directly affects women and
children, before reaching the floor of either house, is submitted for
approval to the committee.

Miss Jane Addams has declared, and Miss Addams is pretty good authority,
that the laws governing women and children in Colorado are superior to
those of any other State. Women receive equal pay for equal work in
Colorado. They are permitted to hold any office. They are co-guardians
of their children, and the education of children has been placed almost
entirely in the hands of women. This does not mean that Colorado has
weakened its schools by barring men from the teaching profession. It
means that women are superintendents of schools in many counties, and
that one woman was, for more than ten years, State superintendent of
schools.