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THE CONGRESS OE WOMEN.

“ Tlrat all laws prescribing the qualifications of voters at school, village and city' elections, shall apply to women who can read the state constitution, as provided, and they shall .enjoy all the rights, privileges and immunities, and their names shall be registered in the same manner, as provided by law for other voters.”

It is thus a limited suffrage, for it expressly excepts town, county and state offi­cers. The offices that women may vote for and the offices to which they are now eligible under this law are: Mayor, city clerk, city attorney, city treasurer, five mem­bers of the board of estimates for the city-at-large, a member of the board of esti­mates for each ward, an alderman in each ward, a constable in each ward, and inspec­tors of election in the several precincts.

This law has been held valid by the Supreme court of the state, as not conflicting with the provision in the state constitution, declaring that only male citizens shall be electors; and it is put on this ground: That the constitution makes it the duty of the legislature to provide for a primary school system, and under that provision, the legis­lature passed the provision defining the qualifications of voters under the act. The system being a creature of the legislature, the latter was authorized to pass such reg­ulations in reference to it, as it saw fit. Under this act the women of Michigan have voted for a number of years; have entered into many election contests, and are now sitting as members of our school boards.

The question the lawyers in Michigan arc now debating is: Will this provision stand the test of the courts?*

If this act be constitutional, all fair-minded and thinking people will regard the educational qualification as a good and a prudent measure. It will, no doubt, prove to be the entering wedge for full state suffrage, and, as such, it is of great interest to the whole country. A wise provision it must also be regarded because it gives munic­ipal’ suffrage to a limited number of women, and to the best class of them, as a sort of preliminary trial. It thus meets the objection that woman suffrage, if granted, will only increase the number of ignorant voters. The bill recognizes woman as a political factor, and from the small majorities now existing between the two great political parties, it practically gives her an opportunity to hold the balance of power in the villages and cities of Michigan. It is one hopeful sign of the new order of things toward which we are evidently tending, that political organizations of women, called Municipal Franchise Eeagues, have been formed in different parts of Michigan and are earnestly studying such subjects as: (i) Qualifications of voters; (2) Officers Elective, their requirements, duties and responsibilities; (3) Officers Appointive, their requirements, duties and responsibilities; (4) Common Council; (5) Boards, how constituted and respective duties; (6) City or Village taxes, school taxes and highway taxes; (7) Elections, how conducted; Board of Registration, its duties; (8) Ordinances.

In Detroit a member of the legislature—Representative Shellberg —is addressing meetings of women every Thursday afternoon on such subjects as: (1) The Primary Caucus; (2) Naturalization; (3) The Constitution; (4) Conventions; (5) Regis­tration; (6) How to Vote; (7) The Strength of Independence.

As a result of these different modes of agitation women are forming themselves into political organizations in different parts of Michigan. Everything indicates that they will not be cajoled by political tricksters into furthering the interests of any party or clique if the women of capacity and of sterling integrity, who are the leaders of the movement in Detroit, can help it.

Another hopeful sign of the times is that numbers of noble, thinking men are not only helping women, who are cautiously and timidly groping toward a comprehension and an appreciation of their political rights and civic duties, but they are also giving them freely of their own knowledge and experience, and are aiding them to use this privilege wisely and well.

* The courts have since decided the bill unconstitutional.