THE CONGRESS OE WOMEN.

667

It begins to look very much as though what has seemed but a dream of the future is to become a living reality in the near present, and that good men and good women shall hold the balance of political power in this country, and that good men shall join with good women in an earnest endeavor to bring about a better condition of affairs than now exists. Not only are men helping women in political gatherings, but a gen­erous and chivalrous spirit is also manifested in other directions. At a recent meet­ing of the common council in Detroit Alderman Wright offered the following resolu­tion, which was adopted without debate:

Whereas, By a recent act of the legislature the women of this city, under certain restrictions, will be permitted to participate in the coming municipal elections; and

Whereas, Inasmuch as it is reasonable to suppose that several thousand of them will participate in the election, be it

Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this body that the said women should be represented upon each municipal election board in order that all the privileges and benefits derived by such representa­tion may be duly accorded to them. *

It is amusing to observe how both Republicans and Democrats are now doing their utmost to secure the vote of the women at the approaching fall elections. In a recent interview a prominent politician in Detroit gives it as his opinion that women really do purify politics, and that when it comes to party enthusiasm and systematic work women not only equal men, but even surpass them.

The “ Municipal Suffrage Bill for Women in Michigan ” has made soijie enemies, as the following will show:

“The Michigan Liquor Dealers’ Association met in delegate convention two hundred and fifty strong, at Arbeiter Hall, Grand Rapids, August 23, and resolved to oppose the law giving women municipal suffrage. Ina preliminary circular sent out to the trade some weeks ago, the association says:

“ ‘ The last session of the legislature in this state, by giving to the women a fran­chise with an educational restriction, struck a blow directly at our interests and rights. It is only a question of time as to what the inevitable result will be to us, unless we promptly get under one banner and fight shoulder to shoulder for our interests.’ ”

There is one important feature of the situation in Michigan which must not be overlooked, and that is the educational value of this bill toward the attainment of full suffrage for women. The force gained from the success of school suffrage has. carried the movement on to the attainment of municipal suffrage. Public opinion must be educated by means of municipal suffrage, so that the attainment of state suffrage first, and afterward federal suffrage, will be only questions of time.

“ Now we have a definite purpose to work for: to enlighten women concerning the situation and arouse them to a sense of duty and responsibility to intelligently and judiciously exercise this new privilege and thus make way for their full political enfranchisement,” says Mrs. Pimily B. Ketchum, President of the Michigan Plqual Suffrage Association.

The effect of this municipal suffrage law on the villages and cities in Michigan will be watched with interest by thinkers all over this country and, possibly, all over the world. The hope of its advocates is, that in proportion as the results predicted by its. adherents are realized, will men from other states adopt it in their own.