There are four States in the Union--Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and
Utah--where women have full political rights. They vote on every election
from school trustee to President. They are eligible for every office from
pound-keeper to Governor. They have sat in the different Legislatures and
have filled many executive offices.
These four States do not, however, hold a monopoly of the women voters.
Four more have some form of local suffrage, and in twenty-five women can
vote on school elections. In New York, for instance, women taxpayers may
vote on all propositions for the expenditure of public money. In addition,
they have school suffrage and are eligible as trustees.
There are clubs and societies which enroll in this country about four
million women. There are associations of different nations to forward the
interests of all women regardless of country. Such is the International
Council of Women, representing twenty lands. Its great congresses, meeting
every five years, are the event of the year in the land where they
convene.
There is the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, with its branches in every country. Indeed the
boundaries of countries are disappearing before this new sisterhood of
woman.
Of famous women it would be folly to attempt to speak. America is justly
proud of her many clever daughters, but every nation has its brilliant
women. Mme. Curie, who was awarded the Nobel prize for science, was born
and reared in Poland and lives in France. This year the Nobel peace prize
fell to the Austrian Baroness von Suttner.
Considering the progress of the past half-century, one can but wonder what
the next one hundred years will bring.