Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/450

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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

THE PIGGERY

doubled the charges. Then followed an uproar, and a candi- date arose among the masses in contest for the senator's seat at the ensuing election. His platform had one plank down with the trust. The senator foresaw the outcome and dissolved

the trust after one meal. Woman's suffrage has had varying fortunes. The girls in 1895, ear ly in the season, mildly agitated for the ballot. The legislature without much discussion granted it. Then a young politician, a smooth "ladies' man," persuaded the girls that voting was unladylike. The girls actually petitioned the presi- dent to veto the bill. He did so. Soon, however, the boys assessed a new tax for a certain project, of which the

girls were to pay one-half. The girls, being only one-fourth of the population, felt the pressure, but had no voice in controlling it. They now petitioned again for the ballot. After a warm discussion, it was granted by a succeeding legislature. When the amendments to the state laws were abrogated, July I, 1896, this one went with the others ; but the legislature reenacted it, and a girl sat in the senate during that summer. The abroga- tion of 1897, on the other hand, found the large number of disqualified summer citizens already mentioned ; and these, knowing that the girls would vote with the conservative " residents' " party, prevented the reenactment of the suffrage law. The defenseless position of the girls in legislation in 1897 places them also at a disadvantage in the courts and in appointments to responsible positions. They claim that they are generally persecuted. And their claim seems sound, for they do not have fathers, brothers, and husbands to repre- sent them in voting, as do the women of the larger republic. The rage with which I heard a girl denounce the police, the judge, and the boy who paid her fine to keep her out of jail,