tters
of public concern as are of vital importance to their interests.
The constitution of Rhode Island is far behind the spirit of the
age in its treatment of women, as only one other State makes it
equally difficult for them to obtain even the simplest form of
political rights. In revising the fundamental law this fact ought
not to be overlooked and the instrument should be so constructed
as to bring it up to date in this respect.

These appeals were not responded to favorably by the Commission,
although great courtesy and willingness to consider the subject were
manifested, and a large minority vote was given in the Commission
itself to empower the Legislature to grant suffrage at discretion by
statute. The proposed revision was submitted to the electors and
during the campaign preceding their vote the association passed the
following resolution at its annual meeting of Oct. 20, 1898:
"Resolved, That we consider the proposed constitution unworthy the
intelligence and civilization of the age, for these reasons: First, It
does not give suffrage to women citizens and makes the obtaining of an
amendment for this purpose even more difficult than it is at present
by requiring a larger legislative majority to submit any question to
the voters. Second, It restricts the suffrage of men by a property
qualification."

The revised constitution was voted down by a large majority.

LAWS: The Suffrage Association from its first existence closely
watched legislation affecting women and children, and often appeared
by representative speakers before committees engaged in framing
changes in such laws; but in 1892 and '93 a special effort was made to
secure full legal equality for men and women. Miss Mary A. Greene, a
Rhode Island lawyer, educated for and admitted to the bar in
Massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a full statement of the existing
laws relating to women and children and to draw up a code for
suggestion to the Legislature which should embody the exact justice
for which the association stood. This step was taken at that time
because the Legislature had just appointed a Committee of Codification
to consider the statutes bearing on domestic relations, contract
powers, etc. The suggestions of the association, as prepared by Miss
Greene, were not acted upon in any formal way, still less with
completeness, but the changes made in the interest of equal rights for
women were marked and the