nd that the power being lodged in safe hands
was beyond danger of abuse.

"If on the other hand it be seriously contended that the
Constitution by necessary implication, disqualifies females from
holding office, it must follow as a necessary consequence that
the Act of the Legislature permitting females to serve as school
officers (Chap. 9, Laws of 1880), and all other legislative
enactments of like import, removing such disqualifications, are
unconstitutional and void. In this same connection it may be
argued that if the use of the personal pronoun 'he' in the
Constitution does not exclude females from public office, its use
in the statute can have no greater effect. The statute, like the
Constitution, in prescribing qualifications for office omits the
word 'male,' leaving the question whether female citizens of
lawful age are included or excluded, one of construction.

"I make these observations for the purpose of showing that the
question whether females are eligible to public office in this
State, is one not entirely free from doubt and should not
therefore be decided where it arises, as it does here,
incidentally and collaterally. When the law officers of the State
see fit to test the question in direct proceedings for the
purpose, it will be time enough to attempt to settle the
contention. In such a proceeding, the case of Robinson (131 Mass.
376, and that reported in 107 Mass. 604), where it was held that
a woman could not be admitted to practice as an attorney and
counselor at law in Massachusetts, and those decided in other
States that they can hold office, may be examined and
considered."

See also Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, Vol. 19, p. 403-4. I might
add that in this State there are many women who hold the office
of notary public.

* * * * *

WASHINGTON.

The following account of the unconstitutional disfranchising of the
women of Washington Territory in 1888 was carefully prepared by the
editors of the _Woman's Journal_ (Boston). When the editors of the
present volume decided to incorporate it as a part of the History of
Woman Suffrage it was submitted to Judge Orange J. Jacobs of Seattle
for legal inspection. He returned it with the statement that it was
correct in every particular. It constitutes one of the many judici