ne man
out of every three men voted for the enfranchisement of the women
of their households, while two voted against it. But we are proud
to say that our splendid minority is always composed of the very
best men of the State, and I think Senator PALMER will agree with
me that the forty thousand men of Michigan who voted for the
enfranchisement of the women of his State were really the picked
men in intelligence, in culture, in morals, in standing, and in
every direction.

It is too much to say that the majority of the voters in any State
are superior, educated, and capable, or that they investigate
every question thoroughly, and cast the ballot thereon
intelligently. We all know that the majority of the voters of any
State are not of that stamp. The vast masses of the people, the
laboring classes, have all they can do in their struggle to get
food and shelter for their families. They have very little time or
opportunity to study great questions of constitutional law.

Because of this impossibility for women to canvass the States over
and over to educate the rank and file of the voters we come to
you to ask you to make it possible for the Legislatures of the
thirty-eight States to settle the question, where we shall have
a few representative men assembled before whom we can make our
appeals and arguments.

This method of settling the question by the Legislatures is just
as much in the line of States' rights as is that of the popular
vote. The one question before you is, will you insist that a
majority of the individual voters of every State must be converted
before its women shall have the right to vote, or will you
allow the matter to be settled by the representative men in the
Legislatures of the several States? You need not fear that we
shall get suffrage too quickly if Congress shall submit the
proposition, for even then we shall have a hard time in going
from Legislature to Legislature to secure the two-thirds votes of
three-fourths of the States necessary to ratify the amendment. It
may take twenty years after Congress has taken the initiative step
to make action by the State Legislatures possible.

I pray you, gentlemen, that you will make your report to the
Senate speedily. I know you are ready to make a favorable one.
Some of our speakers may not have known