Charities, the first
official position a woman ever held in this State.

During the winter of 1877 a memorial was sent to the legislature,
asking that women be allowed to serve as school officers. The Hon.
William N. Emerson, senator from Monroe, presented the following
bill:

AN ACT _to Authorize the Election of Women to School Offices._

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any woman of the age of twenty-one years and upwards,
and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be
eligible to any office under the general or special school laws
of this State, subject to the same conditions and requirements as
prescribed to men.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Petitions and memorials from all parts of the State were poured
into the legislature, praying for the passage of the bill. Mr.
Emerson made an eloquent speech in its favor, and labored earnestly
for the measure. It passed the Senate by a vote of 19 to 9; the
Assembly by a vote of 84 to 19. This success was hailed with great
rejoicing by the women of the State who understood the progress of
events. But their delight was turned into indignation and
disappointment when the governor, Lucius Robinson, returned the
bill to the Senate with the following veto:

STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, }
ALBANY, May 8, 1877. }

_To the Senate:_

I return without approval Senate bill No. 61, entitled "An act to
authorize the election of women to school offices."

This bill goes too far or not far enough. It provides that women
may hold any or all of the offices connected with the department
of education, that is to say, a woman may be elected
superintendent of public instruction, women may be appointed
school commissioners, members of boards of education and trustees
of school districts. In some of these positions it will become
their duty to make contracts, purchase materials, build and
repair school-houses, and to supervise and effect all the
transactions of school business, involving an annual expenditure
of over twelve million dollars in this State. There can be no
greater reason that women should occupy these positions than the
less responsible ones of supervisors, town cl