rt Exchequer, England, holding that the
generic term "man" includes woman also, indicates our
progress from a crude barbarism to a better civilization.

The office of county superintendent was created by chapter
52 of the acts of the seventh General Assembly, laws of
1868, pages 52-72. Neither in that act, nor in any
subsequent legislation on the subject, have I been able to
find any express provisions making male citizenship a test
of eligibility for the place, or excluding women; and when I
look over the duties to be performed by that officer--as I
have with some care, and, I trust, not without interest--I
deem it exceedingly fortunate for the cause of education in
Iowa that there is no provision in the law preventing women
from holding the office of county superintendent of common
schools. I know that the pronoun "he" is frequently used in
different sections of the act, and referring to the officer;
but, as stated above, this privilege of the citizen cannot
be taken away or denied by intendment or implication; and
women are citizens as well and as much as men.

I need scarcely add that, in my opinion, Miss Addington is
eligible to the office to which she has been elected; that
she will be entitled to her pay when she qualifies and
discharges the duties of the office, and that her decisions
on appeal, as well as all her official acts, will be legal
and binding. It is perhaps proper to state that an opinion
on this question, substantially in agreement with the
present one, was sent from this office to a gentleman
writing from Osage, in Mitchell county, several weeks ago,
which for some reason unknown to me, seems not to have been
made public in the county. I have the honor to be, etc.,

HENRY O'CONNOR, _Attorney-General_.

Miss Addington, in her short letter of inquiry to the
superintendent, has the following modest conclusion: "The
position is not one I should have chosen for myself, but since my
friends have shown so much confidence in me, and many of them are
desirous that I should accept the office, I feel inclined to
gratify them, if it be found there is nothing