proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when
ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be
valid as part of the said constitution, namely:

ARTICLE 16, SEC. 1.--The right of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of sex.

SEC. 2.--Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.

The Committee on Privileges and Elections granted hearings to the
National Association on January 11, 12, when the delegates,[28]
representing the several States, made their respective arguments
and appeals. Clemence S. Lozier, M. D., president of the
association, first addressed the committee and read the following
extract from a recent letter from Victor Hugo:

Our ill-balanced society seems as if it would take from woman all
that nature had endowed her with. In our codes there is something
to recast. It is what I call the woman-law. Man has had his law;
he has made it for himself. Woman has only the law of man. She by
this law is civilly a minor and morally a slave. Her education is
embued with this twofold character of inferiority. Hence many
sufferings to her which man must justly share. There must be
reform here, and it will be to the benefit of civilization,
truth, and light.

In concluding, Dr. Lozier said: I have now the honor to introduce
Miss Julia E. Smith, of Glastonbury, Conn., who will speak to you
concerning the resistance of her sister and herself to the
payment of taxes in her native town, on the ground that they are
unrepresented in all town meetings, and therefore have no voice
in the expenditure of the taxes which they are compelled to pay.

Miss SMITH said: _Gentlemen of the Committee_--This is the first
time in my life that I have trod these halls, and what has
brought me here? I say, oppression--oppression of women by men.
Under the law they have taken from us $2,000 worth of
meadow-land, and sold it for taxes of less than $50, and we were
obliged to redeem it, for we could not lose the most valuable
part of our farm. They have come into our house and said, "You
must pay so much; we must execute the laws"; and we are not
allowed to have a voice in the matt