t the
delegates are in attendance upon the committee. We will be
pleased to hear them. A list of the names, of the ladies
proposing to speak, with a memorandum of the limit of time
allotted to each, has been handed to me for my guidance; and, in
the absence of the chairman [Mr. Knott] it will be my duty to
confine the speakers to the number of minutes apportioned to them
respectively upon the paper before me. As an additional
consideration for adhering to the regulation, I will mention that
members of the committee have informed me that, having made
engagements to be at the departments and elsewhere on business
appointments, they will be compelled to leave the committee-room
upon the expiration of the time assigned. The first name upon the
list is that of Mrs. Emma Mont. McRae of Indiana, to whom five
minutes are allowed.

Mrs. MCRAE said: _Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Judiciary
Committee_: In Indiana the cause of woman has made marked
advancement. At the same time we realize that we need the right
to vote in order that we may have protection. We need the ballot
because through the medium of its power alone we can hope to
wield that influence in the making of laws affecting our own and
our children's interests.

Some recent occurences in Indiana, one in particular in the
section of the State from which I come, have impressed us more
sensibly than ever before with the necessity of this right. The
particular incident to which I refer was this: In the town of
Muncie, where I reside, a young girl, who for the past five years
had been employed as a clerk in the post-office, and upon whom a
widowed mother was dependent for support, was told on the first
of January that she was no longer needed in the office. She had
filled her place well; no complaint had been made against her.
She very modestly asked the postmaster the cause of her
discharge, and he replied: "We have a man who has done work for
the party and we must give that man a place; I haven't room for
both of you." Now, there you have at once the reason why we want
the ballot; we want to be able to do something for the party in a
substantial way, so that men may not tell us they have no room
for us because we do nothing _for the party_. When they have the
ballot women will