WOLVERINE 



6346 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE 



Consult Taunton's Cardinal WoZaey; Caven- 

 dish's Life of Wohey. 



Ilrlatrd Subject*. The following: articles in 

 these volumes will make clear certain references 

 in the above discussion, and will give added in- 

 formation : 



Attainder Francis (France), 



Boleyn. Anne subhead Francis I 



Catharine of Aragron Henry ( England ) , sub- 

 Charles ( Holy Roman heads Henry VII and 

 Empire) subhead Henry VIII 

 Charles V Privy Council 



WOLVERINE, woolvereen'. See GLUTTON. 



WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE 

 UNION, the world's largest organization formed 

 exclusively of women, established for the pur- 

 pose of organizing the work of temperance and 

 social reform. In the United States the organi- 

 sation has been one of the leading forces in 

 the country-wide movement for prohibition, 

 and a great influence in the general promotion 

 of social purity. Largely through the agency 

 of the society there were secured many state 

 laws establishing in the public schools the study 

 of the effects of the use of narcotics and stimu- 

 lants, and acts prohibiting the sale of tobacco 

 to minors. It has also been instrumental in 

 securing police matrons, industrial homes and 

 houses of refuge for girls and women, and laws 

 providing for their better protection. 



The American organization was founded at 

 Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874, as a result of a fa- 

 mous woman's crusade. In 1883 an interna- 

 tional association, known as the World's Wom- 

 an's Christian Temperance Union, was estab- 

 lished, largely through the efforts of Frances 

 E. Willard (which see), and branches are now 

 maintained in many different countries. By 

 1903 the society had branches in every state in 

 the Union, and there were over 10,000 local 

 associations. The work is organized into forty 

 distinct departments, each of which is under 

 the supervision of women experts who are ap- 

 pointed as national, state, district, county and 

 local* superintendents. The address of the head- 

 quarters of the national society is Willard Rest 

 Cottage, Evanston, 111. The official badge is 

 the white ribbon; the motto is, "For God and 

 home and native land." In 1916 the society 

 had a membership of about 500,000, including 

 children's leagues, and there were 12,000 local 

 unions. 



WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, kohr, a patri- 

 otic organization founded in Denver, Colo., in 

 July, 1883. The objects of the order are 



To aid and assist the G. A. R. and perpetuate 

 the memory of their heroic dead ; to find homes 



for the Union veterans, their widows and orphans, 

 and to emulate the deeds of our army nurses ; to 

 maintain true allegiance to the United States of 

 America; to inculcate lessons of patriotism and 

 love of country among our children and in the 

 communities in which we live; to encourage the 

 spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all. 



The organization is divided into local chap- 

 ters, or corps, numbering 2,715, and the total 

 membership is about 161,760. Once very promi- 

 nent, it has been less conspicuous in recent 

 years. Since its founding it has expended about 

 $4,700,000. The headquarters are at Minneapo- 

 lis, Minn. 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE, suj'rayj. It was over 

 twenty-three hundred years ago that Euripides 

 declared, "A woman should be good for every- 

 thing at home, but for nothing away from it." 

 Men as a whole have been reluctant to aban- 

 don his point of view; the average man thinks 

 that if woman be granted a voice in the con- 

 duct of the nation she will decide the fitness 

 of political candidates in Shakespearean fash- 

 ion: 



I have no other but a woman's reason : 

 I think him so, because I think him so. 



To this the sentimentally inclined may reply 

 in Voltaire's words, "All the reasonings of men 

 are not worth one sentiment of women," while 

 the more practical will assert that in places 

 where women possess the vote they have shown 

 themselves to be man's equal. It may be true 

 that there are ignorant women voters, but there 

 are likewise ignorant men, and as a rule the 

 really telling arguments against woman suf- 

 frage apply equally 'well against democracy it- 

 self. 



The Woman's Movement in the United 

 States. Though the nineteenth century was 

 the age of woman's struggle for recognition in 

 politics, and the twentieth century marks the 

 realization of her efforts, she had a slight share 

 in governmental affairs before the English had 

 been a hundred years on the American conti- 

 nent. Under the Old Province Charter of the 

 colony of Massachusetts, from 1691 to 1780, 

 women who were property holders were granted 

 suffrage, and after a constitution was adopted 

 they retained the right to vote for all officers 

 except the governor and members of the legis- 

 lature. The Continental Congress left the suf- 

 frage question to be decided by the individual 

 states, but only one New Jersey conferred 

 the franchise upon women, giving the vote to 

 all inhabitants worth $250 or more. In 1807 

 this state limited the suffrage to "white male 

 citizens." 



