.because of sex. What ought the law of Massachusetts be on 

 .this subject? Before answering the question I will read the fol- 

 lowing : 



Enacted by the Massachusetts Legislature, June, 1895. 



: Section i — All persons quahfied to vote for School Committee shall, at 

 the next State election, have an opportunity to express their opinion by 

 voting yes or no in answer to the following question : " Is it expedient 

 that municipal suffrage be granted to women? " 

 . Section ii — Equal opportunit}^ shall be given to men and women to register 

 prior to said election. 



Believing it to be for the best interest of the Commonwealth that men 

 and women should share equally the responsibilities of its government, we 

 hereby urge the women of Massachusetts to respond to the invitation of the 

 Legislature, as set forth in the Act of 1895, b}^ registering and voting in 

 favor of Municipal Suffrage for women. 



And we ask all legal voters to consider seriously that, while Massachu- 

 setts is now governed by an aristocracy based strictly on sex, it is possible, 

 by voting in the affirmative under this law, to insure "a government of the 

 (whole) people, by the (whole) people, for the (whole) people." 

 George F. Hoar, Samuel Ma}-, Wm. L. Garrison, 



John D. Long, Albert Clark, Charles G. Ames, 



J. Q. A. Brackett, T. W. Higginson, Charles C. Coffin, 



El isha S. Converse, Josiah Quincy, Minot J. Savage, 



William W. Crapo, Thomas Riley, E. A. Hall, 



Francis J. Garrison, W. W. Doherty, George A. O. Ernst, 



William E. Barrett, Edwin D. Mead, William I. Bowditch, 



HenryB. Black well, George. S. Hale, Philip S. Moxom, 



Joseph E. Fiske, 

 Sara C. Bull, Judith W. Smith, Mary Q. Kinsman, 



Julia Ward Howe, Alice S. Blackwell, Clara H. Burleigh, 



Mary A. Livermore, Eliza R. Whiting, Fanny B. Ames, 



Ednah D. Cheney, Helen M. Winslow, Ellen Hayes, 



Sarah H. Southwick, Eliza Trask Hill, Lucy N. Sawyer, 



Mary C. vSawyer, Emeline D. Whipple, Marv^ C. Smith, 



Susan S. Fessenden, Electa N. Walton, Anna Gardner, 



Lettie vS. Bigelow, Abbey E. Davis, Anne Whitney. 



Mary H.Taylor. 



These are names of which Massachusetts is justly proud, but 

 more illustrious names can be given of those who have dared to 

 stand out in advance of their times as champions of an intelligent 

 ballot for all without distinction of sex. More than forty years 

 ago Massachusetts' most illustrious thinker, Ralph Waldo Emer- 

 son, declared his faith in the Woman's Rights cause. The mar- 

 tyred President, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of his crowded 

 life, found time to express his belief in the ballot for women. 

 This cause need not lean for support upon authorit3\ Its foun- 



