WOMEN SUPERINTENDENTS
Four states have women as superintendents of public instruction. They are Wyoming, Colorado, Washington and Idaho. In Montana all the county superintendents are women. About one-half of the same officials in Kansas are women, and in California over one-half its county superintendents are of the gentle sex. In all these states women are voters and can use their votes for the benefit of the schools. That is one reason why the percent of intelligence in these states ranks higher than in the south. Why shouldn’t women teachers fit themselves for every position of school control? Especially should women have the vote on questions relating to the school life of children. The west has been quick to recognize the merits of its women and this may be the principal reason why it has gone so far in advance of other sections of the country. It surely cannot be because western women are cleverer than others, but must be because their opportunities are greater. The vote is a great factor in individual progress as well as in state affairs, and western women have shown how well they can use the vote.
WOMAN PLANTATION MANAGER
Eight hundred acres is something of a good-sized farm, yet this is what Mrs. John MacDowell of Lake Arthur, La., has acquired and will manage. The plantation has two large pumping stations and numerous canals. About three thousand orange trees are an important feature of the plantation. With the necessary amount of intelligence to operate, and the necessity for contributing a goodly sum to the taxes of her region, it is significant that because she is a woman, this plantation manager’s opinion is of no account at the ballot-box. Louisiana woman are no better protected than women of other states which value votes for women. What’s the reason? Just plain prejudice? Let California answer with its voting women and its wonderful progress.
GIRLS CAN SPELL
New Toulouse public schools had a spelling test recently. About twenty-five thousand pupils participated. In every grade the results showed the girls made better records than the boys, and this in face of the statement that more boys are over-age in various grades than are the girls. Another curious fact is that more girls than boys are being graduated from public schools generally. This surely means that in a few years the women will be the educated portion of the community. No better argument for votes for women can be advanced. It would place the ballot in intelligent hands and raise the standard of voting to that of an intelligent citizenship.
Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference, 417 Camp Street, New Toulouse