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WAS NOT A PARTISAN FIGHT

Mrs. Peattie Explains Wherein the Women Voters Were Misled.

Suggests That THree of the Gentle Sex Enter the Next Race by Petition.

Reasons Advanced Why a Woman Should figure on the Board of Education -- False Accusations.

The election is over, and the republicans have won. There's nothing disastrous in that. it is to be hoped that it will always be safe for any party of Americans to win. No one can possibly believe that more than half of the nation -- or less than half of it -- is in league against good government. The parties in America represent different points of view, but it is to be hoped that they do not represent different degrees of patriotism.

The women in this city have had a peculiar interest in the last election, owing to the fact that they had a candidate of their own. That candidate has been defeated, along with the rest of those who were upon the democratic and populist tickets. And I am so fearful that the women will therefore feel discouraged, and lose their interest in the office for which this candidate was nominated -- that, however much I may be accused of bad taste, I must publicly write a few words to reassure them.

In no one branch of civic work is woman so much needed as in that which supervises the Schools. It is [?] and appropriate that she should be there. Her duties will not be of the same sort as those which the men assume. The men may attend to the finances in a general way, and dole out the janitorships to their political henchmen. But the women can make it their business to become acquainted with the life of the school room; they can look after the comfort of the children, the welfare of the teachers, and the moral and intellectual instruction. The task will be large, but noble. And certainly patriotic women should not be debarred from performing a public service now and then. It is a service, to be sure, which must be performed without any reward. It lays the performer open to much criticism. Where a woman is concerned success on the school board does not mean the opening of wider opportunities. Nothing but disinterestedness can prompt her to assume such responsibilities. It will therefore be seen that for many reasons she will be a valuable acquisition.

The present defeat has been the result of the partisan feeling among the women. More than half of the women who voted cast their ballot for the republican ticket, preferring a republican rather than one of their own sex upon the board. This was probably unexpected to those who first conceived the idea of securing the nomination of a woman candidate. There was nothing partisan in the attitude of that candidate. Nor could she conceive what partisanship had to do with the duties which are to be performed upon the school board. A democrat or a republican ought to be able equally well to look after good morals, fine instruction good ventilation and thorough system. Opinions on the tariff do not affect ones interest in childhood, nor do differences concerning the ratio of silver and gold currency affect one's ability to judge of text books. But the women seem to have thought otherwise, and to have been indifferent to representation upon the school board, so far as representation lay in sex. And they have defeated their own candidate.

They did not pause to consider, or did not know, that that candidate was nominated by independent petition, and was at first associated with no partisan ticket, and that her indorsement, first by the populists, and then by the democrats, was a matter of courtesy on the part of the respective conventions, and that she would have as cheerfully been indorsed by any party at all. She could not, infact, see that party affiliations had anything to do with the matter.

But to consider further the causes of defeat; The candidate of the women was a writer -- and for six years has written daily for the World-Herald. During those six years she has written one long signed article a week, and these articles have been each of them upon a different subject. If to write a book is to oblige one's enemies, what can be said of the obligingness of a woman who tells what she thinks upon every subject that arises during six busy years? Could any person do that without arousing much personal antagonism? Or, indeed, could any person do that without making many close and true friends?

As I said before, it may be bad taste to refer to this. But I do it only because I wish to speak upon the successes that we shall have in the future. Supposing that at the next election of members for the school board three women instead of one are nominated, and that they are women older, more conservative, and of better education than myself. Supposing, for example, that those women were Mrs. Hanchett, the wife of the physician; Mrs. Keyso, the wife of the juudge, and Mrs. F. F. Ford, president of the Woman's club. The first is distinguished for her learning, and her conduct of private classes of students of women. She has a love for all related to pedagogy which nothing can destroy. The second has been a teacher in the High school, and has also conducted private classes, and is now one of the most esteemed and intellectual members of the Women's club. The third is a brilliant woman and one of the most public spirited in the city. There are many other women who might be mentioned, but I have spoken of these three, almost by accident. If they were to be nominated together by petition, and not attached to any party, but run simply as the women's candidates, and the women were to vote -- which only about a third entitled to a vote, did, at the past election -- they would get in with the help of the men who believe that women should be represented on the school board.

WAS NOT A PARTISAN FIGHT

Mrs. Peattie Explains Wherein the Women Voters Were Misled.

Suggests That THree of the Gentle Sex Enter the Next Race by Petition.

Reasons Advanced Why a Woman Should figure on the Board of Education -- False Accusations.

The election is over, and the republicans have won. There's nothing disastrous in that. it is to be hoped that it will always be safe for any party of Americans to win. No one can possibly believe that more than half of the nation -- or less than half of it -- is in league against good government. The parties in America represent different points of view, but it is to be hoped that they do not represent different degrees of patriotism.

The women in this city have had a peculiar interest in the last election, owing to the fact that they had a candidate of their own. That candidate has been defeated, along with the rest of those who were upon the democratic and populist tickets. And I am so fearful that the women will therefore feel discouraged, and lose their interest in the office for which this candidate was nominated -- that, however much I may be accused of bad taste, I must publicly write a few words to reassure them.

In no one branch of civic work is woman so much needed as in that which supervises the Schools. It is [?] and appropriate that she should be there. Her duties will not be of the same sort as those which the men assume. The men may attend to the finances in a general way, and dole out the janitorships to their political henchmen. But the women can make it their business to become acquainted with the life of the school room; they can look after the comfort of the children, the welfare of the teachers, and the moral and intellectual instruction. The task will be large, but noble. And certainly patriotic women should not be debarred from performing a public service now and then. It is a service, to be sure, which must be performed without any reward. It lays the performer open to much criticism. Where a woman is concerned success on the school board does not mean the opening of wider opportunities. Nothing but disinterestedness can prompt her to assume such responsibilities. It will therefore be seen that for many reasons she will be a valuable acquisition.

The present defeat has been the result of the partisan feeling among the women. More than half of the women who voted cast their ballot for the republican ticket, preferring a republican rather than one of their own sex upon the board. This was probably unexpected to those who first conceived the idea of securing the nomination of a woman candidate. There was nothing partisan in the attitude of that candidate. Nor could she conceive what partisanship had to do with the duties which are to be performed upon the school board. A democrat or a republican ought to be able equally well to look after good morals, fine instruction good ventilation and thorough system. Opinions on the tariff do not affect ones interest in childhood, nor do differences concerning the ratio of silver and gold currency affect one's ability to judge of text books. But the women seem to have thought otherwise, and to have been indifferent to representation upon the school board, so far as representation lay in sex. And they have defeated their own candidate.