Chapter 56

DAKOTA.

Influences of Climate and Scenery--Legislative Action, 1872--Mrs. Marietta Bones--In February, 1879, School Suffrage Granted Women--Constitutional Convention, 1883--Matilda Joslyn Gage Addressed a Letter to the Convention and an Appeal to the Women of the State--Mrs. Bones Addressed the Convention in Person--The Effort to Get the Word "Male" Out of the Constitution Failed--Legislature of 1885--Major Pickler Presents the Bill--Carried Through Both Houses--Governor Pierce's Veto--Major Pickler's Letter.

Philosophers have had much to say of the effect of climate and scenery upon the human family--the inspiring influence of the grand and the boundless in broadening the thought of the people and stimulating them to generous action. Hence, one might naturally look for liberal ideas among a people surrounded with such vast possessions as are in the territory of Dakota. But alas! there seems to be no correspondence in this republic between areas and constitutions. Although Dakota comprises 96,595,840 acres, yet one-half her citizens are defrauded of their rights precisely as they are in the little States of Delaware and Rhode Island. The inhabitants denied the right of suffrage by their territorial constitution are, the Indians not taxed (a hint that those who pay taxes vote), idiots, convicts and women. But from records sent us by Mrs. Marietta Bones, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, there seem to have been some spasmodic climatic influences at work, though not sufficiently strong as yet to get that odious word "male" out of the constitution. Our Dakota historian says:

The territorial legislature, in the year 1872, came within one vote of enfranchising women. That vote was cast by Hon. W. W. Moody, who, let it be said to his credit, most earnestly espoused the cause in our constitutional convention in 1883, and said in the course of his remarks: "Are not my wife and daughter as competent to vote as I am to hold office?" which question caused prolonged laughter among the most ignorant of the delegates, and cries of, "You're right, Judge!" Although it is deeply to be regretted that through one vote twelve years ago our women were deprived of freedom, yet we must forgive Judge Moody on the ground that "it is never too late to mend."

In February, 1879, the legislature revised the school law, and provided that women should vote at school meetings. That law was repealed in March, 1883, by the school township law, which requires regular polls and a private ballot, so, of course, excluding women from the small privilege given them in 1879. That act, however, excepted fifteen counties[453]--the oldest and most populous--which had districts fully established, and therein women still vote at school meetings.

In townships which are large and have many schools under one board and no districts, the people select which school they desire their children to attend. The persons who may so select are parents: first, the father; next, the mother, if there be no father living; guardians (women or men), and "persons having in charge children of school age." These persons hold a meeting annually of their "school," and such women vote there, and one of them may be chosen moderator for the school, to hold one year. This office is a sort of responsible agency for the school, and between it and the township board.

Since the legislation upon the subject of school suffrage there has not been much work done for the promotion of the cause. The wide distances between towns and the sparsely settled country make our people comparative strangers to each other. We lack organization; the country is too new; in fact, the most and only work for woman suffrage has been done by Matilda Joslyn Gage and myself, and, owing to disadvantages mentioned, that has been but little. Mrs. Gage reached Dakota just at the close of the Huron convention, held in June, 1883, to discuss the question of territorial division. The resolutions of the convention declared that just governments derived their powers from the consent of the governed; that Dakota possessed a population of 200,000, women included; that the people of a territory have the right, in their sovereign capacity, to adopt a constitution and form a State government. Accordingly, a convention was called for the purpose of enabling those residing in that part of Dakota south of the forty-sixth parallel to organize a State. Mrs. Gage at once addressed a letter to the women of the territory and to the constitutional convention assembled at Sioux Falls:

_To the Women of Dakota:_

A convention of men will assemble at Sioux Falls, September 4, for the purpose of framing a constitution and pressing upon congress the formation of a State of the southern half of the territory. This is the moment for women to act; it is the decisive moment. There can never again come to the women of Dakota an hour like the present. A constitution is the fundamental law of the State; upon it all statute laws are based, and upon the fact whether woman is inside or outside the pale of the constitution, her rights in the State depend.

The code of Dakota, under the head of "Personal Relations," says: "The husband is the head of the family. He may choose any reasonable place, or mode of living, and the wife must conform thereto." Under this class legislation, which was framed by man entirely in his own interests, the husband may, and in many cases does, file a preemption claim, build a shanty, and place his wife upon the ground as "a reasonable place and mode of living," while he remains in town in pursuit of business or pleasure.

Let us examine this condition of affairs a little closer. If the wife is not pleased with this "place and mode of living," but should leave it, she is, under this law of class legislation, liable to be advertised as having left the husband's bed and board, wherefore he will pay no debts of her contracting. And how is it if she remains on this until her continued residence upon it has enabled her husband to prove up? Does she then share in its benefits? Is she then half owner of the land? By no means. Chapter 3, section 83, article V. of the Code, says: "No estate is allowed the husband or tenant by courtesy upon the death of his wife, nor is any estate in dower allowed to the wife upon the death of the husband."

This article carries a specious fairness on its face, but it is a bundle of wrongs to woman. By the United States law, only "the head of the family" is allowed to enter lands--either a preemption, homestead or tree claim. In unison with the United States, the law of Dakota (see