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affairs has operated to draw them away from their homes and from . the usual domestic avocations, a suggestion which our experience amply disproves. In Idaho women are to-day the same loving wives, kind mothers and capable home-managers that they always have been. Nor has there been the least belittling of the sex in the eyes of the men, nor any falling off in that tenderness and respect which men universally accord to women. There is not the slightest interruption of family ties. Whether husband and wife vote together or oppositely excites no interest and no animosity, although naturally families are apt to have the same party affiliations. The system has not operated to take women from their homes, nor has it tended to make them in any way masculine.^[1]

In the presidential election of 1900 women showed the liveliest interest. The universal testimony was that never in the history of the State had there been such order about the polling-places. Four-fifths of the ballots were cast by 1 o'clock. The women did as effective work as the men in getting out the voters.

The total population of Idaho is 161,762, and is composed, in round numbers, of 58 per cent. of males and 42 per cent. of females. The total vote of the men was 55,096; of the women, 19,660. In the counties representing the agricultural, manufacturing and general business of the State the women's vote averaged 41 per cent. of the total ballot. In the counties devoted exclusively to mining, where there are very few women, they cast only 24 per cent. This brought the average of the women's vote in the entire State down to 35 1-2 per cent. of the total.

In Boise 1,982 men and 1,561 women registered; total, 3,543. The vote cast was 3,281. Allowing for the usual failures on the part of the men, these figures show that over 40 per cent. of the vote of this city must have been cast by women.^[2]

Legislative Action And Laws: The placing of the ballot in the hands of women has had the effect of bringing about two changes of the highest importance. The session of the Legisla-

1. See Appendix—Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
2. Prof. L. F. Henderson of the State University says that equal suffrage, even in the few years it has been in operation in Idaho, has proved itself a thing so simple, so natural, so entirely free from any objectionable features, that it is now generally accepted and looked upon as a matter of course. It has already converted the majority of the men who were opposed and, which is still more remarkable, has converted also the majority of the women.   Mrs. Henderson says the intelligent women take more interest in suffrage than the ignorant ones; that women have suffered no loss of consideration or social influence, but are treated, if anything, with more respect. The possession of the ballot has made them much more intelligent about public questions, as it has stimulated the study of these.