at least one of the physicians appointed to attend in the department for women in the hospital for the insane should be a woman. The whole tone of Governor Porter's administration was liberal toward women; he invariably implied his belief in their equality, and on one or two occasions has evinced his respect for their ability by conferring on them responsible offices. Many of the leading men in the Republican party, and a few in the Democratic, are favorable, and while they do not labor for the enfranchisement of their sisters with the same enthusiasm which personal bondage excites, their constant influence is on the side of woman's emancipation.
As to the charities conducted by Indiana women, for a condensed narrative of the efficient service of Mrs. L. B. Wishard and Miss Susan Fussell, I must refer readers to the account kindly prepared for me by Mrs. Paulina T. Merritt.[1]
Whether or not justified by the facts, the feeling is current that those whom the masses favor hold themselves aloof from those whom personal experience, or a sense of justice, compels to walk the stony path of reform. The litteratéurs often form a sort of pseudo-intellectual aristocracy, and do not willingly affiliate with reformers, whom they are ready to assume to be less cultivated than themselves. Of this weakness our literary women have not been guilty. Most of them are members of the suffrage society.[2]
A system is now developing which will not only stimulate women to engage in competitive industries and secure justice in rewarding such labor, but will greatly facilitate the work of ascertaining what part women do take in the general industries of the State. Indiana, being mainly agricultural, is divided into sixteen districts, each of which has organized an agricultural society. Besides these there are also county societies. These organizations are composed of men and women, the latter having nominally the same powers and privileges as the former. Annually the State Agricultural Association holds a meeting at Indianapolis. This is a delegate body, consisting of representatives from the district and county societies. There is no constitutional check against sending women as delegates, though it has not hitherto been done. One chief duty of the primary convention is to elect a State board of agriculture. This board consists of sixteen members, one for each agricultural district. The managers of the Woman's State Fair Association have called an industrial convention, whose sessions will be held at the same time that the Agricultural Association holds its annual meeting.[3]
If the press reflects the public, it also moulds it; and its conservative
- ↑ See Appendix, Indiana chapter, notes E and F.
- ↑ Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton, Laura Ream, Mrs. Lew Wallace, Mary H. Korut, Mary Dean, Margaret Holmes (Mrs. M. V. Bates), Mrs. M. E. Banta, Mrs. Louise V. Boyd, Mrs. Helen V. Austin, Mrs. Hettie A. Morrison, Mrs. E. S. L. Thompson, Mrs. Amy E. Dunn, Mrs. A. D. Hawkins, Miss Rena L. Miner, Miss Edna C. Jackson and Mrs. D. M. Jordan are all literary women who sympathize with and aid this reform.
- ↑ The woman's department has constantly grown in extent and value, until it has become one of the most important features of the State fair, and this year, 1885, the managers have allowed to it twice the space hitherto occupied. It is worthy of note that suffrage papers, tracts and books are always to be found among the exhibits.
