Show 1 11 N II SK als q I 1 A ap WOMEN MEN NOT LEGAL VOTERS 1 I 1 I 1 supreme i court reverses I 1 I 1 judge smiths ruling I 1 if I 1 EDMUNDS TUCKER LAW RULES r ti 1 I 1 nowhere has it been repealed and 11 the tha enabling act also excludes i I 1 woman guffra suffrage 0 E judges merritt and burtch bartch agree in the reversal Kc versal 4 judge ring king delivers a hot dissenting f 4 I 1 opinion I 1 t I 1 I 1 suit salt lake city utah september I 1 hj i fair woman cannot vote ether either upon the adoption or rejection of the constitution ution or for state stale officers at the I 1 ai coming election I 1 this la Is the edict issued yesterday afternoon by the tha supreme court ot of the territory k the opinion in the case which was a verbal one was delivered by chief justice J Alei Meirl ritt tt and associate justice I 1 burtch concurred 0 V associate justice kins dissented in a I 1 most vigorous and emphatic manner I 1 and during tile the course of his remarks at h he e characterized the action of the majority J 0 of tile the court not only an injustice but an outrage upon the women of t utah it the opinion was rendered by chief justice merritt when the court reassembled at 2 in the afternoon I 1 his honor after mentioning the title of the case said eald in substance 1 CHIEF JUSTICE MERRITT 1 I this Is a case in which the petitioner a sarah A anderson applied to the court below tor for a writ of mandate to 1 I compel charles tyree deputy registrar of weber county to place her name it upon the registration list of weber county as a legal voter upon the adoption or rejection of the constitution 4 and tor for state officers tho the applicant I 1 Is s a woman and ana Con congress grees passed a law known as the edmunds tucker act which says among other things that it shall not be lawful tor for any female to vote at any election hereafter held in the territory of utah tor for any public purpose whatever and no such vote shall be received or counted or given any effect anany in any measure whatever and any and every act of the I 1 legislative assembly of the tha territory of utah providing for or allowing the registration or voting of females is hereby annulled I 1 it 1 I do not aind that the act has ever been repealed and it remains in the 4 statutes of the tha united states and applicable to this territory until it Is repealed I 1 or the territory becomes a state aj j I 1 section 2 of the enabling act provides that all male citizens of the united states over the age of 0 21 years who have resided in said territory for one year next prior to such ele election e flu are hereby authorized to vote for and and IJ ell choose 0 ose delegates to form a convention I 1 in said territory in the latter part of this section it Is provided that persons possessing the I 1 qualifications entitling them to vote 1 1 tor tar delegates under this act shall be 7 entitled to vote on the ratification or I 1 rejection of the constitution under 1 such rules or regulations as ag said convention may prescribe not in conflict I 1 with this act r congress clearly intended this to refer to male voters only section 4 of the tha enabling act uses the language at which election the 4 I 1 qualified voters of the said proposed 0 state shall vote directly for or against the proposed constitution etc who are the qualified voters of the said proposed state clearly those male citizens over the age of 21 years and possessing the necessary qualifications r 1 state I 1 it Is a matter of public notoriety that I 1 the question of the right of women to I 1 vote upon the adoption ot of tatt constitution 11 came up in the constitutional A invention 19 and was voted down time alm e and again the constitution Is very post I 1 five in this and I 1 can come to no other I 1 conclusion than that only male citizens are qualified voters vaters JL it Is also provided in article 4 of tho the constitution that the rights of citizens A of the state of utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex fex section 11 article 24 of the constitution provides that the election for the adoption or rejection of at the constitution and tor for state officers shall be held on the tuesday next after the first monday in november 1895 and shall hall I 1 be conducted according to the laws law of 1 the territory and the provisions ot of the enabling act it seems to me taking the enabling act into consideration it Is clear beyond fl the possibility of 0 a doubt that only male citizens are entitled to vote for cor the ratification or rejection of 0 the constitution and tor for state officers and women only have the right to vote vota i when they are enfranchised by the adoption ol of the constitution by the he qualified voters under the provisions ot of the enabling act 1 I think the court below erred tn in granting the writ ot of mandate and it Is the decision of 0 this court that the judgment I 1 be reversed |