Women Councillors.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 387, 24 July 1889, Page 3

Women Councillors.

A contributor to the ' Li\ erpool Weekly Mercury ' writes : — " Last spring, just about this time, mention was made in this letter of Oskaloosa, a city of I^ansas, where a new mayor and town council had been elected all of whom were women. At the time it was said that the townspeople, having become, tired of the inefficiency of councilraen, had concluded to turn their municipal aflairs over to the women, and they accordingly did so. The ladies elected were wives of 'prominent business men. The mayor was a Mrs Mary Lowman. She was then about" 49 years of age. She has two children — a son and a daughter — and she is a very capable, intelligent person. She is rather under the medium height, and her manner is exceedingly mild, but ' there are few women who combine such great firmness with such gentleness.' Of the town councillors one was a Mrs Morse. She was an Englishwoman, a { gracious matron with a kindly face and bearing,' and a Methodist ; another' a Mrs Hamilton, described as a ' patient, faithful mother, whose influence will be felt for good in the council chamber ;' she also is a Methodist. ' She is a woman of convictions, strong even to severity, and her sense of duty is the ruling power of her lite.' A third 'was a Mrs Balsley, another Methodist, and the mother of one little daughter. When the reporter called upon her 'she wasinthe depthsof house cleaning.' The youngest member of the council was Mrs Carrie Johnson. She was only 23, and was a very energetic person ; indeed, all the ladies were • bright, cheery, intelligent, and possessed of a large shaie of common sense. These ladies have held office a year. They ha\ c been very active. They have given the city good government, and plenty of it ; and they have attended carefully to all matters requiring their consideration, and ' no consideration of expediency could make them depart fiom what they believed to be right.' The amusing part ofl the affair, however, is that * Oskaloosa seems to have liked being governed thus, and the latest news about them, is that this spring ■ the women have been re elected ' by sweeping majorities.' This is really a most extraordinary piece of business, and it seems to prove that those who are able to govern a household are able to govern a city. The experiment of women governing a city has been watched with interest by many, and 'so far it has been an -unqualified success. The consequence of all this is that the example set by Oskaloosa has been imitated by other cities. The municipal 1 elections aro just over at RqssvilJe,-. and. there, too, the mayor and j council aro all women •; the police judge is also a woman. In.- Cotton Wood Falls the same thing nas ocourred.'iand the 'city is this 'year 1 to be" governed entirely by women. In this instance, the women were nominated as a joke by people very much opposed to them, who* put forward the names of women prominent for works of charity, temperance, and morality. The best people of the town, however, took the matter up and the ladies thus nominated in derision were all elected by an overwhelming majority composed of the best citizens of all parties. In Baldwin, also, a full set of lady officials' has been appointed Commenting on the fact, 1 a local paper says ' Baldwin has always been noted lor enterprising women, and now these women wiU be given an opportunity to' prove themselves capable of giving their cities a prosperous year." What do women say to this? Ifc is enough to take one's breath away.}