"
In all three states the pending amendments were caught in the toils
of the "wet and dry" issue. The "wets" obsessed by the idea that woman
suffrage is "next door to prohibition" used their entire machinery
to defeat the amendments, while the "drys" regarded the amendments as
distinctly separate questions. These conditions may be regarded as
the inevitable hazards of a campaign. It is, however, not at all clear
that the amendments were defeated in any one of the three states
by the honest "will of the majority." In none of them were women
permitted to serve as watchers over their amendment. In Iowa well
established proof of wilful or careless violations of laws throws
doubt over the returns, while in West Virginia the suspicion of fraud
rests upon the entire election. In Iowa four and in South Dakota nine
counties colonized by people of foreign birth or parentage deprived
the women of the state of their vote.
A Federal amendment ratified by the legislatures of the several states
would secure to the women of South Dakota and Iowa the rights for
which American and Americanized men have voted.
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