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Title: The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI
Author: Harper, Ida Husted, 1851-1931 [Editor]
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI" ***
[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this
text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant
spellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to
correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook.
Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain
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[Illustration: MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT. President of the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance from its founding in 1904 and of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association 1900-1904 and from
1915.
Standing in an automobile on the way from the railroad station in New
York after the campaign for ratification of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment was completed by Tennessee. (See page 652.)]
THE HISTORY
OF
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
EDITED BY
IDA HUSTED HARPER
ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPERPLATE AND PHOTOGRAVURE
ENGRAVINGS
_IN SIX VOLUMES_
VOLUME VI
1900--1920
IN A TRUE DEMOCRACY EVERY CITIZEN HAS A VOTE
NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
INTRODUCTION
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES OF THE UNION
In the preceding volume a full account is given of the forty years'
continuous effort to secure an amendment to the Federal Constitution
which would confer full suffrage on all the women of the United States
possessing the qualifications required of men. Antedating the
beginning of this effort by thirty years was the attempt to
enfranchise women through the amendment of State constitutions. After
1869 the two movements were contemporaneous, each dependent on the
other, the latter a long process but essential in some measure to the
success of the former. There is no way by which the progress of the
movement for woman suffrage can be so clearly seen as by a comparison
of the State chapters in this volume with the State chapters in Volume
IV, which closed with 1900. The former show the remarkable development
of the organized work for woman suffrage, especially in the last
decade, which brought the complete victory.
In Volume IV it was possible to give a résumé of the Laws specifically
relating to women and one was sent with each chapter for this volume.
The space occupied by the account of the work for the suffrage,
however, made it necessary to omit them. It required thousands of
words to record the legislation of the last twenty years relating
especially to women in some of the States and the large part of it to
women in the industries, which they had scarcely entered in 1900. The
same is true of child labor. Every State shows a desire for protective
legislation. Many States provide for mothers' pensions, a modern
tendency. About half of the States now have equal guardianship laws.
There is a gradual increase in those enlarging the property and
business rights of married women. The "age of consent" and the age for
marriage have been raised in most States where they were too low. In
every State for a number of years the large organizations of women
have made a determined effort to obtain better laws for women and
children and Legislatures have yielded to pressure. In every State as
soon as women were enfranchised there was improvement in laws relating
to their welfare and that of children.
The Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment went into effect in August, 1920,
and the following winter there was a greater amount of advanced
legislation in the various States than had taken place in the
preceding ten years collectively, and the résumé of existing laws that
had been prepared for this volume was soon at least partially obsolete
in many of them. A brief statement of Office Holding was incorporated
but its only value was in showing that in all States this was almost
exclusively limited to "electors." When the Federal Amendment was
proclaimed it carried with it eligibility to the offices. In some
States it included Jury service but in others it was held that for
this special legislation was necessary. In all States the professions
and other occupations are open to women the same as to men. In the way
of Education every State University admits women, and the vast
majority of institutions of learning, except some of a religious
character, are co-educational. A few of the large eastern universities
still bar their doors but women have all needful opportunities for the
higher education. Some professional schools--law, medicine and
especially theology--are still closed to women but enough are open to
them to satisfy the demand, and the same is true of the technical
schools. To meet the lack of space every chapter had to be drastically
cut after it was in type.
Women now have in a general sense equality of rights, although in
every State they have learned or will learn that this is not literally
true and that further effort will be required, but now, as never
before, they are equipped for accomplishing it. It will be a long time
before they have equality of opportunity in the business and political
world but for the majority this will not be needed. Women will find,
however, that in the home, in club life and in all lines of religious,
philanthropic, educational and civic work the possession of a vote has
increased their influence and power beyond measure.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION i
Position of women in regard to laws, office holding, education,
etc.
CHAPTER I.
ALABAMA 1
Early work -- Progress of organization -- Conventions held,
reports and speeches made, activities of the association --
Officers and workers -- Legislative action -- Campaigns -- Help
of the National Association -- Action on ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment -- Interest taken by President
Wilson, National Committees and party leaders -- Celebrations.
[This form is followed in all the State chapters, with names of
officers, workers, friends and enemies and many incidents; also
results where woman suffrage exists. The chapters are
alphabetically arranged, I to XLIX.]
CHAPTER L.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE TERRITORIES AND THE PHILIPPINES 713
ALASKA 713
Legislature gives suffrage to women -- Privileges to Indian
women --Other laws -- Women in prohibition campaign -- Women's
war work.
HAWAII 715
Congress refuses to let its Legislature control the suffrage
--National Suffrage Association protests -- Its president, Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, at Honolulu -- Mrs. Pitman, of Brookline,
Mass., holds meetings there -- Legislature sends resolution to
Congress -- Senator John F. Shafroth gets Bill through Congress
-- Efforts of Hawaiian women with their Legislature.
THE PHILIPPINES 719
The National Suffrage Association demands franchise for their
women -- Governor General Taft and Archbishop Nozaleda support
the demand --The U. S. Congress ignores it -- Position of
Filipino women --Commissioner's wife describes their efforts
for the suffrage.
PORTO RICO 722
Status of suffrage for men -- They demand their own Legislature
-- National Suffrage Association asks that women may share in
the suffrage -- Senator Shafroth shows that it can not be put
into the Bill -- Efforts of Porto Rican women with its
Legislature.
CHAPTER LI.
GREAT BRITAIN 726
Situation as to woman suffrage at commencement of the present
century -- Status of the Bill in Parliament in the first decade
-- Premier Campbell-Bannerman advises "pestering" -- Strong
hostility of Premier Asquith -- Beginning of "militancy" -- Its
effect on the suffrage movement -- Mrs. Fawcett's opinion --
Constitutional societies repudiate it -- Labor party supports
woman suffrage --Treachery in Parliament -- The Conciliation
Bill -- Women left out of the Franchise Reform Bill --
Deputation to Premier Asquith -- Lloyd George's attitude --
Speaker Lowther kills Bill -- Suffragists go into politics --
Great suffrage "pilgrimage" -- Outbreak of war --Important war
work of the suffrage societies -- Coalition Government --
Conference Committee on Electoral Reform Bill -- Premier
Asquith supports Woman Suffrage -- Lloyd George becomes Premier
-- Suffrage clause in Bill gets immense majority in House of
Commons -- Big fight in House of Lords but goes through --
Royal assent given -- Two women elected to House of Commons --
Oxford University opened to women.
CHAPTER LII.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN BRITISH COLONIES 752
NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA 752
CANADA 753
First Woman Suffrage Society in Ontario -- The gaining of Woman
Suffrage in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British
Columbia. Efforts of the Women to secure action from the
Legislature of each Province -- Victory in Ontario after long
struggle -- War time Woman Suffrage Act of the Dominion
Parliament -- Granting of complete suffrage in 1918 -- The
Legislatures of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia give Provincial
suffrage -- Quebec refuses -- Women of Newfoundland still
disfranchised.
SOUTH AFRICA 767
The National Parliament persistently declines to enfranchise
women --Their strong efforts for the vote -- Granted in several
of the States -- Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance, spends several months in
South Africa conferring with the women.
INDIA 769
CHAPTER LIII.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN MANY COUNTRIES 771
FINLAND 771
NORWAY 774
DENMARK 776
ICELAND 779
SWEDEN 780
THE NETHERLANDS 783
BELGIUM 786
LUXEMBURG 788
RUSSIA 788
GERMANY 789
AUSTRIA 792
HUNGARY 793
BOHEMIA 794
SWITZERLAND 795
ITALY 797
FRANCE 799
GREECE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, PALESTINE, CHINA, JAPAN, SOUTH
AND CENTRAL AMERICA, MEXICO 802-804
CHAPTER LIV.
THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE 805
Desire of Early Leaders -- International Council of Women --
Miss Anthony and Mrs. Catt call Conference in Washington on
International Suffrage Alliance -- Ten Countries represented --
Proceedings of Conference -- Plan of Temporary Organization --
Declaration of Principles -- Valuable Reports on the Status of
Women.
PERMANENT ORGANIZATION IN BERLIN IN 1904 809
Conference and Congress in Copenhagen in 1906 812 Delegates
present, addresses, Memorials for Miss Anthony, reports, social
entertainments, Badge adopted.
CONGRESS IN AMSTERDAM IN 1908 817
Welcome of Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the National
Suffrage Association -- Mrs. Catt's president's address --
"Militants" present -- Entertainments -- Victories in Finland
and Norway -- _Jus Suffragii_ established -- A day in
Rotterdam.
THE FIRST QUINQUENNIAL IN LONDON 828
Mrs. Catt's address -- Mrs. Fawcett, president of the British
Suffrage Association, speaks, refers to "militants" -- Mass
meetings in Albert Hall -- In touch with Queens -- Flag and
Hymn selected --Resolutions adopted -- Officers elected -- Dr.
Shaw in the pulpits.
CONGRESS IN STOCKHOLM 838
Honors to Mrs. Catt -- Many delegates and eminent guests -- Dr.
Shaw preaches in State church -- Selma Lagerlöf speaks --
Growth of Alliance -- Non-partisanship declared -- Men's
International League formed -- Beautiful outdoor entertainments
--Tributes to Sweden.
CONGRESS IN BUDAPEST 847
Great number of delegates -- Official welcome in Academy of
Music --Mrs. Catt's president's address -- Dr. Jacobs presents
Banner from women of China -- Royal Opera House opened for the
Congress -- Many excursions -- "Militant" methods discussed --
Resolution on commercialized vice -- Activity of Men's League
-- Rosika Schwimmer, national president, speaks -- Officers
elected.
CONFERENCE IN GENEVA 860
First meeting of Alliance after the World War -- Miss Royden
preaches in National church -- Mrs. Catt uses the War as text
for great speech -- It brought Woman Suffrage to many countries
-- Women present from thirty-six, including five members of
Parliament -- Delegates entertained by the Municipality --
Treasurer's report tells of help of United States -- Congress
votes to continue the Alliance.
APPENDIX 872
Anti-suffrage Manifesto of Nebraska men.
SUFFRAGE MAPS 626-629
ANTHONY MEMORIAL BUILDING _Opp. page_ 442
CHAPTER I.
ALABAMA[1]
In 1902 Miss Frances Griffin of Verbena sent to the national suffrage
convention the following report as president of the State suffrage
association: "Two clubs in Alabama, in Huntsville and Decatur, are
auxiliary to the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The
State president did some aggressive work within the year, speaking in
many different towns before women's clubs and at parlor meetings. She
devoted much time to work of this character in Montgomery, hoping to
bring to bear sufficient influence upon members of the Constitutional
Convention to secure some concessions for women citizens. The results
were bitterly disappointing, for it not only refused to grant suffrage
to tax-paying women but it gave to the husbands of tax-payers the
right to vote upon their wives' property! Women in the larger towns
are taking an interest in municipal and educational affairs. Some have
been placed on advisory boards in State institutions, such as the
Girls' Industrial School, the Boys' Reform School and others. All this
means a gradual advance for the suffrage sentiment, a general
modifying of the anti-sentiment."
There were also short reports for 1903 and 1904, which, while showing
no practical, tangible results of the efforts of that earnest pioneer
worker, are interesting as evidences of the backward, unprogressive
spirit against which the women of Alabama have had to contend. These
reports mark the end of the first period of suffrage activity in the
State, which had been maintained by a few devoted women. The new era
was ushered in by the organization in Selma in 1910 of an Equal
Suffrage Association which was the beginning of an aggressive,
tireless fight. Miss Mary Partridge, after seeing the defeat of a
constitutional amendment for prohibition in Alabama despite the
earnest but ineffectual efforts of the women who besieged the polls
begging the men to vote for it, decided that the time was ripe for a
woman suffrage organization and wrote for advice to Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association,
who answered in part: "I cannot express to you how happy I am that you
are willing to begin the work in your State where very little has been
done for suffrage because of the great conservatism among the women of
the South. I am very glad if they are now beginning to realize their
absolutely helpless and unprotected position. We have the temperance
agitation to thank for arousing a great many women over all the
country...."
Shortly after the receipt of this letter Miss Partridge sent out a
"call" in the Selma papers and on March 29, 1910, Mrs. Frederick
Watson, Mrs. F. T. Raiford, Mrs. F. G. DuBose, Mrs. F. M. Hatch and
Miss Partridge met at the Carnegie Library and organized the
association. This action was reported to Dr. Shaw and she extended the
greetings of the National Association with "thanks and appreciation."
The Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association was the outgrowth of a small
group of women who had been holding study meetings in the home of Mrs.
W. L. Murdoch. The enthusiasm and earnest conviction resulting from
them found expression in a "call" for a woman suffrage organization
and on Oct. 22, 1911, the association was formed at a meeting held in
the Chamber of Commerce, where the following officers were elected:
President, Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs; first vice-president, Miss
Ethel Armes; second, Mrs. W. L. Murdoch; third, Mrs. W. N. Wood;
corresponding secretary, Miss Helen J. Benners; recording secretary,
Mrs. J. E. Frazier; treasurer, Mrs. A. J. Bowron.
Special mention is made of these two societies because they
constituted the nucleus on which the State organization was formed. An
urgent "call" was sent out by the officers of the Birmingham society
to "all men and women who wish to further the cause of woman suffrage
to unite in a State organization at a meeting in Birmingham Oct. 9,
1912." Selma sent six delegates who met with the Birmingham
suffragists at the Parish House of the Church of the Advent, where the
Alabama Equal Suffrage Association was organized and a constitution
and by-laws adopted. Mrs. Jacobs was elected president; Miss
Partridge, first vice-president; Mrs. Raiford, second; Mrs. Murdoch,
corresponding secretary; Mrs. Julian Parke, recording secretary; Mrs.
C. M. Spencer, treasurer; Miss Partridge, State organizer.[2]
The following delegates were appointed to attend the national
convention in Philadelphia in November; Mrs. Jacobs, Miss Amelia
Worthington, Mrs. O. R. Hundley, Mrs. DuBose, Miss Partridge, Mrs.
Chappel Cory. The new State organization affiliated at once with the
National Association.
The first annual convention was held in Selma Jan. 29, 1913, with
twenty-five representatives from Selma, Birmingham, Huntsville and
Montgomery. Mrs. Jacobs was re-elected president and a splendid
program of constructive work was outlined for the ensuing year. The
association was represented at the meeting of the International
Suffrage Alliance held in Budapest in June of this year by Mrs. T. G.
Bush of Birmingham.
The second State convention, held in Huntsville Feb. 5, 1914, was made
notable by the inspiring presence of three of Alabama's pioneer
suffragists--Mrs. Annie Buel Drake Robertson, Mrs. Humes, and Mrs.
Virginia Clay Clopton. The following local societies were represented
by their presidents, named in the order in which they were organized:
Selma, Mrs. Parke; Birmingham, Mrs. Hundley; Montgomery, Mrs. Sallie
B. Powell; Huntsville, Mrs. Clopton; Cullman, Mrs. Ignatius Pollak;
Greensboro, Miss S. Anne Hobson; Tuscaloosa, Mrs. Losey; Vinemont,
Miss Mary Munson; Pell City, Miss Pearl Still; Coal City, Mrs. J. W.
Moore; Mobile, Miss Eugenie Marks. Mrs. Jacobs was re-elected despite
her wish to retire from office and her report of the past year told of
a great amount of work done by all the members of the board.
In January, 1915, a resolution to submit a woman suffrage amendment
to the State constitution to the voters was for the first time
introduced in the Legislature. It was referred to the Committee on
Privileges and Elections in the House and the Legislature afterwards
adjourned until July. In the meantime the women worked to secure
pledges from the members of the committee to report the bill favorably
and 14 of the 16 gave their promise to do so. Instead of this it was
"postponed indefinitely." The women did not rest until they persuaded
the House to compel a report and then a hearing was granted to them.
Among those who worked in the Legislature were the legislative
chairman, Mrs. O. R. Hundley; Mrs. Jacobs, the State president; Mrs.
Chappel Cory, president United Daughters of the Confederacy; Miss
Mollie Dowd, representing the wage earners, and Miss Lavinia Engle of
Maryland, field organizer for the National Association. The bill came
to a vote late in the session, when Representative Joe Green, who had
asked for the privilege of introducing it, spoke and voted against it.
The vote stood 52 ayes, 43 noes, a three-fifths majority being
necessary to submit an amendment. As the Legislature meets only once
in four years this was the only action ever taken on a State
amendment.
At the State convention, held in Tuscaloosa in February of this year,
reports were made from 19 auxiliary branches and the organization of
23 non-auxiliary branches was reported. The address of Dr. Shaw, the
national president, gave a great impetus to suffrage work in the
State. Mrs. Jacobs and the other officers were re-elected, except that
Mrs. Frederick Koenig was made auditor.
On Feb. 9, 1916, the State convention was held in Gadsden and the
evidences of the growth of the suffrage movement were most heartening,
26 local associations sending reports. Mrs. Parke was chosen for
president, Mrs. Jacobs having been elected auditor of the National
Association.
The State convention was held in Birmingham Feb. 12-13, 1917, and the
officers re-elected except that Miss Worthington was made recording
secretary. It was followed by a "suffrage" school conducted by
representatives of the National Association, who generously gave the
valuable help that a course of study under such able instructors
afforded. Over 200 pupils attended. It was reported that there were
now 81 suffrage clubs in the State, which were being merged into
political organizations with the county as a unit, and there were
chairmen in 55 of the 67 counties. There were also chairmen in nine of
the ten congressional districts. A paid organizer had been at work.
State headquarters were maintained on the principal street in Selma
and a bi-weekly press bulletin issued which was used by thirty-four
newspapers, while eight published weekly suffrage columns. The
Birmingham _News_ got out a suffrage edition. Four travelling suffrage
libraries were kept in circulation. Automobile parades had been given,
a mass meeting held in Birmingham and street meetings in every part of
the State.
The State convention was held in Selma May 7-8, 1918. The reports made
by local and State officers showed that the suffragists had lent
themselves and all their machinery of organization to every form of
war work. Mrs. Jacobs had been appointed by Mr. McAdoo, Secretary of
the Treasury, State chairman of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee.
Suffrage work was in no wise suspended but the more active forms of
propaganda were held in abeyance. The Federal Amendment was endorsed
in no uncertain terms and the following resolution was adopted:
"Whereas, the Senate will soon vote on the Federal Suffrage Amendment,
therefore, be it resolved, by the suffragists of Alabama assembled in
their sixth annual convention, that the U. S. Senators, John H.
Bankhead and Oscar W. Underwood, be, and they hereby are, earnestly
petitioned to forward the march of democracy, to carry out the policy
of the Democratic administration and to represent truly the wishes of
the women of their own State by supporting this amendment and voting
for it when it comes up in the Senate."
It was reported that the State association had energetically
cooperated with the National in all its suggestions and plans and
notwithstanding the efforts made to raise money for the purposes of
the war it had collected over $10,000 for State suffrage work and more
than paid its pledge of $1,000 to the national treasury. Thousands of
copies of U. S. Senator Shafroth's speech, the gift of the Leslie
Suffrage Commission, had been mailed to the rural voters. The clergy
had been requested to speak on woman suffrage in their sermons on
"mothers' day" and many responded. Miss Lola Trax, the State
organizer, reported a chairman in all but two counties. Each of the
State's representatives in Congress had been interviewed. Dr. Anna
Howard Shaw, the national president, had lectured in seven places and
Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, national vice-president, in five. The
petitions for the Federal Amendment were being circulated.
The Alabama delegates to the national convention in March, 1919,
learned while there that the Federal Amendment was likely to be passed
by Congress in time for action to be taken on its ratification by the
Legislature of the State, which had been called to meet July 8. They
went before the National Board and secured the promise of definite
help, which was to consist of literature, press work and organizers,
and certain obligations were undertaken on the part of the State. The
National Association did more even than it promised and the State
suffragists made heroic efforts to live up to their part of the
contract.
On May 1 the campaign was under way although the amendment had not yet
been submitted. A Ratification Committee was appointed by the
president consisting of Mrs. John D. McNeel of Birmingham, chairman;
Mrs. W. D. Nesbit of Birmingham, vice-chairman; Mrs. Bibb Graves of
Montgomery, resident member, and Mrs. Jacobs, ex-officio member.
County chairmen were appointed in 53 counties and a Men's Committee of
One Hundred was organized. Headquarters were equipped with some paid
and much faithful volunteer help and the distribution of literature
and press work was started. Early in the month Mrs. Albert McMahon,
Miss Edna Beveridge and Miss Josephine Miller, organizers, were sent
by the National Association, to which group Miss Mary Parke London of
Birmingham was added and contributed her services throughout the
entire campaign as an organizer and lobbyist. Press work was
systematically carried on, some of the material sent from national
headquarters but most of it originating in Birmingham. Speakers
covered all important public meetings to which access could be had;
Governor Thomas E. Kilby and other prominent men were interviewed and
a poll was taken of the legislators before they convened.[3] At the
joint hearing, which was arranged almost immediately after the
Legislature met, John C. Anderson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;
W. D. Nesbitt, State chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee;
ex-Senator Frank S. White; Judge S. D. Weakley, legal adviser of the
Governor, and others spoke for ratification.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress June 4
and the Legislature met July 8. For days before the vote was taken it
occupied almost exclusive attention at the capital, many of the
newspapers saying that the opposition were placing the State and the
Democratic party in a grave position. The Republican party was
claiming credit for the submission and Democratic leaders felt it to
be very necessary that the Alabama Legislature should ratify. On July
12 President Wilson telegraphed to Governor Kilby as follows: "I hope
you will pardon me if I express my very earnest hope that the suffrage
amendment to the constitution of the United States may be ratified by
the great State of Alabama. It would constitute a very happy augury
for the future and add greatly to the strength of a movement which, in
my judgment, is based upon the highest consideration both of justice
and expedience."
On the same date Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels sent a long
message to Mrs. McNeel, chairman of the Ratification Committee, and a
multigraphed copy to each member of the Senate, setting forth the
merits of the amendment and saying: "The South has nothing to fear
from the amendment but it would be a loss to southern chivalry and
southern prestige if our section of the country halted this great
reform. I earnestly hope that the people of Alabama will take the lead
of southern States east of the Mississippi and follow the wise
leadership of Texas and Missouri and other progressive commonwealths.
There is no doubt of its ratification. Let Alabama lead and not
follow." Homer S. Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, and other prominent Democrats added their earnest appeals
to the Senate for favorable action.
The ratifying resolution was introduced in the Senate by John A.
Rogers and in the House by W. H. Shaw. The date set for the vote in
the Senate was July 17 and a hearing before a joint meeting of Senate
and House was granted on the 16th. Women journeyed to Montgomery from
nearly every county to plead for the amendment but its defeat had
already been planned. The vote was 13 ayes, 19 noes.
The House did not act on the measure until September 17 and during the
interim every possible pressure was made on its members to obtain a
favorable vote. President Wilson sent an urgent telegram to Speaker H.
P. Merritt. Chairman Nesbit convened the State Democratic Committee on
August 21 to consider the amendment. It adopted a resolution by a vote
of 20 to 13, which endorsed the favorable action of the National
Committee the preceding May and said: "We pledge our support in every
proper way to accomplish the result desired." Mrs. George Bass,
chairman of the Women's National Democratic Committee, went to
Montgomery for this meeting and remained several days working for the
amendment. The Central Labor Union of that city at a mass meeting
passed a resolution asking the Legislature to "take steps immediately
to ratify the amendment." A majority of the House were pledged to vote
in favor of ratification but after it had been defeated in the Senate
they considered it useless to keep their promise and the vote was 31
ayes, 60 noes.
The Governor and Lieutenant Governor Nathan L. Miller maintained a
neutral position. The mainspring of the opposition from beginning to
end was U. S. Senator Oscar W. Underwood. Senator John H. Bankhead was
equally opposed. Both Senators had voted against the submission of the
Federal Amendment and of the ten members in the Lower House only one,
William B. Oliver of Tuscaloosa, had voted in favor.[4]
Because of the campaign no convention took place in 1919. On April
8-9, 1920, the last one of the State Equal Suffrage Association, as
such, was held in Montgomery. A large "pioneer luncheon" was given in
the Exchange Hotel and a beautiful set of silver baskets was presented
to Mrs. Jacobs. The sessions were held in the Senate chamber of the
historic Capitol and by unanimous consent the association was merged
into the State League of Women Voters. Mrs. A. J. Bowron was elected
chairman.
After the amendment was finally ratified by the necessary 36 States
there was a victory parade in Birmingham in which 1,500 took part. A
brass band headed 36 automobiles, each a mass of banners, flags and
flowers, labeled in the order in which the States ratified. Mrs.
Jacobs and the pioneers led the marchers, followed by professional and
business women, the League of Women Voters, the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union and other organizations. It ended with addresses and
singing in Capitol Park.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Pattie Ruffner
Jacobs, eight years president of the State Equal Suffrage Association,
three years auditor of the National Association and now secretary of
the National League of Women Voters; also to Miss Helen J. Benners,
research chairman of the State League of Women Voters.
[2] Those who held office in the State association during the next
eight years were as follows: Mrs. Milton Humes, Mrs. Frederick D.
Losey, Mrs. Parke, Mrs. Angus Taylor, Mrs. J. D. Wilkins, Mrs. W. J.
Chambers, Miss Annie Joe Coates, Mrs. John Lusk, Mrs. Leon Weil.
[3] On June 17, 1919, Mrs. James S. Pinckard called a meeting of women
of wealth and social standing at her home in Montgomery. With the help
of a constitutional lawyer they organized the Southern Women's
Anti-Ratification League, with Mrs. Pinckard chairman, Mrs. Charles
Henderson, vice-chairman; Mrs. W. T. Sheehan, secretary; Mrs. Marie
Bankhead Owen (daughter of the Senator), chairman of the Legislative
Committee. Members of the Executive Committee were Mesdames Charles S.
Thigpen, Hails Janney, Jack Thorington, J. A. Winter, Ormond
Somerville, W. J. Hannah, Clayton T. Tullis, J. Winter Thorington, E.
Perry Thomas, William M. E. Ellsberry, J.H. Naftel, W. B. Kelly and
Miss Mae Harris. They sent a memorial to the Legislature which began:
"We look with confidence to you to protect us from this device of
northern Abolitionists." They "worked night and day, personally and by
letter," and, after the defeat of ratification in the Alabama
Legislature, Mrs. Pinckard and others transferred their efforts to
those of Louisiana and Tennessee, where they "lobbied" for many days.
[4] Among the men in the State who were especially active and helpful
were: Colonel Bibb Graves and John H. Wallace, of Montgomery; L. B.
Musgrove, of Jasper; Judge W. R. Chapman, of Dothan; H. H. Patterson,
of Atmore; John W. Abercrombie, of Anniston; John D. McNeel, Phil
Painter, Ex-Governor B. B. Comer, James Weatherly, Fred M. Jackson and
John R. Hornaday of Birmingham.
Among those especially active in opposition were: Congressman John H.
Bankhead, Jr., of Jasper; C. Brooks Smith, Judge John R. Tyson and Ray
Rushton, of Montgomery; R. A. Mitchell, of Gadsden; Wiley Tunstall and
Len F. Greer, of Anniston; Judge Joe Evans, Martin Calhoun and Joe
Green, of Selma; W. W. Brandon, of Tuscaloosa; John D. Leigh, of
Brewton; Emmett O'Neal and E. D. Smith, of Birmingham.
CHAPTER II.
ARIZONA.[5]
Since this chapter is to commence with the year 1900, this will be
where Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Miss Mary Garrett Hay, chairman and
member of the Organization Committee of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association left off in the spring of 1899 after they had
spent a month laboring with the Territorial Legislature. They
succeeded in getting a bill through the Lower House by a vote of two
to one but by the deciding vote of Morris Goldwater of Prescott,
president of the Council or Upper House, it was sent to a committee
and prevented from coming to a vote. The hand of the "boss" of the
saloon-keepers was clearly recognized in the game that was played.
Undaunted Mrs. Catt and Miss Hay came back in 1900 and organized the
first full-fledged suffrage association in the Territory, with Mrs.
Pauline O'Neill, wife of that staunch suffrage friend, the gallant
Rough Rider, William O'Neill, as its president; Mrs. Lida P. Robinson,
corresponding secretary; Mrs. Frances W. Munds, recording secretary,
Mrs. Porter of Phoenix, treasurer. All were inexperienced and the
society did not flourish and although 1900 was election year no
pre-election pledges were obtained. A Territorial Legislature can
extend suffrage to women without referring the question to the voters.
A bill for this purpose was introduced in 1901 through a committee of
women headed by Mrs. Robinson but it received little support and after
creating the usual amount of excitement failed to pass either House.
During the following year suffrage work seemed to lapse and the
organization would have died a natural death but for the will of Mrs.
Robinson, who called a convention to meet in Phoenix in the spring of
1902, where she was elected president with Mrs. Munds corresponding
and recording secretary and Mrs. Ada Irving treasurer. Under Mrs.
Robinson's guidance a list was made of all who had previously
expressed an interest and they were notified that something was doing
in the suffrage line. Dr. Frances Woods of Kansas was sent by the
National Association and made a tour of the Territory which was
remarkable for the haste in which it was made and the results
obtained. She organized clubs in every county and set the women to
work obtaining pre-election pledges, with the result that when the
Legislature convened in the spring of 1903 it lacked only a few votes
of having a majority in both Houses pledged to suffrage. Mrs.
Robinson, Dr. Woods and Mrs. Munds constituted themselves a committee
to work with the members and succeeded in getting a woman suffrage
bill through the Legislature by a two-thirds vote. The rejoicing was
short, for the Governor, Alexander O. Brodie, an appointee of
President Roosevelt, vetoed the bill. Representatives Kean St.
Charles, a newspaper man, and Morrison, a labor leader, were most
active in its behalf, while the scheme that finally sent it down to
defeat was concocted, it was said, by Joseph H. Kibbey, a lawyer of
Phoenix. He was the leader of the Republican minority in the Council
and traded its solid Republican vote for one needed vote on another
bill, with the understanding that the Governor would veto the suffrage
bill.
Governor Brodie afterwards resigned and Mr. Kibbey, the arch-enemy of
woman suffrage, was appointed in his place. Mrs. Robinson continued
propaganda through a little paper which she published and distributed
herself throughout the Territory. This well-edited paper kept alive
the favorable sentiment and through it the leading men and women
suffragists in Arizona were in touch with each other. In the spring of
1905 Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Denver was sent by the National
Association and spent several weeks working with the Legislature but
received practically no cooperation from the local women, as it was
conceded that the situation was hopeless while Kibbey was Governor.
Mrs. Robinson moved from the Territory and the organization was
without a head. It languished for about three years and its enemies
sang cheerful requiems for the dead. The Legislature that met in 1907
had a peaceful time as far as women were concerned for no suffrage
bill was introduced.
In January, 1909, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, an officer of the
National Association, came to Arizona at her own expense. The last
Territorial Legislature was then in session and Miss Clay labored long
and faithfully with it but the resident women were apathetic and gave
her little assistance. The bill that she had introduced failed in both
Houses, the members availing themselves of the excuse that Arizona
women did not want suffrage or they would make some organized effort
to get it. Miss Clay had the right kind of spirit and gathering a
faithful few together they worked out a plan whereby the first really
efficient suffrage organization was effected. This plan was the same
as the political parties in the Territory used, namely, a State
chairman with a chairman in each county and a chairman for each local
club. A convention was called in Phoenix under Miss Clay's direction
and Mrs. Munds was made Territorial chairman. During the year
statehood for Arizona began to loom up and vigorous work was done for
that event. The National Association sent the very woman needed, Miss
Laura Gregg of Kansas. She made an extensive tour of the Territory and
by the time Congress had passed the Enabling Act in June, 1910, it was
thoroughly organized with suffrage clubs in every county and in all of
the larger towns and cities, with a membership of about 3,000 men and
women.
Strenuous effort was made to have a majority of the members of the
Constitutional Convention pledged to vote for a suffrage plank but it
succeeded with only about a third of them. It met in October, 1910,
with eleven Republican and thirty-three Democratic members. Through
the demands of organized labor backed by a heavy labor vote a very
progressive constitution was written. Miss Gregg and Mrs. Munds
struggled with the delegates during its entire session to have a full,
partial or conditional woman suffrage clause incorporated but to no
avail. Members who proudly proclaimed themselves the only original
"progressives" were far too timid to put anything so "radical" as
woman suffrage in the constitution for fear that the voters would not
accept it, and yet those same men wrote into it the initiative and
referendum, recall of judges and many other far more radical measures
and it was adopted by an overwhelming majority. It was plain that a
measure was deemed radical or not according to the voting power behind
it. The Republicans were in a minority and only two voted for the
suffrage clause, although there were enough Democratic pledges to have
carried it with the solid Republican support. The Republicans were for
a "safe and sane" constitution, something like the one adopted at the
same time by New Mexico, under which women never could get suffrage by
State process. One Democrat who offered "to do and die for it" in the
convention was Senator Fred Colter of Apache County.
Not at all discouraged by the defeat the women, now aroused and
interested, began as soon as the constitution was accepted by the
voters and statehood was effected to get ready for the first State
election, as now it was necessary to have an amendment submitted by
the Legislature and accepted by the electors. Headquarters were
established in the house of Mrs. Munds at Prescott and a constant
stream of literature and correspondence went out in an effort to elect
suffragists to the first State Legislature. The men, however, were so
pleased with the members of the Constitutional Convention that a
little thing like their voting against woman suffrage did not matter
and every one who was a candidate for anything was elected, some to
the Legislature and others to the various State offices. George W. P.
Hunt, who was president of the convention and had vigorously opposed
the suffrage plank, was elected the first Governor of the State. He
did recommend in his message to the Legislature that it submit a woman
suffrage amendment to the voters. Senator John Hughes, son of former
Governor and Mrs. L. C. Hughes, who had done so much to obtain woman
suffrage in early territorial days, prepared and introduced such a
measure but it failed in both Houses. The Legislature was 90 per cent.
Democratic.
It was then determined to use the initiative and collect the requisite
number of names on a petition that would compel the Legislature to
submit the question. Women in every county volunteered to get these
signatures, fifty or sixty altogether, and did the drudgery of
canvassing until the required number of signatures were obtained.
After a year's continuous educational work, in September, 1912, the
National Association was notified that Arizona was ready for the final
contest and asked to send Miss Gregg. She came and again campaigned
the State and through her efforts every labor organization pledged its
support. Mrs. Alice Park of Palo Alto, California, came at her own
expense and took charge of the distribution of literature. Mrs. Munds
went to Phoenix and opened headquarters in the Adams Hotel and ten
weeks were spent in a most strenuous campaign. The National
Association contributed Miss Gregg's salary and expenses, nearly
$1,000, and $200 in cash. The rest of the campaign fund was raised in
Arizona with the exception of voluntary contributions from suffrage
organizations in other States. Dr. Shaw came and spoke for a week in
the principal cities, making a tremendous impression. The press with
one or two exceptions was favorable and gave generous space. The press
work was in charge of Miss Sally Jacobs and Mrs. Maybelle Craig of
Phoenix. State Senator H. A. Davis did splendid campaign work and
loyal men and women too numerous to mention gave freely of their time
and money.
On November 5 the amendment received 13,442 ayes, 6,202 noes, a
majority of more than two to one. Every county was carried. The vote
was small, as most Mexicans were disfranchised by an educational
requirement.
The campaign was conducted without parades or demonstrations of any
kind and the saloon-keepers, not realizing the strength of the
suffragists, paid no attention to them until the closing days, then
suddenly woke up and put forth strong efforts to defeat them but they
were too well organized. The campaign closed with no deficit on the
books. Later a League of Women Voters was formed and Mrs. M. T. Phelps
of Phoenix was elected chairman.
The first State Legislature completely revised the civil and criminal
codes of Arizona and without any demand on the part of the women
incorporated some excellent laws for women and children. Since then
others have been added, partly through the efforts of women
legislators.
RATIFICATION. Women have taken so active a part and have been so
generally accepted in the political life of the State that it caused
scarcely a ripple of excitement when a special session of the
Legislature was called by Governor Thomas E. Campbell for the purpose
of ratifying the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment. It convened at noon
Feb. 12, 1920, and adjourned at 9:30 p. m. of the same day. The
resolution for ratification was introduced jointly by the four women
members and passed both Houses without a dissenting vote. Protests
from Mrs. Mabel G. Millard and Mrs. Frances Williams of the Iowa and
Virginia Associations Opposed to Woman Suffrage were listened to in
the Senate with good-natured amusement.
In the second Legislature of the new State, the first after women were
enfranchised, Mrs. Frances W. Munds of Prescott served as Senator and
Mrs. Rachel Berry of St. Johns as Representative. The third had in the
Lower House Mrs. Rosa McKay of Globe, Mrs. Theodora Marsh of Nogales
and Mrs. Pauline O'Neill of Phoenix. The fourth had Mrs. McKay and
Mrs. H. H. Westover of Yuma.
About ten times as many women as men are teachers in the public
schools.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Frances W. Munds,
president of the State Woman Suffrage Association until women were
enfranchised and then elected State Senator.
CHAPTER III.
ARKANSAS.[6]
There was little general suffrage activity in Arkansas before 1911;
perhaps the only specific work after 1900 was an occasional article
written by Mrs. Chester Jennings of Little Rock and published in
various papers in the State. She was called "the keeper of the light."
Arkansas was not affiliated with the National American Association
prior to 1913, there was only correspondence between individual
suffragists and national officers.
In January, 1911, the Political Equality League was organized in
Little Rock. This organization came about indirectly as a result of an
article written by Mrs. D. D. Terry of this city and published on the
front page of the _Arkansas Gazette_, the largest paper in the State.
It was in answer to a scathing criticism of women by another paper for
attending the trial of a child victim and was a demand that the
suffrage should be given to women.
Immediately following this occurrence Mrs. J. W. Markwell called a
public meeting in one of the Methodist churches to discuss this
question. She was chairman and Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Terry, Mrs. L. B.
Leigh, Mrs. Minnie Rutherford Fuller and members of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union and the College Women's Club, almost to a
unit suffragists, were among the prominent women present. They were
deeply stirred and as the Legislature was in session they asked for a
hearing. This was granted by the Judiciary Committee and they were
courteously received, as they stated their desire. They went from the
hearing into one of the committee rooms of the Capitol and decided to
form a woman suffrage society. The same women with a few others met in
the home of Mrs. Markwell that evening. Miss Julia McAlmont Warner
was made chairman and the following officers were elected: President,
Miss Mary Fletcher; vice-president, Mrs. W. P. Hutton; secretary, Mrs.
Jennings; treasurer, Miss Warner, and the name adopted was Woman's
Political Equality League. It started with $20 in the treasury--of
which $3 were paid by men--Dr. J. W. Markwell, Mr. Boyer and Clio
Harper.
The semi-monthly meetings were first held in the public library, one
in the afternoon, the other at night, so that working women, teachers
and men might attend. The president soon went to Europe and the work
passed into the capable hands of Mrs. Hutton. One of the most valuable
helpers was Rabbi L. Witt, who always attended and helped out many a
program. Leagues were formed in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff and these
were the only three prior to 1913 when a State association was
organized.
In October, 1913, Mrs. O. F. Ellington was elected president of the
Little Rock League. At that time it was holding its meetings in the
Chamber of Commerce and few people would climb two flights of stairs
to hear a subject discussed in which there was little interest, so the
executive board secured the parlors of the City Hall. If the women
could accomplish as much in the offices of the City Hall as they did
in the parlors no fair-minded person would have objected to their
occupancy. Important local, State and national affairs were studied
and discussed and prominent State and national speakers addressed that
eager body of women.
Under the auspices of the league the first national suffrage May day
was observed in Little Rock with speeches from the steps of the Old
State House. Seventy-five letters were sent out to prominent men in
the State, asking them to make five-minute speeches and after ten days
Dr. L. P. Gibson, the well-known physician, was the first to accept.
The next morning the _Arkansas Gazette_ told that Dr. Gibson of Little
Rock would be one of the speakers and then every man who could arrange
to be in town that day accepted his invitation. Among the women who
spoke were Mrs. George Pratho, Mrs. Fuller, Mrs. C. E. Rose, Mrs. T.
T. Cotnam, Miss Julia Warner, Miss Josephine Miller, Mrs. George E.
Cunningham, Mrs. Terry, Mrs. S. S. Wassel, Mrs. E. W. Gibb, Mrs. W.
G. Whipple, Mrs. A. Marinana. The intensely interested crowd stood two
hours and a half earnestly listening to these leading citizens asking
the right of suffrage for Arkansas women.
It had been the custom to disband during the summer months but the
summer of 1914 the Political Equality League opened a class for the
purpose of studying all the questions of the day and learning
something about speaking extemporaneously. In response to a call from
the president, Little Rock and Hot Springs sent representatives to a
conference held in the former city for the purpose of devising ways
and means of forming a State association. An organization committee
was formed of the following: Mrs. Ellington, Miss Fletcher, Miss Mary
House, Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Leigh, Mrs. Jennings, all of Little Rock; Miss
Adele Johnson of Hot Springs. In October the State Woman Suffrage
Association was formed in Little Rock at Hotel Marion, with six
leagues represented by the following presidents: Hot Springs, Miss
Mary Spargo; Pine Bluff, Mrs. L. K. Land; Augusta, Mrs. Rufus
Fitzhugh; Malvern, Mrs. Mary Jackson; Hardy, Mrs. S. A. Turner;
Fayetteville, Mrs. LeRoy Palmer. The officers elected were, President,
Mrs. Ellington; first vice-president, Mrs. Fuller, Magazine; second,
Mrs. N. F. Drake, Fayetteville; corresponding secretary, Mrs. P. J.
Henry, Hot Springs; recording secretary, Mrs. Cunningham, Little Rock;
treasurer, Mrs. Cotnam, Little Rock.
In October, 1915, the first annual meeting took place in Little Rock,
eleven counties being represented, and this board was re-elected. The
principal business of this convention was to lay plans for the
legislative work early in the following year.
In October, 1916, the second annual convention was held in Pine Bluff,
its principal work being to devise ways and means of raising money for
continuing the organization of the State. Mrs. Cotman presented a
feasible plan for raising money which was accepted by the convention.
New officers elected were second vice-president, Mrs. J. D. Head,
Texarkana; third vice-president, Mrs. J. H. Reynolds, Conway;
corresponding secretary, Mrs. Maud O. Clemmons; recording secretary,
Mrs. G. D. Henderson, both of Little Rock. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president of the National American Suffrage Association, had come to
Little Rock in April and spoken most acceptably to a large audience.
She held a conference with the State officers and later the
association financed a two-months' campaign for organization. Miss
Gertrude Watkins and Miss Josephine Miller of Little Rock gave their
services for their expenses only and organized sixty committees.[7]
The new Primary law was almost equal to the full suffrage, as where
one party is so largely in the majority the primaries decide the
elections, and it gave a great impetus to the movement throughout the
country, especially in the southern States.
After the Primary bill passed the suffragists re-organized along the
lines of the State Democratic party. Where it had a State Central
Committee they had an Equal Suffrage State Central Committee and so on
through the organization. The object was to teach women how to work
through and with political parties but they were not fully
enfranchised and could not give up their suffrage organization,
therefore they held together on semi-political but non-partisan lines
until such time as they could go into the various parties.
At the close of Mrs. Ellington's administration in August, 1917,
seventy-eight papers in the State were handling news items each week.
Eighty-five organizations had been completed. The Primary bill had
been passed by the Legislature and thousands of women had assessed
themselves and paid their poll tax of one dollar a year preparatory to
voting in the spring elections. Under the law the assessor can put
this tax only on male citizens and the women in asking for the Primary
suffrage voluntarily assumed it, as no one can vote until it is paid.
This was held to be legal by Attorney General John D. Arbuckle.
Mrs. Ellington left Arkansas on August 1 and Mrs. Cotnam was elected
by the State Board to take charge of affairs. On November 28 she was
elected chairman of the State Suffrage Central Committee upon the
receipt of Mrs. Ellington's formal resignation. Mrs. Cotnam appeared
before the State Farmers' Union in August and secured a unanimous
endorsement of woman suffrage and in September at the meeting of its
executive committee she secured a resolution calling on Arkansas
Senators and Representatives to vote for the Federal Amendment. She
went to New York City in September to take part in the State suffrage
campaign. After six weeks she returned to Little Rock, where the great
victory won in New York was celebrated at a luncheon in the Marion
Hotel. Governor Charles H. Brough was a speaker and prophesied a
similar victory in Arkansas.
Dr. Shaw visited Arkansas for the first time on April 3, 1918, and
spoke to an immense audience. She came under the auspices of the
National Council of Defense, as chairman of the Woman's Committee, but
she won many friends for suffrage and the sincere admiration of all.
Active work to assure the writing of woman suffrage in the new State
constitution culminated at the first annual meeting of the Equal
Suffrage Central Committee on April 2, 1918, when a close organization
covering the State was perfected. At this meeting Mrs. Cotnam was
re-elected chairman; Mrs. C. T. Drennen of Hot Springs first
vice-chairman; Mrs. Stella Brizzolara of Fort Smith second
vice-chairman; Mrs. Frank W. Gibb, secretary; Mrs. R. W. Walker of
Little Rock, treasurer. The National American Association contributed
$1,675 to the campaign. The constitutional convention met the first
Monday in July and the suffrage clause was adopted on the third day of
the session. Only one man spoke and finally voted against this clause
but it was not acceptable to the majority until amended to make jury
service for women optional. The suffragists were consulted and agreed
because it was plain that a refusal might cause a long drawn out
debate. The constitution was defeated at a special election on Dec.
13, 1918, but it was generally conceded that the opposition caused by
the suffrage amendment was negligible.
The first State-wide Primary election in which women had the right to
vote was held in May, 1918; between 40,000 and 50,000 voted and all
papers commented on the intelligence of the new electors. The State
Democratic convention met in Little Rock on July 10 and for the first
time women delegates were present from many counties. Fifty were
seated and more were present in proportion to their representation
than were men. They attended in force all minor committee meetings and
controlled the action of some of these committees. The _Arkansas
Gazette_ of July 11 commented: "It may safely be said that nothing was
put over on them by the wily politicians. There wasn't a chance--not a
chance in the world." There were women on the platform, the
resolutions and all prominent committees. The suffrage plank, as
written by the women, was unanimously adopted and for the first time a
woman was elected member of the State Central Committee, Mrs.
Brizzolara. The one appointed as a member of the Democratic Women's
National Committee was Mrs. Head, chairman of her congressional
district for the suffrage organization.
On January 14 resolutions were introduced in the Senate by Senator Lee
Cazort and the House by Representative J. D. Doyle, memorializing the
Senate of the United States to submit the Federal Amendment. They
passed unanimously and later were read into the Congressional Record
by Senator W. F. Kirby.
RATIFICATION. As soon as the Federal Amendment passed, letters were
sent to legislators asking them to agree to a call for a special
session. In less than one week answers were received from a majority
expressing willingness and even eagerness to hold the ratification
session. Many offered to pay their own expenses and waive the regular
per diem. With this support in hand a committee of fifty women went to
the State House and asked Governor Brough to call a special session.
This he agreed to do and set the date for July 28. While the
suffragists were never in doubt of ratification they were genuinely
surprised to find a few real enemies in the House and to hear some of
the moss-grown arguments of 1911. The Senate ratified by a vote of 29
to two and the House by 74 to 15. Henry Ponder of Lawrence county
introduced the resolution in the Senate and said he believed his
children would be prouder of that act of his than of anything else he
might ever do. An identical resolution was introduced in the House by
Representatives Riggs, Joe Joiner, Carl Held, Neil Bohlinger and J.
D. Doyle. The Senate resolution passed first and went over to the
House. The two Senators who voted against it were W. L. Ward, Lee
county, and W. H. Latimer, Sevier county. Many women came from over
the State to this special session and filled the galleries.
On Dec. 3, 1919, at the second annual meeting the Equal Suffrage
Central Committee was merged into a State League of Women Voters and
Mrs. Cotnam was elected chairman.
While the suffragists were working for the vote they confined their
organized effort to that one measure but it is significant that the
same Legislature that passed the Primary bill, gave women the right to
practice law and provided for a Girls' Industrial School; that of 1915
removed all legal disabilities of married women.
Miss Josephine Miller and Miss Gertrude Watkins of Little Rock are on
the staff of national organizers and Mrs. Cotnam has served as
instructor in suffrage schools and also as a speaker in twenty States.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 1911. In January Representatives Grant of Newport
and Whittington of Hot Springs introduced an equal suffrage resolution
in the House. It was not initiated by the suffragists and apparently
not introduced to advance woman suffrage, as it was said to contain a
"joker." Nevertheless, when it became known that the bill had been
introduced they appealed to Representative Hearst of Fayetteville,
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for a hearing. On the day and
hour that it had been promised Mrs. Chester Jennings, Mrs. J. W.
Markwell, Miss Julia Warner, Mrs. Rutherford Fuller and Mrs. D. D.
Terry went to the Capitol but were unable to find either Mr. Hearst or
his committee. On March 11, however, the committee met at the Marion
Hotel, as it was customary to hold committee meetings at night in the
hotel, and a hearing was granted to the women. Miss Olive Gatlin (now
Mrs. Leigh) and Mrs. Fuller made excellent speeches which seemed to
make an impression. Later the suffrage resolution was reported to the
House and received six favorable votes.
1913. House joint resolution giving women the right to vote was
introduced by Robert Martin. This year the suffragists had a most
successful hearing before the House Committee on Constitutional
Amendments. The president of the Senate, W. K. Oldham, Lonoke; Judge
W. L. Moose, Morrillton, and Rabbi L. Witt, Little Rock, made eloquent
pleas in addition to those of the women. The committee reported the
resolution favorably and the vote was 35 for, 55 against.
Between the two Legislatures the State Woman Suffrage Association was
formed and its influence was immediately felt in political circles.
1915. Senator George W. Garrett, Okolona, introduced a joint
resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution giving women
full suffrage and it passed by 23 to 12. The House called a night
session for the third reading. A resolution signed by Representatives
Yearger of Chico county, Dunlap of Phillips and Wilson of Jefferson to
allow a representative of the Woman Suffrage Association ten minutes
in which to present the reasons for the enfranchisement of women
passed and Mrs. Cotnam was introduced, the first woman ever given the
privilege of the floor. The vote was 51 in favor, 18 opposed, with 31
absent. The amendment failed to get on the ballot, as under the
Arkansas law only three amendments could be submitted at one election
and the next morning before this one could be properly recorded the
Federation of Labor had filed an initiated amendment with the
Secretary of State and that for suffrage became the fourth. The
suffragists tried to get the Federation of Labor to withdraw their
amendment, which had no chance of being adopted, but were unsuccessful
and it did fail at the general election.
1917. On January 11 Representative John A. Riggs of Hot Springs
introduced a joint resolution for the amendment, signed by himself, C.
B. Andrews of Nevada county, Stephen P. Meador of Clark and Carl W.
Held of Sebastian. Mrs. Ellington, president of the State Suffrage
Association, explained to them that it had entered into an agreement
with all other State associations at the last national suffrage
convention not to go into a referendum campaign without the consent of
the National Board, if they expected financial assistance from that
organization, and the resolution was withdrawn. On February 7
Representative Riggs introduced what was known as the Primary Bill,
which in brief was as follows: "An Act to provide that women may vote
in all primary elections: From and after the passage of this act and
subject to all the provisions of the laws of this State as to age,
residence, citizenship, payment of poll taxes and otherwise regulating
the manner and form of holding the same, but especially exempt from
every disqualification, direct or indirect, on account of sex, every
woman shall have the right to vote at any primary election held under
the laws of this State."
This form of suffrage is unique and deserves some explanation. William
Hodges, Associate Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals, Texarkana,
Texas, suggested the idea to Senator O. S. Lattimore of Fort Worth,
who formulated the bill of which the Arkansas bill is substantially a
copy. The Texas Legislature defeated it. Mr. Riggs wired for a copy of
the bill, had a similar one drawn and submitted it to U. S. Senator
Kirby and a number of prominent lawyers, all of whom were unanimous in
the belief that it was constitutional. Justice Hodges said, "I have
felt deep interest in the suffrage question for several years and the
idea of permitting women to participate in Primary elections occurred
to me casually as I was thinking of how to meet the stubborn
opposition offered in the Texas Legislature to the submission of an
amendment to the constitution."[8] Mr. Riggs said his eagerness to
pass a suffrage bill was to do justice to the women of Arkansas and to
keep a promise to his mother that if he ever was elected to the
Legislature he would introduce and work for one.
The Legislature of 1917 was soon discovered to be a progressive
assembly and gave promise of success for the bill. Mrs. Ellington
decided the time had come to adopt business methods in the suffrage
lobby and undertook with Mr. Riggs the whole responsibility of guiding
this bill on its eventful journey through the House and Senate. The
suffragists held themselves in readiness to do any special work
needed, which they did quietly and effectively, seeing legislators
when necessary, but the Legislature was not harassed by a large and
conspicuous lobby.[9]
Sufficient pledges were secured in both House and Senate before the
bill was allowed to come even to a test vote. Judge Josiah Hardage,
Arkadelphia, assisted by W. J. Waggoner of Lonoke and James A. Choate
of Floyd, led the opposition in the House and conducted the bitterest
fight waged during the session. Sixteen men stood solidly with them in
all parliamentary tactics in hopes of killing the bill. Nineteen men
could delay it but they were destined to defeat when 78 men, led by
the astute floor leader, J. O. Johnson of Sebastian county, were
determined that it should pass. After several hours' debate the House
passed the bill February 15 by 71 ayes, 19 noes, 10 absent.
When the bill came up in the Senate Walker Smith of Magnolia led the
opposition, although several days before he had promised Mrs. Head and
Mrs. Ellington to vote for it. Senator Houston Emory of Hot Springs
guided it to a successful vote on February 27--17 ayes, 15 noes.
Senators George F. Brown of Rison, George W. Garrett of Okolona, H. L.
Ponder of Walnut Ridge, J. S. Utley of Benton and R. Hill Caruth of
Warren aided materially in passing the bill. The first time during the
session that every man in the Senate was in his seat to vote was when
the Primary bill came up. Two Senators unalterably opposed to woman
suffrage had been expelled for bribery and this made its success
possible.
The Senate slightly amended the bill and returned it to the House,
which accepted it March 6. Never did a man serve the cause of suffrage
more loyally or more efficiently than John A. Riggs and the women of
Arkansas owe him a lasting debt of gratitude. Governor Brough signed
the bill in the evening at a public meeting amid great enthusiasm.
The Legislature met Jan. 13, 1919, after thousands of women had voted
at the Primary election. Not one member had been asked to present a
resolution proposing a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. In
fact the women were following closely the advice of the National
Association and were ardently hoping to avoid a State campaign. They
were reckoning from past experiences but times had changed.
Twenty-five men came ready to propose a full suffrage amendment;
Representative Riggs, the father of the Primary bill, was the first
man on the floor after the House was organized and his bill got first
place on the calendar. It passed the Senate January 30 by 27 to one,
and the House February 3 by 73 to three. In November it went to the
voters and was defeated. It received the largest favorable vote of any
of the amendments submitted but not a majority of the largest number
cast at the election, as required by the constitution. The women had
felt certain that this would be impossible. In August, 1920, full
suffrage was conferred by the Federal Amendment.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. O. F. Ellington,
president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, 1914-1917, and Mrs.
T. T. Cotnam, State treasurer during these years and chairman of the
State Suffrage Central Committee from 1917.
[7] The following officers were elected: Chairman, Mrs. Ellington;
secretary, Mrs. Gibb, Little Rock. Finance Committee: Chairman, Mrs.
Cotnam; Mrs. C. C. Cate, Jonesboro; Mrs. Land, Mrs. William Ells,
Texarkana; Mrs. W. H. Connell, Hot Springs. Committee that framed
constitution: Mrs. Fuller, Magazine; Mrs. Head, Mrs. Blaisdell, Hot
Springs; Congressional chairman, Mrs. Ada Roussans, Jonesboro; Mrs.
Fitzhugh, Mrs. H. E. Morrow, Mrs. Head, Mrs. W. L. Moose, Mrs.
Drennan, Mrs. Garland Street, district chairmen.
[8] In June, 1912, Miss Kate Gordon offered a Primary bill as a
substitute for the constitutional amendment in the Louisiana
Legislature, but it never came out of committee. Miss Gordon said:
"The idea came to me as a solution of the woman suffrage question in a
flash and it struck me as a good one. The Primary idea was mine as
early as 1912."
[9] Most of the women whose names are mentioned in this chapter, with
the addition of Mrs. John P. Ahmand, Mrs. De Mott Henderson and Miss
Jennie De Neler, did valuable legislative work during this and other
sessions.
CHAPTER IV.
CALIFORNIA.[10]
The first ten years of the new century--Woman's Century--were years of
laborious effort in California to educate the public mind and
familiarize it with the idea of "votes for women." At the beginning of
the second decade the State had given them the complete suffrage and
at its close the women of the entire nation were enfranchised by an
amendment to the Federal Constitution.
A resubmission of the question in California could not be expected for
several years after the defeat of a constitutional amendment in 1896,
although no subsequent Legislature met without discussing the subject
and voting on some phase of it. The liquor interests continued a
persistent opposition but the suffrage association had a powerful ally
in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, with its franchise
department and its well organized army of workers, and, although
somewhat discouraged for a few years, held its annual convention and
reorganization was gradually effected. The State convention of 1900
met December 14, 15, in Golden Gate Hall, San Francisco, with the
president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, in the chair. A resolution was
adopted commending the former State president, Ellen Clark (Mrs. Aaron
A.) Sargent, for instituting suit against the tax collector for the
return of her taxes paid in San Francisco under written protest. [See
Volume IV, page 504.] The members were urged to file a protest when
paying taxes because they had no representation. It was declared that
the time was opportune for organized effort to have the Legislature
again submit an amendment to the voters. A vote of thanks was given
to Miss Clara Schlingheyde for her success in obtaining donations for
the national suffrage bazaar in New York and appreciation expressed
for the generous response of California people, especially for the
donation of William Keith, the artist, of his picture, Spring in the
Napa Valley. Mrs. Swift having served four years as president declined
to hold the office longer and Mrs. Mary S. Sperry retired as treasurer
after serving seven years. The following board was elected: Honorary
presidents, Mrs. Sargent of San Francisco and Mrs. Ellen Knox Goodrich
of San Jose; president, Mrs. Annie R. Wood, Alameda; first, second and
third vice-presidents, Mrs. Lovell White, San Francisco, Mrs. E. O.
Smith, San Jose, Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Chico; corresponding
secretary, Miss Carrie Whelan, Oakland; recording secretary, Mrs.
Dorothy Harnden; treasurer, Miss Schlingheyde, both of San Francisco;
auditors, Mrs. A. K. Spero and Mrs. Keith.
A visit in 1901 from Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the
National American Suffrage Association, greatly encouraged the clubs.
Acting upon her urgent request, Mrs. Keith revived the Berkeley club,
which soon doubled its membership and with the Oakland and Alameda
clubs became a strong influence. There were three clubs in San
Francisco and an active organization in Santa Clara county, made up of
San Jose, Palo Alto and other clubs. Mrs. May Wright Sewall, president
of the International Council of Women, came for an extended course of
lectures in the interest of women's advancement. Women's organizations
urged many changes in the unjust community property law, the W. C. T.
U., the Women's Parliament of Southern California and the State
Suffrage Association sending representatives to plead with the
legislators. A School suffrage bill passed the House and was defeated
by only seven votes in the Senate and there was constant agitation.
The State convention this year was held at San Francisco in Yosemite
Hall, Native Sons' Building, October 18, 19, with a large number of
delegates and an interesting program. Executive board meetings had
been held throughout the year and it was reported that eighty papers
were publishing suffrage matter sent them. Mrs. Leland Stanford in an
interview in the San Francisco _Examiner_ had declared herself in
favor of woman suffrage and a letter of appreciation was sent to her.
The annual convention met October 24, 25, 1902, in Century Hall, San
Francisco, with a large attendance and many excellent speakers, among
them Dr. David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University, and B.
Fay Mills, the noted revivalist. Greetings were read from Miss Susan
B. Anthony, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the national treasurer, and
Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, the loved pioneer, now in her 83rd year,
who had come from the East to Los Angeles over twenty years before.
The reports showed that the board had been in constant communication
with the national officers; an organizer, Mrs. Florence Stoddard, had
been engaged; the treasury receipts were increasing; eighteen new
clubs were recorded and there was general progress. Miss Vida
Goldstein, a prominent suffrage leader of Australia, had been the
guest of the association and a letter was sent to the Woman's Council
of Australia, expressing gratitude for the assistance she had been in
the United States. Australia's recent enfranchisement of her 800,000
women with eligibility to the national Parliament had given great
encouragement to those of California. Mrs. Sperry was persuaded to
take the presidency.[11] An interesting event reported was a suffrage
meeting of the Sierra Club of mountain lovers one summer evening in
King's River Canyon, where it was encamped. In the audience of over
two hundred prominent men and women were Professor Joseph Le Conte,
John Muir, William Keith, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, head of the U. S.
biological department and Dr. Gannett, of the geological department.
The State convention of 1903 met in Golden Gate Hall, San Francisco,
November 18, 19. Among the addresses of welcome was one by the Rev.
Bradford Leavitt of the Unitarian church and one by President Benham
of the city Labor Council. Mrs. Sargent and Mrs. E. O. Smith paid
tributes to the memory of the association's honorary president, Mrs.
Sarah Knox Goodrich, a devoted supporter of the cause for the past
thirty-five years. Greetings were read from Miss Anthony, Henry B. and
Alice Stone Blackwell, Mrs. Upton and Mrs. L. F. Darling, president of
the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Miss Gail Laughlin, a young
lawyer from the East, who was now State organizer, was among the
speakers, and Albert H. Elliott, a San Francisco lawyer, gave an
instructive talk on California Laws for Women. The executive board
made the excellent appointment of Dr. Alida C. Avery of San Jose as
historian. One hundred dollars were sent to the national board for use
in the New Hampshire campaign. The State association endorsed Mrs.
Sargent's protest against a referendum vote on the issuing of San
Francisco's city bonds in which women were not allowed to take part.
A question considered at many board meetings had been the advisability
of trying to obtain from the Legislature another submission of an
amendment. The Los Angeles Suffrage League was waiting to know what
action would be taken. Mrs. Catt had written that it might be well to
make the effort and so a resolution was unanimously adopted to ask
this of the session of 1905. A letter had been sent by Mrs. Catt
suggesting plans of work to this end for the coming year and one was
received from Miss Anthony asking that Mrs. Stanton's birthday be
celebrated on November 12.
The Los Angeles Equal Suffrage Society had not affiliated with the
State Association because of the long distance to San Francisco and
the announcement by Mrs. Sperry that the affiliation had now been made
was enthusiastically received. The movement had been active in
Southern California, where federations, parliaments and societies of
many kinds flourished, and the Woman Suffrage League had held monthly
meetings. Besides Mrs. Severance, another pioneer suffragist had come
there from the East many years ago, Mrs. Rebecca Spring, now past 90
and still alert and interested. Mrs. Clara Shortridge Foltz, Mrs.
Alice Moore McComas and Mrs. Almeda B. Grey were still among the
capable and valued workers.
In answer to an invitation from the Los Angeles city and county
suffrage leagues the State convention of 1904 was held in the Woman's
Club House, October 6, 7, with three sessions daily. Articles of
incorporation had been drawn by George C. Sargent of San Francisco and
filed with the Secretary of State, and the State organization had been
incorporated under the name of the California Equal Suffrage
Association. The convention was welcomed by Mrs. Ada J. Lingley and
Mrs. Mabel V. Osborne, county and city presidents. Mrs. Sperry in
responding expressed her great pleasure that Northern and Southern
California would now work together for woman suffrage. The report of
Miss Laughlin, State organizer, showed that fifty-two new clubs had
been formed and that the membership had more than doubled in the past
year, and the treasurer, Miss Schlingheyde, told of $2,063 contributed
for organization work. Subscriptions to the amount of $1,110 were
made, Mrs. Keith leading with $500. Miss Amanda Way, an Indiana
pioneer, now of Whittier, made her offering. Mayor M. P. Snyder, Judge
Waldo M. Yorke, the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes and a long list of able
speakers addressed the evening meetings. Strong resolutions presented
by the chairman of the committee, Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn, were
adopted. Mrs. Severance and Mrs. Spring were made honorary presidents.
The work for the coming months was to secure a large petition to the
Legislature for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment and Mrs.
Osborne was appointed chairman of the committee. Heading the 15,000
names which were eventually obtained were those of Governor George C.
Pardee, President David Starr Jordan, U. S. Senator George C. Perkins,
W. S. Goodfellow, T. C. Coogan, Fred S. Stratton, A. A. Moore, George
A. Knight, Henry J. Crocker, William H. Mills, Lovell White, M. B.
Woodworth, Congressman James G. Maguire, Judge Carrol Cook and F. J.
Murasky, all men of influence. The amendment was endorsed by the State
association of 1,000 teachers. With the aid of the National
Association 10,000 copies of Mrs. Catt's leaflet, Do You Know? were
circulated.
The suffrage leaders made a vigorous effort at Sacramento at the next
legislative session in 1905 but the measure was defeated in both
Houses. California's full delegation of fourteen was in attendance at
the annual convention of the National American Suffrage Association in
Portland, Ore., in June. On the way from Portland Miss Anthony, Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw and several other eastern delegates stopped at Chico,
the home of Mrs. Bidwell, vice-president of the State association,
where Miss Anthony spoke at the dedication of a magnificent park of
2,200 acres which she was presenting to the town. They were royally
entertained in California, beginning with a public reception at the
Sequoia Hotel in San Francisco. This was followed by others in
Oakland, East Oakland and Berkeley, attended by hundreds. A mass
meeting of 1,500 was arranged by the Equal Suffrage League in the
Alhambra Theater, San Francisco.[12] Similar meetings and receptions
awaited them in Southern California and they addressed an audience of
10,000 at Venice, the noted seaside resort.
The State convention met in Wheeler's Auditorium, San Francisco, in
October. Deep interest had been felt in the campaign for a woman
suffrage amendment carried on in Oregon during the summer and the
association had wished to assist with money, organizers and speakers.
For this purpose the entire contents of the treasury, about $500, were
contributed and clubs and individuals sent more than that amount. Mrs.
Keith gave $1,000 in the name of the State the following year.
The year 1906 opened auspiciously. In all parts of the State the clubs
were holding public meetings, supplying columns of suffrage matter to
the newspapers, now largely willing to publish them, and preparing for
a siege of the next Legislature. In April the city was almost
destroyed by fire and earthquake. One month afterwards the State board
of officers met with a full quorum, ready to begin the effort to
obtain woman suffrage planks in the platforms of the political parties
at the approaching State conventions. This was accomplished in all but
that of the dominant Republican party. The work was continued
throughout the State of securing resolutions of endorsement from
various kinds of organizations and by the end of the year these
included a dozen State associations, and with societies other than
suffrage in the different cities the list filled two pages of a
leaflet sent out from the headquarters. The annual convention was held
in Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, October 5, 6, with an
attractive program of men and women speakers. The initial number of
_The Yellow Ribbon_, a monthly magazine edited by Mrs. Katharine Reed
Balentine in the interest of woman suffrage on the Pacific coast, was
distributed among the delegates.
The State convention of 1907 met in October in the Ebell Club House of
Oakland, where excellent arrangements had been made by the various
committees, and it was the most satisfactory yet held. There was a
program of very good speakers, well-known men among them, and Mrs.
Maud Wood Park of Boston was a guest of the convention. The chairman
of the Press Committee, Mrs. Mabel Craft Deering, reported that 203
newspapers were using all the suffrage matter sent them. The chairman
of the State Central Committee, Mrs. Lillian Harris Coffin, said that
all the labor leaders were standing for woman suffrage. It was
announced that headquarters for pushing the submission of an amendment
would be established in Sacramento as soon as the Legislature opened
in January. There was a resolution on the death of Mrs. Laura de Force
Gordon, the pioneer lawyer and suffragist. The work conference
conducted by Mrs. Coffin was a valuable feature of the convention.
Over 5,000 clubwomen outside of the suffrage clubs had now declared
for suffrage.
In January, 1908, Mrs. Maud Wood Park was invited to address the
students of the State University in Berkeley at the Friday morning
meeting and Professor Morse Stephens said he never heard as able a
presentation of any subject in so short a time. She organized branches
of the National College Equal Suffrage League here and at Leland
Stanford University. All conventions during the year were asked
through Mrs. Keith's committee to adopt woman suffrage resolutions and
many of them did so. Steps were taken through the State Central and
Legislative Committees to interview candidates for the Legislature
and pledge them after they were elected. The convention was held at
the California Club House, San Francisco, October 2, 3. The work
conference was conducted by Mrs. Keith.
In 1909 strenuous work was done with the Legislature but it again
refused to submit the suffrage amendment, which it was the general
opinion the voters would adopt if given an opportunity. The official
board sent a telegram to President Roosevelt asking him in the name of
10,000 California women to recommend woman suffrage in his last
message to Congress but without effect. Committees were appointed for
Northern and Southern California and a chairman in each county to
collect signatures to the petition of the National Association to
Congress to submit a Federal Amendment. The State convention was held
in Stockton September 30-October 2, one of the largest on record. It
was welcomed by the Mayor and the president of the chamber of commerce
with a response by Mrs. Sperry and there were greetings from a number
of organizations of various kinds. The addresses were of a high order
and among the speakers were Franklin Hichborn, J. N. Stuckenbruck,
member of the Legislature; Mrs. Sturtevant Peet, for sixteen years
president of the State W. C.T. U.; Thomas E. Hayden, president of the
San Francisco Board of Education; Mrs. Elinor Carlisle of the Berkeley
board and Mrs. James B. Hume, president of the State Federation of
Women's Clubs. Mrs. Sperry, who had filled the office of president for
seven years, insisted upon retiring and Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, a
minister, lecturer, writer and philanthropist, president of the Santa
Clara Club, was prevailed upon to accept the office. Mrs. Sperry, Mrs.
Swift, Miss Sarah Severance and Dr. Jordan were added to the list of
honorary presidents. A full delegation had attended the national
convention at Seattle in July.
After the earthquake and fire in 1906 headquarters had been
established at 2419 California St., conveniently fitted up in part of
a dwelling house adjoining the residence of Mrs. Sargent, who presided
and dispensed hospitality at the monthly board meetings. By 1910
larger and more central accommodations were needed and commodious
headquarters were secured in the Pacific Building, corner of Market
and Fourth Streets. Here the increasing business of the association
was transacted and free lectures were given. Mrs. Alice Park, as
chairman, superintended the wide distribution of literature throughout
the State. The association's committees on Child Labor, Education,
Peace and other public questions were actively at work. The committee
on Petitions to the Legislature for the submission of a woman suffrage
amendment to the voters, of which Mrs. Sperry was chairman, secured
14,000 signatures. Mrs. Lowe Watson said in her report to the national
convention that splendid work was being done in organization through
the generous financial aid of Mrs. Keith and Mrs. Charles D. Blaney.
House to house canvasses were being made and assembly district and
precinct clubs formed. Mrs. Keith gave $100 a month during 1909 and
1910 to this and other headquarters work, largely financed the
legislative work and frequently bore the principal expense of State
conventions.[13] Space was freely granted in most of the newspapers
and many were giving editorial endorsement. The College Women's Equal
Suffrage Leagues were active and the subject of the universities'
intercollegiate debate for the year was: Resolved that the ballot
should be extended to women. Men's Auxiliary Leagues were formed in
Northern and Southern California. A Votes for Women business club and
a Wage Earners' club were organized in San Francisco and did important
work. There were five downtown suffrage headquarters. Most of the
women's clubs had introduced a civic section. Mrs. Lowe Watson
lectured before labor unions, church societies, W. C. T. U.'s, "native
daughters," women's clubs and suffrage clubs. The throng on
Socialists' "woman's day" filled one of the largest halls in San
Francisco and at the close of her address gave a unanimous standing
vote for equal suffrage.
The annual suffrage convention took place Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 1910, in
the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, the 40th that had been held in the
State. The long program of prominent speakers, fraternal greetings,
committee and club reports, showed the gathering weight and importance
of the movement. J. Stitt Wilson, Mayor of Berkeley and Socialist
candidate for Governor, made a most encouraging address and J. H.
Braly, an influential citizen of Pasadena, came to tell of what was
being accomplished in Southern California. The visits of the national
officers, Professor Frances Squire Potter, Mrs. Florence Kelley and
Mrs. Ella S. Stewart had greatly inspired the workers and the
favorable action of the next Legislature seemed almost certain.
For the past year California had been in the midst of a crucial
political campaign. The State government for forty years had been the
servant of a powerful political "machine" controlled by large public
service corporations. The people had tired of it and public opinion
was ripe for a change. The "progressive Republicans," as they were
called, came into power at the election of November, 1910, and Hiram
W. Johnson was elected Governor to carry out their reforms, woman
suffrage being one of them.
The Legislative Committee was composed of Mrs. Coffin, Mrs. Blaney,
Mrs. Edson and Mrs. Arthur Cornwall Juilliard. Senator Charles W. Bell
of Pasadena had continuously stood for woman suffrage in the face of
the opposition of the Senate and in the organization of the
Legislature he was made chairman of the Republican caucus. Assemblyman
A. H. Hewitt of Yuba City, also a staunch friend of years' standing,
took charge of the amendment in the House and when elected Speaker he
placed it in the hands of Assemblyman Cattell of Pasadena, who made it
his chief interest. The Anti-Suffrage organization of women for the
first time maintained a lobby at the Capitol. The amendment was
introduced in both Houses the first week of the session. The Judiciary
Committee of the Senate granted a hearing on the evening of Jan. 18,
1911. The crowd was so large it had to be held in the Senate chamber,
and gallery, aisles and lobby were filled. Mrs. Katharine Philips
Edson of Los Angeles introduced the speakers and Mrs. Elizabeth
Gerberding of San Francisco made the opening argument. Miss Maude
Younger spoke in behalf of the working women; Miss Ethel Moore and
Mrs. Cornelia McKinne Stanwood of the College Equal Suffrage League
represented the children and the women of the State; Mrs. Coffin,
speaking for the State Suffrage Association, urged the legislators to
stand by the suffrage plank in their party platforms. Mrs. Shelley
Tolhurst closed the appeal. Then Mrs. George A. Caswell of Los
Angeles, representing the women anti-suffragists, read a paper of
fifty minutes.
Possibly there was no measure before the Legislature in which deeper
interest was manifested or which had the urge of stronger public
sentiment. Lieutenant Governor A. J. Wallace of Los Angeles was a true
friend and Senator A. E. Boynton of Marysville, president pro tem.,
had for years loyally supported it. The Los Angeles delegation with
but few exceptions were pledged in favor. Many opponents of years'
standing, feeling the pressure of popularity, were prepared to
capitulate. Senator J. B. Sanford of Ukiah, who had long been a thorn
in the flesh of the suffrage lobby, attempted to block it but was
prevented by Senator Louis Juilliard and a spirited debate was led by
Senator Lee C. Gates of Los Angeles, a leader of progressive measures.
On January 26 the amendment came up for third reading and final
passage. There was no need of further debate but each Senator seemed
desirous of paying his tribute. It received 35 ayes and the opposition
could muster only five votes. The Senate resolution was submitted in
the Assembly and voted on February 2. Gallery and lobbies were
thronged and only time limited the oratory. It received 66 ayes, 12
noes. Governor Johnson had insisted on the submission of the amendment
as a party pledge.
Pink roses were sent by the committee to Mrs. Johnson, wife of the
Governor, and violets to Mrs. Wallace for their helpful cooperation.
Cordial appreciation was expressed to the wives of Senators and
Assemblymen who did yeoman service, among them Mrs. Bell, Mrs. Gates,
Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher Brown, Mrs. Miguel Estidillo and Mrs. Cattell.
After the adjournment of the Legislature a conference was called by
the Progressive leaders to outline the plan of campaign for the many
amendments which had been submitted and it was decided _not to mention
the suffrage amendment_, as much needed contributions had been made on
this condition lest it might cause some of the others to be defeated.
There was strenuous objection to this plan by some of its friends but
the majority prevailed. Governor Johnson was present at the meeting
and carried out its program during the entire campaign, not referring
to the suffrage amendment in his speeches. It was said that he
expected it to lose and did not want to jeopardize the amendments
which would enable the voters to take the law-making power into their
own hands and secure all desired reforms. A notable exception among
the official speakers was Francis J. Heney, who never failed to
include it with the others in his appeals to the voters.
The general political situation in California at the time, however,
favored the suffrage campaign. The five parties had put a woman
suffrage plank in their platforms and the voters could concentrate
their attention on the twenty-three proposed constitutional
amendments, for which a special election was called October 10. There
were but eight months for what would have to be a "whirlwind
campaign." The president of the State association, Mrs. Lowe Watson,
said in her report to the next national suffrage convention:
The situation was very different from that of 1895-96. Not only
were the suffragists better organized but as a result of the
previous campaign, in which the National Association largely
participated, there were earnest suffragists in every kind of
association in the State, in the Federated Women's Clubs; the W.
C. T. U., with a franchise department in every local; the
Socialist party, the State Grange and the ever-growing Labor
Unions. We determined to make a strenuous effort to get into
touch with every progressive element. Our State Campaign
Committee, with headquarters in San Francisco, consisted of
chairmen of the ten departments of work.... In addition we had an
Advisory Council composed of picked men and women over the State.
During the two preceding years the State association had been
carrying forward organization work under the able supervision of
Mrs. Helen Moore as chairman but there still remained much to be
done. Our territory was large, a portion of it immensely
difficult. It was conceded that a house to house canvass was of
the utmost importance, particularly in the large cities.
The suffragists of Southern California, whose work with the
Legislature had been of incalculable value, led by J. H. Braly,
president of the Los Angeles Political Equality League, assumed
the responsibility of caring for the ten counties south of the
Tehachapi Pass and nobly did they fulfil all expectations. We
realized that the great "interests" were arrayed against us.
Untold money was at the command of our enemies and they were
schooled in political methods. We had little money and less
political experience but we had consecration of purpose and we
gave ourselves to the work, North and South, with unbounded
enthusiasm....
There was scarcely a corner of the State unvisited by good
speakers. Under the supervision of Mrs. Rose M. French, the State
association issued 3,000,000 pages of literature, while the
College Women's Equal Suffrage League and other organizations in
the North, and the Political Equality League of Los Angeles, also
published countless thousands of leaflets, besides ordering many
from the National Association. Under the tactful management of
Mrs. Ringrose, 50,000 Catholic leaflets were distributed at the
doors of Catholic churches. The picture slides and stereopticon
talks, superintended by Mrs. Lucretia Watson Taylor, were very
effective, particularly in the outlying districts. Posters,
pennants and banners played a conspicuous part in the campaign.
The attendance at the meetings held in theaters, churches, halls
and on the street corners was surprisingly large and in many
instances splendidly enthusiastic. The attitude of the public
generally was respectful and often profoundly sympathetic. Our
country clubs and county organizations followed closely the plans
recommended by the State association. It was purely an
educational campaign, without one shadow of partisanship or
militant methods. The victory in the State of Washington in 1910
and the manner in which the enfranchised women used their newly
acquired power contributed much to the success in California. The
pulpit and the press were also largely with us. We worked hard to
make sure of these two great instrumentalities for the education
of the people.
Our inland co-workers largely financed their own special lines of
propaganda. The generous contributions of the National
Association and the smaller personal donations through that body,
amounting altogether to about $1,800, and the noble work of the
national vice-president, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, were a
large factor in our success. The Woman Suffrage Party of New York
sent us able speakers. Among our many good fortunes was the
coming of the National Education Association convention to San
Francisco. Miss Gail Laughlin was of immense service as a speaker
and as chairman of the Election Committee....
The State association disbursed about $10,000, not counting the
expenses in Southern California. Mrs. Keith contributed $3,000
within the year; Mrs. Anna K. Bidwell $1,000 through the State
treasury, besides assisting her own county organization. Mrs.
Charles D. Blaney gave generous sums, while others in an equally
liberal spirit donated from $200 down to one, according to their
means; and others again, having no gold or precious stones, gave
what was best of all, themselves, nobly, untiringly, out of their
love for justice.
* * * * *
No active work in suffrage was done in Southern California for some
years after the defeat of 1896. In November, 1900, the State
president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, went to Los Angeles, a parlor meeting
was held and later a public address was given by her at the Woman's
Club House. Here it was determined to revive the Woman Suffrage League
and an executive committee was appointed, Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns,
a veteran suffragist, formerly of Minnesota, chairman. On December 1 a
meeting was called by this committee and the league was re-organized;
President, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance; vice-president, Mrs. Shelley
Tolhurst; secretary, Mrs. Lenore C. Schultz. Monthly meetings were
held for several years at the Woman's Club House, the money for the
rent being given by Mr. Wilde, whose sympathy was strong for suffrage.
The years from 1900 to 1910-11 were just years of "carrying on" and
well the pioneers did their work.[14] They kept the fires burning and
gradually all kinds of organizations of women became permeated with a
belief in suffrage for women and were ready for the final campaign.
The work of John Hyde Braly in Southern California deserves a place by
itself. A prosperous business man and public-spirited citizen, when
the call came to assist the movement to enfranchise the women of the
State he saw the necessity of interesting men of prominence. From
early in January, 1910, he worked to secure the enrollment of one
hundred names of the leading citizens of Los Angeles and Pasadena.
Finally he arranged a mid-day banquet on the fifth of April and about
fifty responded. Organization was perfected with a charter membership
of one hundred influential men under the name of the Political
Equality League of California and the following compact was signed:
"We hereby associate ourselves together for the purpose of securing
political equality and suffrage without distinction on account of
sex." The officers elected were: J. H. Braly, president; Judge Waldo
M. Yorke, first vice-president; Hulett Merritt, second; J. D.
Bradford, secretary and treasurer. Enthusiastic speeches were made and
Mr. Braly said that they were initiating this movement at the
psychological time, for the progressive fever was in the California
blood. It was a man's job to take a hand in the enfranchisement of
women, since it was the men who must decide it by their votes. The
league was pledged to work to induce the legislators to submit the
amendment to the voters. Nine men were organized in a Board of
Governors and it was decided to have women become associate members
of the organization, they to select nine women to be governors with
the men. The movement was thus popularized and desirable men and women
of all classes rapidly joined it.
Headquarters were established in the Story Building and systematic
work begun. Judge Yorke was chairman of the legislative and political
department. The 850 delegates and the audience at the Los Angeles
County Republican convention in Simpson Auditorium in August were
enthusiastically for woman suffrage. Eighty-three delegates went from
that convention to the State Republican convention of 430 delegates in
San Francisco. Mr. Braly was not only one of these delegates but also
a member of the platform committee. The suffrage plank went into the
platform and was received with the same enthusiasm apparently as in
Los Angeles. After a progressive Legislature was elected in the fall
of 1910 the Political Equality League gave a banquet at the Alexandria
Hotel in honor of the southern legislators, the State officers-elect
and their wives, with nearly 600 present. Mr. Braly said of this
occasion: "We all felt that we were making history and casting bread
upon the waters that would surely return to us in a day of need,
which, thank God, it did, for without it I think the suffrage bill
would not have been passed."
The organization's express purpose was to use all legitimate means to
influence the Legislature to submit the amendment and every legislator
of the nine southern counties went to Sacramento pledged to vote for
it. After the Legislature had submitted the amendment the Political
Equality League held its annual election. It was felt that it would be
unjust to ask Mr. Braly to have charge of the details of the strenuous
campaign and with expressions of the highest appreciation he was made
president emeritus and Mrs. Seward A. Simons, president. Mr. Braly
arranged to have Mrs. McCulloch of Chicago make a speaking tour of
Southern California in company with a party consisting of himself and
wife, Judge Neely, Judge W. S. Harbert and Senator Lee C. Gates, at
his own expense, as was all of his work. Mrs. Edson wrote to him after
the campaign: "Without the platform pledges of the Republican county
and State conventions we could never have held the legislators and to
you the women of California are indebted for making this possible."
Mrs. Simons in her comprehensive report said in part:
In the southern part of the State the work from the beginning was
undertaken with the understanding that everything possible should
be done to counteract the effect of the probable San Francisco
vote and the California Political Equality League concentrated
its attention on Los Angeles and the country districts throughout
the State. The Executive Board, composed of the following
members, Mrs. Simons, president; Mrs. Tolhurst, chairman of the
Speakers' Committee; Mrs. Berthold Baruch, of the Meetings
Committee; Miss Louise Carr, Literature; Mrs. Edson,
Organization; Mrs. Martha Nelson McCan, Press; Mrs. John R.
Haynes, Finance; Miss Annie Bock, secretary, concerned itself
with effective publicity work--public meetings, the distribution
of literature and the press....
Leaflets and pamphlets that appealed to every type of mind were
printed to the amount of over a million.... Votes-for-Women
buttons to the number of 93,000 and 13,000 pennants and banners
added their quota to the publicity work.... One of the most
effective means of publicity was that of letters of a personal
nature addressed to members of the various professions and
vocations. A letter was sent to 2,000 ministers asking their
cooperation; 60,000 letters were sent through the country
districts. Leaflets in Italian, German and French were given out
at the street meetings in the congested districts of Los Angeles.
A circular letter was sent in September to every club and
organization asking that they give an evening before the election
to a suffrage speaker to be supplied by the league. Suffrage was
presented to every class from the men's clubs in the churches to
the unions' meetings in the Labor Temple.
The importance of getting the endorsement of large bodies of
women was recognized. A few of these endorsing were the Woman's
Parliament of 2,000 members; State Federation of Women's Clubs,
35,000; Federated College Clubs, 5,000; State Nurses'
Association, 800; State W. C. T. U., 6,000; Woman's Organized
Labor, 36,000, and the Los Angeles Teachers' Club, 800. All of
these endorsements were secured at conventions held in Southern
California and the Northern women pursued the same policy. These
do not include those made by organizations of men, or of men and
women or of clubs for suffrage alone and these in the South
exceeded fifty. In a large measure success was due to the
inestimable assistance given by the eminent speakers, among them
supreme court judges, prominent lawyers, physicians, ministers,
noted educators and philanthropists and by men and women from all
callings and occupations....
During the last two months meetings were arranged in all the
towns of the southern counties where it was possible. When a hall
could not be had they were held in the open air. The last month
from fifty to sixty meetings a week were planned from the league
headquarters, speakers supplied and literature sent. These did
not include those arranged by local organizations in smaller
towns nor the many street meetings which were held by every one
who could command an automobile. The climax was in the largest
theater in Los Angeles on the evening of September 30 when over
4,000 people listened to the best speakers of the campaign. In
addition another thousand gathered in Choral Hall for an overflow
meeting, while many hundreds were turned from the doors. It was
the largest political demonstration in the history of Southern
California.
The most important phase of the publicity work was that of the
Press Committee, formed of active newspaper women. Miss Bess Munn
was made secretary and her time was devoted exclusively to
supplying material to the local press and the country newspapers.
Double postals asking individuals their opinion of the suffrage
movement were sent to the members of the Legislature; to city,
county and State officials from San Diego to Siskiyou; to judges,
lawyers, merchants, bankers, physicians and all prominent
visitors within the gates of the city. Their answers were from
time to time printed in the form of interviews. Letters went to
club women in every town asking for cooperation in securing space
for suffrage material in the local press. Personal letters were
sent to all the editors informing them that a weekly suffrage
letter would be sent to them from the headquarters of the league.
This contained nothing but the shortest, pithiest items of
suffrage activities and enclosed were the leaflets which were
often printed in full. At the close of the campaign more than
half of the papers of the State regularly used the letter either
as news or as a basis for editorial comment. In Los Angeles alone
more than 10,000 columns were printed on suffrage. In monetary
value this amount of space would have cost $100,000. The last
week before election a cut of the ballot showing the position of
the suffrage amendment was sent to 150 newspapers of the South
with a letter offering the editor $5 for its publication but many
printed it without compensation....
The majorities from the country districts won the victory by
counteracting the immense majority rolled up against the
amendment in San Francisco and thus proved that the country
residents are most satisfactorily reached by the country press.
The anti-suffragists made a more open fight in California than ever
before. A month preceding election a Committee of Fifty was organized
in Los Angeles composed of the reactionary elements, men representing
"big business," corporation lawyers, a number connected with the
Southern Pacific R.R., some socially prominent. The only one known
nationally was former U. S. Senator Frank P. Flint. The president was
a Southerner, George S. Patten, who wrote long articles using the
arguments and objections employed in the very earliest days of the
suffrage movement sixty years ago. They claimed to have thousands of
members but never held a meeting and depended on intimidation by their
rather formidable list of names of local influence.
The Women's Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was more active. It
was formed in Los Angeles, with Mrs. George A. Caswell, head of a
fashionable school for girls, as its president. It organized also in
Northern California with Mrs. C. L. Goddard president and Mrs.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler heading the list of honorary presidents. Both
branches had a long list of officers, some with social prestige, and
maintained headquarters. They also claimed to have a large membership
but held only parlor and club meetings. The National Anti-Suffrage
Association sent its secretary, Miss Minnie Bronson, to speak, write,
organize and have charge of headquarters. Mrs. William Force Scott
came as a speaker from New York. The association was not an important
factor in the campaign.
Theodore Roosevelt lectured in California in the spring of 1911. He
had been in the State twice in preceding years and each time had
referred disparagingly to woman suffrage. During the present visit he
spoke in the Greek Theater at the State University in Berkeley to an
audience of 10,000 on March 25 and the San Francisco _Examiner_ of the
next morning said in its report:
Here is what Colonel Roosevelt said on the burning question of
woman suffrage:
"A short time ago I was handed a letter from the president of an
Equal Suffrage Association asking me to speak in behalf of it. I
have always told my friends that it seemed to me that no man was
worth his salt who didn't think deeply of woman's rights and no
woman was worth her salt who didn't think more of her duties than
of her rights. Personally I am tepidly in favor of woman
suffrage. I have studied the condition of women in those States
where that right is exercised but I have never been able to take
a great interest in it because it always seemed to me so much
less important than so many other questions affecting women. I
don't think the harm will come of it that its opponents expect,
and I don't think that one-half of one per cent. of the good will
come from it that its friends expect. It is not a millionth part
as important as keeping and reviving the realization that the
great work of women must be done in the home. The ideal woman of
the future as of the past is the good wife and mother, able to
train numbers of healthy children."
There were flourishing suffrage societies in all parts of the State.
An Equal Suffrage League had been formed in San Francisco from a
consolidation of suffrage clubs, with a large membership of men and
women, Mrs. Mary T. Gamage, president. With its various committees it
was an active force throughout the campaign. Great assistance was
rendered by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as had been the
case in 1896. During the fifteen years' interval it had been carrying
on a steady work of education through its local unions and their
members were among the most active in the suffrage clubs also. So
complete was the cooperation that they took off their white ribbon
badges toward the end of the campaign to disarm prejudice. Mrs. Keith,
president of the Berkeley Club, hired a house in the central part of
town for eight months as headquarters and Mrs. Hester Harland was
installed as manager. An advisory committee was formed of Mrs. George
W. Haight, Mrs. John Snook, Mrs. Fred G. Athearn, Mrs. Irving M.
Scott, Jr., Dr. Helen Waterman, Mrs. Samuel C. Haight, Mrs. Aaron
Schloss, Mrs. T. B. Sears, Mrs. C. C. Hall, Mrs. Frank F. Bunker,
assisted by many others toward the close of the campaign. Mrs. J. B.
Hume and Miss Blanche Morse toured the State as speakers and
organizers. Mrs. Keith herself spoke on a number of special occasions.
Mrs. Watson spoke night and day for three weeks in Sacramento Valley;
at Chico to an audience of 3,000.[15]
The Central Campaign Committee was created in July, three months
before election, consisting of one member from each of the five
principal campaign organizations in San Francisco doing State work.
Mrs. Watson Taylor, daughter of the president, represented the State
Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. Aylett Cotton, the Clubwoman's
Franchise League; Mrs. Robert A. Dean, the Woman Suffrage Party; Miss
Maud Younger, the Wage Earners' League and Mrs. Deering the College
League. This committee was formed at the suggestion of Mrs. James
Lees Laidlaw of New York, who visited San Francisco with her husband
in January, for the purpose of having all the organizations share in
the money and workers sent by the New York Woman Suffrage Party. Over
$1,000 were received from it, of which $500 came from General Horace
Carpentier, a former Californian and ex-mayor of Oakland, sent through
Mr. Laidlaw. The Men's New York League sent $200; the Rochester
Political Equality Club, $280; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt $300. New York
suffragists also paid the railroad expenses of the three organizers
and speakers whom they sent and Chicago suffragists paid the
travelling expenses of Mrs. McCulloch, who contributed her services.
From outside States came Miss Helen Todd, former factory inspector of
Illinois; Miss Margaret Haley of Chicago; Miss Jeannette Rankin of
Montana; Mrs. Helen Hoy Greeley, Mrs. A. C. Fisk and Mrs. John Rogers
of New York; Mrs. Mary Stanislawsky of Nevada; Mrs. Alma Lafferty,
member of the Colorado Legislature. These speakers were sent
throughout Northern California.
The chairman of the Press Committee, Mrs. Deering, had been carrying
on the press work steadily for the past five years and hundreds of
papers were ready to support the amendment. Before the end of the
brief campaign, under her efficient management, almost every paper of
prominence either endorsed it or remained silent. The Los Angeles
_Express_, Sacramento _Bee_, _Star_ and _Union_, the San Jose
_Mercury_, the Oakland _Enquirer_, the San Francisco _Bulletin_ and
the _Daily News_ were especially helpful. James H. Barry, editor of
the _Star_, was an unfailing advocate. The _Call_ made a sustained
fight for it and the _Examiner_ and _Post_ advised a vote in favor.
The German papers were outspokenly opposed. The _Chronicle_ in San
Francisco, owned by M. H. De Young, and the _Times_, in Los Angeles,
by Harrison Grey Otis, were relentless opponents. Much assistance was
rendered in the Legislature and the campaign by E. A. Dickson, a
prominent journalist of Los Angeles. The women connected with the
press were sympathetic and helpful.
A most important feature of this remarkable campaign was the work of
the College Equal Suffrage League of Northern California, which had
been organized in 1909 for educational work among college women. When
the suffrage amendment was submitted in February, 1911, the league
decided to go actively into the campaign. The officers elected in May
were as follows: Miss Charlotte Anita Whitney (Wellesley), president;
Dr. Adelaide Brown (Smith), first vice-president; Miss Caroline Cook
Jackson (Cornell), second; Miss Lillien J. Martin (Vassar), third;
Miss Belle Judith Miller (California), recording secretary; Miss
Genevieve Cook (California Woman's Hospital), corresponding secretary;
Mrs. Genevieve Allen (Stanford), executive secretary; Dr. Anna Rude
(Cooper Medical College), treasurer; Dr. Rachel L. Ash (California),
delegate to Council. Directors: Miss Ethel Moore (Vassar); Mrs. Mabel
Craft Deering (California); Miss Kate Ames (Stanford); Mrs. Carlotta
Case Hall (Elmira); Miss Frances W. McLean (California); Mrs. Thomas
Haven (California); Dr. Kate Brousseau (University of Paris); Mrs. C.
H. Howard (California).[16]
Altogether $2,075 were sent to the league from the East. Its total
receipts were $11,030 in fixed sums and the personal donations of its
working members in telegrams, postage, car fare, expressage, use of
automobiles, etc., amounted to thousands. At a meeting held in Oakland
Miss Sylvia Pankhurst spoke to more than a thousand persons who had
paid for their seats.
Every legitimate method of campaigning was used, beginning with the
printing of 900,000 leaflets. There were posters and all kinds of
designs; city circularizing of the most thorough kind in many
languages; pageants, plays, concerts and public social functions; the
placarding of city bill boards over miles of country; advertising of
every possible kind; huge electric and other signs; long weeks of
automobile campaigning in the country and the villages; special
speakers for all sorts of organizations; a handsome float in the labor
day parade; speaking at vaudeville shows--there was no cessation of
these eight months' strenuous work. The campaigning in Sacramento was
in charge of Mrs. Mary Roberts Coolidge, assisted by Mrs. E. V.
Spencer, against great odds, but the city gave a small favorable
majority, due chiefly to the union labor vote.
During the last six months the College League held more than fifty
public meetings in halls in San Francisco, the audiences at the larger
ones varying from 1,300 to 10,000 with hundreds turned away. The Rev.
Charles F. Aked, the brilliant English orator, had just come from New
York and he made his first appearance outside of his pulpit at a
suffrage mass meeting in Savoy Theater, donated by the John Cort
management, and afterwards he could not refuse to speak at other
meetings. His debate with Colonel John P. Irish in the Valencia
Theater just before election was one of the great features of the
campaign. One of the most important meetings, with 1,500 present, was
addressed by the eloquent young priest, the Rev. Joseph M. Gleason,
with the boxes reserved for prominent Catholics. Rabbi Martin H. Meyer
was one of the strong speakers. At the meeting in the beautiful new
auditorium of Scottish Rite Hall Mrs. Alexander Morrison, president of
the National Collegiate Alumnae, was in the chair and among the
speakers were Dr. Aked, William C. Ralston, U. S. Sub-Treasurer; Mrs.
W. W. Douglas and Albert H. Elliott. In the Italian theater was held
the largest meeting of a political nature known to that quarter,
addressed by Emilio Lastredo, a prominent banking attorney; Ettore
Patrizi, editor of the daily _L'Italia_; Mr. Elliott, Miss Margaret
Haley and Mayor J. Stitt Wilson of Berkeley. A second great suffrage
meeting assembled there again, at which Mme. Adelina Dosenna of La
Scala, Milan, sang. The culmination was the mass meeting in Dreamland
Rink, the largest auditorium in the city. Mrs. Lowe Watson, president
of the State association, introduced by George A. Knight, was in the
chair. There were 6,000 in the audience and 4,000 on the outside, whom
Mrs. Greeley and other speakers kept in a good humor. These were Mrs.
McCulloch, Dr. Aked, John I. Nolan, union labor leader; Mr. Wilson,
Miss Todd, Miss Laughlin and Rabbi Meyer.
The campaign closed with a "business men's meeting" in Cort's Theater
from 12 to 1:30 p. m. the day before election. The theater was crowded
and it was necessary to begin before noon. For several hours the
speakers held forth to an audience changing every half hour. Mr.
Elliott presided and the speakers were F. G. Athearn of the Southern
Pacific R. R.; Dr. Aked, Mr. Wilson, R. C. Van Fleet, Miss Todd and A.
L. Sapiro. Then came the climax to the campaign when Mrs. Ernestine
Black stepped forward and announced that Mme. Lilian Nordica would
speak for woman suffrage and sing in Union Square that evening!
The great prima donna had come to San Francisco to sing at the
ground-breaking for the Panama Exposition and in an ever-generous
spirit agreed to give her matchless services to the cause in which she
was deeply interested. The crowds were packed for blocks in every
direction and suffrage speakers were addressing them from automobiles
when Madame Nordica stood up in masses of flowers in Union Square
opposite the St. Francis Hotel and very simply made her plea for the
enfranchisement of California women. Then her glorious voice rang out
to the very edges of the throng in the stirring notes of the Star
Spangled Banner. The campaign was over.
* * * * *
The amendment went to the voters Oct. 10, 1911. It was most important
to watch the vote in San Francisco and Oakland, as their expected
adverse vote would have to be counteracted by the rest of the State if
the suffrage amendment carried. Oakland was put in charge of Mrs.
Coolidge, who had a corps of efficient helpers in the members of the
Amendment League, composed of old residents of Oakland, who had been
engaged for many years in church, temperance and other social work,
among them Mrs. Sarah C. Borland, Mrs. Agnes Ray, Mrs. A. A. Dennison,
Mrs. Emma Shirtzer, Mrs. Jean Kellogg, Mrs. F. M. Murray and Mrs. F.
Harlan. Of these league members 240 stood at the polls twelve hours,
not half enough of them but they were treated with the greatest
respect and undoubtedly they helped reduce the adverse majority. This
work was paralleled in Berkeley, Alameda and other places around the
bay.
Four weeks before election two representatives of each of the nine
suffrage associations of San Francisco met and placed in the capable
hands of Miss Laughlin the difficult task of looking after the
election in that city and this committee of eighteen acted as an
executive board for carrying out her plans. Her management received
the highest commendation from political leaders. Dr. Mary Sperry and
Misses Miriam and Julie Michelson were a permanent office force and
Miss Schlingheyde, Mrs. Chapin and Miss Sullivan carried much of the
work. The Woman Suffrage Party gave the use of its headquarters in the
Lick building. The State association and the clubs of San Francisco
contributed about $1,500. A captain was appointed for each district
who selected her precinct captains and was supplied with an
automobile. Connection was established with the chairmen throughout
the counties and all were charged to "watch the count." On election
day and the next day $94 were spent for telegrams. To nearby places
experienced workers were rushed when the word came of dishonest
election officials. There were 1,066 volunteer workers in San
Francisco, 118 of them men. On election day hundreds reported for duty
before 6 o'clock and after standing at the polls twelve hours many
went into the booths and kept tally of the count until midnight. In
Oakland Pinkerton men were hired to watch it and in San Francisco the
vault where the ballots were deposited was watched for two days and
nights.
The vote in San Francisco was 21,912 ayes, 35,471 noes, an adverse
majority of 13,559, and even the imperfect watching of the women
detected a fraudulent count of 3,000. In Oakland there were 6,075
ayes, 7,818 noes, an adverse majority of 1,743. Berkeley alone of the
places around the bay came in victorious with 2,417 ayes, 1,761 noes,
a favorable majority of 656. Los Angeles, which in 1896 had given a
majority of about 4,600 in favor, returned 15,708 ayes, 13,921 noes, a
majority of only 1,787. On election night and for two days following
the suffragists judged from the vote in the cities that they were
defeated but the favorable returns from the villages, the country
districts and the ranches came slowly in and when the count was
finally completed it was found that out of a total of 246,487 votes
the suffrage amendment had been carried by 3,587, an average majority
of one in every voting precinct in the State.[17]
With the winning of this old, wealthy and influential State the entire
movement for woman suffrage passed the crisis and victory in the
remaining western States was sure to be a matter of a comparatively
short time. As soon as the result was certain Mrs. Watson, the State
president; Mrs. Sperry and Miss Whitney, representing Northern, and
Mr. and Mrs. Braly, Mrs. Ringrose and Mrs. French, Southern
California, went to Louisville, Ky., to carry the report to the
convention of the National Association, of which this State had
forty-five life members, more than any other except New York.
No State convention had been held in 1911 but one was called to meet
in San Francisco in January, 1912, and it was decided to maintain the
State association to assist the work in neighboring States. Mrs.
William Keith was made president and the officers and executive
committee held all day monthly meetings in her home for several years.
After the National League of Women Voters was formed in 1919, when
Congress was about to submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment, a meeting
was held on Feb. 12, 1920, and a California branch was formed with
Mrs. Robert J. Burdette as chairman.
* * * * *
The demand of the newly enfranchised women for guidance and knowledge
was met at once by the College League, which reorganized in November,
1911, and became the California Civic League for social service,
education for citizenship and the promotion of just legislation. The
excellent work of Miss Charlotte Anita Whitney was recognized by
continuing her as president of the new league from 1911 to 1914. It is
composed of about twenty-five centers in the cities and towns of
Northern California, with a membership of nearly 4,000 and many
centers wield a strong influence in municipal affairs.
The Women's Legislative Council of California was organized in
December, 1912, the outgrowth of the Legislative Committee of the
State Federation of Women's Clubs. This council, which is
non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-political, is in reality a Central
Committee of State, county and some local organizations--about sixty
in all--representing a membership of over 100,000 women. Its purpose
is to coordinate the efforts and concentrate the influence of women's
organizations behind a legislative program, especially for the benefit
of women and children. A list of at least thirty excellent laws since
the enfranchisement of women have been either directly sponsored by
this council or greatly aided by the efforts of women.[18]
Space can not be given for local societies but the suffrage history of
California seems to require the mention of one--the Susan B. Anthony
Club. It was formed in the hour of defeat In 1896 in honor of the
great pioneer, who had worked with the California women through all
that long campaign, and in order to hold together some of those who
had shared in the toil and the disappointment. The club was formed in
the home of Mrs. Mary S. Sperry in San Francisco and she was its
president many years. Other presidents were Mrs. Sargent, wife of U.
S. Senator Sargent, who in 1878 first introduced the Federal Suffrage
Amendment; Mrs. Swift, wife of John F. Swift, Minister to Japan; Mrs.
William Keith, wife of the distinguished artist; Mrs. Isabel A.
Baldwin and Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn, all officers of the State
Suffrage Association also at different times. Dr. Alida C. Avery was
its treasurer and Mrs. Sarah G. Pringle its press representative for a
number of years. Its membership comprised many influential women, it
held regular meetings and was a liberal contributor to suffrage work
in California and other States. In 1911, when all the suffrage clubs
were disbanding, this one remained in existence and continued to hold
social meetings for many years.
In 1916-17 the Committee of Political Science of the State Federation
of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Seward A. Simons, president, made a Survey of
the results of five years of woman suffrage in California, which was
widely circulated. It was a most valuable résumé of the registration
and the vote of women, the legislation they had obtained, the offices
they had held, their service on juries, their political work and the
effect of the suffrage on women and on public life. A very complete
report was made also by Mrs. Coolidge, president of the Civic League.
LEGISLATIVE AND CONVENTION ACTION. 1901. A bill for School suffrage
was defeated.
1905. A resolution to submit a constitutional amendment was defeated
in both Houses by large majorities. A bill legalizing prize fighting
was passed the same day.
1906. A Suffrage State Central Committee of twenty-one competent
workers was organized, Mrs. Lillian Harris Coffin, chairman, Mrs.
Katharine Reed Balentine, secretary, and it continued its activities
in behalf of an amendment to the State constitution for the next five
years. The plan was to secure its endorsement by all conventions and
organizations and have it incorporated in the platforms of the
political parties and the Central Committee was divided into
sub-committees with representatives in every part of the State. The
Executive of this Central Committee, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Nellie
Holbrook Blinn, Mrs. Helen Moore and Mrs. Coffin, were the delegates
to the State Republican convention in Santa Cruz in 1906, which was
completely under the control of the "machine." It was at this
convention that the "insurgent" sentiment began to crystallize into
the "progressive" movement. Woman suffrage was not put in the
platform. James G. Gillette, nominated for Governor, approached the
women and pledged himself, if elected, to do all he could to carry
through the amendment. Later, at Sacramento, the Democratic
convention, under the leadership of Thomas E. Hayden, Albert Johnson,
Max Popper and John Sweeny, incorporated the amendment in the
platform. It was placed in the platform of the Labor party, Miss Maud
Younger and Mrs. Francis S. Gibson assisting the Legislative
Committee.
1907. The Legislature of this year was the last under the complete
domination of the corrupt political forces. The graft prosecution in
San Francisco was in full swing, the result of which was an awakened
public conscience. Every legislator had been interviewed and the San
Francisco delegation was pledged in favor of the suffrage amendment.
It was introduced by Senator Leroy Wright of San Diego and in the
House of Grove L. Johnson of Sacramento the first week of the session.
Mrs. Coffin, Mrs. Moore and Thomas E. Hayden, an attorney retained by
the State association, were the lobby maintained in Sacramento during
the entire session. The amendment was reported favorably out of
committee in both Houses. When the roll was called in the House it was
discovered that the San Francisco delegates had received orders and
the entire delegation voted "no." The result was a bare majority and
not two-thirds. On demand of the suffrage lobby Mr. Johnson obtained
reconsideration. When the vote was next taken it showed that the San
Francisco delegation had been again instructed and voted solid for the
amendment, giving the necessary two-thirds, 54 to 16. Thus was this
city able to control every measure.
Then began the long struggle in the Senate. President pro tem. Edward
I. Wolf of San Francisco and Senator J. B. Sanford of Ukiah,
Republican and Democratic senior Senators, were bitter opponents of
the amendment of long years' standing. After weeks of effort, with a
deadlock of constantly changing votes and always "one more to get," it
was decided to appeal to Governor Gillette to redeem his pledge of
help and Mrs. Coffin and Mr. Hayden called upon him at the Capitol. He
received them without rising or inviting them to be seated and wholly
repudiated the promises he had made to the women at the Republican
convention, saying he was only fooling! The amendment went down to
defeat, lacking two votes.
1908. The Democratic convention in Stockton in 1908 again incorporated
the amendment in the platform. The Labor convention did likewise, Mrs.
Edith DeLong Jarmuth rendering valuable service on the committee. The
convention of the Republican party, the dominant one, was held in
Oakland. The Suffrage State Central Committee opened headquarters at
the Hotel Metropole simultaneously with the Republicans, much to their
chagrin. Rooms were also opened in the Bacon Block, financed by the
Oakland Amendment League, who were coming to lobby. Three hundred
women marched in the first suffrage parade in the State behind a
yellow silk suffrage banner, with the State coat of arms richly
embroidered on it by Mrs. Theodore Pinther, who carried it to reserved
seats in the front of the gallery of the McDonough Theater, where the
convention was held. Mrs. Sperry, Mrs. Pease of Colorado and a
committee of eight women representing as many separate interests had
spoken before the Resolutions Committee the evening before, with two
minutes allotted to each. Mrs. Josephine Manahan, Miss Younger, Mrs.
LaRue, Mrs. Barron and Mrs. O'Donnell composed the labor committee.
Filling the galleries and boxes the suffragists waited for the result.
In lieu of a suffrage plank the Republican chairman stepped forth and
in his pleasantest manner thanked the women for their attendance,
assuring them that by their grace and beauty they had contributed
materially to the success of the convention. Mrs. Pease, who was
seated in the front row, rose and answered that the women were not
there for bouquets but for justice and declined their thanks.
1909. This year the amendment was in the middle of the stream. It had
the promise of support from individual members but the party leaders
had declined assistance. The Progressives felt topheavy with reforms
and feared to be overbalanced if it were adopted as part of their
program. They had the majority in both Houses but failing to secure
any part of the organization they were left off of all important
committees and were on the outside. Apartments for the suffrage lobby,
under the care of Mrs. E. L. Campbell, were opened near the Capitol.
Delegates from many parts of the State were constantly arriving to
relieve the others, with the exception of Mrs. Coffin and Mrs. Moore,
who were in constant attendance and with other members of the
committees and Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, the president, carried the
burden of the work. Assemblyman Johnson again introduced the
amendment. A ruling was made, aimed at the women, that no lobbyists
should be permitted on the floor of the Assembly. To the amazement of
every one the women began to secure votes. The Judiciary Committee
recommended the amendment and it came up as a special order. Speaker
Philip A. Stanton was an avowed opponent, as was Assemblyman J. P.
Transue, floor leader, both of Los Angeles. The San Francisco
delegation, under the direction of Assemblyman J. J. McManus, lined up
with them. The debate lasted an hour. Assemblymen Otis, Telfer,
Juilliard and Hinkel were among those speaking for the amendment. The
atmosphere seemed favorable but at 12 o'clock, when the vote should
have been taken, to the amazement of its friends, Mr. Johnson moved
for a recess until one o'clock. In that hour every possible pressure
was brought to bear against the amendment. When the session reconvened
the galleries were packed with persons there in the interest of the
race-track bill and the suffrage lobby were compelled to sit on the
steps. Without preliminaries the amendment went down to defeat, Mr.
Johnson refusing to ask for reconsideration.
The members of the suffrage lobby toured the State, telling the story
of the legislative defeat and showing what would be the benefits of a
direct primary law. During the Chautauqua meeting in the Yosemite in
July, through the efforts of Assemblyman Drew of Fresno, an entire day
and evening were granted for an excellent suffrage program of a strong
political flavor with Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Coffin and Mrs. Gamage in charge.
1910. The reform element in the Legislature did succeed in enacting a
direct primary law, which, although imperfect, enabled the voters for
the first time in the history of the State to speak for themselves.
Stimulated and encouraged the Republican State convention of 1910 met
in San Francisco and was dominated by the progressive element. The
good government forces had been successful in Los Angeles and had
unanimously included the suffrage plank in their county platform, J.
H. Braly assisting in this result. Santa Clara county under the
leadership of Charles Blaney had done likewise, and the delegates came
to the State convention prepared to force its adoption. It needed that
solid front of eighty-three votes from south of the Tehachapi and the
militant argument of the sturdy Santa Clara delegation to bring the
San Francisco leaders into line. The amendment plank was taken up by
the Resolutions Committee, of which Harris Weinstock was chairman, and
given the same careful consideration accorded every other proposed
plank. The women attended the convention in numbers but were not
required to go before this committee, which adopted it unanimously. It
was adopted as part of the platform by the convention with three
cheers. Thus it became a man's measure and the policy of the
Progressive Republican party. To the regret of many prominent
supporters of the amendment in the Democratic ranks the convention of
that party failed to endorse it. The reason was simple--the "machine"
forces which had hitherto dominated the Republican conventions now
concentrated their strength on the Democratic. A progressive
Legislature was nominated and a man for Governor who had sufficient
courage to carry out a progressive program--Hiram W. Johnson--the
women contributing to his success in not a few counties. The election
was a Progressive victory and the chairman of the Republican State
Central Committee called a meeting of its members and the members
elect of the Legislature for 1911 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco
and appointed committees for assisting the legislators in carrying out
the promises of the platform. A committee of the leading legislators
was appointed to see that a woman suffrage amendment to the
constitution was submitted.
1911. The action taken in 1911 has been described.
In 1915 the Legislature by unanimous vote of both Houses passed
resolutions which said in part:
Resolved, That so successful has been the operation and effect of
granting political rights to women that it is generally conceded
that, were the question to be again voted on by the people of
this State, it would be reendorsed by an overwhelming majority;
and be it further
Resolved, That the adoption of woman suffrage by California is
one of the important factors contributing to the marked
political, social and industrial advancement made by our people
in recent years.
In 1917 in the midst of the war, when the Federal Suffrage Amendment
was hanging in the balance in Congress, a petition from the State
Federation of Women's Clubs was sent to the Legislature through Mrs.
Alfred Bartlett of Los Angeles that it would memorialize Congress on
the subject. Without a dissenting vote the following passed both
Houses in just twelve minutes: "Whereas, the women of the United
States are being called upon to share the burdens and sacrifices of
the present national crisis and they are patriotically responding to
that call, be it Resolved by the Senate of California with the
Assembly concurring that the denial of the right of women to vote on
equal terms with men is an injustice and we do urge upon Congress the
submission to the Legislatures of the States for their ratification of
an amendment to the U. S. Constitution granting women the right to
vote."
RATIFICATION. Governor William D. Stephens called the Legislature to
meet in special session Nov. 1, 1919, for the one purpose of ratifying
the Federal Amendment, which had been submitted June 4. The Women's
Legislative Council had unanimously urged this action in convention.
More than a hundred members of the various suffrage societies went to
Sacramento and before the vote was taken they gave a luncheon for the
legislators, which was attended by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor
and State officials. The speakers were the Governor and the presidents
of many State organizations of women. The ratification was not a
matter of controversy and the vote in favor was unanimous in the
Senate, 73 to 2 in the House--Robert Madison of Santa Rosa and C. W.
Greene of Paso Robles.
Mrs. Mary L. Cheney, secretary of the University of California,
prepared for this chapter a complete list of the offices filled by
women and the positions held by women in the universities, which the
lack of space compelled to be omitted. In 1918 for the first time four
were elected to the Legislature and received important committee
appointments and there have been a few other women legislators. In San
Francisco a Doctor of Jurisprudence of the University of California,
Mrs. Annette Abbott Adams, was the first in the country to hold the
position of U. S. District Attorney. In 1920 another, Miss Frances H.
Wilson, was assistant district attorney. On the teaching force of the
State University at Berkeley were ninety-three women in December,
1919, including Dr. Jessica Peixotto, full professor of economics,
three associate and seven assistant professors and two assistant
professors in the medical college. At Leland Stanford Junior
University are one woman professor emeritus (psychology); two
associate professors, eight assistant professors--over 40 women on the
teaching force.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] For the "assembling" of the different parts of this chapter and
much of the work on it the History is indebted to Mary McHenry (Mrs.
William) Keith, president of the State Equal Suffrage Association; for
Legislative Action to Mrs. Lillian Harris Coffin, chairman of the
State Legislative Committee; for matter on Southern California to Miss
M. Frances Wills and Mrs. Adelia D. Wade.
[11] Mrs. Sperry was reelected the next six years. Miss Carrie A.
Whelan and Miss Clara Schlingheyde were retained six years as
corresponding secretary and treasurer. Others who held State offices
during the years were Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Corbert, Dr. Minora Kibbe,
Mrs. Alice L. Park, Mrs. Osborne, Dr. Charlotte Baker, Miss Belle
Angier, Miss Josephine R. Cole, Rev. Mrs. Wilkes, Dr. Avery, Mrs.
Blinn, Mrs. M. A. Woog, Mrs. Chapman J. Arnott, Mrs. Nellie S.
Scoville, Mrs. Lulu Pyle Little, Mrs. Josephine Mastick, Mrs. Therese
S. Speddy, Mrs. Coffin, Mrs. Ella Mitchell, Dr. Minerva Goodman, Mrs.
Francesca Pierce, Mrs. Lucretia Watson Taylor, Mrs. Helen Moore, Mrs.
Lilian Hough, Mrs. Lehman Blum, Mrs. Martha Pierce, Mrs. Augusta
Jones.
[12] While in San Francisco Miss Anthony found time to give one
sitting for a large oil portrait by William Keith, which was completed
after her death in the spring of 1906 and looked down upon the
audience from the chancel of the Unitarian church in San Francisco at
the memorial services for her on Palm Sunday, April 8. It was shipped
to her home in Rochester, N. Y., the day before the earthquake of
April 18, but it escaped destruction by fire only to meet with mishap
after the death of Miss Mary S. Anthony, to whom it had been presented
by the wife of the artist. Miss Anthony was shown seated near an open
window from which a beautiful sunset was seen; a lavender robe and a
crimson curtain background set off the face and figure in fine relief.
[13] Mrs. Keith was by no means a woman of wealth but it was said that
during the years that led up to the campaign and in the campaign her
contributions amounted to about $15,000.--Ed.
[14] Among the early workers, besides those already mentioned, were:
Mrs. Charlotte LeMoyne Wills, Mrs. Mila Tupper Maynard, Mrs. Lulu Pyle
Little, Mrs. Sarah Wilde Houser, Mrs. Josephine Marlett, Mrs. Alice E.
Brodwell, Mrs. Mary A. Kenney, Mrs. Mary Alderman Garbutt, Mrs. Martha
Salyer, Miss Margaret M. Fette, Mrs. Cora D. Lewis.
[15] Among the names that constantly occur in the State work as
speakers, writers, on committees, etc., besides those specially
mentioned, are Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard, Miss Mary S. Keene, Mrs. J.
A. Waymire, Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin, Mrs. Ella E. Greenman, Miss Mary
Fairbrother, Dr. Sarah I. Shuey, Miss Anna Chase, Mrs. Abbie E. Krebs,
Miss Ina Coolbrith, Mrs. Nellie Blessing Eyster, Mrs. Frances
Williamson.
The comprehensive booklet published by Miss Selina Solomons, "How We
Won the Vote in California," preserves scores of these names and
contains a wealth of details in regard to this interesting campaign.
[16] After the election was over the College League at a general
request issued a pamphlet of 139 pages, edited by Louise Herrick Wall,
describing in detail its many activities during the campaign, every
page of which is a record of marvelous work.
[17] The consideration of Secretary of State Frank Jordan was
appreciated in placing the amendment on the ballot with an explanatory
footnote that would prevent any one from not recognizing it. The
victory was partly due to this advantage.
[18] The very complete résumé of the activities of these organizations
made by Miss Martha A. Ijams, Council Secretary, had to be much
condensed for lack of space.
CHAPTER V.
COLORADO.[19]
In Colorado the period from 1900 to 1920 began and ended with a
victory for equal suffrage. In 1901 the woman suffrage law of 1893 was
by vote of the people made a part of the State constitution. In 1919 a
special session of the Legislature ratified the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. A half-century ago, Jan. 4, 1870, Governor Edward M. McCook
in his biennial report to the Territorial Legislature had urged it to
be a leader in this "movement of progressive civilization," but it was
twenty-three years later when the lone example of the sister State,
Wyoming, was followed and Colorado became the second State to
enfranchise woman.
When Colorado was admitted into the Union in 1876 a strong effort was
made to have its constitution provide for equal suffrage but it was
not successful. School suffrage was given and provision was made that
the Legislature might at any time submit a measure to the voters for
the complete franchise, which, if accepted by the majority, should
become law. This was done in 1877 and defeated. It was submitted again
in 1893 and adopted by a majority of 6,347. Women were thus entitled
to vote on the same terms as men but it was by law and not by
constitutional amendment. Aliens could vote on six months' residence
and on their "first papers," without completing their citizenship. In
1901 the Legislature submitted the following amendment: "Every person
over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following
qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections: He or she
shall be a citizen of the United States and shall have resided in the
State twelve months immediately preceding the election at which he or
she offers to vote." It is worthy of note that Casimero Barela, known
as the perpetual Senator who had opposed equal suffrage since the
question was first raised in Territorial days, esteemed it a privilege
to introduce the resolution for this amendment. The vote on Nov. 4,
1901, stood, ayes, 35,372; noes, 20,087; carried by a majority of
15,285, which was nearly 64 per cent. of the vote cast. After a trial
of eight years the voters, men and women, thus securely entrenched
woman suffrage in the State constitution.
The Equal Suffrage Association has continued its existence in order to
assist the women in other States to get the franchise and also to look
after legislative and civic affairs at home. It has not held annual
conventions but its regular monthly meetings have taken place for
years at the Adams Hotel in Denver where they could be attended by
members from all parts of the State and strangers within the gates
from this or other countries. The presidents after Mrs. John L. Routt
retired were, Mrs. Katherine T. Patterson, Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall,
Professor Theodosia G. Ammons, Mrs. Minerva C. Welch, Mrs. Harriet G.
R. Wright (8 years), Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell, Mrs. Honora McPhearson,
Mrs. Lucy I. Harrington, Mrs. Katherine Tipton Hosmer, 1918.
Three of these presidents have passed over the range, Mrs. Routt, wife
of the former Governor; Mrs. Patterson, wife of U. S. Senator Thomas
M. Patterson, and Professor Ammons, who established the department of
domestic science in the Colorado Agricultural College. Two eminent and
highly valued suffragists who have passed away are Mrs. Sarah Platt
Decker and the Hon. Isaac N. Stevens. Mrs. Decker, one of the most
accomplished and forceful of women, was president of the State Board
of Charities and Corrections and vice-president of the first State
Civil Service Commission from 1909 until her death July 7, 1912, in
California during the biennial of the General Federation of Women's
Clubs, of which she had been president. Mr. Stevens, editor for years
of the Colorado Springs _Gazette_ and later of the _Pueblo Chieftain_,
member of the Legislature and prominent in politics, was always an
ardent and influential supporter of woman suffrage. Among the pioneer
workers who are still living are Mrs. Ione T. Hanna, the first woman
elected member of a school board in the State; Mrs. Alma V. Lafferty
and Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright, former members of the Legislature; Dr.
Mary Barker-Bates, Dr. Minnie C. T. Love, Mrs. William N. Byers, Mrs.
James B. Belford and Mrs. Celia Baldwin Whitehead.[20]
The State Association has been non-partisan but its members personally
have been connected with the various parties. This does not mean that
they always have voted a straight party ticket; they have not, neither
have men, and scratched tickets are common. Women do not necessarily
"vote just as their husbands do" but many a pair go amicably to the
polls and with perfect good feeling nullify each other's vote. It is a
noteworthy fact that during all the years no bill which the State
association actively opposed has been passed by the General Assembly
and every bill which it actively supported has been enacted into law.
It has thus conclusively been proved that, while women must band
themselves together for bettering the condition of their sex and for
the general good of the State, yet having planned together they must
work out their problems through their political parties. The
association has consistently opposed the so-called National Woman's
Party with its "militant" methods, giving wide publicity to
resolutions adopted Oct. 2, 1917, which said: "We denounce the methods
and actions of the women 'picketing' the White House as unpatriotic
and not in accord with the principles of this association; we declare
they have impugned the good faith of the United States in the eyes of
Russia and other foreign nations ... and we request the Attorney
General of the United States to institute an investigation of the
association supporting the 'pickets' and the sources of its money
supply...."
Though actively engaged with serious problems of State government, of
city administration and of home economics, the association has never
overlooked the fact that social activities are essential to good
government and right living and has made its social affairs a
noteworthy feature during the past years.
There has never been any question among the people generally in
Colorado as to the benefit of woman suffrage. Sanitary conditions are
improved, beginning at everybody's back yard and extending through
every business place and every public domain in the State. Business
methods are different. Visiting women say they can tell when in the
large department stores, groceries, etc., that the women are voters.
Political campaigns are very differently conducted since women have a
part in them. Election methods have changed to make election day what
the men deem fitting since their wives, mothers and sisters are voters
and the polling places are unobjectionable. Not only has it been
conceded that the commonwealth has been blest by the votes of the
women but also that the women themselves have been benefited; their
lives have been enriched by their broadening experiences; their larger
vision has made possible greater culture; their wider opportunity for
doing has led to more deeds of kindness; their interest in State
government and civic economics has improved their ideas of home
government and domestic economy; their assistance in State and civic
"house-cleaning" has imbued them with a higher sense of duty to
society and their own homes.
From time to time wholly unwarranted attacks were made on the effects
of woman suffrage in Colorado in order to prevent its adoption in
other States. During 1908-9 the misrepresentations became so vicious
there was a general feeling that as the men voters largely outnumbered
the women they should not remain silent. Through the efforts of
Assistant District Attorney Omar E. Garwood the Equal Suffrage Aid
Association of men was formed with former Governor Alva Adams
president; Isaac N. Stevens, vice-president, and Mr. Garwood
secretary. Prominent men joined it and it rendered such excellent
service in giving authoritative information that in a few years the
attacks and misrepresentations almost wholly ceased. Mr. Garwood went
on to New York, where the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage was
organized with James Lees Laidlaw of New York City as president and
Mr. Garwood as secretary. He aided in forming similar leagues in other
States and for several years participated actively in the suffrage
campaigns of Kansas, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South
Dakota, and lectured as far south as Mississippi, finding much
interest in Colorado's experiment. It was believed that the men's
organizations, actively taking the stand for the enfranchisement of
women, contributed substantially to the ultimate success of the
movement. In 1915 and following years an obscure lawyer employed by
certain vested interests in Colorado and elsewhere went into eastern
States where suffrage amendments were pending and scattered false
statements about the situation in this State. The newspapers of the
East were flooded with denials by Colorado men, women and
organizations and when they published these he filed suits for libel
but never allowed one of them to come to trial.
Again and again the Legislature has given official testimony in favor
of woman suffrage when it would be helpful. On Jan. 2, 1919, when the
U. S. Senate was about to vote on submitting the Federal Amendment,
Mrs. Hosmer, president of the State Association; Mrs. Anna M. Scott,
first vice-president, and Mrs. Sarah K. Walling, a member of the board
of directors, went before the Legislature at the opening of the
session, asking for a memorial to the Senate urging favorable action.
In less than an hour the rules had been suspended in both Houses and
the following resolution passed unanimously:
Whereas, Colorado has long enjoyed the help and counsel of its
women in all political matters of citizenship and by these years
of experience demonstrated the benefit to be derived from equal
suffrage; and whereas, there is now pending in the Senate of the
United States a constitutional amendment providing for national
woman suffrage; therefore be it
Resolved, that we urge the United States Senate to take up and
submit this amendment at the earliest possible date in order that
all the women of the nation may have the right of suffrage and
the nation may have the benefit of their citizenship.
Both Democratic and Republican parties, and the Populist and
Progressive parties when they existed, have stood for equal suffrage
and unequivocally endorsed it in their platforms. The appointment of
vice-chairwomen of the political State Committees is a foregone
conclusion. During the memorable campaign of 1914, Mrs. Steele, wife
of the late Chief Justice Robert W. Steele, successfully filled this
place in the Democratic party during a time fraught with difficulties,
as the then Congressional Union opened headquarters in Denver to
oppose every Democratic candidate for Congress under the excuse of
holding the party in federal power responsible. The injection of such
a movement in a State where equal suffrage had long been in force and
the women had allied themselves with the parties of their choice,
created among them a keen resentment and acrimonious controversy. The
Democratic Senator, Charles S. Thomas, and Democratic Representatives
who had always been friends of woman suffrage, were re-elected.
Beginning with 1908 the following women were sent as delegates or
alternates to the presidential nominating conventions: Mary C. C.
Bradford, Katherine Cook, Anna H. Pitzer, Eugenia Kelley, Nancy
Kirkland, Helen L. Grenfell, Alice B. Clark, Mary Nichols and Anna M.
Scott. The following have served as presidential electors: Gertrude A.
Lee, Sarah K. Walling, Adella Bailey, Julie Penrose, Anna Wolcott
Vaile.
On Jan. 1, 1919, one of the most important receptions in Denver was
given by the State Equal Suffrage Association to the new Governor,
Oliver H. Shoup (Republican) and his wife, and the retiring Governor,
Julius C. Gunter (Democrat) and his wife. Both were on the board of
directors of the association. It was held in the roof ballroom of the
Adams Hotel and was a most democratic affair, all classes being
represented, as all had found a common interest in public welfare. A
few months later the association gave a handsomely appointed luncheon
at the Adams with Senator Agnes Riddle as guest of honor. Its purpose
was to show appreciation of her heroic stand for women when she voted
against the male appointee of the Governor of her own party to take
the place of a woman expert (a member of the other party) on the Board
of Charities and Correction.
In May, 1919, when it was known that the Federal Suffrage Amendment
was certain to be submitted in a short time, the State Association
requested Governor Shoup to be in readiness to call a special session
of the Legislature so quickly that Colorado might be the first State
to ratify. It offered to supply without salary or compensation of any
kind all necessary clerks, stenographers, pages and sergeants-at-arms
in order that the State should be put to no expense except for the
mileage of the legislators, whose salaries are paid by the year. When
the amendment was finally submitted on June 4 the newspapers, which
had been loyal to the cause all these years, and the men and women
whose interest and support had never flagged, were overjoyed with
thanksgiving and jubilation. The _Rocky Mountain Herald_ of Denver was
one of the first papers to support the Equal Suffrage Association in
asking for an immediate ratification by a special session of the
Legislature. The Governor promised to call one eventually but would
not consent to do it at once, claiming that legislators from the
farming districts asked for delay. Every possible influence was
brought to bear on him but the situation remained unchanged. "For
reasons" the party in power (Republican) decreed that, while of course
the special session must be held, this could not be done until fall or
winter. The members of the association, knowing the futility of
further effort, proceeded to arrange for a public jubilee.
The meeting was held in the City Park of Denver on the night of June
25 in connection with a concert by the city band. Mrs. Hosmer presided
and prayer was offered by Mrs. Almira Frost Hudson. Jubilant speeches
were made by Mrs. Harrington, State Senator E. V. Dunkley and Captain
Morrison Shafroth to an audience of about 1,500. Governor Shoup was
out of the city but sent a letter to be read. The Mayor was
represented by Commissioner J. W. Sharpley. At the Fourth of July
celebration held under the auspices of the Colorado Patriotic League
at the same place, the president of the State suffrage association was
one of the speakers. Her subject was "Woman's First Fourth of July"
and so this celebration also took on the nature of a rejoicing over
the new women electorate of the nation.
RATIFICATION. The Legislature met in special session Dec. 8, 1919, and
a resolution for ratification was introduced in Senate and House, in
the latter bearing the names of the two women Representatives, Dr. May
T. Bigelow and Miss Mable Ruth Baker, and that of the Senate the name
of the one woman member, Senator Agnes Riddle, and as passed it bore
all three names. It requires three days for action on a resolution and
the ratification was completed on the 12th, both Houses voting
unanimously in favor. The day of the final passage was made a great
occasion for the Equal Suffrage Association. Legislators referred to
it in their speeches and Mrs. Walling, one of its board of directors,
was escorted to a seat beside Speaker Allyn Cole. Mrs. Hosmer was out
of the city. A short recess was taken that the first vice-president,
Mrs. Anna M. Scott, might be heard, who made a brief but eloquent
speech. When the time came for the final vote Speaker Cole surrendered
his place to Representative Bigelow, so that a woman might wield the
gavel when the result was announced.[21] The bill went immediately to
the Governor, who signed it on the 15th. Colorado had by this
ratification placed the seal of her approval on the twenty-six years
of woman suffrage in the State.
During the war, the Woman's State Council of Defense was a most
efficient organization, Governor Gunter saying that he ascribed its
remarkable work to the experience which the women had gained by their
quarter-of-a-century of active citizenship. On June 17, 1920, the
State Equal Suffrage Association became incorporated under the name of
the League of Women Voters with Mrs. Scott as chairman. A number of
prominent eastern women en route to the Democratic national convention
in San Francisco stopped at Denver and were guests at the banquet in
celebration of the new league.
The legislative council of the State Federation of Women's Clubs holds
weekly meetings during the sessions of the Legislature and takes up
bills for consideration, particularly those relating to women and
children, education and public health. After discussion and study
these bills are approved or not approved and the legislators, the club
women and the general public are informed as to their action.
There is no law prohibiting women from filling any offices in the
State and it has been said that a really determined effort could place
a woman even in that of chief executive. The office of State
Superintendent of Public Instruction has been filled by a woman since
1894 and no man has been nominated for it. Those who have held this
important office are Antoinette J. Peavey, Grace Espey Patton, Helen
L. Grenfell (three terms), Katharine Craig, Katharine Cook, Helen M.
Wixson (two terms), Mary C. C. Bradford from 1915 to the present time.
During her second term she was elected president of the National
Education Association. Mrs. Walling succeeded Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker
as vice-president of the Civil Service Commission and served six
years. In 1913 Mrs. Alice Adams Fulton became secretary and chief
examiner of the commission. Mrs. Mary Wolfe Dargin was appointed
register of the U. S. Land Office in 1915 and Miss Clara Ruth Mozzer
to the office of Assistant Attorney General in 1917. There have been
women clerks, auditors, recorders and treasurers in seventy-five
cities and towns, including Denver, and several aldermen. Mrs. Lydia
Tague was elected judge in Eagle county. A few years ago 600 women
were serving on school boards.
Prior to the year 1900 nine women had sat in the House of
Representatives--three in each Legislature after the passage of the
equal suffrage law, and there have been nine or ten since then, a
number of them re-elected. In 1913 Colorado's first woman Senator,
Mrs. Helen Ring Robinson, was elected. She was the second in the equal
suffrage States, Mrs. Martha Hughes Cannno of Utah the first. In 1917
Mrs. Agnes Riddle was elected.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] The History is indebted for this chapter to Katherine Tipton
(Mrs. George E.) Hosmer, president of the State Equal Suffrage
Association. Mrs. Hosmer wishes to express her obligation for
assistance in securing data to the past presidents and executive
officers of the association.
[20] Among those who worked in the first decade of this century were:
Helen L. Grenfell, Mary C. C. Bradford, Ellis Meredith, Hattie E.
Westover, Mrs. John F. Shafroth, Minnie J. Reynolds, Gail Laughlin,
Drs. Elizabeth Cassady, Jean Gale, Mary Long, Mary E. Bates, Rose Kidd
Beere and Sarah Townsend; Lillian C. Kerns, Martha A. Pease, Alice
Polk Hill, Mrs. A. C. Sisk, Mrs. A. L. Cooper, Bessie Lee Pogue, Helen
Wixson, Anna M. Scott, Carrie Marshall, Nora B. Wright, Laura
Holtzschneider, Hattie Howard, Rosetta Webb, Sarah Purchase, Helen
Bedford, Inez Johnson Lewis, Eva Rinkle, Evangeline Heartz, Louisa M.
Tyler, Mary Nichols, Helen Miller, Louise Blanchard, Margaret Keating,
Lillian Hartman Johnson.
[21] The day before a joint session of the two Houses had been held
that they might listen to the reading of a poem written for the
occasion by one of the oldest members of the association, Mrs. Alice
Polk Hill.
CHAPTER VI.
CONNECTICUT.[22]
In 1901 the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association had been in
existence for thirty-two years, and, except for the first two years,
Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, who had led the movement for its
organization, had been its president. Closely associated with her
during all these years was Miss Frances Ellen Burr, who was recording
secretary from 1869 to 1910. Under her leadership and with the aid of
her husband, John Hooker, an eminent lawyer, legislation had been
secured giving mothers equal guardianship of their children and wives
full control of their property and earnings. The only concession that
had been made to the steady demand of the women for suffrage was the
grant of the School franchise in 1893 and eligibility to the school
boards. Interest in woman suffrage was at a low ebb when the new
century opened. The membership of the association had decreased and at
the State convention in Hartford in 1901 the treasurer's report for
the year showed an expenditure of only $21.75. The report of the
president and secretary said: "The work of the association is confined
to the annual fall convention and the legislative hearing."
A convention for the revision of the State constitution was to meet in
Hartford at the opening of 1902, whose delegates from the towns and
cities were chosen in the fall of 1901. Little was done to secure
pledges from the candidates but the association obtained the
concession of a room at the Capitol for its use. The National American
Woman Suffrage Association sent an organizer--Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell
of New York--into the State and paid her salary for four weeks and she
spent seven weeks in Hartford, living with Mrs. Hooker and giving her
time to the convention. Mrs. Hooker prepared a Memorial that was
presented and referred to a committee, which refused not only to grant
a hearing to the suffragists but even to receive for distribution in
the convention the copies of the Memorial which had been printed.
Charles Hopkins Clark, editor of the _Courant_, was chairman. Two
suffrage resolutions were presented in the convention at the request
of the State association, by Daniel Davenport of Bridgeport and
Colonel Norris Osborn of New Haven, and were defeated without debate.
In 1902 the State convention was held at Collinsville, in spite of
some unwillingness of local suffragists to "shock the town" by having
such a meeting there. By this time Mrs. Hooker, though still
president, had largely relinquished the work to Mrs. Elizabeth D.
Bacon, the faithful vice-president. A general feeling of
discouragement was perceptible in the reports to the convention of
1903, which was held at Mrs. Hooker's home in Hartford with only 21
delegates present; also to the convention of 1904 in New Haven.
Nevertheless it was voted to ask the Legislature for Municipal
suffrage for women.
During these years the annual expenditures never amounted to $200. In
1905 at the convention in Hartford on November 1 the treasurer
reported that $137 had been spent. In 1906, when the convention was
held at Meriden, November 2, the disbursements were reported as $162.
There were only nine delegates and Mrs. Hooker, who had not attended
the meetings for two years, was made honorary president, and Mrs.
Bacon was elected to the presidency. Mrs. Hooker died in January,
1907, at the age of 85, thus taking from the movement one of the most
brilliant figures of the early period.
The convention of 1907 was held in Hartford October 29, and the
following year it met in New Haven on October 1. A slightly increased
membership was reported and some younger women had come into the
movement, including Mrs. Jessie Adler of Hartford, who was responsible
later for the candidacy of Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn. The expenditures
for 1908 were $265. In 1909 the convention was held at Meriden. It was
reported that the National Association had sent a request to
Connecticut for a petition to Congress with a quota of at least
30,000 signatures but that the number collected had fallen
considerably short of 5,000. Miss Caroline Ruutz-Rees, principal of a
flourishing girls' school in Greenwich, attended as a delegate from a
newly formed Equal Franchise League in that town and several young and
enthusiastic suffragists, including Mrs. Hepburn, who had lately come
into the State, were in attendance with the delegation from the Equal
Rights Club of Hartford.
In October Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, whose "militant" movement in
England was attracting world-wide attention, spoke in Hartford. At
this meeting Mrs. Hepburn met Miss Emily Pierson of Cromwell, a
teacher in the Bristol High School. Both received an inspiration from
Mrs. Pankhurst and they began a campaign in Hartford, organizing
public meetings for which they obtained speakers of national
reputation. To support this work the Hartford Political Equality
League (afterwards the Equal Franchise League) was formed with a
membership at first of four, all of whom were officers. It quickly
attracted members and got into touch with the equally vigorous and
enthusiastic young league in Greenwich.
In the fall of 1910 the State convention was held at Greenwich, with a
large delegation from these leagues. These younger members had come to
the decision that if any active work was to be done there must be a
complete change in the management of the State Woman Suffrage
Association, an idea that was warmly endorsed by some of the older
leaders. A new "slate" of officers was presented headed by Mrs.
Hepburn, who had consented to nomination on condition that the
Greenwich and the Hartford leagues should each pledge $1,000 for the
work of the coming year. Miss Burr had resigned three months before
the convention the secretaryship which she had held over forty years.
The treasurer, Mrs. Mary Jane Rogers, who had been in office for
sixteen years, was re-elected and continued to serve until 1913. Then
on her refusal to accept another term she was elected auditor and held
the office until her death in 1918. In 1912 ex-presidents were put on
the executive board and Mrs. Bacon regularly attended the meetings and
aided the newer workers with her experience and advice until her death
in 1918. The income for 1910 had been $400, the largest ever
received.
The convention of 1911, held in Bridgeport, showed great advance in
organization and general activity. Miss Pierson was elected State
organizer and an automobile tour of one of the eight counties was
undertaken in August under her spirited leadership. Thirty-one
meetings were held and fourteen new leagues were formed and affiliated
with the State association. The income was reported at the convention
as having been $3,966 and the enrolled membership had increased to
over 5,000. At this convention Mrs. Hepburn declined re-election on
account of family duties and Mrs. William T. Hincks, president of a
new and active league at Bridgeport, was chosen. Mrs. Hepburn remained
a useful member of the board.
In 1912 the annual convention was held at New Haven, where after much
difficulty Miss Pierson had organized a flourishing Equal Franchise
League with Mrs. Carlos F. Stoddard president. A Political Equality
Club had existed here from before the opening of the century but its
membership was small and it made no appeal to a large number of women
who were ready to come out for suffrage. It seemed better, as in
Hartford in 1909, to form a new organization with younger leaders.
The annual convention in 1913 was held in Hartford. Mrs. Hincks
refused re-election and Mrs. Hepburn was again chosen, with Mrs. M.
Toscan Bennett as treasurer. The work accomplished during the year, as
reported at the convention, had included the collection of 18,000
names to a petition to the Legislature for full suffrage for women,
while campaigns had covered the smaller cities and towns and resulted
in the organization of all the State except one county.
The convention of 1914 again took place in Hartford and Mrs. Hepburn,
with practically the whole board, was re-elected. The work of the year
included a "ward campaign," in which a beginning was made of
organizing on the lines of a political party, automobile campaigns
completing the organization of the whole State; the first suffrage
parade took place in Hartford on May 2. Political work had resulted in
obtaining a woman suffrage plank in the Democratic State platform. The
total income for the year was $17,779.
In 1915 at the State convention in Hartford Mrs. Hepburn was again
re-elected. The reports included accounts of the activities of the
sixty-nine clubs and leagues affiliated with the State association. In
the Legislature not only had the suffrage measures been turned down
but almost all of those favored by the women, owing to the bitter
hostility of the Republican "machine," by which it had long been
dominated. This convention declared in favor of concentrating on State
work, the majority opinion being that it was as yet of no use to work
for the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The income for the year was
reported as $19,476, this being entirely apart from the money received
and spent locally by the affiliated leagues. During the year a
petition to submit a State amendment with over 43,000 names of men and
women had been collected and presented to the Legislature.[23]
The convention of 1916 was held at New Haven and Mrs. Hepburn was
re-elected. The reports showed that the year then ended had been the
most active in the history of the association. In the winter of
1915-16 work had been undertaken in the counties whose Representatives
had made the worst showing in the preceding Legislature. Miss Helen
Todd, who had worked in California in 1911 when its victory was
gained, was secured as the principal speaker for a campaign organized
for her by Miss Catharine Flanagan of Hartford. Other organizers were
Miss Alice Pierson of Cromwell, Miss Katherine Mullen of New Haven and
Miss Daphne Selden of Deep River, Miss Emily Pierson remaining State
organizer and directing the work. In the spring of 1916 Miss Alice
Pierson married Ralph Swetman and during the summer both undertook a
house to house campaign, with numerous open air meetings in the
smaller towns of Hartford county. The income for the year was $27,442,
nearly all of which was expended. The membership of the State
association by careful count was 32,366 and the affiliated leagues
and clubs numbered eighty-one. During the year a bulletin from
headquarters was sent twice a month to each dues-paying member. In
June a delegation went to Chicago and marched under the leadership of
Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton in the great parade of the National Suffrage
Association that braved the rain and wind on its way to the Coliseum,
where the cause of woman suffrage was presented to the Resolutions
Committee of the Republican National Convention.
The State convention of 1917 was held in Hartford November 7, 8, and
the reports showed that attention had been concentrated on the three
measures before the Legislature--a bill for Presidential and Municipal
suffrage; a bill for Excise suffrage (a vote in local option), and a
resolution for a State constitutional amendment also but both bills
were defeated in House and Senate. The amendment resolution, however,
secured a majority in the House and as the constitution provides that
the House alone shall consider an amendment on its first presentation,
this victory insured that it should pass to the next Legislature for
final action. Through the whole of 1917 much work also was done for
the Federal Suffrage Amendment, deputations being sent to each of the
U. S. Senators and Representatives from Connecticut.
The suffragists felt the urge of patriotism and Mrs. Hepburn in the
name of the association offered its services to Governor Marcus A.
Holcomb. The offer was graciously received though not definitely
accepted but requests for clerical help came to suffrage headquarters.
In response some 540 hours of work were given by volunteers. A Central
War Work Committee, under the auspices of the association, was formed
in April, immediately after the declaration of war, the chairmanship
held first by Miss Ruutz-Rees, who had been a member of the executive
board of the association from 1910. When she was made chairman of the
Woman's Division of the State Council of Defense, the chairmanship was
taken by Miss Katharine Ludington and other leading suffragists gave
their services. The War Work Committee had chiefly to do with food
conservation and $5,350 were collected by it for this purpose.
In addition to the money contributed by suffragists for war work, the
income of the association for the year was $29,933. At this convention
Mrs. Hepburn, who had been strongly stirred by the jailing of the
members of the National Woman's Party at Washington, announced her
intention of working with that organization and Mrs. Bennett refused
re-election for the same reason. Miss Ludington was elected president,
with Miss Mabel C. Washburn as treasurer. Mrs. Seton, who had been
vice-president since 1910, retained her position and Miss Ruutz-Rees
remained. Miss Ludington had shown her qualifications for the State
presidency, first as president of the Old Lyme Equal Franchise League,
then as chairman of New London county and during 1917 by her
organizing and executive ability as chairman of the War Work
Committee. At the annual convention of 1918 held at New Haven, she was
re-elected. The year had been a peculiarly difficult one on account of
the absorption of many women in war work but the income was $30,085,
of which $1,879 had been contributed for the oversea hospitals of the
National Suffrage Association. The work of the year had been directed
towards (1) the Federal Suffrage Amendment and the securing of a
favorable Connecticut delegation to Congress; (2) influencing the two
major parties in the State to include suffrage planks in their
platforms; (3) securing the election of members of the Legislature who
would be favorable to ratification.
At the jubilee convention of 1919, held at Bridgeport after the
Federal Amendment had been submitted in June, a new constitution was
adopted, which provided for the election of five political leaders in
addition to the other officers and an organization of the State by
counties and districts, looking towards the forming later of a League
of Women Voters. During the year there had been a financial campaign,
which was carried on under the direction of Mrs. Nancy Schoonmaker,
resulting in gifts and pledges amounting to $30,993, of which $25,813
were paid at the time of the convention. The total income for the year
was $63,398. Miss Ludington was again elected and most of the other
officers remained on the board. After thorough discussion it was
resolved that the policy of the association for 1919-20 should be to
oppose especially the small group of Republican politicians who had
blocked and were persistently blocking the progress of woman
suffrage. This resolution pledged the association to a fight against
the Republican "machine," which was made with intense determination.
RATIFICATION. The final struggle came in 1920 over ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Great efforts had been made to obtain a
majority favorable to it in the Legislature that would meet in 1919
and had Congress submitted it in time to be voted on at the regular
session it would doubtless have been ratified, as both parties knew it
was inevitable. It was not passed by Congress, however, until June 4,
and by this time the Legislature had adjourned, not to meet again for
two years unless called in special session. All that the suffragists
were able to do during the winter of 1919 was to press for a
Presidential suffrage bill such as had been adopted by a number of
States. In support of this a petition signed by over 98,000
women--increased afterwards to 102,000--was presented to the
Legislature when the bill came up for consideration. Nevertheless,
through the intense hostility of the Republican "machine," the bill
was defeated by a single vote in the Senate after having received a
large majority in the House.
When Congress finally sent the amendment to the Legislatures most of
them had adjourned and would not meet again until 1921. If women were
to vote in the general election of November, 1920, ratification would
have to be by special sessions. The suffragists of Connecticut were
determined that it should be one of the States to hold an extra
session. Deputations from the State Association and the National
Woman's Party waited upon Governor Holcomb in the summer of 1919 to
ask that he call one in order to ratify the amendment. He refused on
the ground of a constitutional limitation of the Governor's power. The
State constitution provides that the Governor may convene the General
Assembly "on special emergencies" and he held that no special
emergency existed. The association then concentrated on the Republican
State Central Committee and the other leaders whom they considered the
chief opponents of suffrage. A petition signed by 478 prominent
members of the Republican party was presented to the chairman of this
committee on Feb. 11, 1920, by the Men's Ratification Committee--a
committee friendly to woman suffrage and anxious for the ending of
the long struggle, which had been formed with Colonel Isaac M. Ullman
chairman. No effect was produced by this petition nor by an interview
with John Henry Roraback, the State chairman, by Miss Ludington, in
which he was urged to put Connecticut among the 36 States necessary
for ratification, in order that the women might be able to feel that
suffrage had been granted them by their own State.
By March 35 Legislatures had ratified and only a group of three or
four States held out any hope of the 36th and final ratification, of
which Connecticut was one. Leading Republicans in and out of Congress
tried to impress upon those in Connecticut that this was no longer a
State but a national issue. At their State convention in March the
Resolutions Committee gave a hearing to the suffragists and reported a
resolution in favor of a special session, which was passed by the
convention and presented to the Governor. It then returned to power
the very men who would prevent it. The Governor remained obdurate. To
the first petition he had replied that the desire of a few women did
not create an emergency. Then he had argued that suffrage was not an
issue when the Legislature was elected and therefore the legislators
were not authorized by the voters to act upon it. A little later he
gave it as his opinion that persistent appeals do not constitute an
emergency. Finally on April 10, in reply to a letter from Colonel
Ullman, he stated that he was ready to receive proof of the existence
of an emergency. The Connecticut women decided to give him the proof
and the National Suffrage Association offered its cooperation by
sending women from all over the country to Connecticut to join in a
great protest against the blocking of woman suffrage for the whole
nation. May 3-7, 1920, was declared "emergency week" and a Suffrage
Emergency Corps was organized of 46 eminent women from as many States.
They assembled in New York the evening of Sunday, May 2, as dinner
guests of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, and
received their "marching orders and field instructions" from her and
Miss Ludington.
The Emergency Corps arrived in Hartford Monday morning and were guests
at a luncheon given in their honor at the Golf Club, whose rooms were
crowded with men and women to meet these doctors, lawyers,
professors, scientists, officials, business women, presidents of
organizations--a remarkable gathering. There were roll call and
speeches and then they separated into four groups and departed by
motors for the four largest cities, where they spoke at mass meetings
in the evening. A carefully planned tour was made of thirty-six towns
with a total of forty-one meetings, at which they were introduced and
assisted by prominent men. Mrs. Catt spoke to a large audience in
Woolsey Hall, New Haven, with Mayor Fitzgerald presiding. The object
of the campaign was to show the sentiment in the State for a special
session of the Legislature and a resolution calling for it was
enthusiastically adopted at each meeting.
The Governor appointed Friday morning at 11:30 for the interview and
the visitors and the officers and staff of the State Suffrage
Association were at the Capitol. Every possible point bearing on the
case was brought out by the speakers and they pleaded with the
Governor to settle this question of ratification by a stroke of his
pen for the women of the whole nation. He said he would reserve his
decision till he had carefully considered their arguments, and they
went out to report to the mass meeting in progress on the grounds of
the Capitol. The following Tuesday he made public his answer, which
was that, while the arguments proved that there was a strong desire
for a special session, they did not prove the existence of the
"special emergency" mentioned in the constitution and he felt
compelled to decline.
A petition asking for a special session was then sent to the Governor
signed by a majority of both parties in both Houses of the
Legislature, which had not the slightest effect. The State association
held a meeting and resolved to try to defeat those Republican
candidates who were opposed to ratification and especially the little
group who composed the Republican "machine." Miss Ludington issued a
manifesto giving in detail their action which had determined this
policy and saying:
Our fight now is "November, 1920." One of the most important
presidential elections in years is to be held then. Women are
just as vitally affected by it and as deeply interested in it as
men. Although 35 out of the necessary 36 States have ratified, no
women can vote in this election under the Federal Amendment until
the 36th State has ratified. It is curious how slow the
public--women as well as men--have been to realize this. They
talk of our being "almost" voters. They do not seem to understand
that although Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc., have
ratified the amendment, the women of these States will not vote
until the 36th State ratifies. Who is responsible for the delay
which may keep over 10,000,000 women from the vote for President
and about 20,000,000 from the vote for members of Congress, State
officials, etc.? Both political parties but the Republican in
greater degree.... It lies in the power of this party to speak
the word that will fully enfranchise the women of this country
and where there is power there is responsibility.
"But," the Republicans say, "we have given you 29 States. Think
of that! You ought to be grateful to us." "Exactly," we answer,
"but you have withheld that one State which would make just the
difference between our voting or not voting. And by the way you
didn't 'give' us those 29 States--we had to work pretty hard to
get some of them!" An emancipator is not the man who takes the
prisoner all the way to the door and lets him look out but the
man who actually unlocks the door and lets him go free. Once in
history the Republican party played the part of a genuine
emancipator. Now it looks very much as if it was playing petty
politics.... At the time of the last State Republican convention
the Hartford _Courant_ obligingly explained that the suffrage
resolution it passed was a pretense and really meant nothing--a
statement, it is only fair to say, repudiated by many honorable
Republicans. Now it is Chairman Roraback, who, with happy
unconsciousness that he is exhibiting his party in a "yellow"
light, tells the public that the national Republican platform
should not be taken seriously.... "The leaders of the party," he
says, "put in the suffrage plank to please women in the voting
States but they meant nothing by it." Are the men who are to lead
a great party as double-faced and untrustworthy as Mr. Roraback
paints them? Were they laughing in their sleeves as they wrote
the solemn pledges in the rest of the national platform? We
wonder if Connecticut Republicans will let Mr. Roraback smirch
the party honor unchallenged.
The course for the State Suffrage Association is clear. We must
play our part in this sector of the national suffrage struggle
and we must let our opponents see that they can not keep American
citizens out of their fundamental rights with impunity.
A committee of Republican women circulated a pledge to give no money
or work for the Republican party as long as women had no votes. Three
influential Republican women travelled to Columbus, O., to put before
the Republican National Executive Committee the opinions of Republican
women who were questioning the sincerity of the party in regard to
woman suffrage. In August thirty Connecticut women, headed by Miss
Ludington, went to New York by appointment to call upon Will Hays,
chairman of the National Republican Committee, and ask him what the
party was doing to secure ratification in Connecticut. He received
them in the national headquarters and Miss Ludington, who spoke for
the deputation, reminded him that his party was taking the credit for
the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment thus far but not
bringing any effective pressure on the Republican Governors of
Connecticut and Vermont, each of whom could insure its full success,
and said: "What the women want is the vote in November. What the
parties apparently want is a good record as a talking point in the
coming campaign. What to the women is the supremely important thing is
that 36th State. What to the parties seems to be most important is to
exact their full due of gratitude from women who have not as yet
received the gift that was promised.... In our own State, where the
Republican party is responsible, the women are actually being called
upon to aid its campaign while it is repudiating the policy and
promises of the national party in regard to ratification."
The speaker then quoted the resolution adopted by the National
Republican Committee Dec. 10, 1919, calling for special sessions
before February to complete ratification, accompanied by the public
statement: "The party managers will cooperate with the women in a
determined effort to bring about the calling of special sessions." She
quoted the resolution passed by this committee June 1, 1920: "Such
Republican States as have not already done so are urged to take such
action by their Governors and legislators as will assure the
ratification at the earliest possible time." She then gave a part of
the plank in the national Republican platform adopted two months ago:
"We earnestly hope that Republican Legislatures which have not yet
acted will ratify the 19th Amendment to the end that all women may
participate in the election of 1920," and said: "We have had no proof
as yet that the party means to make good on these declared
intentions--in fact many things seem to point the other way; first,
the Republican failure to ratify in Delaware; second, the weak plank
in the Republican national platform, which was emasculated _at the
request of the Connecticut delegates_ until it was an affront to the
intelligence of women and a mockery of the Connecticut and Vermont
Legislatures; third, the present situation in Connecticut.
"From the time when suffrage became an issue," Miss Ludington
continued, "it has had the opposition of the leaders of the Republican
party in this State. Since the amendment passed Congress they have
resisted every expression of public opinion, every plea for
ratification on grounds of justice and fair play. For a year the
suffragists have tried sincerely and patiently to work in and with the
Republican party to overcome this opposition, and have been
cooperating with a Republican Men's Ratification Committee formed for
this purpose, but we are apparently no nearer a special session than
we were a year ago." She then concluded:
During all this time we have had no evidence that the National
Republican Committee was really working in the State. We have
found it very difficult to reach you personally and our appeals
for specific help have been ignored. Mr. Roraback and Major John
Buckley, secretary to the Governor, have stated that he has never
been asked by you to call a session. They evidently feel, and
wish the public to understand, that the National Republican
Committee has given them a free hand to pursue their
obstructionist course. And to confirm this comes President-elect
Harding's refusal to attempt to persuade Governor Holcomb.
In the meantime, we women are being told that the Republican
party can not be held responsible, because the Governor stands
alone in his opposition! We submit that so long as the official
leaders of the party in the State are in entire harmony with him
in opposing us and the national party keeps hands off, they are
accomplices in his opposition and must be held responsible
accordingly. And we further submit that if a national party is to
come before the voters on the basis of its policies and promises,
then it must be held responsible for making those promises good
through its State branches.... If the Connecticut Republican
leaders can play a free hand without interference from the
national party, then that party faces the alternative of either
admitting powerlessness and disintegration or of being an
accomplice in the State's attitude of repudiation.
Connecticut women will remain voteless unless their State or
Vermont or a southern State ratifies. The Republican party can
help us in two ways--either by giving a solid Republican vote in
Tennessee or by putting forth a really vigorous effort in a New
England State.
The situation in Connecticut remained unchanged but about two weeks
after this interview the Tennessee Legislature ratified by means of
both Republican and Democratic votes. This made the 36th State and
Secretary Colby proclaimed the Federal Suffrage Amendment a part of
the National Constitution. The Democrats were claiming the credit and
the general election was only two months away. The Republicans,
especially those in Connecticut, keenly felt the situation. Governor
Holcomb was obliged to call a special session to enact legislation for
registering the women. The Legislature was called to meet September 14
and the Governor warned it that it must restrict itself to the
business outlined in the call. No such restriction had ever before
been laid upon a Connecticut Legislature and the Governor himself two
years before had urged that he was powerless to prevent it from
enacting any bills that it pleased when once it had been called in
special session. The members of House and Senate were almost unanimous
in resenting this attempt to fetter their action and plans were laid
to ratify the Federal Amendment.
Before September 14, however, developments in regard to the Tennessee
ratification seemed to threaten its validity and Governor Holcomb and
the Republican leaders perceived that there was an emergency which
called for ratification by Connecticut to prevent difficulty in the
coming elections. This was especially apparent to U. S. Senator Frank
B. Brandegee, who had been an uncompromising opponent of the Federal
Suffrage Amendment and voted against it every time it came before the
Senate. He sent an urgent letter to Colonel Ullman, chairman of the
Men's Ratification League, in which he said: "In view of the fact that
the validity of the ratification of the amendment by the State of
Tennessee has been questioned and that the result of the entire
election throughout the country may be imperilled thereby, and in
consideration of the fact that the amendment is certain to be ratified
by more than the required number of States as soon as their
Legislatures assemble in 1921, I earnestly hope that the Legislature
of Connecticut will ratify it."[24]
As soon as the special session opened Governor Holcomb went before it
and asked it to adjourn without action, as he intended to issue
another call for it to meet a week hence to ratify the amendment as
well as to enact the necessary legislation. Both House and Senate
refused to accede to his request but by unanimous vote in the Senate
and by a vote of 216 to 11 in the House, the Federal Suffrage
Amendment was ratified, although the Governor had not submitted the
certified copy to them.[25] After passing a number of other bills, all
of which were outside of the limits set by the Governor, the
Legislature adjourned to September 21, when the second session had
been called.
When the Legislature met on September 21 the Governor appeared before
the two Houses and asked them to ratify the amendment which he now
laid before them. Many of the members were unwilling to do this, as it
seemed a confession that their former action was invalid. Wiser
counsels prevailed, especially as Miss Ludington and the State Board
strongly urged them not to allow their scruples to stand in the way
when there might be a possible doubt as to whether the first
ratification was legal. The amendment was again ratified, by the
Senate unanimously, the House 194 to 9. Later in the day a motion was
made to reconsider and confirm the action of the first session. This
was done to satisfy the members who were determined that the first
record should stand as authentic. Thus after a struggle lasting over
fifteen months, the Legislature at its first opportunity ratified the
Federal Suffrage Amendment, once, twice and thrice, and if there was
any doubt about Tennessee there was none whatever about Connecticut.
* * * * *
The long fight for ratification and the contest against Senator
Brandegee made it impossible to organize a League of Women Voters in
1920. On November 8 and 9, after the election was over, the
Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association held its last convention in
Hartford. It voted to keep the organization in existence for a couple
of months until a league could be formed and then, without further
ceremony, to dissolve. Preliminary organization work was continued and
on Jan. 18, 1921, at a convention in New Haven the League of Women
Voters came into existence with Miss Mabel C. Washburn chairman.[26]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Connecticut Legislature has only a melancholy
record of defeats, having given the women nothing except a vote for
school trustees and on some school questions in 1893.
1901. A bill for Municipal suffrage was adversely reported from
committee and defeated.
1903. The same bill was defeated in the House on roll call by 105
noes, 40 ayes; in the Senate without roll call.
1905. The same measure had a favorable report from the Joint Woman
Suffrage Committee but it was not accepted by House or Senate.
1907. In addition to the Municipal suffrage bill the association
presented one for Presidential suffrage. The Senate rejected both
without a roll call; House vote on Municipal suffrage, noes, 86; ayes,
56; on Presidential, noes 93; ayes, 55.
1909. For the usual bill the Legislature substituted one giving women
a vote on levying a tax for maintaining a public library, which passed
the Senate without roll call and the House by 82 ayes, 50 noes. It
never was put into operation.
1911. The two usual bills received unanimous favorable reports from
committees. The Municipal passed the Senate but was defeated in the
House, both without roll call. A resolution to submit an amendment was
defeated in the House, not voted on in the Senate.
1913. State constitutional amendment defeated in the Senate by 20
noes, 9 ayes, and in the House without roll call.
1915. The above action was repeated except that both Houses defeated
without a roll call.
1917. Three measures were introduced--a bill for Presidential and
Municipal suffrage, a bill giving women a vote in local option
elections and the amendment resolution. The two bills were fought with
great determination. The first was defeated in the Senate by 19 noes,
13 ayes; in the House by 149 noes, 85 ayes. The Excise bill was tabled
in the Senate, rejected in the House by 139 noes, 69 ayes. The
resolution passed the House by 138 ayes, 96 noes and was referred to
the next Legislature for final action, as required by law.
1919. The State constitutional amendment came automatically before the
Legislature but a legal opinion given by former Governor Baldwin held
that it would sweep away the literacy test for voters and the suffrage
leaders, who doubted the wisdom of going to the work and expense of a
referendum campaign when the Federal Amendment was so near, were glad
to have so good a reason for not pressing the matter. The Presidential
suffrage bill secured a majority favorable report from the Joint Woman
Suffrage Committee and it passed in the House by a majority of 27. In
the Senate the Republican "machine" was determined to defeat it. In
the first vote there was a majority of two against it but on
reconsideration there was only one. The "machine" only defeated it by
winning a few Democratic votes. The fight over this measure had been
made with skill and courage by the women against the most determined
opposition on the part of the Republican "machine," which since 1900
had completely controlled both Houses.
The chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, John Henry
Roraback, and Major John Buckley, secretary to the Governor, were
accounted by the women their most bitter enemies and Speaker of the
House James F. Walsh used his large powers to defeat the suffrage
bills. Of the fifteen important House committees anti-suffragists held
eleven of the chairmanships. The chairman of the Woman Suffrage
Committee, Admiral William S. Cowles, was an "anti" but in spite of
his influence the committee report was favorable. This was due to the
progress of public sentiment, accelerated by the work of women during
the war and to the organization for suffrage which had been going
forward. Of the more progressive group of Republicans in the
Legislature who fought for suffrage may be mentioned Lieutenant
Governor Clifford Wilson, Senators John B. Dillon, Charles E.
Williamson, William H. Heald, Arthur E. Bowers and Representative
Harry R. Sherwood. Senator Charles C. Hemenway, Democratic leader and
editor of the Hartford _Times_, was one of its most valuable
supporters.
The liquor forces always employed lobbyists against the suffrage bills
and fought the movement secretly and openly. There were a number of
prominent women opposed but they were not organized until aroused by
the activity that followed the election of Mrs. Hepburn as president
in 1910. The State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was then
formed with Mrs. Daniel Markham as president and she held the office
until the proclamation of the Federal Suffrage Amendment put an end to
her organization. It held occasional meetings with speakers from
outside the State. The members attended legislative hearings and at
the large one on the Municipal and Excise bills in 1917 they occupied
the right of the chamber with row on row of the liquor men back of
them wearing the red rose which was their emblem.
As the Democrats constituted a minority party it was always easier to
secure from them expressions favorable to woman suffrage and in 1916
and 1918 such planks were placed in their platform. In 1918 they
declared for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and a majority of those
elected pledged themselves to vote for ratification, if it came before
the Legislature, and did vote for the Presidential suffrage bill. The
women went to the Republicans conventions each year to ask for a
suffrage plank but were steadily unsuccessful. In 1916 the State
platform reaffirmed the national one, which declared in favor of woman
suffrage. In 1918 the Republican platform included a plank approving
the principle of woman suffrage but leaving it to the States for
action and not to a Federal Amendment.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annie G.
Porritt, journalist, author and lecturer, officially connected with
the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association from 1910 as corresponding,
recording and press secretary.
[23] In June, 1915, a branch of the Congressional Union (later the
National Woman's Party), was organized with Mrs. William D. Ascough as
chairman. At that time the Woman Suffrage Association was giving its
attention almost exclusively to State work and the new organization
began by sending deputations to each of the Congressmen and Senators
to ask support for the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Meetings and a
press service to promote the amendment were carried on until
ratification was completed. Connecticut members took part in every
national demonstration of the Union and eleven suffered terms of
imprisonment. Annual conventions were held each year and in 1918 Mrs.
Thomas N. Hepburn was elected chairman, Mrs. Ascough having removed
from the State. The Union raised money for the ratification campaigns
in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, West Virginia, Delaware and
Tennessee and sent workers to assist them and also to secure a special
session in Vermont.
[24] Notwithstanding this letter the State Suffrage Association used
its whole strength against Senator Brandegee's election on November 2.
It was estimated that 90 per cent. of the women voted. Although the
big Republican landslide elected him he received 12,446 fewer votes
than the Republican candidate for President.
[25] A certified copy of this vote was immediately dispatched to
Washington by Miss Flanagan, one of the National Woman's Party
workers, and Secretary of State Colby accepted it as valid. It is
therefore on record in Washington that Connecticut ratified the
Federal Suffrage Amendment on September 14, 1920.
[26] The officers of the State Association from 1901 to 1920,
besides the presidents, not already mentioned, were as follows:
Vice-presidents, Mrs. Annie C. S. Fenner, 1906-1910; corresponding and
recording secretaries, Mrs. Ella B. Kendrick, Mrs. Marcia West, Mrs.
Jessie Adler, Mrs. Annie G. Porritt, Miss Mabel C. Washburn, Mrs.
Frederick C. Spencer, Mrs. Hiram P. Maxim, Mrs. William H. Deming,
Mrs. Samuel T. Davis, Jr., Mrs. S. H. Benton, Mrs. William C. Cheney.
Among those who served in other official capacities were Mesdames E.
J. Warren, Cynthia B. Fuller, Henrietta J. Pinches, A. Barton Hepburn,
Julius Maltby, H. H. DeLoss, Carlos F. Stoddard, Henry Townshend,
Jonathan A. Rawson, T. S. McDermott, Ruth McIntire Dadourian; Misses
Emily Whitney, Mary A. Goodman, Mary Bulkley, Frances Osborn.
The names of the many women who gave devoted service to this cause
during this score of years can never be recorded.
CHAPTER VII.
DELAWARE.[27]
During the past twenty years the advocates of woman suffrage have
continued to suffer from the handicap peculiar to Delaware--no
referendum to the voters possible on constitutional amendments--and
therefore it never has had the advantage of a State-wide educational
campaign. An amendment must be passed by two-thirds of each branch of
the Legislature at two successive sessions and it then becomes a part
of the constitution. However, the State Equal Suffrage Association has
held conventions every year. Many distinguished advocates from outside
the State, including Miss Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, Miss Mary Garrett Hay, Mrs. Beatrice Forbes
Robertson Hale, Mrs. Maud Wood Park, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip and Mrs.
Borden Harriman, have been among the speakers. Prominent endorsers of
woman suffrage have been the State Grange, Grand Army of the Republic,
Ministerial Union, Central Labor Union and Woman's Christian
Temperance Union. The last is the only leading woman's organization to
give official sanction.
The annual State convention was held Nov. 6, 1901, at Newport, with
three clubs--Wilmington, Newport and New Castle--under the presidency
of Mrs. Martha S. Cranston. Dr. Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the
National Association, was the speaker and the presence of reporters
was an encouraging feature.
The convention of 1902 took place November 8 in Wilmington. Miss Jane
Campbell, president of the large Philadelphia county society, and
Henry W. Wilbur of the Friends' society, New York, were the speakers
from outside the State. During this year the W. C. T. U. and the
Wilmington District Epworth League passed suffrage resolutions. The
Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony was placed in travelling libraries.
Women were urged to pay their taxes "under protest." The Newport Club
petitioned that the word "male" be omitted from the new town charter
but without success. Governor John Hunn in his Message to the
Legislature said: "The time is coming when the participation of women
in all our civil affairs will be voluntarily sought as an infusion of
indispensable new elements into our citizenship."
The convention of 1903 was held November 28 at Newport, with Miss
Harriet May Mills of New York as the chief speaker. The master of the
State Grange declared his belief this year in the equality of the
sexes and urged that some provisions be made for the higher education
of Delaware women. The convention of 1904 was held November 22 in
Wilmington with an address by Dr. Shaw and $25 were pledged to the
National Association. In 1905 the convention was held November 4 in
New Castle, with Dr. Shaw the speaker. A pledge of $25 was again made
to the National Association and Delaware's quota to the Oregon
campaign was subscribed. The State convention took place at Newport on
Nov. 6, 1906. This year the G. A. R. endorsed both State and national
suffrage.
The convention held Oct. 2, 1907, in Wilmington, arranged to send the
State president to the congressional suffrage hearing at Washington.
The outside speaker was Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts. A
chairman of church work was appointed. Reports showed that much
suffrage sentiment was now manifested in the State.
The convention of Nov. 12, 1908, at Newport, was addressed by Mrs.
Rachel Foster Avery and Miss Lucy E. Anthony, the latter describing
the great suffrage parade in London in which she had taken part. A
memorial to David Ferris, a prominent friend of woman suffrage, was
read by Miss Emma Worrell. The Higher Education of the Young Women of
Delaware was discussed by Professor H. H. Hayward, dean of Agriculture
in Delaware College.
The convention of Nov. 29, 1909, in Wilmington, was addressed by Miss
Campbell and Miss Mary Winsor of Haverford, Penn. Memorials to Henry
B. Blackwell and William Lloyd Garrison were read by Mrs. Gertrude W.
Nields. The national petition work for a Federal Amendment was
undertaken in Wilmington with Miss Mary R. de Vou and Mrs. Don P.
Jones in charge; in the rest of the State by Mrs. Cranston.
Legislators and the State at large were deluged with literature. Miss
Perle Penfield, a national organizer, was sent for one week by
courtesy of Mrs. Avery, president of the Pennsylvania association. A
hearing was arranged by Professor Hayward before a Senate committee in
the interest of the higher education of women in Delaware, without
result.[28] A telegram and a letter were sent by the State president
and corresponding secretary to President Theodore Roosevelt, asking
him to remember woman suffrage in his message to Congress.
The annual convention held Nov. 10, 1910, in Wilmington, was addressed
by Miss Lida Stokes Adams of Philadelphia and Frank Stephens of the
Arden Colony near by. A fine tribute to Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who had
recently passed away, was given by Miss Worrell. The Newport and other
clubs sent $30 for the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Fund and a
contribution was made to the South Dakota campaign.
In March the society of Wilmington, the largest branch, began holding
monthly meetings. In response to a letter from the National
Association, Miss Mary H. Askew Mather, Miss de Vou and Miss Emma Lore
were appointed to investigate the laws of Delaware affecting the
status of women in regard to their property rights and the
guardianship of their children. A committee was appointed to support
the candidacy of Dr. Josephine M. R. White deLacour for membership on
the school board of Wilmington, where women had school suffrage. This
year woman suffrage in Delaware lost another friend by the death of
former Chief Justice Charles B. Lore, who framed the petition to the
State constitutional convention in 1897 and who stood unfailingly for
the equality of men and women before the law. The State convention met
Nov. 9, 1911, at Newport.
At the State convention held Nov. 20, 1912, in Wilmington, addresses
were made by Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, State president of Ohio, and
Miss Harriet May Mills State president of New York; and on the subject
Why Delaware Needs a College for Women by Mrs. Emalea P. Warner and
Dr. Hayward. It was decided to have a bill presented to the
Legislature of 1913 for striking the word "male" from the constitution
of the State. A branch club had been formed at the Arden Single Tax
Colony. The State association had held 22 meetings.
On Jan. 4, 1913, a delegation from the Wilmington club was granted a
hearing before the Charter Commission and asked for a clause in the
proposed new city charter giving Municipal suffrage to women. Nine of
the ten commissioners were present and arguments were presented by
Miss Worrell, Mrs. Margaret H. Kent, Mrs. Cranston, Arthur R. Spaid,
county superintendent of schools; George B. Miller, president of the
board of education; Miss Grace B. Tounsend and Miss de Vou. This was
refused and the charter was defeated by an overwhelming majority with
no suffrage clause to handicap it. In February the club held a large
public meeting at the New Century Club with the Rev. Dr. George Edward
Reed, former president of Dickinson College, as the speaker. The club
organized a municipal section to study the work of the city boards and
to offer assistance in forwarding civic improvement, which was
addressed by the Mayor and heads of departments. The State association
was represented in the great suffrage parade in New York City on May 4
by Mrs. J. R. Milligan and Miss Tounsend.
At the State convention in Wilmington Nov. 6, 1913, fraternal
delegates were present from the W. C. T. U., Consumers' League and
Juvenile Court Association. Addresses were made by Irving Warner, Mrs.
Mary Ware Dennett, corresponding secretary of the National
Association, and Miss Mabel Vernon, of the Congressional Union. The
music was generously furnished as usual by the treasurer, Miss Lore.
There were now 174 dues-paying members and 560 registered
sympathizers; 12 executive sessions had been held and 35 meetings, 18
outdoors, and 10,000 fliers and leaflets distributed. On February
18-20, the association was sponsor for "General" Rosalie Jones and her
Pilgrim Band en route from New York to Washington, D. C. Mayor Howell
of Wilmington welcomed them in the City Hall and they were guests at
the Garrick Theater, where they spoke between acts to an overcrowded
house. The State association was well represented in the famous parade
in Washington, D. C., on March 3, and again on April 7 when 531 women
from various States marched to the Capitol bearing special messages to
members of Congress, urging their support of the Federal Amendment. A
tent was established at the State Fair in September, realizing a long
cherished desire of the president, with Miss Ella W. Johnson in
charge. The two organizations joined forces and opened headquarters in
Wilmington, from which petitions to Congress were circulated and much
literature sent out.
The annual convention was held Oct. 30, 1914, at Dover, the State
capital but with no suffrage club. Secretary of State James H. Hughes
welcomed the convention for vice-Mayor McGee, who refused to do so.
The speakers were Mrs. Helen Hoy Greeley of New York, Samuel H. Derby
of Kent county and Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles, Delaware chairman of
the Congressional Union. In Wilmington a meeting was held February 15
in honor of Miss Anthony's birthday, with Miss Anna Maxwell Jones of
New York as the speaker. In April on Arbor Day a "suffrage oak" was
planted, Mayor Howell presiding. In May a successful parade, the
first, was given in Wilmington with Mrs. Hilles in command. In
September both political State conventions were asked to endorse woman
suffrage but refused. Two rooms were furnished by and named in honor
of the State association, one at the Industrial School for Girls in
Claymont and one at the College for Women in Newark. It again had a
tent at the State Fair; prizes were given in the schools for the best
essays on woman suffrage; Lucy Stone's birthday was honored in August
13; members were enrolled by the hundreds and fifteen executive
meetings were held. The City Council's invitation was accepted to
march in the Old Home Week parade.
The convention for 1915 took place on November 11, in Wilmington, with
speakers, Dr. Shaw, Miss Worrell on Elizabeth Cady Stanton's 100th
Birthday; Miss Ethel Smith of Washington, D. C., on National Work.
Mrs. Cranston, "the Susan B. Anthony of Delaware," the association's
first and only president since January, 1896, retired and was made
honorary president. Mrs. Mary Clare Brassington was elected her
successor. This year connection was severed with the Congressional
Union, which unexpectedly announced its purpose of forming another
State society, while the old association continued its affiliation
with the National American. Three mass meetings were held with Miss
Janet Richards, Mrs. Beatrice Forbes Robertson Hale and Mrs. Bayard
Hilles the speakers. The association was represented in May in the
parade of the Woman Suffrage Party in Philadelphia, under the auspices
of the National Association.
The annual convention met Nov. 10, 1916, in Wilmington, with Chas. A.
Wagner, State Commissioner of Education; Chas. W. Bush and Dr. Shaw as
speakers. Mrs. Brassington had been appointed to take part in the
suffrage demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic national
conventions in Chicago and St. Louis. The State Central Committees
were again petitioned in vain for an endorsement of woman suffrage.
At the State convention held in Newport, Nov. 22, 1917, a $500 pledge
was made to the National Association. A telegram of congratulation had
been sent to Governor John G. Townsend, Jr., upon the declaration for
woman suffrage in his inaugural address. Miss Lola Trax, a national
organizer, was in the State five weeks, forming centers, and many
meetings were held. Federal Amendment Day was observed by tableaux on
the Court House steps in Wilmington, with Mrs. Florence Updegraff,
national organizer, and Miss Ospina, local congressional chairman, in
charge, Mrs. Brassington presiding, to whom a farewell luncheon was
given, as she was removing from the State. She was succeeded by Miss
Agnes Y. Downey, first vice-president.
The annual convention in Wilmington Nov. 29, 1918, was addressed by
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president and Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson,
recording secretary of the National Association. Mrs. Albert Robin was
elected president. In May a congressional petition campaign was
launched at a large subscription luncheon given in Hotel DuPont,
Wilmington, with Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Frank Vanderlip, Mrs. Maud Wood Park
and Mrs. J. Borden Harriman guests of honor and speakers. Mrs. J.
Frank Ball, State vice-president, presided. Miss Mabel Willard,
acting for the National Association, conducted the petition "drive"
and secured 175 volunteer workers, who enrolled 11,118 names to
influence the votes of Delaware's U. S. Senators on the Federal
Amendment. Mrs. Robin being absent from the State, Mrs. Ball became
acting president. A conference with U. S. Senator Josiah O. Wolcott
was held at her home in June, a large number of prominent persons
being present, at which the Senator declared himself open to
conviction. Mrs. Halsey Wilson gave a week in September to work in the
State. An active educational campaign was carried on until the
November elections and suffrage literature was distributed at the
polls.
The State convention took place in November, 1919, at Dover, with Mrs.
Raymond Brown, national vice-president, as the principal speaker. A
memorial address for Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was presented by Mrs.
Cranston. At the reception given in the State House by Governor
Townsend and Secretary of State Everett C. Johnson the Governor said
in his welcome: "I feel more than ever since the war that women should
have the ballot. I will be glad at any time to use my influence toward
giving those of Delaware the right of suffrage." A luncheon followed
at the Hotel Richardson, attended by the Governor, Secretary of State
and other officials. All of the legislators were invited. The guests
were welcomed by Mrs. Roswell P. Hammond, president of the Dover
society, and James H. Hughes. Mrs. Robin, who presided, spoke of
ratification as the one goal of their efforts and Secretary Johnson
endorsed it. The Opera House was crowded in the evening to hear the
address of Mrs. Brown.
Reports showed that in January the National Association sent an
organizer, Mrs. Maria McMahon, and with the financial assistance of
the Wilmington society she opened headquarters in Dover, organized a
number of towns and won many friends for the cause. Later Mrs. Halsey
Wilson gave another week to the State. About 600 telegrams were sent
in February to the Delaware Senators urging them to vote for the
submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment but Senator Wolcott and
Senator Willard Saulsbury both voted "no" on February 10, when it went
to defeat. In May Mrs. Robin circularized the Delaware representatives
in Congress and on the 21st, when the amendment was passed by the
Lower House, Caleb R. Layton, Delaware's one member, voted "aye." In
the Senate, the newly elected Senator, L. Heisler Ball, was paired in
favor, Senator Wolcott again voting "no." At a meeting of the State
Board a resolution was passed rejoicing over the success and calling
for a special session of the Legislature to ratify the amendment. A
Ratification Committee was appointed with Mrs. Robin chairman for
Wilmington and the State; Mrs. Cranston for rural New Castle county;
Mrs. Henry Ridgely for Kent county; Mrs. Robert G. Houston for Sussex
county; Miss Leah Burton, legislative chairman; Miss deVou, press
chairman and Mrs. Brassington chairman of literature. Mrs. Ridgely of
Dover was elected president and activities for the campaign were soon
centralized.
RATIFICATION.[29] When it became evident that the Federal Suffrage
Amendment would be submitted by the next Congress, the presidents of
State associations began to plan for ratification and many asked help
from the National American Association. In response to a request from
the president of Delaware Mrs. McMahon was sent, arriving the last of
June, 1919, and beginning an active campaign of organization. T.
Coleman du Pont placed a motor at the disposal of the suffragists and
in a few weeks Newcastle county had been covered with the assistance
of Miss Downey and Mrs. J. W. Pennewell. Working out from Rehoboth
with the assistance of Mrs. Robin, Mrs. Ridgely, Mrs. Houston, Mrs.
John Eskridge and others, Sussex county was organized and later Kent
with the help of Mrs. James H. Hughes, Mrs. Roswell Hammond, Mrs. Emma
Burnett, Miss Winifred Morris and others. The interviewing of
influential men was carried on with the organizing through the autumn.
Headquarters were opened in Dover in January, 1920, and effort from
that time was for a special session. Resolutions endorsing
ratification were secured from State and local Granges, from the State
Federation of Women's Clubs, State Methodist convention, State
Federation of Labor, State committees of Republican and Democratic
parties, and the Wilmington City Republican Committee, the largest in
the State. No opposition was expressed by any organization. Each of
the fifty-two legislators was interviewed either by Miss Leah Burton,
Mrs. Ridgely or members of the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Harmon
Reynolds, Mrs. Cummins Speakman, Mrs. Hughes or Miss Morris, and by
Mrs. McMahon. Assurances were given by the majority in both parties
that their votes would be cast in favor of ratification. Governor
Townsend and Secretary Johnson were constantly helpful. The Republican
National Committee, through its chairman, Will Hays, and the
Congressional Committee, through its chairman, Simeon D. Fess,
rendered every possible assistance and the latter sent a
representative to work in Dover. On January 15 a delegation headed by
Mrs. George Bass, chairman of the Woman's Division of the National
Democratic Committee, appealed to this committee to take some action
toward ratification and it gave its endorsement. Mr. Isaacs, chairman
of the State Democratic Committee, asked the women to appear before it
and on January 22, after an address by Mrs. Ridgely and full
discussion, it endorsed ratification. The Republican State Committee
endorsed it after Governor Townsend had called the special session for
March 22. Only one Legislature was now needed to give the 36th and
final ratification.
All looked so favorable that the women were little prepared for the
weeks of intrigue and double dealing into which they were thrust
immediately upon the convening of the Legislature. Personal and
factional fights entered into the question, while the School Code
played a prominent part and complicated the situation. It was briefly
this. A very large sum had been offered to the State by Pierre du Pont
for the much needed extension of Delaware's public school facilities
contingent upon the raising of a like sum by the State. The gift was
accepted by the Legislature and the people must raise the State's
share of the fund. This meant taxes and taxes meant opposition. Those
who wanted the School Code repealed or modified were inclined to try
to make terms on the suffrage measure. The men of Sussex, the most
southern county, were particularly hostile and at a meeting in
Georgetown hundreds of them protested not only against the School Code
but also against prohibition and woman suffrage. It was the
representatives of these men who eventually blocked ratification in
the House and it was their two leaders, Daniel Layton, chairman of the
State Central Committee, and former Governor Simeon S. Pennewell,
whose influence caused much of the opposition. Governor Townsend, who
aimed to raise Delaware from thirty-second place in educational ranks
by the new code had aroused the personal antagonism of some of the
leaders, but when it became apparent that Delaware was vitally needed
to complete ratification he laid aside his fears that the code would
be repealed and called a special session.
Suffrage mass meetings were held in all parts of the State and the
week before the Legislature met Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, addressed
large audiences in Wilmington and Dover. The Ratification Committee
appealed for more help and Miss Marjorie Shuler, national director of
field publicity, was sent and later Miss Betsy Edwards for political
work. When the special session opened not one of the three daily
papers was supporting ratification, public meetings were being held by
the "antis," their publicity was being sent broadcast to the
metropolitan press of the country and the impression was created that
the whole State was opposed to ratifying. To counteract this situation
required weeks of hard work by the suffragists. Outside correspondents
were secured who would send out the true story of the political
intrigue underlying the failure to ratify. The Wilmington _Morning
News_, under the ownership of Alfred I. du Pont, came out for
ratification and made a strong fight for it to the end.
In his message to the two Houses in joint session the Governor said:
"Woman suffrage has been a subject of public discussion for over half
a century. It is not an agitation of the moment, it is a world wide
question of right and wrong. Your supreme duty is to think and act for
the good of your State and nation." Separate resolutions were
introduced in Senate and House, the former by a Republican, John M.
Walker of Hockessin, the latter by Walter E. Hart, Democrat, of
Townsend, the only one of eleven Democrats in the House who favored
it.
On March 25 there was a hearing before the General Assembly. The
opponents had rushed into town every farmer and small politician they
could secure and the women "antis" pinned a red rose in his
buttonhole. The suffragists had given a yellow jonquil to every
friend. Behind the Speaker's desk hung a huge yellow banner inscribed
"Votes for Women," and so crowded was the room with determined men and
eager women that the sergeant-at-arms had to clear a space for the
Senate. The suffragists had two hours in the morning and the "antis"
the same amount of time in the afternoon, with thirty minutes each for
rebuttal. Mrs. Catt, at the earnest request of the State association,
spoke at this hearing, and its president, Mrs. Ridgely; also Mrs.
Florence Bayard Hilles, president of the Delaware branch of the
National Woman's Party (Congressional Union), United States Senators
McKellar of Tennessee and Stirling of South Dakota came from
Washington to urge ratification. People crowded into Dover from over
the State and hot arguments took place in hotel lobbies and on the
streets. The State anti-suffrage association was represented by Miss
Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., employed by their national
organization. Mrs. Catt closed the argument and her speech was
considered by the hundreds who heard it, according to the staff
correspondent of the Wilmington _Evening Journal_, "one of the
clearest, strongest and most reasonable arguments for votes for women
ever heard in Delaware."
From this time until the vote was taken telegrams from outside the
State urging ratification were poured into the Legislature. They came
from the President of the United States; from Attorney General Palmer
and Secretaries Daniels, Houston and Meredith of his Cabinet; from
Republican Governors, State chairmen and party leaders throughout the
country, urging Daniel Layton to see that enough votes be given by the
Republican legislators to assure a majority in both Houses. In the
Senate all but five of the seventeen members were Republicans; in the
House, all but twelve of thirty-five. If they had adhered to the
expressed policy of their party the amendment could have been ratified
the first day of the session. On March 30 word was received that the
Mississippi Senate had ratified the Federal Amendment. This was
followed by a telegram from Mississippi to the anti-ratificationists
in Delaware that this Senate vote was only "a flash in the pan" and
would be reconsidered. A meeting of the Republican opponents
telegraphed to the Speaker of the House in Mississippi: "Stand firm
against ratification. Delaware Legislature still firm for State's
rights and will not ratify." A hasty call was made for a meeting of
all the Republican members of the Senate and House favorable to
ratification. This was addressed by the Governor, by United States
Senator Ball, and by Congressman Layton, father of "Dan" Layton, who
had always heretofore favored woman suffrage. By this time, however,
the whole question had narrowed to his personal fight against Governor
Townsend and at this conference he publicly announced that he would
oppose ratification.
The Governor did everything possible to make it easy for the leaders
of the southern part of the State to bring over its representatives to
the amendment. In a noble speech he offered to withdraw his candidacy
for delegate to the National Democratic convention if the Sussex
county members would vote for it. John E. McNabb, the Democratic floor
leader, boldly repudiated the telegrams from President Wilson, his
Cabinet, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, and other party leaders. He said that not twenty-five
persons in his district favored ratification and in two days a
petition from five hundred was handed to him by Mrs. F. E. Bach and
Mrs. Pennewell of Wilmington. Alexander P. Corbitt, Speaker of the
House, was indirectly connected with the Pennsylvania railroad and to
him was due a large share of the responsibility of its defeat.
Prominent among the lobbyists were Henry B. Thompson of Wilmington,
husband of the president of the Anti-Suffrage Association; Major
Edmund Mitchell, former Republican State chairman; George Gray, former
Federal Judge; George A. Elliott, Mifflin Wilson, George W. Sparks and
Henry P. Scott of Wilmington, chairman of the State Republican Ways
and Means Committee. His argument, widely circulated, was as follows:
"If the Legislature will refuse to ratify the proposed amendment and
thus prevent the hysterical rout of the politicians of the country to
make shreds and patches of our sacred Constitution, the State of
Delaware will receive in the near future the greatest possible glory."
Governor Townsend went to New York and laid the danger of the
situation before T. Coleman du Pont, whose influence in the State was
very great. He came to Wilmington, interviewed various men, wrote
letters and then went to Dover where he worked for the amendment.
Gradually there was a weakening in the opposition with the gain of a
vote here and there, but the southern part of the State remained
solidly opposed. On March 23 Senator Thomas F. Gormley (a "wet"
Democrat) introduced a bill providing for the submission of every
constitutional amendment to the electorate before ratification or
rejection by the Legislature, which was defeated by 9 noes and 5 ayes.
The date for the vote was finally fixed for March 31 and as its defeat
seemed certain, Assemblyman Hart, who, according to the rules, must
agree to have it brought up, held off heroically under political
threats and intimidations of every kind and at last left the Capitol
for home. After a conference with "anti" members, Representative Lloyd
introduced an exact copy of the Hart resolution. Mr. Hart then brought
up his resolution the next day, April 1, and it was defeated by 23
noes to 9 ayes, with 2 not voting. Meanwhile the lobbying went madly
on. Much of the opposition came from notable "wets"; and many of the
opponents were connected with the Pennsylvania railroad.
The Republican State convention met in Dover April 20 and the Equal
Suffrage Association made one of the most remarkable demonstrations
the State had ever seen. Every road was ablaze with decorated
automobiles and hundreds of suffragists arrived on every train. They
marched and they talked and in themselves they constituted the best
argument that could be made for ratification. American flags and
suffrage banners were used all over the town. With Mrs. Ridgely
presiding, speeches were made all day on the green in front of the
State House, and from an automobile in front of the Republican
convention hall Miss Shuler and others spoke. Long petition sheets
with the names of 20,000 Delaware women asking for ratification were
exhibited. The crowning feature of the day was a parade of "suffrage
children"--the children of suffragists--a long line mounted on ponies
and bicycles down to the babies in the "go carts."
The speech of the permanent chairman of the convention, a staunch
suffragist, Robert Houston of Georgetown, Sussex county, was a strong
appeal for ratification and it called out the greatest outburst of
enthusiasm of the day. The convention unanimously passed a resolution
calling on the Legislature to ratify the amendment. On the table was a
vase of jonquils, and when the president of the anti-suffrage
association rushed to the platform and demanded that they be removed
or that red roses be added she was met by the chairman of arrangements
with the quiet answer, "We are not complimenting the 'antis' today, we
are using the Republican color and that is the suffrage color." The
jonquils largely outnumbered the roses on the coats of the delegates.
While no Republican could now vote against ratification without
repudiating his party it was plainly evident that the majority of
Democrats were opposed to it and on the day of their State convention
their party leaders, including United States Senator Wolcott and the
chairman, Josiah Marvel, blossomed in red, the "anti" color. Former
United States Senator Saulsbury's paper printed editorials of violent
opposition throughout the struggle.
The resolution to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment was called up
in the Senate by Senator Walker Wednesday, May 5. Senator Gormley,
Democratic leader, offered as a substitute a referendum to the voters,
which was defeated by a solid Republican vote of 13 to 4. The roll was
called on the resolution to ratify and it was adopted by 11 ayes, 6
noes--ten Republicans and one Democrat voting for and two Republicans
and four Democrats against it. The House had adjourned when the vote
was taken and the plan was to send the resolution to it Thursday
morning and attempt action Friday, but Thursday morning revealed a
clear intention to defeat it and it was therefore placed under lock
and key in the Senate. Senator Gormley attempted to offer a motion
ordering its delivery to the House but was ruled out of order by the
president pro tem. J. D. Short, whose recent accession to the suffrage
ranks had made the Senate victory sure.
In the House "Bull" McNabb launched an attack on those who were
withholding the resolution, using freely the words "bribery,"
"cajoling," "threats" and much profanity. Mrs. Thompson, the
anti-suffrage president, kept calling out encouragement to him until
the Republican floor leader, William Lyons, had to ask her to stop.
The Senate refused to send the resolution to the House and finally the
Republicans succeeded in forcing an adjournment of the Legislature
until May 17, hoping to bring about a change of sentiment. Some of
those who were interested in the ratification were asked to meet at
the capital that day. Among those who responded were Alfred I., T.
Coleman and Pierre S. du Pont, Governor Townsend, Senator Ball,
Representative Layton, former United States Senator J. F. Allee,
Secretary of State Johnson, Charles Warner, former Congressman Hiram
R. Burton, Speaker Charles Grantland and others. These men argued and
pleaded with the Republican legislators to give the 36th and final
ratification of the 19th Amendment but without effect.
On May 28, twenty-three days after the resolution had passed the
Senate, it was sent to the Lower House. In the interval the Labor
Union of Wilmington passed resolutions unanimously calling upon their
three Representatives, McNabb, Mulvena and Mulrine, to vote for
ratification. President Wilson was assured that only three Democratic
votes were needed and he, therefore, telegraphed these three: "May I
not as a Democrat express my deep interest in the suffrage amendment
and my judgment that it would be of the greatest service to the party
if every Democrat in the Delaware Legislature should vote for it?"
Speaker Corbit was interviewed by members of the Republican National
Committee and Republican leaders from within and without the State and
strongly urged to stand with his party, but to no avail. The
resolution was read twice and a motion was unanimously carried that
the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole. Representative
Lyons here offered a motion to vote on the resolution, which was
defeated by 24 noes, 10 ayes. A motion was then put to adjourn until
12.30, June 2, on which day it had been previously voted to adjourn
sine die at noon, and it was carried! The House thus again placed
itself on record against ratification and ended all further
legislative action.
The causes that led to the defeat were briefly: 1. Factional
differences in the Republican party; antagonism toward Governor
Townsend; half-hearted interest and even treachery on the part of
certain Republican leaders. 2. Democratic opposition either because of
the negro question or for national political reasons. 3. Influence of
the liquor interests. The cost of the campaign to the National
American Suffrage Association was approximately $4,500. The financial
cost to the suffragists of the State could not be estimated and even
more impossible would be an estimate of time and labor during many
months. [Long list of names of workers omitted for lack of space.]
Following the final ratification of the Federal Amendment by the
Tennessee Legislature the Executive Board, which was in session at
Rehoboth, on August 27, 1920, merged the State Equal Suffrage
Association into the League of Women Voters and elected Mrs. Ridgely
chairman. This action was confirmed at a State convention held in
Wilmington September 29, 30.
Among men and women not elsewhere mentioned who have been helpful to
woman suffrage are Mrs. Mary T. Challenger, Lea Pusey, George B.
Miller, Lewis W. Brosius, Mrs. J. R. Milligan; the Reverends Frederick
A. Hinckley, Thomas P. Holloway, Adam Stengle, Alexander T. Bowser,
Joel S. Gilfillan; Mrs. John F. Thomas, Congressman Thomas W. Miller,
George Carter, editor _Evening Journal_; Mrs. Samuel H. Derby, Frank
C. Bancroft, master of the State Grange; Mrs. Samuel Bancroft, Mrs.
Francis I. du Pont, Mrs. Victoria du Pont, Sr., Mrs. Philip Burnett,
Sr., and others mentioned in the chapter.
State officers not named otherwise were Mrs. William L. Duggin, Mrs.
Alfred D. Warner, Mrs. Willard Morse, Mrs. Mary H. Thatcher, Miss
Elizabeth S. Gawthorp, Mrs. Mary Price Phillips, Mrs. Frederick L.
Steinlein, Mrs. R. Barclay Spicer, Mrs. Harry Hayward, Mrs. George
Newcombe, Miss Willabelle Shurter.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION, 1913. A bill to strike from the suffrage clause of
the State constitution the word "male" was for the first time
presented to the Legislature. It was introduced in the Senate January
7, by David J. Reinhardt; in the House by Albert I. Swan. The members
had been previously circularized by the corresponding secretary, Miss
Mary R. de Vou, announcing this action in the spirit of the age, in
the name of justice and democracy and for the credit of the State. On
February 26 a hearing was granted at a joint session, with the House
chamber crowded. Mrs. Cranston introduced the speakers, headed by Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, national president. Miss Jeannette Rankin of
Montana, a field worker sent by the National Association, spent two
weeks in Dover, canvassing the legislators, assisted by members of the
State association. At the Senate hearing March 14 strong speeches were
made by Senators Reinhardt, John M. Walker, and a number of leading
women. Senators Zachary T. Harris and Dr. George W. Marshall worked
for the bill, which was endorsed by the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, Ministerial Union, State Grange, Central Labor Union and
Socialist Party, but it was lost the same day by 11 noes, 6 ayes. The
bill was reported favorably by the House committee and Dr. John H.
Hammond declared that it was time to quit playing politics with it and
pass it but on March 19 it was defeated without debate by 23 noes, 8
ayes.
1915. A full suffrage bill was presented jointly by the State
association and the Congressional Union, introduced by Senator Harris
and Representative Frank M. Saulsbury. The Campaign Committee
representing the two associations and headed by Mrs. Florence Bayard
Hilles opened headquarters at Dover with Miss Mabel Vernon in charge.
Expenses of maintenance were paid by Mrs. George Day of Connecticut, a
member of the advisory council of the Union. A suffrage procession
headed by Mrs. Hilles and Mrs. Victor du Pont, Jr., marched to strains
of martial music from the station to headquarters on its opening day
early in January and gave the stately old capital a decided
innovation. Speaking followed from a gaily decorated automobile.
"Suffrage fliers" (motor cars) carrying able speakers and workers,
made whirlwind trips throughout the State. The anti-suffragists
organized as a committee, with Mrs. Henry B. Thompson chairman and
Mrs. David J. Reinhardt secretary.
On January 21, before the Revised Statutes Committee of the House, all
of the Representatives and many of the Senators, a hearing was given
to the suffragists. The speakers were Mrs. Cranston, Miss Leila Aaron
of Dover, Miss Vernon and Mrs. Hilles, whose argument was nearly
flawless. On February 3 the "antis" spoke before practically the same
audience and the enthusiasm equalled that of the suffrage hearing.
Thomas F. Bayard, brother of Mrs. Hilles, opened the hearing and
introduced Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Grace W. Goodwin of Westfield and Mrs.
Preston Lea, wife of a former Governor. On February 9 the suffragists
were granted a second hearing, all members of the Senate and several
of the House being present. On February 16 the House Committee
reported the bill favorably. On March 8, with an hour's interval
between, the House killed it by a vote of 22 noes to 8 ayes; the
Senate by a vote of 11 noes to 6 ayes. Legislative friends were
Senators Edward Hart, John A. Barnard and Speaker Charles H.
Grantland.
Preceding the vote was a gay and colorful parade of suffragists,
followed by speechmaking outside the State House. Able speakers and
workers from other States had spoken during the campaign, among them
United States Representatives J. A. Falconer of Washington and William
Kent of California; Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Thomas R. Hepburn, president of
the Connecticut Equal Suffrage Association and Miss Anne Martin,
president of the Nevada association. Among local speakers were Dr.
George Edward Reed, D.D., former president of Dickinson College; John
S. Hamilton of Wilmington and Mrs. Cranston. On March 11, three days
after the defeat, at a well-attended luncheon in Hotel du Pont,
Wilmington, was opened the campaign for 1917 in true Bunker Hill
spirit.
1917. A full suffrage bill was presented, the Congressional Union in
charge. The State was canvassed for and against. Before the joint
hearing on February 16 the bill had been reported favorably by
committees of both House and Senate. It went to defeat, however, on
February 23 by a vote in the House of 21 noes to 12 ayes, in the
Senate on February 26 by a vote of 6 noes to 8 ayes. Among the
anti-suffrage leaders were Judge George Gray, General James H. Wilson,
Miss Emily P. Bissell, Mrs. George A. Elliott and Mrs. Henry P.
Scott.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary R. de Vou,
corresponding secretary of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association
fourteen years; also treasurer and auditor.
[28] The Women's College affiliated with Delaware College at Newark,
the State College for men, was opened in September, 1914.
[29] The History is indebted to Miss Winifred Morris, secretary of the
State Equal Suffrage Association, for much of the material in this
story of the effort for ratification.
CHAPTER VIII.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.[30]
While the women in the District of Columbia rejoiced with those in the
States over the successful end of the long, hard fight for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment their joy was tempered by the fact that they still
had before them a struggle for an amendment which would enfranchise
the residents of the District--one really for equal suffrage, men and
women alike being without the vote. The Congress itself now has entire
jurisdiction, each branch appointing a committee for the purpose.
The district is a municipal corporation, administered by a Board of
three commissioners, two of whom are appointed by the President of the
United States from civil life, confirmed by the Senate, the third
being detailed by him from the engineer corps of the army. The
argument for the citizen's franchise is that representation in
Congress for the residents of the District would only give them a
voice in the governing body without impairing the "exclusive
jurisdiction" given to Congress by the National Constitution. It has a
population greater than six of the States and pays taxes in excess of
twenty-two States--each of which has two Senators and Representatives
based on its population. Local self-government also is advocated by
some residents but the majority are behind the movement to obtain
representation in Congress and the vote for presidential electors.
From the time this matter was first agitated the woman suffrage
association of the District has insisted that women should have the
same rights granted to men.
Although the suffragists of the District had no hope of
enfranchisement from the Federal Amendment, nevertheless their
interest in the cause never flagged and they gave freely of their time
and money to aid the movement for it. From 1869 to 1895 they assisted
every year the convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association
in Washington, and afterwards whenever it was held in this city. Its
great celebration of Miss Susan B. Anthony's 80th birthday in
February, 1900, gave a new impetus to the cause. The various societies
had been organized in 1898 into the District of Columbia State Equal
Suffrage Association, corresponding to those in the various States.
The old parent society formed in 1868 and the first Junior Club were
augmented by the Political Study Club organized in 1900, to study the
origin, growth and government of cities and later agitating the
question of placing women on boards of charities, schools, etc.; by
the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Club, organized in 1901, to take up the
study of general taxation, methods of carrying on the public schools,
tariff, finance and city government; by the College Equal Suffrage
League, organized in 1909 and doing excellent work, and in 1916 by the
Anthony League, organized in 1911 primarily for suffrage, but taking
up civic affairs. The Woman Suffrage Council was formed from these
societies in 1914 to aid the Congressional Committee of the National
Association at its branch headquarters in Washington. The name was
afterwards changed to Equal Franchise League when it was decided to
keep the organization intact for the purpose of working for suffrage
in the district. Mrs. Glenna Smith Tinnin was the first chairman,
followed by Mrs. George A. Mosshart and Mrs. Louis Brownlow.
The D. C. State Association held regular meetings about four times a
year and some special sessions. It kept the woman suffrage sentiment
active and was responsible for a great deal of progressive work. The
following served as presidents: Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall, 1898; Mrs.
Ellen Powell Thompson, 1899; Mrs. Carrie E. Kent, 1900; Mrs. Tindall,
1901; Mrs. Kent, 1902-3; Mrs. Mary L. Talbott, 1904-5; Mrs. Jessie
Waite Wright, 1906-7-8; Miss Harriette J. J. Hifton, 1909-10; Mrs. Le
Droit Barber, 1911; Miss Florence Etheridge, 1912; Mrs. Nina E.
Allender, 1913; Mrs. Kent, 1914; Miss Mary O'Toole, 1915 to 1920.[31]
A number of prominent women in the District were officers of the local
suffrage clubs and worked under their auspices, being connected
through them with the D. C. State Association. A part of the program
of the latter in 1904-5 was a study of Fisk's Civil Government of the
United States, Laws affecting Women and Children, taxation and other
subjects of public interest. There was also discussion of bills before
Congress of special interest to women and the association supported
those for the protection of neglected and delinquent children,
compulsory education and restriction of child labor. A bill to raise
the salaries of public school teachers was strongly pressed. Among
those especially active were Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, Dr. Emily
Young O'Brien and Mrs. Alice Stern Gitterman. Through their efforts
two truant officers were appointed, one white and one colored. During
this period the work was being done which led to the establishment of
a Juvenile Court with one probation officer, Mrs. Charles Darwin. In
1906 and 1907 the suffragists were active in agitating for women on
the Board of Education and succeeded in having two white women and one
colored woman appointed, as well as thirty women supervisors of the
public playgrounds. In 1908, also as a direct result of the efforts of
Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall and other members of the association, two
public comfort stations were built at a cost of $35,000, with bath,
rest rooms and all sanitary conveniences, the first in the city. The
association and the College Equal Suffrage League sent representatives
to a hearing before the Commissioners to ask that if a referendum on
the excise question should be taken women should have a vote as well
as men. In 1909 the association assisted in the petition work of the
national organization and paid the secretary who was in charge of
their headquarters in Washington for keeping them open evenings. Under
the auspices of the association lectures were given by Mrs. Emmeline
Pankhurst and Mrs. Ethel Snowdon of England.
In 1910 at a hearing granted to the National Association by the
Judiciary Committee of Congress the District was represented by Miss
Emma M. Gillett and Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine, who overheard one
of its members say that if the women really wanted suffrage they
should do something more than come up there to make speeches so as to
have them cheaply printed and mailed without postage. Miss Gillett,
who soon afterwards was made chairman of the National Congressional
Committee, was so stimulated by this remark that at her request the D.
C. State Association raised $100 and she herself contributed $100 and
used the fund to circularize every candidate for Congress in the 1910
campaign. She appealed through the _Woman's Journal_ for
contributions, but only $14 were received. The circular asked seven
searching questions covering all forms of woman suffrage. The answers
were tabulated and sent out by the Associated Press. [See Chapter X,
Volume V.]
President Seth Low, of the National Civic Federation, called a
conference in Washington Jan. 17-19, 1910, of delegates to be
appointed by the Governors of States and "presidents of commercial,
agricultural, manufacturing, labor, financial, professional and other
bodies national in extent." The program was to include discussions of
"public health, pure food regulations, uniform divorce law and
discrimination against married women as to the control of their
children and property." The suffragists asked the Commissioners to
appoint women among the twelve delegates to represent the District,
but this was not done. Mr. Low in answering Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt's
criticism that women delegates had not been invited, said it had not
occurred to him that women would be interested but that he would
place the name of the National Suffrage Association on the list for
future calls of a like character.
This year the clergymen of Washington were circularized to ascertain
their position on woman suffrage and the great field of usefulness it
would offer for women in moral and social reforms was pointed out.
Miss Hifton and Miss Anna C. Kelton (afterwards Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley)
took charge of this work and the 129 letters they sent received only
eight answers, five in favor, two non-committal, one opposed. For the
first time permission was obtained from the school board to post
notices of the national suffrage convention in the school buildings,
Miss Anna MacLaren arranging for it.
In 1911 representatives of the association addressed many conventions
in Washington and asked that resolutions favoring suffrage for women
be passed. They were not successful but presented their cause. In
1912-13 the suffragists were busy among other things in agitating the
question of having a woman as Juvenile Court Judge. President Taft
practically promised the appointment, but the male incumbent was
allowed to hold over another year. A meeting of women lawyers was held
and a committee appointed to call on Attorney General Wickersham to
urge the name of Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, then Dean of the
Washington College of Law. She was endorsed by several thousand men
and women, over six hundred of whom were teachers in the public
schools and familiar with Mrs. Mussey's excellent work on the Board of
Education, but no woman was appointed. (In 1918 Miss Kathryn Sellers,
president of the College Women's Equal Suffrage League, was appointed
by President Wilson.)
On March 3, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, for the
first time women marched on Pennsylvania Avenue. The parade was
arranged by the Congressional Committee of the National Association,
of which Miss Alice Paul was chairman. Objection being made by
Superintendent of Police Sylvester to giving a permit, the women
appealed to the Senate Committee for the District on the ground that
as citizens and tax-payers they had the right to use the avenue, and a
joint resolution was passed by Congress granting it. Adequate police
protection, however, was not given, indeed some of the police
themselves hooted and jeered with the mob which attacked the paraders.
Doubtless it was composed of persons who had come from outside to the
inauguration. It took three hours to march the mile from the Peace
Monument to the Treasury, where tableaux were given on the steps.
Finally it was necessary to call the troops from Fort Myer. The Senate
ordered an investigation and the Police Superintendent resigned. It
was said that this parade won thousands of friends for the cause of
woman suffrage.
This year the Congressional Union was organized to work in the
District and the States solely for the Federal Suffrage Amendment,
with Miss Paul chairman, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. Crystal Eastman, Mrs.
Mary Beard and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis the other officers. It had its own
headquarters and was not affiliated with the National American
Association.
In 1914 the suffragists protested again, this time to the Chamber of
Commerce, against a constitutional amendment sponsored by it to
enfranchise the residents of the District, because it did not
definitely state that women should be included. This protest was also
taken up in the Federation of Women's Clubs through the auxiliaries of
the State Suffrage Association, which were affiliated with it. During
1915 and 1916 suffragists addressed all the civic bodies in Washington
on the necessity of including women in any measure looking to the
enfranchisement of the residents of the District. As a result of this
continuous agitation a compromise was reached to hold the question in
abeyance until a constitutional amendment was passed enabling Congress
to grant suffrage to the District. The association as usual
participated in commemorating the birthdays of Mrs. Stanton and Miss
Anthony and placed wreaths on the bust of Lincoln in the rotunda of
the Capitol. It joined in the contest with the school board which
tried to exclude married women as teachers.
During the closing years of the long campaign for woman suffrage
street meetings were held. Among those who helped in this work were
Mrs. Frank Hiram Snell, Miss Florence F. Stiles, Miss Elizabeth
Eggert, Miss O'Toole and Miss Sellers. Receptions were given to the
"yellow flier," the automobile sent across the continent by the
National Association, and to the "prairie schooner," the car sent by
the Just Government League of Maryland to tour its southern counties.
Miss O'Toole travelled with the "schooner" two weeks, speaking several
times a day. A delegation from the College League met it at the
District line and a procession accompanied it into the city under
police escort. In the evening a public reception was given at the
Washington College of Law. From 1916 the association assisted the
National Association at its new headquarters, 1626 Rhode Island
Avenue, by serving tea afternoons and raising money through bazaars,
rummage sales, card parties, etc.
During 1918 all the suffrage societies in the District devoted their
energies to war work and co-operated in every possible way with the
Woman's Committee of National Defense, whose headquarters were in
Washington, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw chairman. They rejoiced in the
submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress in 1919 and
its ratification in 1920, although notwithstanding their many years of
loyalty and assistance to the National Association they could receive
no benefit from the victory.
More women hold office in Washington than in any city in the world
because of their very extensive employment by the National Government.
When Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage was written in 1900 an
official statement gave the total number of government employees in
the District as 20,109 men, 7,496 women, a total of 27,600. At the
request of Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, a vice-president of the National
Woman Suffrage Association and a member of the U. S. Civil Service
Commission, the following information was sent in 1920 to be used in
this volume, by the president of the commission, Martin A. Morrison:
In 1907 the Bureau of the Census issued a report in which it was
stated that men outnumbered women in the Government service by
about eleven to one in Washington, D. C., and outside. The
percentage of women in the District was much larger than outside
for the reason that the great bulk of the employees in field
branches are in services the duties of which are not ordinarily
performed by women--the mechanical forces at navy yards, ordnance
establishments, engineer departments, reclamation service
projects, lighthouse service and the like; also the
letter-carriers, city and rural, railway mail clerks and such
classes.
It is believed that the proportion of women to men in the entire
service did not change materially until the beginning of the war.
When the United States entered the war, there were approximately
38,000 employees in the executive civil service in the District
of Columbia, approximately two-fifths of them women. The force
was increased by 80,000 during the war, of whom approximately 75
per cent were women. The force has now been reduced to about
90,000, of whom approximately 50,000 are women. The proportion of
women is being constantly reduced by the return of former
soldiers and sailors to civilian employment, who are allowed
preference under the law. The Federal Civil Service outside the
District of Columbia increased by approximately 280,000 during
the war period, possibly one-third of this increase made up of
women. That force numbers now about 550,000 as compared with
450,000 before the war and it seems safe to say that twenty per
cent. are women.
These positions are open to any who pass the civil service
examinations but the chiefs of the bureaus and departments are
appointed by the President, and Secretaries of Departments, and
they have always been men. Men have succeeded also in getting the
highly paid positions under civil service.
No law excludes women from the District offices. There are, of course,
no elections. Some officials are appointed by the President, some by
the Commissioners, and the Supreme Court of the District appoints the
Board of Education, three of whose members must be women. In 1920
President Wilson appointed Miss Kathryn Sellers, a member of the
District bar, to be Judge of the Juvenile Court. This was largely due
to the efforts of Justice William Hitz, of the District Supreme Court.
The President appointed also Mrs. Clara Sears Taylor a member of the
Rent Commission, created to consider rent problems growing out of the
war, and Miss Mabel T. Boardman as Commissioner of the District. The
Commissioners appointed two women trustees of the public library.
Formerly it was necessary to make an effort to get women on the boards
of charities, hospitals, etc., but now such places are seeking the
women. Within the past ten years many women graduates of the law
schools have been appointed as law clerks in various departments, War
Risk, Treasury, especially the income and customs divisions, and in
the Solicitor's office for the State Department. The Interior
Department appointed Miss Florence Etheridge, at one time president of
the D. C. State Equal Suffrage Association, probate attorney for the
Cherokee Indians. Miss Marie K. Saunders was the first woman appointed
patent examiner, as the result of a competitive examination, and she
has been advanced until the next step is that of principal examiner.
Women hold important positions as secretaries of committees at the
Capitol.
The Board of Commissioners appoint the Superintendent of Police and
under Major Raymond J. Pullman a Woman's Bureau was established in
1918, after several women had been serving on the force. Mrs. Marian
C. Spingarn was made director. When she left Washington the following
year Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle was appointed and continues to hold the
position. To give her power she was made Detective Sergeant and in
1920 was promoted to a Lieutenancy, so that she might legally be in
command of a precinct where the Woman's Bureau is on the first floor
of the house of detention and the preventive and protective work for
women and children is directed. The functions of this bureau are very
wide and very important and the work of the women police covers the
entire city.
The national appointments of women have attracted the attention not
only of this but of other countries. They began in 1912 with the
selection of Miss Julia C. Lathrop of Hull House, Chicago, by
President Taft as Chief of the newly created Federal Children's
Bureau, which position she still holds (1920). President Wilson
appointed Mrs. Frances C. Axtell in 1916 a member of the Federal
Employees' Compensation Commission; in 1920 Mrs. Helen H. Gardener a
member of the Civil Service Commission; Mrs. Annette A. Adams, U. S.
Attorney in San Francisco, Assistant Attorney General; Miss Mary
Anderson, chief of the Women's Division of the Department of Labor.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary O'Toole,
attorney and counsellor at law, president of the District of Columbia
State Equal Suffrage Association from 1915 to 1920, when the Federal
Amendment was ratified. Appointed Judge of the Municipal Court by
President Harding, Aug. 4, 1921.
[31] Vice-presidents: Justice Wendell P. Stafford, Commissioner Henry
B. F. McFarland, Dr. William Tindall, Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, Mrs.
Harvey W. Wiley, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Philander P. Claxton,
Mrs. Wesley, M. Stoner, Mrs. Anna E. Hendley, Miss Helen Jamison, Miss
Gertrude Metcalf, Miss Catharine L. Fleming, Miss Annie Goebel, Miss
Bertha A. Yoder, Mrs. C. C. Farrar, Dr. Margaret S. Potter, Mrs.
Monroe Hopkins, Mrs. Caleb Miller, Mrs. Henry Churchill Cooke, Mrs.
Ruth B. Hensey, Mrs. George Easement. There were few years when Dr.
and Mrs. Tindall did not occupy some official position.
Corresponding secretaries: Miss Henrietta Morrison, Mrs. B. B.
Cheshire, Mrs. Jennie L. Monroe, Mrs. L. M. Coope, Mrs. Ida Finley
McCrille, Miss Lavinia H. Engle, Miss Abbie R. Knapp, Miss Helen M.
Calkins, Francis Scott, Mrs. Rachel Ezekiel, Mrs. Edna V. Bryan.
Recording secretaries: Miss Emma M. Gillett (8 years), Miss Mary H.
Williams, Mrs. Jeannette M. Bradley, Miss Josephine Mason, Mrs. Sarah
Newman, Mrs. Louis Ottenberg.
Treasurers: Mrs. Kate Ward Burt (5 years), W. G. Steward, Mrs. Alice
P. Rand. Mrs. Kent served in some official capacity from 1898 until
her death in 1918.
Auditors: George A. Warren, Miss Edith Harris, William Lee, Mrs. R. G.
Whiting, Mrs. F. M. Gregory, Mrs. Jessica Penn Hunter, Miss Audrey
Goss, Mrs. L. Aveihle, Miss Alice Jenkins, Mrs. Jeanne F. Brackett,
Mrs. Sarah Beall, Mrs. Frank Pyle. Many of the above named also filled
other offices.
Among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen
of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of Miss
Helen Varick Boswell, Dr. Clara McNaughton, Miss Nettie Lovisa White,
Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine and Miss Abby T. Nicholls.
CHAPTER IX.
FLORIDA.[32]
With the removal from the State of Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain in 1897
and no one found to take the leadership, the cause of woman suffrage,
which was represented only by the one society at her home in Tampa,
languished for years. In 1907 John Schnarr, a prominent business man
of Orlando, circulated a petition to Congress for a Federal Suffrage
Amendment which was sent down by the National Association and obtained
numerous signatures. It is interesting to note that, from the
beginning of the suffrage movement in Florida, men as well as women
have been its active supporters.
As the years passed and the movement waxed strong throughout the
country and important victories were won, the women of Florida imbibed
the spirit of their day and generation. It became a frequent topic of
discussion and women in various places began to realize the need of
organization. On June 15, 1912, the Equal Franchise League was
organized at Jacksonville in the home of Mrs. Herbert Anderson by
herself and Mrs. Katherine Livingstone Eagan, with about thirty ladies
present. Monthly meetings were held in a room in a large new office
building given them for headquarters by the owners and forty-five
members were enrolled. Mrs. Eagan, the president, soon went to Paris
and her duties fell upon the vice-president, Mrs. Roselle C. Cooley;
the secretary, Miss Frances Anderson, and the other officers. In the
autumn two leading suffragists, who were attending the National Child
Labor Convention, were invited to address the League, but neither the
Board of Trade nor the Woman's Club would rent its auditorium for a
suffrage meeting, so they had to open a door between their
headquarters and an adjoining room and a large audience was present.
The league affiliated with the National American Suffrage
Association, which the next year sent a field worker to help in
legislative work. In 1914 it published a special edition of _The
State_, which was put into the hands of all the Florida members of
Congress and the Legislature. Mrs. Medill McCormick, chairman of the
National Congressional Committee, sent one of the national workers,
Miss Lavinia Engle, to assist. This year Mr. Heard, president of the
Heard National Bank, gave the league the use of a large front room on
its first office floor.
On Feb. 13, 1913, the Political Equality Club of Lake Helen was formed
with Mrs. S. A. Armstrong president and Mrs. Irene Adams secretary. On
the 27th the Equal Suffrage League of Orlando was organized with the
Rev. Mary A. Safford president, and in October the first demand for
suffrage was made here. The Mayor issued a notice that all freeholders
must register for the sewerage bond election by the 9th, and a few
suffragists saw their opportunity. Very secretly and hurriedly, before
the Mayor could get word of it and give notice that the election was
meant for men only, Miss Emma Hainer and Mrs. Helen Starbuck gathered
together several women who owned valuable property and they went to
the city clerk's office and announced that they had come in response
to the Mayor's call to register for the coming election. He referred
them to the Mayor, who referred them to the Council, which referred
them to the city attorney. He told them that the law did not permit
women to register. This they knew, but their action caused a
discussion of the question and disclosed a widespread belief that
women should have the right to vote.
At a meeting of the executive board of the Orlando league in the home
of Mrs. J. C. Patterson April 21 the question of forming a State
Association was earnestly considered and Miss Safford was requested to
prepare a "call" for this purpose. Soon afterwards she and Mrs.
Starbuck were sent to Tallahassee by the league to aid the suffrage
work being done in the Legislature. Here the great need of a State
organization was very apparent, as legislators constantly asked,
"Where are the suffragists from my district?"
During the summer through conversation with interested suffragists
and correspondence with Mrs. Cooley, president of the Jacksonville
league, arrangements were made for calling a convention to organize a
State association at Orlando at the time of the meeting of the State
Federation of Women's Clubs. This took place Nov. 4, 1913, Miss
Safford was chairman, Mrs. Isabel Stanley secretary of the convention
and addresses were made by women from half a dozen towns. A committee
was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws which reported at an
adjourned meeting on the 6th, when they were adopted and the following
officers for the State Equal Suffrage Association were elected:
President, Miss Safford, Orlando; first vice-president, Mrs. C. J.
Huber, Webster; second, Mrs. Ella Chamberlain, Tampa; third, Miss
Caroline Brevard, Tallahassee; corresponding secretary, Miss Elizabeth
Askew, Tampa; recording secretary, Miss Frances B. Anderson,
Jacksonville; treasurer, Mrs. John Schnarr, Orlando; auditors, Mrs.
Anna Andrus, Miami, and Mrs. J. M. Thayer, Orlando.
In 1914 Miss Safford published a bulletin, showing that the State
Association had auxiliaries in Jacksonville, Lake Helen, Orlando,
Zellwood, Pine Castle, Winter Park, Pensacola, Milton, Miami, Tampa,
and a Men's Equal Suffrage League in Orlando with Mayor E. F. Sperry
as president and Justin Van Buskirk as secretary. Miss Kate M. Gordon,
president of the Southern Woman's Suffrage Conference, had held a
successful meeting in Jacksonville. The Orlando League had had a float
in the trades' parade of the midwinter fair and a booth at the fair
where the names of voters in favor of submitting a State suffrage
amendment were obtained. It had had "teas" for replenishing the
treasury and closed the year with a banquet complimentary to the Men's
League. A committee was preparing a program on the laws of the State
for the next year's work. The Pensacola league was arranging to issue
a special edition of the _Journal_ and have a booth at the tri-county
fair. Most of the leagues had formed classes to study history and the
duties of citizenship and had distributed literature and some of them
had held a celebration on May 2, as the National Association had
requested.
The first annual convention, held at Pensacola, Dec. 8-10, 1914,
stressed the pledging of candidates for Congress and Legislature and
securing signatures to petitions. The second, at Orlando, Feb. 3,
1915, formed congressional districts, according to the plan of the
National Association. The third, at Miami, March 15-16, 1916, arranged
for suffrage schools and planned to assist work outside the State. The
fourth, at Tampa, Nov. 20, 1917, found the members busy with war work.
The fifth, at Daytona, Nov. 19, 1918, planned to introduce a bill for
Primary suffrage in the Legislature and co-operate with the Federation
of Women's Clubs to secure it. The sixth, at Tampa, Oct. 30-31, 1919,
was devoted to plans for ratification of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment and citizenship.
While the State association could show no definite accomplishment, its
work had been largely educational and a considerable public sentiment
in favor of woman suffrage had been created. Its organization and
growth center about the name of the Rev. Mary Augusta Safford, a
pioneer worker in the suffrage cause in several States. She came in
1905 to make Florida her home from Des Moines, Iowa, where she had
been pastor of the Unitarian church for eleven years. Her energy,
enthusiasm and devotion carried all before her and but for her
organization might have been delayed for years. For four years she was
the untiring State president, then Mrs. Frank Stranahan served in
1917, Miss Safford again in 1918. The following, in addition to those
elsewhere mentioned, are among those prominent in the suffrage work in
the State: Mrs. A. E. McDavid, Miss Minnie Kehoe, Pensacola; Mrs.
Susan B. Dyer, Winter Park; Mrs. H. W. Thompson, Miss C. H. Day,
Milton; Mrs. S. V. Moore, Cocoanut Grove; Mrs. Kate C. Havens, Miami;
Miss Pleasaunce Baker, Zellwood; Mrs. Grace Hanchett, Orlando.
From its beginning the association worked for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, although it tried also to obtain from the Legislature the
submission of a State amendment to the voters. In 1915 Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, the national president, assisted Miss Safford and the other
workers in holding conventions in several congressional districts.
Many local meetings were held, much literature distributed,
resolutions secured and legislators interviewed. The Federation of
Women's Clubs, the largest organization of women in the State,
endorsed the movement. In 1916 Miss Safford went for a month to
assist the campaign in Iowa, to which the association sent $100, and
the vice-president, Mrs. Frank Tracy, directed the State work. New
leagues were formed, delegates to the national presidential
conventions were interviewed and Florida women attended those in
Chicago and St. Louis. Dr. Shaw was present at the State convention
where 550 members were reported and the distribution of 750 packages
of literature. A series of meetings was held in cooperation with the
Congressional Committee of the National Association and work in the
Legislature was done.
By 1918 a number of counties had been organized and the State
convention, encouraged by the granting of Primary suffrage to women in
Arkansas and Texas, decided to make this its legislative work for
1919, and plans were made to raise $5,000 through local conferences. A
State organizer was put into the field and the National Association
sent its recording secretary, Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, a trained worker,
to assist the State organization. In January, 1919, Dr. Shaw attended
a conference at Orlando and $1,000 were raised; later at a conference
in Tampa, $198 and at one in Miami and West Palm Beach $260. Miss
Elizabeth Skinner was appointed State organizer and the National
Association sent one of its most capable organizers, Mrs. Maria
McMahon. The 38 county chairmen had obtained nearly 2,500 signatures
to petitions to the Legislature and an active campaign was undertaken
for Primary suffrage.
In January, 1919, the National Association's Congressional Committee
sent its secretary, Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Arkansas, and its
press secretary, Miss Marjorie Shuler of New York, to spend several
weeks in a quiet campaign to influence U. S. Senator Park Trammell to
cast his vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, this being
considered useless in the case of Senator Duncan U. Fletcher. They
secured newspaper comment in favor, interviews with prominent people
and resolutions from conventions, but these had no effect. At the
annual convention in October the following officers were elected:
President, Mrs. John T. Fuller, Orlando; first vice-president, Mrs.
Edgar A. Lewis, Fort Pierce; second, Miss Elizabeth Skinner, Dunedin;
third, Dr. Minerva B. Cushman, St. Petersburg; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. W. R. O'Neal, Orlando; recording secretary, Mrs. C. E.
Hawkins, Brooksville; treasurer, Mrs. Clara B. Worthington, Tampa;
auditors, Mrs. J. W. McCollum, Mrs. J. D. Stringfellow, Gainesville;
Legislative Committee, Mrs. Amos Norris, chairman, Tampa. A memorial
meeting was held for Dr. Shaw, who had died July 2.
The annual meeting in 1920 took place in Orlando. Mrs. Fuller was
re-elected and plans for extensive work were made but the association
was not quite ready to merge into a League of Women Voters. This was
done April 1, 1921, and Mrs. J. B. O'Hara was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. Before the State Association was organized the
Equal Franchise League of Jacksonville decided to ask the Legislature,
which met in April, 1913, to submit to the voters a woman suffrage
amendment to the State constitution. A bill was prepared and an appeal
for assistance made to the National American Association. In response
it sent its very capable field worker, Miss Jeannette Rankin, who went
with the executive officers of the league to Tallahassee. Its
president, Mrs. Roselle C. Cooley, said in her report: "The House of
Representatives decided to hear us in a Committee of the Whole, at an
evening session. In this case it meant the whole House, the whole
Senate and the whole town. Seats, aisles, the steps of the Speaker's
rostrum were filled, windows had people sitting in them and in the
hall as far as one could see people were standing on chairs to hear
the first call for the rights of women ever uttered in the Capitol of
Florida. Four women and three men spoke, the vote of the committee was
publicly called at the close of the speaking and the bill passed into
the House of Representatives without recommendation. Weary days and
weeks of waiting, time wasted on petty legislation, members going home
for week-ends and not returning for Monday work kept us still anxious.
At length the bill was called and the vote was 26 ayes to 38 noes.
"As we were leaving for our homes on Saturday evening a Senator said:
'If you will come into the Senate we will show those men how to treat
ladies.' So we went back on Monday and were fortunate in having for
our sponsor Senator Cone of Columbia county, the leader of the
Senate. He took up our bill, placed it on the special calendar and
advised us in our procedure, the bill having come into the Senate with
favorable recommendation from the committee. Again the weary waiting,
the petty legislation, the filibustering of the 'corporation' members
and the whisky men, and at last a motion to postpone indefinitely was
carried by one majority, 15 to 16, the sixteenth man being one who had
been with us from the first until this moment."
The Legislature meets every two years and in 1915 the State
association, which had now sixteen well organized branches, was
sponsor for the bill, or resolution, and a large number of legislators
had promised their support. Hearings were granted by both Houses, but
it was defeated.
In 1917 strenuous efforts were again made in behalf of a State
constitutional amendment. Mrs. William Jennings Bryan, who now had a
winter home in Florida, was among those who addressed the Legislature
in favor of it, and on April 23 the resolution to submit the amendment
passed the Senate by 23 to 7. The struggle was then begun in the House
but the corporate and liquor interests combined with the
non-progressive character of many of the members accomplished its
defeat.
In April, 1919, the State Federation of Women's Clubs, which now had a
suffrage chairman, co-operated with the State Equal Suffrage
Association in the effort to obtain a Primary Suffrage Bill, such as
had been passed by the Legislatures of Arkansas and Texas. Mrs.
McMahon, a national organizer, and Miss Skinner did organizing and
legislative work from March 6 to April 22. The former was sent to work
for Presidential suffrage, but the State Board believed that Primary
suffrage had a better chance. This, however, met with so much
opposition that it was never brought up. The moment the Federal
Amendment was submitted by Congress a delegation of women--Mrs. Frank
Stranahan, chairman of the Legislative Committee; Dr. Safford, Mrs. W.
S. Jennings, Mrs. Edgar A. Lewis--went to Tallahassee to try to have
the Legislature ratify it, arriving one day before adjournment. They
quickly canvassed the members and found a small majority willing to
vote for it but there was no time. Governor Sidney J. Catts could
have called a special session for the next day but insisted that there
was no assurance of ratification, as some of the men listed as
favorable were in the habit of changing their vote, and he did not
want to put the members on record. Some of them who were alleged to be
supporters declared that they would not stay over even for one day. It
was impossible to persuade the Governor to call a special session at
any time afterwards, but in 1920 Florida women were enfranchised by
this amendment.
SUFFRAGE. By special acts of the Legislature, charters were granted to
various cities giving Municipal suffrage to women and the voters
accepted them. Sixteen towns had such a charter: Felsmere, Aurantia,
Cocoa, Orange City, Deland, West Palm Beach, Delray, Florence Villa
(where Dr. Anna Howard Shaw had a winter home for a number of years),
Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Moore Haven, Orlando, Clearwater, Dunedin, St.
Petersburg, Tarpon Springs. Felsmere was the pioneer, receiving its
charter in 1915.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] The History is indebted for this chapter to Alice G. (Mrs.
George) Kollock, prominent in the work for woman suffrage in Florida,
with thanks to others who assisted.
CHAPTER X.
GEORGIA.[33]
The first suffrage society in Georgia was formed at Columbus in 1890
and the second in Atlanta in 1894. Here the first State convention was
held in 1899 and the State association, auxiliary to the National
American Woman Suffrage Association, never ceased its labors until the
year following the ratification of the Federal Woman Suffrage
Amendment.
Mrs. McLendon became an officer in 1892 and held official position
during the entire twenty-nine years. For thirteen years she was
vice-president or honorary president and for the remainder of the time
president of the association. Mrs. Thomas was second honorary
president for five years before her death in 1906. The following
served as presidents: Miss H. Augusta Howard, 1890-1895; Mrs. Frances
Cater Swift, 1895-1896; Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, 1896-1899; Mrs.
Gertrude C. Thomas, 1899-1901; Miss Katherine Koch, 1901-1904; Mrs.
Rose Y. Colvin, 1904-1906; Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, 1906-1921.[34]
In 1900 the same suffrage measures presented the year before were
again offered to the Legislature with the same barren result. The
Southern Chautauqua invited the association to hold an all day meeting
and also engaged Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama to lecture. F.
Henry Richardson, editor of the Atlanta _Journal_, and Lucian Knight,
editor of the Atlanta _Constitution_, brought the "woman's rights
movement" as prominently before the public as they were permitted to
do by the managers of those newspapers.
On Nov. 25, 26, 1901, the State convention was held in the
Universalist Church of Atlanta. Addresses were made by Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, president of the National Association; Mrs. Thomas, Mrs.
Alice Daniels and Mrs. McLendon. The meeting adjourned early in the
afternoon to go to the Atlanta Women's Club room, where Mrs. Catt was
invited to address that body. The night meeting was held in the hall
of the House of Representatives, where Mrs. Catt, Mr. Richardson and
the Hon. Robert R. Hemphill of South Carolina addressed a large and
appreciative audience. The convention decided to employ a State
lecturer and organizer.
With but two exceptions State conventions or conferences were held
every year, always in Atlanta until 1919, in the Congregational and
Universalist churches, in the Grand Building, the hall of the
Federation of Labor, the Carnegie Library, the Hotel Ansley and the
Piedmont Hotel. The membership gradually increased, a series of
literary meetings in the winter of 1902 adding fifty names. This year
a committee was appointed to revise the charter of Atlanta and the
officers of the association appeared before it and asked that it
include Municipal suffrage for women. The sub-committee on franchises
recommended that instead it provide for women on school, hospital,
park and health boards, but the general committee reported adversely.
The Atlanta branch protested to Mayor Livingstone Mims against the
injustice of not allowing women taxpayers to vote on the proposed
$400,000 bond issue. He expressed himself in favor of woman suffrage
and promised to bring the matter before the city council, but there
was no result.
Miss Kate M. Gordon, national corresponding secretary, gave a most
convincing address in the Carnegie Library the next year, 1903, on how
the taxpaying women of Louisiana won the right to vote on questions of
taxation; strong articles were published, but all the women were able
to do was to post large placards at the polls, "Taxpaying women should
be allowed to vote at this bond election." Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
national vice-president-at-large, came to assist at the State
convention and delivered her famous lecture, "The Fate of Republics."
This year the association distributed 10,000 pages of suffrage
literature at the Interstate Fair. It attempted to bring a bill before
the Legislature for police matrons but not a member would introduce
it.
During these years the suffragists found it very difficult to persuade
a legislator to present a bill for raising the age of consent or
compulsory education in order to take the young children out of the
factories or for the enfranchisement of women. In 1905, at the request
of the National Association that fraternal greetings should be sent to
various organizations, Mrs. McLendon, who had been a member of the
Women's Christian Temperance Union since 1890, carried them to its
convention and made an earnest but unsuccessful effort to have it
adopt a franchise department. Thousands of pieces of suffrage
literature were distributed at the State Fair. In 1906 memorial
services were held for the great leader, Susan B. Anthony, and the
association carried out to its full power all the State work planned
by the National Board, including a petition to the Legislature to pass
a resolution asking Congress to submit a Federal Suffrage Amendment.
The membership of the association was increased in 1907 by the
addition of three prominent W. C. T. U. officials, Mrs. J. J. Ansley,
Mrs. Jennie Hart Sibley and Mrs. L. W. Walker, who were promptly
appointed superintendents of Church Work, Legislation and Petition and
Christian Citizenship. Miss Jean Gordon of New Orleans and Mrs.
Florence Kelley of New York made splendid addresses in favor of woman
suffrage when they came to Atlanta in April to attend the Child Labor
Convention. Dr. Shaw gave a stirring suffrage speech in the hall of
the House of Representatives on May 4.
The evening sessions of the annual convention in 1908 were held in the
Senate Chamber of the Capitol. Miss Laura Clay, Mrs. Sibley, Miss H.
Augusta Howard and W. S. Witham were the speakers, with Mrs. McLendon
presiding. Miss Clay's address, entitled Who Works Against Woman
Suffrage? created a profound impression and she was of much
assistance. Mrs. McLendon was invited to speak before the convention
of the Georgia Agricultural Association, one of the oldest in the
State, on Woman's Education and Woman's Rights. A rising vote of
thanks was accorded her and the address ordered printed in the
minutes. The State Prohibition convention placed a strong woman
suffrage plank in its platform and the delegates to the national
convention were instructed to vote for one if it was offered. Mr.
Witham, the Rev. James A. Gordon and Mr. Barker, editor of _The
Southern Star_, worked faithfully for this plank.
In 1909, at the request of the National Association, letters were
written to Georgia's Senators and Representatives in Congress, asking
them to vote for a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment. Polite but
non-committal replies were received from Senators Clay and Bacon and
Representatives Griggs and Lewis. The other eight evidently did not
consider disfranchised women worthy of an answer. The city council of
Atlanta decided that its charter was forty years behind the times and
again a committee of forty-nine men was appointed to draw up a new
one. The Civic League, an Atlanta auxiliary to the State Suffrage
Association, set to work to have this new charter recognize the rights
of the women taxpayers. It was discovered that the women paid taxes on
more than $13,000,000 worth of real and personal property in the city.
Several hundred personal letters were written to leading taxpaying
women asking their opinion of the league's movement; only favorable
replies were received and many friends of the cause developed among
the influential women. Strong articles were published in the city
papers and widely copied throughout the State, but the charter
entirely ignored the claims of women. Many letters were written to
Republican and Democratic delegates asking them to vote for a suffrage
plank in their platforms. The annual convention was not held in Macon,
as intended, because there was so much sentiment against it in that
city. This year women in the Methodist Church South became active to
secure laity rights, which had been granted to women members in the
North, East and West after they had worked years for it, but the
bishops in the South were bitterly opposed to it. Mrs. Mary Harris
Armor, the well-known national organizer and lecturer for the W. C.
T. U., and four years president for Georgia, joined the suffrage
association.
The National Association's petition to Congress had been distributed
throughout the State for signatures and returned to Washington. In
1910 letters were written to President Taft, to the members of
Congress from Georgia and to Governor "Joe" Brown, as requested by Dr.
Shaw, national president. Senator Clay and Representatives W. C.
Brantley, S. A. Roddenberry and W. C. Adamson were the only ones who
could spare time to answer. Atlanta was to have an election for a
three-million dollar bond issue on February 15, Susan B. Anthony's
birthday, and the Mayor and president of the Chamber of Commerce had
appealed to the City Federation of Women's Clubs to "make the men go
to the polls to vote for bonds." The suffragists distributed broadcast
a poster headed by a cartoon by Louis Gregg representing women of all
sorts, armed with brooms, umbrellas, rolling pins, etc., driving the
men to the polls.
Over 6,000 pages of suffrage literature were distributed in the State,
a considerable amount of it to young people engaging in debates or
writing essays. Dr. James W. Lee and Dr. Frank M. Siler, Methodist
ministers of Atlanta, fearlessly expressed themselves in their pulpits
as in favor of the enfranchisement of women, regardless of the fact
that Bishop Warren A. Candler was bitterly opposed to it. Dr. Len G.
Broughton of the Baptist church and Dr. Dean Ellenwood of the
Universalist also declared themselves as favoring equal rights in
Church and State for women. Judge John L. Hopkins, one of Georgia's
foremost lawyers, who codified the laws, proclaimed himself a believer
in equal rights for women in a letter to the _Constitution_. In June
when it was again proposed to revise the charter of Atlanta, a
committee from the Civic League went before the charter committee and
presented a petition asking Municipal suffrage for women. Later at a
meeting of the city council the petition was brought up for
consideration and was treated with ridicule and contempt. On August 8
the association held its convention in the hall of the Federation of
Labor, its true friend. Walter McElreath of Fulton county offered a
resolution that the House of Representatives should be tendered for
the evening session, but Joe Bill Hall, a noted anti-prohibitionist
and anti-suffragist, marshalled the liquor men and they defeated it.
In 1912 the State association conformed to the plan of the National
and appointed a committee of education, who would offer money prizes
for the best essays on woman suffrage by the seniors of the high
schools, with Mrs. Helmer chairman and Miss Koch secretary. It worked
vigorously for the bill to permit women to practice law. Mrs. Rebecca
Latimer Felton became a member and was elected a delegate to the
national suffrage convention in Philadelphia. Attorney Leonard J.
Grossman joined the association and was made general counsel.
In 1913, while Mr. Grossman was attending the convention of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association as a delegate, he was
requested by James Lees Laidlaw, president of the National Men's
League for Woman Suffrage, to undertake the organization of a Georgia
Men's League. He did so immediately on returning home, with the
following officers: President, Mr. Grossman; vice-presidents, the Rev.
Fred A. Line, the Rev. J. Wade Conkling, C. W. McClure, Dr. Frank
Peck, E. L. Martin, ex-president Macon Chamber of Commerce; S. B.
Marks and L. Marquardt, ex-presidents of the State Federation of
Labor. Mr. Grossman toured the State on behalf of woman suffrage under
the joint auspices of the Men's League and the State association. He
drafted, at their request, proposed bills and ratification
resolutions; appeared before the annual conventions of the Federation
of Labor, obtaining their formal endorsement of woman suffrage;
secured also the endorsement of the Civic Educational League,
comprising a great majority of the Jewish citizens of Atlanta;
occupied church pulpits and addressed women's clubs, civic bodies,
city councils and legislative committees. The members of the Men's
League gave whatever assistance was required.
The many State victories in 1912 put new life into the movement in
1913. The Georgia Young People's Suffrage Association was organized
with Miss Ruth Buckholz as president. To represent the association
Mrs. Amelia R. Woodall, corresponding, and Miss Katherine Koch,
recording secretary; Miss Mamie Matthews, treasurer of the young
people's society, Mrs. Landis Sanna, Mrs. Margaret Gardner, editor
Trox Bankston of West Point and J. J. Williams of Chatterton, were
sent to Washington to march in the parade on March 3. They carried the
suffrage flag made for the national convention in Atlanta in 1895,
with two handsome yellow banners prepared especially for the parade.
Five bills before the Legislature were supported this year as well as
the Federal Amendment. When Presidential suffrage was given to
Illinois women in 1913, the Atlanta _Constitution_ was so impressed
with the "nearness" of woman suffrage that it created a suffrage
department and offered the editorship to Mrs. McLendon. U. S. Senators
Hoke Smith and Augustus O. Bacon had been obliged to present the
petition of Georgia suffragists asking for the Federal Amendment, but
no beautiful speeches were made by them. Senator Smith had been on
record all his life as being "unalterably opposed to woman suffrage"
and voted against it whenever he had opportunity, adding insult to
injury by declaring, "Our best women do not want it." Senator W. S.
West, who succeeded Senator Bacon, was more amenable to reason, but
Senator Thomas W. Hardwick, who followed after Mr. West's death, has
been an implacable opponent. For the second time the Atlanta
Federation tendered the use of its beautiful Temple of Labor for the
day sessions of the State convention which met July 9, 10. The
Legislature was persuaded by John Y. Smith of Fulton county to permit
an evening session in the House of Representatives. Senator Starke
opposed the use of the Senate Chamber "because Christ did not select
women for his Disciples" but saner counsels prevailed and it was
opened for a session.
During 1914 there were 275 meetings in Atlanta, Rome, Athens, Decatur,
Macon and Bainbridge by the auxiliary societies, with five open air
meetings. On March 1 a mass meeting was held in the Atlanta theater to
which members of the Legislature were especially invited. The speakers
were officers of the National Association, including the
vice-president, Miss Jane Addams. To enlarge the scope of the work
there was organized in February the Woman Suffrage Party Incorporated,
as a branch of the State association, with Mrs. McLendon president.
It secured a charter and prepared for an aggressive state-wide
suffrage campaign. A chairman for each of the twelve congressional
districts was appointed and instructed to organize in her district.
This year for the first time a hearing was granted before the House
Committee on Constitutional Amendments. Mrs. Felton and Mrs. Rose
Ashby spoke for the association, Mrs. Cheatham and Mrs. Frances Smith
Whiteside for the Woman Suffrage League. The association distributed
40,000 pages of leaflets, fliers, newspapers, etc.; about a dozen of
the leading newspapers were supplied with local and national suffrage
news and members of the Legislature with suffrage literature. In 1900,
when the first National W. C. T. U. convention was held in Atlanta,
woman suffrage was a forbidden subject at all temperance meetings in
Georgia. In 1914, when the second was held, Mrs. McLendon, president
of the State Suffrage Association, was selected to welcome the White
Ribboners in behalf of the suffragists of the State.[35]
The annual convention of the State association was held July 21, 22,
in the ballroom of the Hotel Ansley, beautifully decorated for the
occasion. Miss Kate M. Gordon aided largely in making it a success.
Mrs. Annie Fletcher of Oldham, England, visited Atlanta this year and
spoke on the suffrage situation there. Mrs. Georgia McIntyre Wheeler,
a practicing attorney of West Virginia, helped greatly in securing the
Woman Lawyer Bill. Atlanta and Waycross suffragists applied to the
city governments to grant women Municipal suffrage. The association
did not parade on May 2, as requested by the National Board, but the
president made a suffrage speech on the steps of the State Capitol and
members sold copies of the _Woman's Journal_. The Rev. A. M. Hewlett,
pastor of St. Marks Methodist Church South, accompanied Mrs. McLendon
and Attorney Grossman to Cox College in March and by invitation of its
president they gave addresses in favor of suffrage for women before
the student body. There was a growing sentiment in favor of it among
clergymen of various denominations.
The State convention was held in Atlanta Nov. 15-20, 1915, at the same
time as the harvest festival, and the first suffrage parade took
place, led by Miss Eleanor Raoul on horseback. Mrs. McLendon followed
in the little yellow car which once belonged to Dr. Shaw, driven by
Mrs. Loring Raoul. As a protest against taxation without
representation Dr. Shaw allowed it to be sold for taxes and it was
bought by Miss Sallie Fannie Gleaton of Conyers, who walked behind it
in the parade. The suffrage carriages were decorated with yellow,
those of the W. C. T. U. with white. Mrs. William R. Woodall,
president of the Atlanta association, and Miss Katherine Koch had
carried on a suffrage school the first and second Wednesdays from
February 24 to December 1. The motion picture suffrage play Your Girl
and Mine had been put on in the Grand Opera House. The branch in Rome
published an official organ called _The Woman's Magazine_.
In February, 1916, the State association and its three auxiliaries in
Atlanta worked with the Equal Suffrage Party and the Woman Suffrage
League to secure 10,000 names to a petition to the city council asking
for the Municipal franchise. State Senator Helen Ring Robinson of
Colorado and Mesdames Brooks, Kenney and Horine of Washington, D. C.,
came to their assistance. There were street speaking from automobiles
at night and meetings at private residences and they secured over
9,000 names. The city council gave a hearing, the Hon. Claude Peyton
making the presentation speech. The members listened apathetically and
appeared much relieved when Attorney Robert M. Blackburn assured them
they could not give women Municipal suffrage, as the State
constitution declared only male citizens could vote. Letters were sent
to the delegates to the two national conventions of the dominant
political parties, asking them to put a strong suffrage plank in their
platforms and Mrs. Woodall and Mrs. Laura Couzzens responded to Mrs.
Catt's call for marchers at the Chicago and St. Louis conventions.
Governor N. E. Harris refused to include woman suffrage in the call
for the special session of the Legislature which made the State "bone
dry," but this year it enacted a number of laws for which the
association had long worked.
On Feb. 12, 13, 1917, officers of the National Association held a
suffrage school in Atlanta. When the Legislature assembled in June all
the members found on their desks a notice that bills granting
Municipal suffrage to women, also full suffrage, and one to raise the
age of consent from 10 years to 18 would be introduced. The State
association sent the national suffrage organ, the _Woman Citizen_, for
a year to the United States Senators and fourteen Representatives in
Congress; to the members of the Legislature and all State officials.
The Atlanta association again conducted a three months' suffrage
school. The State convention in December in the Assembly Hall of the
Piedmont Hotel closed with a luncheon at which many prominent men and
women were present. Representatives John C. White and John Y. Smith at
that time pledged themselves to introduce and work for suffrage bills.
During this and the following year the suffrage associations did their
full share of war work. Mrs. McLendon represented the State
association on the Women's Council of National Defense, and Mrs.
Martin, first vice-president, was chairman of the State
Americanization Committee.
In 1918 the Parent-Teacher Association adopted strong suffrage
resolutions. The Baptist and Methodist churches South granted laity
rights to women. State suffrage headquarters were deluged with
requests for literature by educational institutions for debates. The
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Professor M. L. Brittain,
had been an advocate of votes for women many years. The Atlanta
_Journal_ gave the State association a column in its Sunday issues,
which Mrs. Martin edited. Raymond E. White wrote a number of fine
suffrage editorials for the _Constitution_. In July the Hearst papers
circulated a petition for a Federal Suffrage Amendment and the Atlanta
association secured 5,000 names and other auxiliaries 1,000.
On May 3, 1919, a progressive city Democratic Central Committee gave
Atlanta women the right to vote in the Municipal primary election to
be held September 3. A Central Committee of Women Citizens was at once
elected at a mass meeting of women to see that they registered and
nearly 4,000 did so, paying one dollar for the privilege.
Mrs. McLendon represented the State Association at the convention of
the National Association in St. Louis in March, 1919. On May 21 she
and her sister, Mrs. Felton, sat in the House of Representatives in
Washington and had the pleasure of hearing W. D. Upshaw, member from
the fifth congressional district of Georgia, vote for the submission
of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, the only Representative from the
State to do so. On June 4 the new U. S. Senator, William J. Harris of
Georgia, voted for the submission of this amendment, giving one of the
long needed two votes. The official board of the State Association
through Mrs. McLendon mailed to each member of the Legislature a
personal letter with copies of letters from Mrs. J. K. Ottley, the
Democratic Executive Committee woman from Georgia, and the eminent
clergyman, Dr. J. B. Gambrell, urging the members to ratify the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. The annual convention of 1919 was held in
the auditorium of the Hotel Piedmont, Atlanta, on December 5.
A League of Women Voters was organized in Atlanta in March, 1920, out
of the Equal Suffrage Party, but the State association decided that
this action was premature, since there were no women voters in
Georgia, and that the old association, organized in 1890, would never
disband until women could vote on the same terms as men.
On June 1, in response to a petition of fifty representative women of
Atlanta, a hearing in charge of Mrs. McLendon was granted by the
chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, at the request of
Mayor Key. After a number had spoken a motion was made to let the
women vote in the white municipal primary in Atlanta and was carried
with only four negative votes. The Atlanta and the Young People's
Suffrage Associations endorsed the re-election of Mayor Key and worked
for him, and he was returned by a majority of three to one on July 28.
Afterwards several other cities and villages permitted women to vote
in the primaries and on bond issues.
After the Federal Suffrage Amendment was ratified in August 1920, it
was announced that women would not be permitted to register and vote
in the primary on September 8 and the runover primary of October 6 for
the general election because they had not registered for it in April
and May, which they had no right to do. When the Legislature had
assembled June 23, Mrs. McLendon, Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Woodall had
called on Representatives Covington and John Y. Smith and Senators
Elders Dorris and Pittman and begged them to introduce an Enabling Act
to provide for the women to vote in November if the 19th Amendment
should be ratified. They promised faithfully to do this and the
Senators did so, but it was held back. The Representatives never did
introduce it. Mrs. McLendon then appealed to Governor Dorsey, but he
was candidate for U. S. Senator and had no time to attend to it. The
Legislature adjourned and the women were left in the lurch.
Then Mrs. McLendon decided to make a test and see if women could not
vote in the primary on September 8, as the returned soldiers who did
not reach Georgia before May were allowed to vote in all elections
without registering. She wired to Senator Fermor Barrett of Stevens
county, chairman of the sub-committee of the State Democratic
Executive Committee, asking him to call it together and see if it
could provide some way. He called it to meet in Atlanta on September
3, and he and H. H. Dean made speeches and voted to try to arrange it,
but the other five members voted against it. Mrs. McLendon then went
to the chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee and he
refused to take any action, saying, "Our committee is only the agent
of the State committee and must obey its mandates." Then she and Mrs.
Julia H. Ellington, Mrs. Jane Adkins and Mrs. Nancy Duncan called on
the tax collector and asked to be allowed to pay their State and
county taxes and to register. They were sent to the chairman of the
Registration Committee and he also refused to enroll their names. Then
they went to the polls September 8 and were told, "No women voting
here."
Mrs. McLendon telegraphed to Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State, who
answered: "The matter to which you refer is not within the province of
this Department and I am not in a position to give you any advice with
regard thereto." She next asked Governor Dorsey to call an extra
session of the Legislature to provide some way for the women to vote
in the general election, but he said he could not. Then she went to a
full meeting of the State Democratic Executive Committee, held
September 16, but no chance to be heard was given her. The next day
she attended a meeting of the Fulton County Commissioners, who
declared their willingness but their inability to do anything. She
then called on Attorney General R. A. Denny, who advised her to go to
the polls and make the effort, saying: "The 19th Amendment is above
the laws of any State." Women in Georgia, however, were not permitted
to vote at the Presidential election two months after they had been
enfranchised by this amendment.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The first request for woman suffrage was put
before the Legislature in 1895, the last in 1920, and in the interim
every session had this subject before it, with petitions signed by
thousands of women, but during the quarter of a century it did not
give one scrap of suffrage to the women of the State. From 1895 bills
for the following measures were kept continuously before it: Age of
protection for girls to be raised from 10 years; co-guardianship of
children; prevention of employment of children under 10 or 12 years
old in factories; women on boards of education; opening of the
colleges to women. Year after year these bills were smothered in
committees or reported unfavorably or defeated, usually by large
majorities. In 1912 a bill was passed enabling women to be notaries
public; in 1916 one permitting women to practice law, which the
suffragists had worked for since 1899; in 1918 one raising the age of
consent to 14. The suffrage association had worked for it twenty-three
years and always asked that the age be 18.
* * * * *
In 1912 another association to further the movement for woman suffrage
was formed in Atlanta, the Woman Suffrage League, and Mrs. Frances
Smith Whiteside, who had been from early days a member of the old
association, was elected president. Mrs. Whiteside was for thirty
years principal of the Ivy Street school and during the first ten
years of the existence of the State Association she was the only
teacher who dared avow herself a member, as the very name of suffrage
was so odious to the public. Through her family connections and wide
acquaintance she was able to exercise a strong personal influence in
bringing well-known men and women to a belief in this cause. The
league did active work among teachers and business women and converted
some of the leading legislators. It inaugurated an educational
campaign in the schools and gave business scholarships for the best
essays on woman suffrage. In co-operation with the other associations
it obtained signatures to petitions for the Municipal franchise. The
first street speaking was done under its auspices.
When Leagues of Women Voters were authorized by the National American
Suffrage Association in 1919, the organization disbanded and the
members entered the league formed in Georgia. Mrs. Whiteside had been
continually the president and there had been only two changes in the
board of the following officers: First vice-president, Mrs. Elizabeth
McCarty; second, Miss Laura Barrien; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Jack Hawkins; recording secretaries, Mrs. William H. Yeandle, Mrs.
Mary Peyton; treasurer, Miss Ethel Merk; auditors, Mrs. A. G. Helmer,
Miss Minnie Bellamy. Mrs. Yeandle died in 1915 and Mrs. Mary Peyton
was elected in her place. This year Mrs. Helmer became president of a
branch league and was succeeded as auditor by Miss Minnie Bellamy.
THE EQUAL SUFFRAGE PARTY OF GEORGIA.[36]
For some time there had seemed a necessity in Georgia for an
organization which would undertake more aggressive work in behalf of
woman suffrage. Early in 1914 the psychological time for it became
apparent and a meeting was held at the home of Mrs. Emily C. McDougald
in Atlanta. A group of influential men and women were present, who
declared themselves in favor of an active campaign and pledged their
support. On motion of Linton C. Hopkins a committee was appointed to
nominate temporary officers, and reported for president Mrs.
McDougald; for vice-president, Mrs. Hopkins, and for secretary, Mrs.
Hugh Lokey. A constitution and by-laws were adopted and a petition
for a State charter was filed under the name of the Equal Suffrage
Party of Georgia.
On July 29 a meeting was called for permanent organization and with
representatives from different parts of the State present the
following were elected: President, Mrs. McDougald; first
vice-president, Mrs. John Dozier Pou of Columbia; second, Miss Mildred
Cunningham of Savannah; secretary, Mrs. Henry Schlesinger; treasurer,
Mrs. Benjamin Elsas; organizer, Mrs. Mary Raoul Millis; auditor, Miss
Genevieve Saunders, all of Atlanta. Members of the Executive Board
were: Mrs. Mary Meade Owens of Augusta; Mrs. Mayhew Cunningham of
Savannah; Miss Anna Griffin of Columbus; Mrs. Charles C. Harrold of
Macon. Affiliated branches were organized with presidents as follows:
In Savannah, Mrs. F. P. McIntire; in Augusta, Mrs. Owens; in Columbus,
Miss Anabel Redd; in Atlanta, Miss Eleanore Raoul; in Macon, Mrs.
Harrold; in Athens, Mrs. W. B. Hill; in Albany, Mrs. D. H. Redfearn.
From these centers a great deal of work was done for suffrage in the
adjacent smaller towns. The city organizations opened offices and
committees of local women were put in charge of the work of raising
money and distributing suffrage propaganda. Tens of thousands of
letters, leaflets, books and speeches were distributed throughout the
State. All of the women's clubs were urged to endorse suffrage;
schools were asked to debate the subject and prizes offered for the
best arguments in debate and in written composition. Suffrage parades
on foot and in automobiles were had in all the cities, suffrage plays
put into the theaters, suffrage slides into the movies and every means
of educating the public was used. The best national speakers were
brought into the State and immense audiences worked up for them. The
beloved Dr. Anna Howard Shaw spoke in Atlanta to one of 6,000. The
National American Woman Suffrage Association, of which the Equal
Suffrage Party was an affiliated branch, gave hearty co-operation in
securing these speakers. The party held annual conventions, where new
officers were generally elected as a matter of democratic policy. The
second took place in Atlanta Nov. 17, 1915, where Mrs. McDougald was
re-elected president and the other officers selected were Mrs. J. D.
Pou of Columbus, first vice-president; Mrs. Cunningham, second; Miss
Schlesinger, secretary; Miss Aurelia Roach, treasurer; Mrs. Millis,
organizer. The party already had branches in 13 counties, including
the largest cities.
The annual convention on Oct. 28, 1916, was held in Atlanta and Mrs.
L. S. Arrington of Augusta was elected president; Mrs. S. B. C. Morgan
of Savannah, first vice-president; Mrs. Harrold, second; Miss Julia
Flisch, secretary, and Miss Annie G. Wright, treasurer, both of
Augusta. The effort in Atlanta to secure a petition for Municipal
suffrage for women had resulted in obtaining the signatures of 6,000
women and 3,000 men. All the delegates to three national Presidential
conventions had been circularized in behalf of a plank for Federal
woman suffrage, and all the members of the Legislature asking for the
submission of a State amendment. The next annual convention was held
in Augusta Nov. 24, 1917, and Mrs. Frank P. McIntire of Savannah was
selected for president. The convention was omitted in 1918, as the
women were occupied with war work.
At the convention held in Savannah Jan. 15, 1919, Mrs. McDougald was
again elected president. The splendidly efficient service of women in
all the departments of war work proved that without them it would have
been most difficult to succeed in the Liberty Bond sales, the Red
Cross and all the "drives" for raising money. The officers of the
Equal Suffrage Party and those of its affiliated societies were
selected as leaders in the work of the Woman's Council of Defense,
National and State.
From every part of the State hundreds of letters were sent to the U.
S. Senators Smith and Hardwick, asking them to vote for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment, but to no avail. The year had been a fruitful one,
even though the Legislature had failed to ratify the Federal
Amendment, which was submitted by Congress in June. An adverse
influence, which it was very hard to combat, was that of the State
Federation of Women's Clubs. Its president, Mrs. Z. L. Fitzpatrick of
Madison and other officials were violently opposed. A large majority
of the women in the city clubs were suffragists and not influenced by
the attitude of the federation officers but this was not true of the
rural women, who were constantly warned that woman suffrage was a
great evil not to be even mentioned in their clubs. This
anti-suffrage influence reacted upon the rural legislator and gave him
ground for the oft-repeated argument, "The women of my district do not
want the vote, they won't even discuss it in their clubs." There had
long been a strong desire to have woman suffrage endorsed by the State
Federation, the largest organization of women in the State, with
30,000 members, and every year the Equal Suffrage Party had sent to
all the club presidents an earnest letter urging them to give their
members an opportunity to vote on the question and pointing out the
greater achievements of the clubs in States where women had the
franchise. At every annual meeting, however, when a resolution would
be offered from the floor, the president of the federation would
declare it out of order and prevent action on it. In 1917, at its
convention in Augusta, a resolution was offered to send a
congratulatory telegram to the women of New York on their newly
acquired enfranchisement, whereupon a storm of protest arose, the
president ruled it out of order and it was tabled.
In 1919 every club was again circularized and the answers showed that
the women throughout the State wanted favorable action by the State
Federation. At its convention in Columbus in November, 1919, two
resolutions were prepared, one or the other to be presented, as seemed
most expedient at the time. One was a simple endorsement of woman
suffrage; the other, submitted by Mrs. Morgan, asked for an
endorsement of the Federal Amendment and its ratification by the
Legislature. At the last moment, the suffragists decided to take a
bold step and send the latter to the Resolutions Committee, which was
done, and this committee recommended its adoption. The president, Mrs.
James E. Hayes of Montezuma, ruled it out of order. Mrs. Rogers Winter
of Atlanta appealed from the decision of the chair; Mrs. Alonzo
Richardson of Atlanta seconded the appeal and was sustained and the
resolution was brought before the convention. It was carried by a vote
of 85 to 40.[37]
When the report of this action was received in Macon, an indignant
protest went up from the anti-suffragists. Mrs. Bruce Carr Jones,
secretary of the State Federation, sent in her resignation. Mrs.
Walter D. Lamar and Mrs. Thomas Moore went before the women's clubs of
the city and urged that they withdraw from the federation. The Macon
_Telegraph_ devoted much space to denouncing it as a most dishonest
trick and approved heartily the efforts of these women to dismember
the federation. Through their influence six clubs resigned. Sixty-nine
new clubs joined the federation in the twelve months following its
endorsement of the Federal Amendment.[38]
The white women of Atlanta were given the vote in the city Primaries
in May, 1919. For several years all the suffrage forces in the city
had been working to secure this privilege from the Democratic
Executive Committee, but without success. In 1919, however, the
personnel of the committee had changed to such an extent that it was
decided to make another effort. The chairman, E. C. Buchanan, was a
good friend and with his help Mrs. A. G. Helmer, Mrs. Charles Goodman
and Mrs. McDougald had the opportunity of making a personal canvass of
each of its forty-four members. When the chairman called a meeting for
May 3, to consider, he said, the request of the Equal Suffrage Party,
there was every reason to believe they would make a favorable report.
A resolution written by Mrs. McDougald was adopted by a vote of 24 to
1. On the roll call each man stood up and in a few gracious words
expressed his pleasure in being able to show his confidence in the
helpful co-operation of women in city government by granting them this
suffrage. A mass meeting of women was called at once to name a central
committee to take charge of the task of getting the women registered
immediately as a city election was near at hand. Miss Eleanore Raoul
was made chairman, and with her able co-workers in every ward
accomplished a wonderful work. Public meetings addressed by prominent
men and women were held daily; $1,200 were raised and 4,000 women were
registered in a few weeks. The Executive Committee in 1920 again
included women in the electorate and to this body of men is due the
honor of being the first in Georgia to recognize the value of women in
civic affairs.
In 1919 all the district school superintendents inaugurated a series
of competitive debates on the question, Shall Georgia Grant Suffrage
to the Women of the State? This created intense interest in every
county and the Equal Suffrage Party found it difficult to supply the
demand for literature from the hundreds of schools. The Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce elected five women as members in recognition of
their public service. In addressing the Landowners' Convention at
Savannah in November Governor Hugh M. Dorsey said: "I hope that as
Governor of Georgia I may be given the privilege of signing a bill
giving women equal rights in this great commonwealth."
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. In June, 1915, the Equal Suffrage Party made its
first effort to sponsor a suffrage bill in the Legislature. It opened
a booth in one of the corridors between the House and Senate chambers,
supplied it with the best suffrage literature and put it in charge of
a committee of women who worked faithfully to convert some of that
wilful and reactionary group of politicians. It was a hopeless task.
The first bill was introduced in the House by Mr. Wohlwender of
Muscogee county and in the Senate by Senators Dobbs and Buchanan and
referred to the Judiciary Committee, which granted a hearing.
Representatives from all the suffrage associations were present and
made speeches. Mrs. Walter D. Lamar and Miss Mildred Rutherford, head
of the Lucy Cobb Institute of Athens, represented the Anti-Suffrage
Association. Mrs. Lamar's arguments were based upon the theory that
women did not have sufficient integrity to be trusted with the ballot;
that long years ago when those of New Jersey had it it had to be taken
from them because they were so dishonest in their use of it. She also
said that women were universally the hardest taskmasters, requiring
more work and paying less for it than men. Miss Rutherford begged the
legislators to disregard the request of the few women desiring the
ballot, as they did not represent the true type of the southern woman,
who had always rejoiced in being upon a high pedestal where men had
placed her and worshipped her and that women were more than satisfied
with that which men had so lavishly and chivalrously given--their love
and their money. These speeches were received with howls of
appreciation from the legislators, who dwelt upon the type that
appealed to them, "the woman who was the mother of children and
realized that her place was at home with her hand on the cradle." The
committee made an unfavorable report.
In 1916 this experience was repeated. In 1917 and 1918 the leaders of
the Equal Suffrage Party were absorbed in war work and had no time to
waste in so helpless and disagreeable a task. They realized that they
would soon be enfranchised by a Federal Amendment, the only hope of
the women of Georgia.
RATIFICATION. In 1919 came the great struggle over ratification. The
best the suffragists hoped for was that no action would be taken.
During the first days of the session, however, the resolution to
ratify was introduced in the House by Representative J. B. Jackson of
Jones county and in the Senate by Senator T. H. Parker of Colquitt
county, both of whom explained that their action was taken in order to
kill it. The resolution was referred in both Houses to the Committees
on Constitutional Amendments and a joint hearing was set for an early
date.
The suffragists had more friends and stronger ones on the House
Committee than the "antis" and more than they had realized. All they
asked was that the resolution be tabled, not reported favorably, for
they knew that defeat on the floor of the House was certain. One of
their strongest supporters, Judge W. A. Covington of Colquitt county,
was detained at home by illness in his family and telegraphed the
chairman of the House Committee, John W. Bale of Floyd county, asking
that the hearing be postponed a few days so that he might be present.
This courtesy, commonly extended without question, was refused by Mr.
Bale. Immediately on the opening of the hearing Mr. Jackson asked to
substitute for his original resolution one which explicitly rejected
ratification. By permission of the chairman this substitute was
accepted. After the hearing, at which Miss Rutherford alone appeared
in opposition while seven women spoke for it, the committee went into
executive session. On a motion to postpone action the vote was 13 to
13, and the chairman cast his vote against it. During the executive
session Robert T. DuBose of Clarke county became ill and asked if he
might cast his vote ahead of time and leave. Permission was granted
him and he wrote on a slip of paper a vote for postponing action. When
the final vote was taken Mr. Bale ruled that Mr. DuBose's vote could
not be counted. If it had been the suffragists would have carried
their point by a vote of 14 to 13. After the motion to postpone was
lost the Jackson resolution to reject was reported favorably.
The Senate Committee acted in open session. After prolonged debate the
Parker resolution to ratify was reported unfavorably by a vote of 10
to 3, and the next day it came before the Senate. The opponents
believed they could make short work of it or they would not have
permitted it to come up. By a vote of 37 to 12 the Senate refused to
disagree to the committee report. In order to dispose of the
resolution, however, it was necessary to agree to the report and when
this motion was made the suffrage supporters started a "filibuster"
which they continued for several days. Finally the anti-suffrage
Senators promised that if the suffragists would call off their
"filibuster" they would vote to recommit the resolution to the
committee with the understanding that it would stay there the
remainder of the session. But on the same day that this agreement was
made Senator Parker introduced another resolution, which, like the
Jones substitute, called for rejection of ratification. It was
reported favorably by the committee and after several days' debate,
Senators Claude Pittman, W. H. Dorris, H. H. Elders and George G.
Glenn, speaking for ratification, the rejection resolution was carried
on July 24 by 39 to 10. The Senate then voted down a proposition to
submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State
constitution. On the same day the Jackson resolution to reject was
presented in the House and after a spirited debate led by Judge
Covington and A. S. Anderson for ratification the resolution was
carried by 132 to 34.
This contest had occupied about two-thirds of the time since the
Legislature convened and yet the opponents, after all their efforts,
failed to have the Legislature go on record as rejecting the Federal
Amendment, for the House resolution was never concurred in by the
Senate and the Senate resolution was never concurred in by the House
and the session adjourned without completing formal action. President
Wilson had sent a telegram urging ratification for party expediency
and U. S. Senator Harris went to Atlanta to lobby for either
ratification or no action, but he was denounced by the legislators and
the President was called a "meddler." Members of the Democratic
National Committee and Clark Howell, editor of the Atlanta
_Constitution_, and James Hallanan, its political editor, strongly
supported ratification, as did Governor Dorsey. The suffrage
associations made no effort in 1920, knowing the hopelessness of it.
The National Woman's Party endeavored to secure an Enabling Act, so
that women might vote under the Federal Amendment although the time
for registration had passed, but were not successful.
The last meeting of the Equal Suffrage Party was held in Atlanta
during the regional conference of the National League of Woman Voters.
Thirty-five States had ratified the Federal Amendment, and feeling
assured that ratification would soon be fully accomplished, Mrs.
McDougald had gained the consent of all the branches to take this
occasion to merge it into a State League. This was done April 3, 1920.
Miss Annie G. Wright of Augusta was elected chairman and Mrs.
McDougald and Mrs. S. B. C. Morgan honorary presidents for life.[39]
FOOTNOTES:
[33] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Latimer
McLendon, a resident of Atlanta over 60 years, who also wrote the
Georgia chapter for Volume IV. Before the absolutely necessary
condensation of the present chapter it included 22,000 words and was a
most remarkable production for a woman in her 81st year. It will be
preserved intact in another place.
[34] During the years from 1901 the following held office in the State
association: honorary vice-president, Miss Madeline J. S. Wylie;
vice-presidents, Mrs. P. H. Moore, Miss S. A. Gresham, Miss Rebecca
Vaughn, Miss H. Augusta Howard, Mrs. Emma T. Martin, Mrs. J.
Dejournette, Mrs. W. Y. Atkinson; corresponding secretaries, Mrs.
Mamie Folsom Wynne, Miss Katherine Koch, Mrs. DeLacy Eastman, Mrs.
Amelia R. Woodall; recording secretaries, Miss Willette Allen, Mrs.
Alice C. Daniels; treasurers, Mrs. E. O. Archer, Mrs. Mary Osborne,
Mrs. M. K. Mathews, Mrs. E. C. Cresse; auditor, Mrs. W. H. Felton.
[35] In October, 1919, when Mrs. McLendon attended the W. C. T. U.
convention, she was called to the platform on the opening night,
presented as a "brave pioneer" and highly eulogized by the present and
former State presidents. The audience gave her the Chautauqua salute
and the White Ribbon cheer and in return she gave them a woman
suffrage speech, which was enthusiastically received. Nevertheless the
State society never endorsed votes for women, although local societies
did so.
[36] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs.
Emily C. McDougald, president of the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia.
[37] The resolution was voted on in the last hours of the convention
and a number of the suffragists had taken trains for home. Mrs. Hayes
desired to have the resolution pass but as the convention the
preceding year had sustained the ruling of the president that it was
out of order she felt obliged to make a similar one.
[38] The only organized antagonism to woman suffrage came from a very
small but very vindictive association in Macon, vigorously abetted and
encouraged by the _Telegraph_, the only paper in the State which
fought suffrage and suffragists. Every week a column or more, edited
by James P. Callaway, was filled with abuse of suffrage leaders and
every slanderous statement in regard to them which could be found.
Miss Caroline Patterson of Macon was always president of this
association and Mrs. Lamar, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Moore and a few other
women, all of Macon, were ardent co-workers and leaders and frequent
contributors to Mr. Callaway's column. The association still holds
together and the members are pledged not to vote but to give their
time and money to any effort made in the courts to invalidate
ratification of the Federal Amendment (1920).
[39] In 1921 the League prepared a bill "to remove the civil
disabilities of women," which provided that women should be eligible
to vote in all elections, primary and general, in municipalities,
counties and the State, and should be eligible to hold public office.
The only objection made to the bill was to women on juries. The women
objected to this exemption but had to yield. In the Senate the vote on
July 22 stood 36 for, 3 against; in the House almost unanimous on
August 10. These legislators were so courteous and obliging the women
could scarcely believe it was a Georgia Legislature. They gave
everything asked for and inquired, "Is there anything else we can do
for you?"
The State organizer of the League of Women Voters is Mrs. Z. L.
Fitzpatrick, former president of the State Federation of Women's
Clubs. She is most enthusiastic over the new order of affairs and is
touring the State organizing leagues and urging women to get out and
vote and to nominate women for the offices!
CHAPTER XI.
IDAHO.[40]
Idaho women have been voting citizens for twenty-four years and during
these years much has been accomplished for the making of a bigger and
better State, especially along educational lines. The women came into
their suffrage sanely and quietly, working shoulder to shoulder with
men in everything vital to their country. State and local politics has
been materially improved since women have been electors. No strictly
suffrage association has been maintained since the franchise was
granted, but when the National League of Women Voters was instituted
in 1920 a branch was formed in Idaho with Dr. Emma F. A. Drake
chairman. Work heretofore had been done through the Federation of
Clubs, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and other organizations
of women. Political leaders always consider what women will think of a
candidate before he is nominated and it is constantly demonstrated
that nothing puts the fear of God into a man's heart like the ballot
in the hands of a good woman. The women vote in about the same
proportion as the men and there never is any criticism of it. Women
have worked for many good laws and have seen the most of them passed.
The women are not ambitious for office, but they fill regularly,
without question, the following: State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, County School Superintendent, County Treasurer, City
Treasurer and, in many counties, Auditor and the appointive offices,
Law Librarian and assistant, Traveling Librarian and assistant. In
January, 1920, Governor D. W. Davis appointed Mrs. J. G. H. Gravely on
the State Educational Board. The following women have filled the
office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Miss Permeal
French, Miss Belle Chamberlain, Miss Bernice McCoy, Miss May Scott,
Miss Grace Shepherd, Miss Ethel Redfield; of Law Librarian: Mrs. Mary
Wood, Mrs. Arabella Erskine, Mrs. Carrie A. Gainer, Mrs. Minnie Priest
Dunton, Mrs. William Balderston; of Traveling Librarian: Mrs. E. J.
Dockery, Miss Louise Johnson, Mrs. Marie Schrieber, Miss Margaret S.
Roberts.
Only six women have served in the Legislature, all in the Lower House:
Mrs. Hattie F. Noble, Mrs. Clara Campbell, Dr. Emma F. A. Drake, Mrs.
Mary Allen Wright, Mrs. Lettie McFadden, Mrs. Carrie Harper White.
RATIFICATION. Governor Davis called a special session to ratify the
Federal Suffrage Amendment Feb. 11, 1920. It was carried unanimously
in the House, after Dr. Emma F. A. Drake, the only woman member of the
House present, made a strong and logical speech introducing the
resolution. It was carried in the Senate but had six opposing votes.
The following are the names of the men who were proud to vote against
the ratification: Elmer Davis of Boise county; C. B. Faraday of
Elmore; Ross Mason of Shoshone; R. T. Owens of Oneida; E. W. Porter of
Latah; John S. St. Clair of Owyhee.[41]
FOOTNOTES:
[40] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Margaret S.
Roberts, Librarian of the Idaho Free Travelling Library. A full
account of the winning of woman suffrage in 1896 will be found in
Volume IV, History of Woman Suffrage.
[41] If "happy women have no history" those of Idaho are fortunate, as
the above is all that could be obtained for the State chapter.--Ed.
CHAPTER XII.
ILLINOIS.[42]
The Illinois Equal Suffrage Association started on its work for the
new century with a determination to win full suffrage for women--the
one great purpose for which it was organized in 1869. The State
conventions were always held in October or November. In the earlier
years they usually went to the "down state" cities or towns, but as
they grew large Chicago was generally selected. In October, 1900, the
State convention was held at Edgewater and Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton
Harbert of Evanston resumed the presidency, which she had held for a
number of years. Delegates from four places besides Chicago were
present. Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch was made legislative chairman
and work was continued for needed changes in the laws.
At the convention of 1901 Mrs. Elizabeth F. Long of Barry was elected
president. Great effort was made to interest the press in the suffrage
question and a leaflet entitled Suffrage for Women Taxpayers was
published and sent to all the large newspapers. The Chicago Teachers'
Federation, under the leadership of Miss Margaret Haley and Miss
Catherine Goggin, rendered valuable service in arousing the people to
the injustice of taxation without representation. The Ella Flagg Young
Club, an organization of the women principals of the public schools,
affiliated this year with the State suffrage association. Petitions
were circulated and suffrage resolutions passed by various kinds of
clubs and plans were made to introduce in the next Legislature the
Municipal and Presidential suffrage bill as well as a full suffrage
amendment to the State constitution. Among the women who rendered
efficient service in these early years were Dr. Julia Holmes Smith,
Mrs. Lucy Flower and Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward.
The next convention was held in Jacksonville in 1902 and the Rev. Kate
Hughes of Table Grove was elected president. At the convention of 1903
Mrs. Hughes was re-elected. A feature of the educational work this
year was to urge the directors of the libraries of the State to place
on their shelves the official History of Woman Suffrage, recently
brought up to date. A leaflet by Mrs. McCulloch, Bench and Bar of
Illinois, was published by the association and widely circulated. It
gave the opinions of some of the ablest jurists and statesmen on the
woman suffrage question.
At the 1904 convention Mrs. McCulloch was elected president. Notable
growth was made in suffrage societies during the year and favorable
sentiment was aroused in organizations formed for other work. Among
these were the State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Teachers'
Federation, the former with a membership of 25,000 and the latter with
3,500. All party conventions but the Republican passed strong suffrage
resolutions and all parties including this one nominated women as
trustees of the State University. The Democratic Mayor of Chicago,
Edward F. Dunne, appointed Miss Jane Addams, Dr. Cornelia DeBey and
Mrs. Emmons Blaine as members of the School Board. The legislative
work was encouraging this year, for in both Senate and House the
Municipal and Presidential suffrage bill was reported out of committee
with favorable recommendations, and in the Senate it reached second
reading.
The State convention of 1905 was held in Chicago and Mrs. Ella S.
Stewart was elected president. During the year much literature was
distributed and a committee was appointed, that included as many
federated club presidents as would serve, to secure if possible
Municipal suffrage in the new Chicago charter which was then being
considered. Mrs. Charles Henrotin, former president of the General
Federation of Women's Clubs, was appointed chairman. The women were
allowed to make their appeal before several minor committees, but not
before the whole Charter Convention, which tabled their request. The
entire charter was tabled in the Legislature. Miss Alice Henry,
formerly of Australia, editor of the magazine _Life and Labor_, gave
valuable assistance in organizing suffrage clubs. Educational work in
colleges was begun and Mrs. Elmira E. Springer, an ardent suffrage
worker, contributed a fund of $1,000, the interest to be distributed
as prizes at an annual inter-collegiate oratorical suffrage contest.
As a result suffrage societies were formed among the college students
auxiliary to the State association. It published suffrage leaflets
written by Judge Murray F. Tuley, a prominent Chicago judge; Mrs.
Eugenia M. Bacon, former president of the State Federation of Women's
Clubs, and one by Miss Anna Nicholes, an active settlement worker, on
the need of the ballot for the working woman.
At the convention of 1906 Mrs. Stewart was re-elected. Much literature
was published and valuable educational work was carried on in addition
to the legislative work at Springfield under the auspices of Mrs.
McCulloch. In the fall of 1907 the State convention was held on the
Fair grounds at Springfield, and Mrs. Stewart was re-elected. At the
convention of 1908 Mrs. Stewart was continued as president. The
association co-operated with the National American Suffrage
Association in requesting the National Republican Committee, which met
in Chicago, to incorporate a woman suffrage plank in its platform. An
active educational campaign was started to appeal again for Municipal
suffrage for women in another charter which was being prepared. This
time the charter convention acceded to the request of the women, but
the whole was defeated at Springfield. In this work important help was
given the association by the Teachers' Federation, the Chicago Woman's
Club and the Trade Union League. The Chicago Political Equality
League, as well as other affiliated suffrage organizations, took an
active part in this campaign and about 60,000 signatures to a petition
were obtained.
In October, 1909, the State convention was held in Chicago and Mrs.
Stewart was again re-elected. This year the State association
organized the Chicago Men's Equal Suffrage League with former Senator
Thomas J. McMillan, the "father" of the Illinois School suffrage law,
as its first president. The members were from many walks of life,
among them George E. Cole, founder of the Citizens' Association, who
had led in civic reform work for many years; Bishop Samuel Fallows,
one of the city's most prominent and best loved clergymen; Richard S.
Tuthill, for years an influential Judge; Jenkin Lloyd Jones, founder
of the liberal church known as Lincoln Center; Dr. Henry B. Favill,
one of Chicago's well-known physicians; Henry Neil, who was
responsible for the mothers' pension law; Andrew MacLeish, a member of
Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company, one of the city's largest dry goods
houses, and many other prominent men, including the husbands of all
the well-known suffragists. This year for the first time permanent
headquarters were opened in the Fine Arts Building, 410 Michigan
Boulevard, and Miss Harriet Grim, a student of Chicago University, was
engaged as State organizer. She spoke before women's clubs, labor
unions and parlor groups and twenty new societies were formed. Active
suffrage work was also instituted among the churches under the
management of Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall, chairman of the Church
Committee.
In the spring of 1910 the State Board decided to try suffrage
automobile tours. Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, president of the Chicago
Political Equality League, was appointed to take charge of an
experimental tour which required about six weeks of preparatory work
to insure its success. She visited the offices of the newspapers and
secured their co-operation. The tour started on Monday, July 11, and
the edition of the _Tribune_ the day before contained a full colored
page of the women in the autos and nearly a half page more of reading
material about it. The paper sent two reporters on the trip, who rode
in the car with the speakers. The _Examiner_, _Record Herald_, _Post_
and _Journal_ sent reporters by railroad and trolley, who joined the
suffragists at their stopping places. The women spoke from the
automobile, which drove into some square or stopped on a prominent
street corner, previously arranged for by the local committees. Mrs.
McCulloch spoke from the legal standpoint; Miss Nicholes from the
laboring woman's view and Mrs. Stewart from an international aspect.
Mrs. Trout made the opening address, covering the subject in a general
way, and presented the speakers. She herself was introduced by some
prominent local woman and on several occasions by the Mayor.
Sixteen towns were visited, and the _Tribune_ said: "Suffrage tour
ends in triumph. With mud bespattered 'Votes for Women' banners still
flying, Mrs. Trout and her party of orators returned late yesterday
afternoon. Men and women cheered them all the way in from their last
stop at Wheaton to the Fine Arts Building headquarters." Similar tours
in other parts of the State were conducted by Dr. Anna E. Blount, Mrs.
Stewart, Miss Grim and Mrs. Jennie F. W. Johnson. Mrs. Trout took her
same speakers and went to Lake Geneva, where meetings with speaking
from automobiles were held under the auspices of Mrs. Willis S.
McCrea, who entertained the suffragists in her spacious summer home.
In the autumn at her house on Lincoln Parkway Mrs. McCrea organized
the North Side Branch of the State association, afterwards (1913)
renamed the Chicago Equal Suffrage Association.
In October the State convention was held at Elgin and Mrs. Stewart was
re-elected. The Municipal and Presidential bills and the full suffrage
amendment were introduced in the Legislature as usual. Miss Grim and
Miss Ruth Harl were stationed at Springfield as permanent lobbyists
and Mrs. McCulloch directed the work. At the time of the hearing a
special suffrage train was run from Chicago to Springfield, with
speaking from the rear platform at the principal places en route.
The State convention was held at Decatur in October, 1911, and Mrs.
Stewart, wishing to retire from office after serving six strenuous
years, Mrs. Elvira Downey was elected president. Organizing work was
pushed throughout the State. Cook county clubs for political
discussion were formed by Miss Mary Miller, a lawyer of Chicago. In
the winter a suffrage bazaar lasting five days was held at the Hotel
LaSalle, under the management of Mrs. Alice Bright Parker. Many of the
younger suffragists took part in this social event. Every afternoon
and evening there were suffrage speeches and several Grand Opera
singers contributed their services. It was an excellent piece of
propaganda work and aroused interest among people who had not been
reached through other forms.
At the April primaries in Chicago in 1912, through the initiative of
Mrs. McCulloch, a "preferential" ballot on the question of suffrage
for women was taken. This was merely an expression of opinion by the
voters as to whether they favored it, which the Democratic Judge of
Elections, John E. Owens, allowed to be taken, but it had no legal
standing. The State association conducted a whirlwind educational
campaign immediately before the election. Unfortunately,
Prohibitionists, Socialists and many independent electors who favored
it were not entitled to vote. The result was 135,410 noes, 71,354
ayes, every ward giving an adverse majority. In October the State
convention was held at Galesburg and Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout was
elected president. Mrs. Trout had been on the State board for two
years and during this time had served also as president of the Chicago
Political Equality League, which under her administration had
increased its membership from 143 to over 1,000 members. She began at
once to strengthen the State organization for the legislative campaign
of 1913. There were still Senatorial districts in which there were no
suffrage societies, and, as the time was short, competent women were
immediately appointed in such districts to see that their legislators
were interviewed and to make ready to have letters and telegrams sent
to them at Springfield.
During the Legislature of 1911 Mrs. Trout had twice accompanied Mrs.
McCulloch to Springfield and the antagonism manifested against woman
suffrage made her realize that new tactics would have to be employed.
Mrs. McCulloch after many years of service had asked to be relieved
and Mrs. Elizabeth K. Booth of Glencoe had been elected legislative
chairman. Mrs. Trout and she adopted a new plan without spectacular
activities of any kind, believing that much publicity was likely to
arouse the opponents. It was decided to initiate a quiet, educational
campaign and as the only possible way to secure sufficient votes to
pass the measure, to convert some of the opponents into friends. It
was agreed also that a card index, giving data about every member of
the Legislature, should be compiled at once to be used later for
reference. This plan was approved and adopted by the State board.
The members of the Board and suffrage friends throughout the State
gathered information about the legislators and sent it to Mrs. Booth.
The cards when filled out stated the politics and religion of the
various Senators and Representatives, whether they were married or
single, whether their home relations were harmonious, and tabulated
any public service they had ever rendered. This information made it
easier to approach the different legislators in a way to overcome
their individual prejudices. All effort was to be concentrated on the
bill, which, with variations, the State association had had before
most of the Legislatures since 1893. It read as follows:
All women [naming usual qualifications] shall be allowed to vote
for presidential electors, members of the State Board of
Equalization, clerk of the appellate court, county collector,
county surveyor, members of board of assessors, members of board
of review, sanitary district trustees, and for all officers of
cities, villages and towns (except police magistrates), and upon
all questions or propositions submitted to a vote of the electors
of such municipalities or other political division of this State.
All such women may also vote for the following township officers:
supervisor, town clerk, assessor, collector and highway
commissioner, and may also participate and vote in all annual and
special town meetings in the township in which such election
district shall be.
Separate ballot boxes and ballots shall be provided....
As soon as the Legislature convened in 1913 a struggle developed over
the Speakership, and there was a long and bitter deadlock before
William McKinley, a young Democrat from Chicago, was finally elected.
Then another struggle ensued over a United States Senator. During
these weeks of turmoil little could be accomplished for the suffrage
bill, but February 10 Mrs. Booth went to Springfield and from then
attended the sessions regularly. She sat in the galleries of the
Senate and House and soon learned to recognize each member and rounded
up and checked off friendly legislators.
The Progressives had a large representation and had made plans to
introduce as a party measure a carefully drafted Woman Suffrage bill.
Mrs. Trout and Mrs. Booth suggested to the leaders that it would be
far better to let the State association sponsor this measure than to
have it presented by any political party. They finally agreed, but
Mrs. McCulloch had accompanied Mrs. Booth to Springfield taking the
bill which she herself had drafted and which she insisted upon having
substituted. Out of deference to her long years of service her bill
was taken instead of the Progressives'. It named the officers for
which women should be allowed to vote instead of being worded like the
Progressive draft, which said: "Women shall be allowed to vote for all
officers and upon all propositions submitted except where the
Constitution provides that the elector shall be a male citizen." In
Mrs. Booth's official report to the State convention, held in the fall
of 1913 at Peoria, she said: "As we failed to introduce the form of
bill approved by the Progressives' constitutional lawyers they
introduced it, and it required considerable tact to allay their
displeasure and induce them to support our bill." Medill McCormick,
one of the leading Progressives in the Legislature, helped greatly in
straightening out this tangle. He was a faithful ally of the suffrage
lobby and rendered invaluable assistance. Other Progressives who gave
important service were John M. Curran and Emil N. Zolla of Chicago; J.
H. Jayne of Monmouth; Charles H. Carmon of Forrest, and Fayette S.
Munro of Highland Park.[43]
On March 10 Mrs. Trout went to Springfield to secure if possible the
support of the Democratic Governor, Edward F. Dunne, for the bill.
Mrs. Booth said in her official report: "The Governor told us that he
would not support any suffrage measure which provided for a
constitutional amendment, as this might interfere with the Initiative
and Referendum Amendment, upon which the administration was
concentrating its efforts. We assured him that we would not introduce
a resolution for an amendment and that we desired the support of the
administration for our statutory bill, as we realized that no suffrage
measure could pass if it opposed. He then acquiesced." The work at
Springfield became more and more complicated and at times seemed
almost hopeless. No politicians believed the suffragists had the
slightest chance of success. From April 7 Mrs. Trout went down every
week. The women had the strong support of the Chicago press and
editorials were published whenever they were especially needed during
the six months' struggle. After considerable educational work the
Springfield newspapers also became friendly and published suffrage
editorials at opportune times. The papers were refolded so that these
editorials, blue penciled, came on the outside, and placed on the
desks of the legislators.
The bill was introduced in the House by Charles L. Scott (Dem.) and in
the Senate by Hugh S. Magill (Rep.). All efforts were centered on its
passage first through the Senate. After nearly three months of
strenuous effort this was finally accomplished on May 7, 1913, by a
vote of 29 ayes (three more than the required majority) and 15 noes.
It is doubtful whether this action could have been secured without the
skilful tactics of Senator Magill, but he could not have succeeded
without the unfailing co-operation of Lieutenant Governor Barratt
O'Hara. Among other Senators who helped were Martin B. Bailey, Albert
C. Clark, Edward C. Curtis, Samuel A. Ettelson, Logan Hay and Thomas
B. Stewart, Republicans; Michael H. Cleary, William A. Compton, Kent
E. Keller, Walter I. Manny and W. Duff Piercy, Democrats; George W.
Harris and Walter Clyde Jones, Progressives.
The day the bill passed Mrs. Trout left Springfield to address a
suffrage meeting to be held in Galesburg that evening and the next day
one at Monmouth. In each place resided a member of the House who was
marked on the card index as "doubtful," but both, through the
influence of their constituents, voted for the bill. Mrs. Booth
remained in Springfield to see that it got safely over to the House.
The two women wished the bill to go into the friendly Elections
Committee and the opponents were planning to put it into the Judiciary
Committee, where it would remain during the rest of the session. The
suffrage lobby worked into the small hours of the night making plans
to frustrate this scheme. Arrangements were made with Speaker McKinley
to turn it over to the Elections Committee, and when the morning
session opened this was done before the opponents realized that their
plot had failed.
The women were indebted to David R. Shanahan, for many years an
influential Republican member, who, representing a "wet" district in
Chicago, felt that he could not vote for the bill, but without his
counsel it would have been still more difficult to pass it. To
overcome the pitfalls, Mrs. Trout appealed to the enemies to give the
women of Illinois a square deal, especially to Lee O'Neil Browne, a
powerful Democratic leader. He had always opposed suffrage
legislation, but he finally consented to let the bill, so far as he
was concerned, be voted up or down on its merits. It was this spirit
of fair play among its opponents as well as the loyalty of its friends
that made possible the final victory.
Up to this time Mrs. Trout and Mrs. Booth had worked alone, but now
Mrs. Trout asked Mrs. Antoinette Funk, a lawyer, of Chicago, who had
done active work for the Progressive party, to come to Springfield,
and she arrived on May 13. A week later Mrs. Medill McCormick came to
reside in the capital and her services were immediately enlisted. She
was a daughter of the late Senator Mark Hanna, who had inherited much
of her father's ability in politics and was an important addition to
the suffrage lobby. On May 14 the bill had its first reading and was
referred to the Elections Committee. On the 21st it was reported with
a recommendation that it "do pass." The opponents were now thoroughly
alarmed. Anton J. Cermak of Chicago, president of the United
Societies, a powerful organization of liquor interests, directed the
fight against it. Leaflets were circulated giving the "preferential"
suffrage vote taken in Chicago the year before, with a list of the
negative votes cast in each ward to show the Chicago members how badly
it had been beaten by their constituents. The bill was called up for
second reading June 3 and there was a desperate attempt to amend and
if possible kill it, but it finally passed in just the form it had
come over from the Senate.
The hope of the opposition now was to keep Speaker McKinley from
allowing the bill to come up for third reading. He told Mrs. Trout
that hundreds of men from Chicago as well as from other parts of the
State had come to Springfield and begged him to prevent it from coming
to a vote. The young Speaker looked haggard and worn during those
days, and he asked her to let him know it if there was any suffrage
sentiment in the State. She immediately telephoned to Mrs. Harriette
Taylor Treadwell, president of the Chicago Political Equality League,
to have letters and telegrams sent at once to Springfield and to have
people communicate by telephone with the Speaker when he returned to
Chicago for the week end. Mrs. Treadwell called upon the suffragists
and thousands of letters and telegrams were sent. She also organized a
telephone brigade by means of which he was called up every fifteen
minutes by men as well as women, both at his home and his office, from
early Saturday morning until late Monday night the days he spent in
Chicago. She was assisted in this work by Mrs. James W. Morrisson,
secretary of the Chicago Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. George Bass,
president of the Chicago Woman's Club; Mrs. Jean Wallace Butler, a
well-known business woman; Mrs. Edward L. Stillman, an active
suffragist in the Rogers Park Woman's Club; Miss Florence King, a
prominent patent lawyer and president of the Chicago Woman's
Association of Commerce; Miss Mary Miller, another Chicago lawyer and
president of the Chicago Human Rights Association; Mrs. Charlotte
Rhodus, president of the Woman Suffrage Party of Cook County and other
influential women. Mrs. Trout telephoned Miss Margaret Dobyne, press
chairman of the association, to send out the call for help over the
State, which she did with the assistance of Miss Jennie F. W. Johnson,
the treasurer, and Mrs. J. W. McGraw, the auditor.
A deluge of letters and telegrams from every section of Illinois
awaited the Speaker when he arrived in Springfield Tuesday morning. He
needed no further proof and announced that the bill would be called up
for final action June 11. The women in charge of it immediately began
to marshal their forces for the last struggle. Messages were sent to
each friend of the measure in the House, urging him to be present
without fail.[44] On the eventful morning there was much excitement at
the Capitol. The "captains," previously requested to be on hand
early, reported if any of their men were missing, these were at once
called up by telephone and when necessary a cab was sent for them. The
four women lobbyists were stationed as follows: Mrs. Booth and Mrs.
McCormick in the gallery; Mrs. Trout at the only entrance of the House
left open that day, and Mrs. Funk to carry messages and instructions
between these points. Mrs. Booth checked off the votes and Mrs. Trout
stood guard to see that no friendly members left the House during roll
calls and also to prevent the violation of the law which forbade any
lobbyist to enter the floor of the House after the session had
convened. The burly doorkeeper, who was against the suffrage bill,
could not be trusted to enforce the law if its enemies chose to enter.
Events proved the wisdom of this precaution. A number of favoring
legislators who started to leave the House during the fight were
persuaded to return and the doorkeeper soon told Mrs. Trout she would
have to go into the gallery. As she did not move he came back
presently and said that Benjamin Mitchell, one of the members of the
House leading the opposition, had instructed him that if she did not
immediately go to the gallery he would put a resolution through the
House forcing her to do so. She politely but firmly said it was her
right as a citizen of Illinois to stay in the corridor and remained at
her post. As a consequence no one entered the House that day who was
not legally entitled to do so. During the five hours' debate all known
parliamentary tactics were used to defeat the bill. When Speaker
McKinley finally announced the vote--ayes 83 (six more than the
required majority), noes 58--a hush fell for an instant before the
wild outburst of applause. It seemed as if there had passed through
those legislative halls the spirit of eternal justice and truth and
the eyes of strong men filled with tears.
Politicians declared it was a miracle, but it was a miracle made
possible by six months of unceasing toil, during which the suffrage
lobby worked from early in the morning until late at night and were
shadowed by detectives eager to acquire testimony that would prejudice
the legislators against their measure. It was most encouraging to the
workers when they won over Edward D. Shurtleff, who had been for years
Speaker of the House and was acknowledged to be one of the most
astute men in Springfield. His practical knowledge of legislative
procedure made his advice of the greatest value. Representative Scott,
who introduced the bill in the House, was a highly esteemed member who
refused to present any others so that he could be free to devote all
of his time and energy to this one, and others were equally loyal.
Mrs. Trout's leadership received the highest praise from the press and
the politicians of the State. The Illinois Legislature led the way and
within a few years bills of a similar nature had been passed by those
of fourteen other States.
The State Equal Suffrage Association tendered a banquet at the Leland
Hotel in Springfield on June 13 to the legislators and their wives,
opponents as well as friends, and prominent suffragists came from over
the State. Mrs. Trout asked Mrs. McCormick to take charge of the
banquet and she had a roll of honor printed which the men who voted
for the suffrage bill were invited to sign, and the Governor's
signature was also obtained. As soon as he entered the banquet hall
Mrs. Trout, in charge of the program, called upon the banqueters to
rise and do honor to the Governor who would soon, by signing the
suffrage bill, win the everlasting gratitude of all men and women in
Illinois interested in human liberty. The very day the bill passed the
House a committee of anti-suffrage legislators called upon Governor
Dunne to urge him to veto it and tried to influence Attorney General
Patrick J. Lucey to declare it unconstitutional, which would give him
an excuse. Mrs. McCormick immediately went to Chicago and secured
opinions from able lawyers that the bill was constitutional, and he
stood out against all opposition and signed it on June 26.
On July 1 a jubilee automobile parade was arranged by Mrs. Treadwell
with Mrs. Kenneth McLennan as grand marshal, and the cars filled with
enthusiastic suffragists extended several miles down Michigan
Boulevard. The first important work was to arouse the women of the
State to a realization of all the good that could be accomplished by
the wise use of the franchise. The entire cost of the Springfield
campaign, which lasted over six months and included railroad fare for
the lobbyists, innumerable telegrams and long distance telephone
calls, postage, stationery, printing, stenographic help, hotel bills
and incidentals, was only $1,567, but it left the treasury of the
association empty. The board therefore gratefully accepted the offer
of William Randolph Hearst of a suffrage edition of the Chicago
_Examiner_. He agreed to pay for the cost of publication and permit
the funds raised through the sale of the papers and the advertising to
go into the suffrage treasury. The women were weary from the campaign
and most of the board were going away for the summer but Mrs. Trout
rallied her forces, was general manager herself and persuaded Mrs.
Funk to be managing editor, Miss Dobyne advertising manager and Mrs.
Treadwell circulation manager. As a result of almost six weeks' work
during the hottest part of the summer nearly $15,000 were raised.
After all commissions and other expenses were paid and new and
commodious suffrage headquarters in the Tower Building were furnished
a fund of between $7,000 and $8,000 was left to maintain them and push
organization work.
The constitutionality of the law was soon attacked and Mrs. Trout
consulted frequently with the officers of the Anti-Saloon League, for
the attacks always emanated from the "wet" interests, and most
efficient service was rendered by F. Scott McBride, State
Superintendent; E. J. Davis, Chicago superintendent, and Frank B.
Ebbert, legal counsel for the league, who said it was also their
fight. A case was brought against the Election Commissioners of
Chicago for allowing women to vote on certain questions, decided in
their favor by the lower courts, appealed and brought before the
Supreme Court of Illinois. A meeting of the board of the State Equal
Suffrage Association was called at once, which voted to raise a
defense fund and fight the case to a finish. The chairman of the
committee was Mrs. George A. Soden, first vice-president, and it was
largely through her efforts and the contributions of her husband that
the fund was raised. Not only the legislators who had voted for the
bill but also a number who voted against it sent money to help defend
the law. The opponents of the law--the liquor interests--were
represented by Levi Mayer of Chicago, counsel for the United Societies
as well as for big brewery interests and considered one of the ablest
constitutional lawyers in the State. It was therefore necessary for
the association to secure the best and they engaged John J. Herrick
and Judge Charles S. Cutting, who by agreement with the Election
Commissioners took charge of the fight. The women consulted also with
Charles H. Mitchell, their regular counsel, as well as with Judge
Willard McEwen, whom the commissioners engaged as special counsel.
They frequently conferred with Judge Isaiah T. Greenacre, counsel for
the Teachers' Federation, and Joel F. Longnecker, a young lawyer
active in the Progressive party, both of whom donated their services.
There was a long delay in the Supreme Court and during this time it
was vitally necessary to demonstrate that the women wanted the ballot
by bringing out as large a registration as possible for the municipal
election to be held in April, 1914. The opponents were saying: "Women
down the State have voted because they are interested in local option
but not 25,000 women will register in Chicago." It was, therefore, of
paramount importance to arouse the Chicago women. This work was in
charge of Mrs. Edward L. Stewart, assisted by Mrs. Judith Weil
Loewenthal, members of the State Board. Mrs. Stewart called upon every
organization of women in the city to assist. Valuable help was given
by Mrs. Ida Darling Engelke, city chairman of ward organization for
the Chicago Political Equality League; Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen, president
of the Woman's City Club, and Mrs. James Morrisson, president of the
Chicago Equal Suffrage Association. There were public meetings in
every ward, and a mass meeting the Sunday before the election in the
Auditorium Theater, which seated over 4,000 people, but overflow
meetings were necessary. As a result of this united effort over
200,000 women registered in Chicago alone and thousands more
throughout the State.
On May 2, 1914, was held the first large suffrage parade in Illinois.
It was managed by the State association and its affiliated Chicago
clubs. Mrs. Trout, with the members of the Board and distinguished
pioneer suffragists, led the procession, and Governor Dunne and Mayor
Carter H. Harrison reviewed it. The city government sent to head the
parade the mounted police, led by Chief Gleason, called "the beauty
squad," only brought out on very special occasions. Nearly 15,000
women, representing all parties, creeds and classes, marched down
Michigan Boulevard and hundreds of thousands of people lined both
sides for over two miles. Captain Charles W. Kayser of Wheaton planned
the procession with military skill. The Parade Committee, including
the heads of divisions and numbering over a thousand women, was
invited immediately after the procession to the Hotel La Salle by
Ernest Stevens, manager and one of the owners, where they were guests
of the management at supper, which was followed by music and speaking.
In June the General Federation of Women's Clubs held its biennial
convention in Chicago and the question uppermost in the minds of all
club women was, would the president, Mrs. Percy Pennybacker, refuse to
allow a woman suffrage resolution to be presented, as her predecessor,
Mrs. Philip Moore, had done in San Francisco at the preceding
biennial, and also would it receive a favorable vote if presented? The
State Board, realizing that with the suffrage law still hanging in the
balance in the Supreme Court, it was vitally important to have the
endorsement by this convention, representing 1,500,000 members,
appointed Mrs. Trout to secure favorable action if possible. The
Federation Board on request of Mrs. Pennybacker appointed a special
committee to confer with her and as the result of co-operation the
following resolution, presented by Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of
Philadelphia, an officer of the Federation, was adopted on June 13:
WHEREAS, the question of the political equality of men and women
is today a vital problem under discussion throughout the
civilized world, therefore,
_Resolved_, that the General Federation of Women's Clubs give the
cause of political equality for men and women its moral support
by recording its earnest belief in the principle of political
equality regardless of sex.
There were between 1,700 and 1,800 delegates present, representing all
sections of the country. The vote was viva voce and so overwhelmingly
in the affirmative that it was not counted. The Chicago _Tribune_
said: "The anti-suffragists made no fight against the resolution on
the floor of the convention, probably realizing they were hopelessly
outnumbered. There was a considerable chorus of nays when it was put,
but not enough for any one to demand a count." Afterwards the
Illinois members recommended Mrs. Trout as an honorary member of the
General Federation and she was unanimously elected.
By an interesting coincidence the day the suffrage resolution was
passed by the Biennial the State Supreme Court pronounced the Suffrage
Law constitutional. A banquet had already been planned by the State
association for that evening to be held in the Gold Room of the
Congress Hotel in honor of the General Federation, and it proved to be
a memorable occasion. Over a thousand women were present and nearly as
many more could not find room. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Miss Mary
Garrett Hay and other well known suffragists, as well as the officers
of the Federation, made speeches.
All these events changed public sentiment in regard to the woman
suffrage question. As Congress was in session this summer its members
were unable to fill their Chautauqua lecture dates, and Mrs. Trout was
asked to make suffrage speeches at fifty Chautauquas in nine States,
filling dates for a Democrat, the Hon. Champ Clark, and for a
Republican, United States Senator Robert LaFollette, and for William
Jennings Bryan.
The State convention was held in Chicago in 1914 and Mrs. Trout was
again re-elected president. During this year the Chicago Equal
Suffrage Association did excellent educational work by establishing
classes in citizenship in the Woman's City Club and by publishing
catechisms for women voters in seven different languages.
At the annual convention held in Peoria in 1915 Mrs. Trout positively
refused to stand again for president and Mrs. Adella Maxwell Brown of
Peoria was elected. Four State conferences were held during the year
and Mrs. Brown represented the association at the National Suffrage
Association at Washington in December; the Mississippi Valley
Conference at Minneapolis the next May; the National Council of Women
Voters at Cheyenne in July and the National Suffrage Association at
Atlantic City in September. In June, 1916, the State association,
assisted by those of Chicago, took charge of what became known as the
"famous rainy day suffrage parade," held in that city while the
National Republican convention was in session. Mrs. Brown was
chairman of the committee, Mrs. Morrisson vice-chairman and Mrs.
Kellogg Fairbanks grand marshal of the parade.
There was much speculation among the political parties as to how the
women would vote at their first presidential election in November,
1916. As their ballots were put into separate boxes they could be
distinguished and they were as follows: Republican, 459,215;
Democratic, 383,292; Socialist, 17,175; Prohibition, 16,212; Socialist
Labor, 806.
Much important legislative work was to be done in the next session of
the Legislature and at the State convention held in Springfield in
October, 1916, Mrs. Trout was persuaded to accept again the
presidency. Delegates were present from every section and the policy
for the ensuing year was thoroughly discussed by Mrs. McCulloch,
Senator Magill, Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State; Mrs. George
Bass, and others. The consensus of opinion was that owing to the great
difficulty of amending the State constitution the only practical way
to secure full suffrage for women was through a new constitution. This
convention, therefore, voted in an overwhelming majority to work in
the Legislature of 1917 for the calling of a constitutional
convention. The Citizens' Association, composed of leading men of
Chicago and the State, had been trying over thirty years to obtain a
new State constitution and as soon as they learned of this action they
sent Shelby M. Singleton, its secretary, to request of Mrs. Trout and
Mrs. McGraw that the work be directed by the leaders of the State
Equal Suffrage Association, to which they agreed. They went to
Springfield at the beginning of the session in 1917 and a struggle
followed that lasted over ten weeks.
[Mrs. McGraw prepared a very full account of the work in the
Legislature to have it submit to the voters the question of calling a
convention to prepare a new constitution. Representatives of all the
leading organizations of women assisted at Springfield from time to
time. The resolution had the powerful support of Governor Frank C.
Lowden, Congressman Medill McCormick, Roger C. Sullivan and other
prominent men, but the Citizens' Association in an official bulletin
gave the larger part of the credit to "the tireless and tactful work
of the women's lobby." After Senate and House by more than a
two-thirds majority had voted to submit the question to the voters
the State association organized an Emergency League to establish
centers in each of the 101 counties and an immense educational
campaign was carried on. Over a thousand meetings were held in the
summer and fall preceding the election Nov. 5, 1918, when the proposal
for a convention received a majority of 74,239. The next year
delegates to the convention were elected and it met in Springfield
Jan. 6, 1920. One of its first acts was to adopt an article giving the
complete suffrage to women. Before the constitution was ready to
submit to the voters the women were fully enfranchised by the Federal
Amendment.]
After the victory was gained in the Legislature and just as all plans
were laid for the campaign in the spring of 1917 the United States
entered the war against Germany. Mrs. Trout was appointed a member of
the executive committee of the Woman's Council of National Defense and
all the members of the board immediately engaged in Liberty Loan, Red
Cross and other war work. During this period of strenuous activity
another attack was made on the constitutionality of the suffrage law
by the liquor interests and the case was again brought before the
Supreme Court. The State Board engaged James G. Skinner, an able
lawyer, formerly Assistant Corporation Counsel, and in December the
law was again pronounced constitutional.
The State convention was held in the autumn of 1917 in Danville and
Mrs. Trout was re-elected. The association now had affiliated
societies in every senatorial and congressional district with a
membership of over 200,000 women. Mrs. Trout was soon called to
Washington by Mrs. Catt to work for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and
spent many months there while Mrs. McGraw directed the organization
work of the State association. She secured the co-operation of Mrs. R.
M. Reed, legislative chairman of the Illinois Federation of Women's
Clubs; they appointed two workers in each congressional district and
nearly every woman's society in the State had constitutional
convention programs. In the spring of 1918 Governor Lowden appointed
Judge Orrin N. Carter, of the Supreme Court, chairman of a state-wide
committee that worked in co-operation with the state-wide committee of
women. The annual suffrage convention was held in the latter part of
October, 1918, in Chicago, and Mrs. Trout was re-elected.
RATIFICATION. When Congress submitted the Federal Suffrage Amendment
June 4, 1919, Mrs. Trout and Mrs. McGraw immediately went to
Springfield where the Legislature was in session. They had already
made preliminary arrangements and without urging it ratified the
amendment on June 10. The vote in the Senate was unanimous, in the
House it was 135 ayes, 85 Republicans, 50 Democrats; three nays, all
Democrats, Lee O'Neil Browne, John Griffin and Peter F. Smith. A minor
mistake was made in the first certified copy of the resolution sent
from the Secretary of State's office at Washington to the Governor of
Illinois. To prevent the possibility of any legal quibbling Governor
Lowden telegraphed that office to send at once a corrected, certified
copy. This was done and the ratification was reaffirmed by the
Legislature on June 17, the vote in the Senate again being unanimous
and one Democrat, Charles F. Franz, added to the former three negative
votes in the House.
Owing to a misunderstanding of the facts for a short time there was
some controversy as to whether Illinois was entitled to first place,
as the Wisconsin Legislature ratified an hour later. Attorney General
Brundage prepared a brief showing that the mistake in the first
certified copy did not affect the legality of the ratification on June
10, as the mistake was made in copying the introductory resolution and
not in the amendment itself. This opinion was accepted in the
Secretary of State's office at Washington. So Illinois, the first
State east of the Mississippi River to grant suffrage to its women,
was the first to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment. In celebration
a jubilee banquet was held on June 24 at the Hotel LaSalle, Mrs. Trout
presiding, with Governor and Mrs. Lowden the guests of honor. Among
the speakers were the Governor, prominent members of the State
Legislature and the leading women suffragists.
In October the State convention was held in Chicago, with delegates
present from every section, and Mrs. Trout was re-elected president.
It was voted to continue to work for the speedy ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment in other States and if this was not
obtained in 1920 to work for the full suffrage article in the new
constitution when it was submitted to the voters. At the convention of
the National American Association in St. Louis the preceding March the
Illinois association had extended an invitation to hold the next one
in Chicago, which was accepted. The State board called together
representatives from the principal organizations of women, which were
appointed to take charge of different days of the convention and
various phases of the work. Mrs. Trout and Mrs. McGraw were made
chairman and vice-chairman of the committee; Mrs. Samuel Slade,
recording secretary, was appointed chairman of the Finance Committee,
which raised the funds to defray all the expenses of this large
convention in February, 1920. [Full account in Chapter XIX, Volume V.]
A meeting of the State Board was called and a committee formed to get
as many women as possible to vote in November at the election for
President. Mrs. Trout was elected State chairman, Mrs. McGraw
vice-chairman, and Mrs. Albert Schweitzer, a member of the board, was
appointed Chicago chairman. The Woman's City Club, of which Mrs.
Joseph T. Bowen was president, took an active part in the campaign and
was the headquarters for the Chicago committee. In August in the midst
of the campaign came the joyful news that the 36th State had ratified
the Federal Amendment. A call was issued for the State convention to
be held in Chicago October 7-9, when the Illinois Equal Suffrage
Association, its work finished, disbanded, and its members formed a
State League of Women Voters, with Mrs. H. W. Cheney of Chicago as
chairman.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. J. W. McGraw,
eight years on the Board of Directors and six years Legislative
Chairman of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association. She is under
obligations for many of the facts relative to the campaign of 1913 to
Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, State president for seven years.
[43] The State association always did everything possible to cooperate
with the National Suffrage Association. On March 1, headed by Mrs.
Trout, 83 women left Chicago by special train for Washington. In the
big suffrage parade there on the 3rd they wore a uniform regalia of
cap and baldric and were headed by a large band led by Mrs. George S.
Wells, a member of the State Board, as drum major. There was a woman
out-rider, Mrs. W. H. Stewart, on a spirited horse. Mrs. Trout led,
carrying an American flag, and the Illinois banner was carried by
Royal N. Allen, a prominent member of the Progressive party and the
railroad official who had charge of the special train.
[44] "Captains" had been appointed among the members and each
furnished with a list and it was his duty to see that the men on it
were in their seats whenever the bill was up for discussion. The
following Representatives served as "captains" and rendered important
service: William F. Burres, Norman G. Flagg, Edward D. Shurtleff,
Homer J. Tice and George H. Wilson, Republicans; John P. Devine, Frank
Gillespie, William A. Hubbard, W. C. Kane, Charles L. Scott and
Francis E. Williamson, Democrats; Roy D. Hunt, J. H. Jayne, Medill
McCormick and Emil N. Zolla, Progressives; Seymour Stedman, Socialist.
CHAPTER XIII.
INDIANA. PART I.[45]
Although Indiana was one of the first States in the Union to form a
suffrage association in 1851 there were long periods when it was
inactive but there were others when it flourished. In 1851 a
constitution was adopted whose provisions for women were probably more
liberal than existed in any other State and they did not feel a
pressure of unjust laws; co-education prevailed from an early date and
all occupations were open to them. Thus they were not impelled by
personal grievances to keep up a continued fight for the suffrage.
After 1900 there was a period of depression which the National
American Suffrage Association tried unsuccessfully to relieve. Finally
in May, 1906, it called a convention to meet in Kokomo, where one of
the old societies had continued to maintain an organization, and
delegates were present from societies in Indianapolis, Logansport,
Tipton and Montpelier. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer of the
National Association, presided and a good deal of interest was shown.
The following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Sarah Davis;
first vice-president, Mrs. Laura Schofield; secretary, Mrs. E. M.
Wood, all of Kokomo; second vice-president, Mrs. Anna Dunn Noland,
Logansport; treasurer, Mrs. Marion Harvey Barnard, Indianapolis;
auditors, Mrs. Jane Pond, Montpelier, Judge Samuel Artman, Lebanon.
The association affiliated with the National body and always remained
an auxiliary. Mrs. Davis left the State during this year and there
seems to be no record of anything done by this board.
In April, 1908, Mrs. Upton wrote to Mrs. Noland begging her to call a
convention. Acting as president, secretary and treasurer and supplying
the funds from her own purse, Mrs. Noland sent hundreds of letters
over the State asking for names of people interested in suffrage and
from the names she formed committees to interest others. Her only
assistant was her husband, Dr. J. F. Noland, who helped in leisure
hours. In October the work of organization began by Mrs. Noland and
Miss Pearl Penfield. A convention was called to meet in Logansport,
March 16-17, 1909. Fifteen clubs had paid small dues but only seven
sent delegates. It was welcomed by Mayor George P. McKee. Much
interest and a great deal of publicity resulted. The _Reporter_, a
Logansport daily paper, published a suffrage edition March 17, one
page edited by a committee from the association. Mrs. Ella S. Stewart
of Chicago, Miss Harriet Noble of Indianapolis and Mrs. B. F. Perkins
of Fort Wayne were the speakers. The following officers were elected:
President, Mrs. Noland; first vice-president, Dr. Susan E. Collier,
Indianapolis; second, Mrs. Mary Mitchner, Kokomo; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. Bessie Hughes, Logansport; recording secretary, Mrs.
Wood; treasurer, Mrs. Barnard; auditors re-elected; member National
Executive Committee, Mrs. Perkins. During the year Sullivan, Terre
Haute, Amboy, Lafayette, Red Key and Ridgeville became auxiliaries.
Mrs. Antoinette D. Leach of Sullivan was made State organizer; Mrs.
Flora T. Neff of Logansport chairman of literature.
In 1911 a resolution to amend the State constitution by striking out
the word "male" was presented to the Legislature, drafted by Mrs.
Leach. It passed the House committee unanimously, went to third
reading and was shelved because of a proposed plan for a new
constitution brought out by Governor Thomas R. Marshall. The Municipal
League composed of the mayors and councilmen of all the cities in the
State invited the Equal Suffrage Association to provide speakers for
the annual meeting at Crawfordsville June 20 and Mrs. Noland, Miss
Noble and Mrs. Leach responded. They were courteously received and
heard with much applause. The convention was not interested in woman
suffrage but the press gave much publicity. A State suffrage
convention was held at this time. In August a monthly journal called
the _Woman Citizen_ was established in Indianapolis by the association
with Mrs. Leach as editor, its columns open to all suffrage
organizations, and published for two years. New Albany,
Jeffersonville, Markleville and Valparaiso clubs were added to the
State association. The New Albany society was large and active and
gave suffrage much prominence in southern Indiana. Mrs. Noland
reported 5,000 letters sent out in 1911.
On June 28, 29, 1912, Logansport again entertained the State
convention. Mrs. Noland acted as publicity chairman. The Call was sent
broadcast; press notices in every daily and weekly paper; large
posters put up at the cross roads in every county; banners stretched
across Broadway announcing the date. On the Saturday before the
meeting circulars announcing it and a parade were dropped over the
city from an air ship. Every business house was beautifully dressed in
suffrage colors. Mayor D. D. Fickle gave an address of welcome. The
principal speaker was Dr. B. O. Aylesworth of Colorado. The parade was
viewed by more than 50,000 people and Pathé made films of it. The
convention was widely noticed by the press. Eleven new societies were
added to the State association. Mrs. Noland was re-elected. Other
officers were: Mrs. O. P. Smith, Logansport; Mrs. Anna Cassangese, New
Albany; Mrs. Margaret Williamson, Red Key; Dr. Emma G. Holloway, North
Manchester, vice-presidents; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Katharine
Hoffman, Logansport; member National Executive Committee, Mrs. Leach;
standing committees, Legislation, Mrs. Leach; Church, Mrs. Alice Judah
Clark, Vincennes; Endorsement, Mrs. Harriet Houser; Press, Mrs. Neff,
both of Logansport.
A publicity campaign was begun. Billboards were covered with posters
and barns, fences and stones along the country roadways were decorated
with "Votes for Women." Free literature was distributed and handbills
were given out at every opportunity. Sunday afternoon meetings were
held in picture show halls in many towns. Booths were secured at
county and street fairs. Tents were placed on Chautauqua grounds with
speakers and all kinds of suffrage supplies. This program was kept up
until the World War called the women to other duties. The Gary Civic
Service League affiliated with the association and Mrs. Kate Wood Ray,
its president, was made press chairman.
On Oct. 12-14, 1914, the annual convention was held in Logansport,
welcomed by Mayor Guthrie. Among the speakers were Judge S. T.
McConnell of Logansport and O. P. Smith, a State and national labor
leader. Both had attended the meeting at Kokomo in 1906, since which
time Judge McConnell had been a legal adviser of the association. Mr.
Smith was a member of the legislative advisory committee. Miss Laura
Clay of Kentucky, Dr. Frank Stockton of Bloomington and Miss Florence
Wattles of Kokomo were the principal speakers. Miss Clay was made an
honorary member. Mrs. Mary P. Flannegan, secretary-treasurer, was the
only new officer; new committee chairmen, Mrs. McConnell, Mrs. L. E.
Sellars, Mrs. E. B. De Vault, Miss Wattles. The secretary's report
showed 28 affiliated societies. It was voted to cooperate with the
Legislative Council of Women and work for Presidential suffrage. Mrs.
Noland, as chairman of the committee, was in Indianapolis from the
time the bill was introduced until the Assembly adjourned.
In February, 1915, Mrs. Noland went before the national convention of
miners in Indianapolis and secured a unanimous resolution favoring
State and national woman suffrage from the 1,600 delegates. In the
summer the State association sent Miss Wattles for two months'
speaking in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania suffrage campaigns. In
July the Municipal League held its annual meeting in Logansport and
the association, again called upon for speakers, sent Mrs. Noland,
Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Sellars. The enthusiasm with which they were
received and the discussion by the delegates which followed showed a
marked change since the meeting at Crawfordsville in 1911. At the
State convention in the fall a committee was appointed for
interviewing candidates before the spring primaries, especially those
for Governor and members of the Legislature and Congress. Mrs. Ray,
Mrs. Leach and Mrs. Noland composed the committee.
In the fall of 1916 the question of a new State constitution was
referred to the voters and the association placed women at all polling
places in the cities and large towns. In the small towns and country
the voters received literature and letters asking them to vote in
favor. It was lost but the work gave the women a new zeal and with the
enlightenment of the voters the effort seemed more than worth while.
At the State meeting in October it was decided again to join hands
with the Legislative Council to work for a partial suffrage bill and
to cooperate with the Woman's Franchise League in legislative work if
a mutual decision could be brought about. The association all over the
State was very zealous in behalf of the bill and Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Noland
and Mrs. Stimson worked continuously in the State House until the
Governor signed it on February 28.
To the Legislative Council of Women belongs much of the glory for the
final suffrage victories in Indiana. Formed in 1914 to work with the
Legislature it was composed of the following State organizations
representing 80,000 organized women: Federation of Women's Clubs,
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mothers' Congress, Woman's
Franchise League, Woman's Press Club, Association of Collegiate
Alumnae, Consumers' League, Woman's Relief Corps, Equal Suffrage
Association. These organizations represented an influence that could
not be ignored. The officers were as follows: President, Mrs. Felix T.
McWhirter (later Mrs. Edward F. White), Indianapolis; vice-presidents:
Miss Vida Newsom, Columbus; Mrs. Flora Millspaugh, Chesterfield; Mrs.
A. D. Moffett, Elwood; secretary-treasurer, Miss Dora Bosart,
Indianapolis. The Executive Committee was composed of the president
and one delegate from each organization and Mrs. S. C. Stimson of
Terre Haute was chairman. The Council was financed by these
organizations, assisted by churches, business men's clubs, ministers',
teachers' and farmers' associations and individual contributions.
The Act was ruled unconstitutional in October but the women had a
taste of citizenship, for all over the State they had registered and
in some places they had voted on prohibition and public improvements.
The Legislative Council sent out 75,000 registration cards. Municipal
authorities had appointed women to places of trust. The Suffrage Board
formulated a plan for the study of citizenship, of the United States
and State constitutions, methods of voting, etc., which has since been
on the program of study for the local societies.
In July, 1917, Mrs. Noland and Mrs. Ray were again asked to speak at
the annual meeting of the Municipal League and the following was
adopted with enthusiasm: "Resolved; That the Municipal League of
Indiana does hereby recommend full and equal suffrage for women in
both State and nation."
By a vote of the local societies it was decided not to call a
convention during the war, as every woman was engaged in war work, but
monthly board meetings were held in different towns in 1917 and 1918,
keeping the busy women in touch with suffrage work. During the
Legislature of 1919 other organizations seemed desirous of pushing the
suffrage work and the association voted to give them a free hand. It
assisted the effort for the ratification of the Federal Amendment by
sending letters and having resolutions passed by organizations. It has
at this time (1920) 29 affiliated societies, 500 dues-paying members
and over 6,000 non-dues-paying members.
INDIANA. PART II.[46]
During the early years of the present century there was no definite
campaign for suffrage in Indiana but the partial success of repeated
efforts to influence the General Assembly to pass various suffrage
bills showed a large body of interested if unorganized favorable
opinion. The State had never been entirely organized but there were
several centers where flourishing associations kept up interest. In
1901 the State Woman Suffrage Association under the presidency of Mrs.
Bertha G. Wade of Indianapolis engaged chiefly in legislative work but
it gradually ceased effort. There were attempts toward its
re-organization in the following years, assisted by the National
Association, but interest proved to be not sufficiently keen or
widespread.
The Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, organized in 1878 under the
direction of Mrs. May Wright Sewall, had never suspended activities.
Dr. Amelia R. Keller was its president in 1909 and in order to
stimulate interest and give an outlet for the energy of its members,
assisted by Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke, Mrs. Felix T. McWhirter, Mrs.
John F. Barnhill, Mrs. W. T. Barnes, Mrs. Winfield Scott Johnson and
Dr. Rebecca Rogers George, she formed the Women's School League on
October 1, "to elect a woman to the school board and improve the
schools of Indianapolis." Dr. Keller was made president and the other
officers were, vice-presidents, Dr. George and Mrs. McWhirter;
secretary, Mrs. Julia C. Henderson; treasurer, Miss Harriet Noble;
directors, Mrs. Clarke, Mrs. Barnhill, Mrs. Arthur B. Grover, Mrs.
Johnson, Mrs. Linton A. Cox, Mrs. Laura Kregelo, Mrs. Edgar A.
Perkins, Dr. Mary A. Spink, Miss Belle O'Hair and Miss Tarquinia Voss.
Many of these names become familiar in the later records of suffrage
work.
The first part of the league's program succeeded and a woman was
elected to the school board of Indianapolis. At the same time the
women of Terre Haute, where under a new law the school board was
elective, made a like attempt through the Woman's Club and the local
suffrage society and were also successful. These were the only places
where school boards were elective. Many women showed themselves eager
to work for a woman on the school board who were indifferent to the
larger aspects of suffrage. It was soon clear, however, that the
schools could not stand alone in municipal affairs but where boards
were not elected it would be necessary to vote for Mayor and
councilmen to influence school conditions, therefore on April 21,
1911, the organization dropped the word "school" from its title and
became the Woman's Franchise League of Indiana. Dr. Keller continued
as president and associated with her as officers were Mrs. Meredith
Nicholson and Mrs. McWhirter, vice presidents; Mrs. Henderson,
secretary; Mrs. Barnhill, treasurer.
A State convention of the league was held in Indianapolis April 12,
1912, and one took place annually after that date, always in the
capital. At this convention Dr. Martha Griffiths of Crawfordsville and
Dr. Adah McMahon of Lafayette were added to the directors. This year
the league affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage
Association.[47] By May, 1916, there were sixty branch leagues and
3,000 members; in May, 1919, there were 300 branches and 16,000
members. Dr. Keller continued as president until the convention of
1917, when Mrs. Richard E. Edwards of Peru was elected and served two
years. At the convention of 1919 Miss Helen Benbridge of Terre Haute
was chosen. The Franchise League was exceedingly fortunate in its
three presidents, who gave the most of their time, thought and effort
to its demands without salary. Dr. Keller organized it largely through
the force of her own personality and was able to gather around her
other strong and determined women through whom the idea of suffrage
was carried out into the State. Mrs. Edwards took up the work of more
intensive organization of the State outside of Indianapolis and
succeeded, with Miss Benbridge as State organizer, in multiplying the
branch leagues and the members by five. Miss Benbridge's work as
president was that of consolidating these gains and directing the
women in the use of the vote which they thought they had won. The list
is too long to be given of those who deserve special mention for years
of devoted service.
From the spring of 1917 to the autumn of 1918 the members of force and
character were drawn upon for war service and the league suffered the
temporary loss of some of its best workers, who were filling executive
positions in the many war agencies. Of the directorate Miss Adah Bush
worked first in Washington with the Woman's Council of National
Defense and later went to France with the Young Women's Christian
Association; Mrs. Fred McCulloch was State chairman of Liberty Loans;
Dr. McMahon went to France on the staff of the Women's Oversea
Hospitals; Mrs. Henderson was chairman of the "four minute speakers"
who at their own expense went over the State speaking for Liberty
Loans, Red Cross, etc.
Under the able direction of Miss Benbridge the league continued to
increase until there were but four counties in which it had no
representation. The changed status of members from suffrage workers
to voters necessitated a different sort of activity. Organizers were
still employed to some extent and suffrage propaganda used in the more
remote counties but the stress was laid upon teaching women to use the
vote intelligently and appreciate the power it gives. A Citizenship
School of the nature of a Normal School was held in Indianapolis in
October and women from all over the State attended a five days'
session and heard talks on the nature and various functions of the
government and the duties of citizens, by men and women who were
experts in their various lines. They took back to their own towns the
inspiration received and these schools were carried on quite
generally. The State Superintendent of Education sent out a bulletin
asking the teachers to give their aid and recommending that the public
schools be used for this work. A monograph entitled An Aid to the
Citizen in Indiana was prepared by Miss Martha Block of Terre Haute
and published by the league. This movement to train the new voters
commanded the respect of educators and several professors in
educational institutions offered their services as teachers in the
schools of citizenship.
The convention of April, 1920, was the end of the Franchise League.
With the near ratification of the Federal Amendment work for suffrage
seemed to be finished in Indiana. As a Presidential suffrage bill had
been passed by the General Assembly the women of the State were
already partial voters, so the league disbanded and in its place was
formed the State League of Women Voters, with Mrs. A. H. Beardsley of
Elkhart as president. The branches became auxiliaries and the
leaders realized that the task of getting the vote was nearly
accomplished--that of using it had just begun.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. Through the efforts of the Equal Suffrage
Association a resolution for an amendment to the State constitution to
strike out the word "male" in the suffrage section was introduced. In
the Senate it was buried in committee. In the House it received a vote
of 49 ayes, 33 noes--a two-thirds majority being necessary. Later it
was reconsidered and passed by a vote of 52 to 32. This vote was also
reconsidered and the amendment laid on the table.
1907. Municipal suffrage bill was defeated by the Senate.
1911. A similar measure was reported favorably out of committees but
lost in the Lower House by 41 ayes, 48 noes, and no action was taken
by the Senate.
1913. A resolution to submit a woman suffrage amendment was held up in
committees. The Senate passed a School suffrage bill by 27 ayes, 10
noes, but there was no action in the House.
1915. A Presidential suffrage bill passed in the Senate by 37 ayes, 3
noes, was held up in the House.
1917. This year will long be remembered by suffrage workers as one of
triumphs and defeats. The legislative session was a continued triumph
and showed that public opinion was in favor of granting political
rights to women. A great help was the agitation for a new
constitution. The present constitution was adopted in 1851. An early
court decision that an amendment in order to carry must have a
majority of all the votes cast at the election made amending it a
practical impossibility and for a long time there had been a
widespread demand for a new one for the sake of many needed reforms.
The suffragists joined the agitation for it, as this seemed the only
way to get the vote by State action.
The General Assembly of 1917 was carefully selected to pass the
Prohibition Amendment and was known to be favorable to the calling of
a constitutional convention. While the suffragists placed their hope
in a new constitution yet in order to leave no means untried the
Legislative Council of Women was formed at the suggestion of Mrs.
Grace Julian Clarke, composed of representatives of eight or ten State
organizations, of which the Women's Franchise League was one. Mrs.
Felix T. McWhirter was made president and it was decided to present a
Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill similar to the one passed by
the Illinois Legislature in 1913 and sustained by the courts.
The Council had quarters in the State House granted by the Governor;
the Women's Franchise League immediately established a bureau there by
his consent with Mrs. John F. Barnhill and Miss Alma Sickler in charge
and all the women labored diligently for the success of the measure.
The work over the State was necessarily done largely by the Franchise
League, as it had the local societies necessary. The Council secured
the aid of Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a lawyer of Chicago, who
had been closely identified with the Illinois law. For the first time
in the history of Indiana's struggle for equal suffrage there was
active opposition by women. Nineteen, all of Indianapolis, appealed to
the Senate Committee on Rights and Privileges, which had the bill in
charge, for a hearing in order to protest.[48] This was granted but it
resulted in an enthusiastic suffrage meeting. The "nineteen," who
asserted that they spoke for 90 per cent. of unorganized women in
Indiana, were represented by Mrs. Lucius B. Swift, Miss Minnie
Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association, and
Charles McLean of Iowa, who was in its employ. Mrs. McCulloch,
Meredith Nicholson, Mrs. Edward Franklin White, now president of the
Council, former Mayor Charles A. Bookwalter and a number of others
spoke for the bill.
The calendar of suffrage events in the Legislature of 1917 was as
follows: On January 23 the bill for a constitutional convention passed
the House by 87 ayes, 10 noes; on the 31st it passed the Senate by 34
ayes, 14 noes, and on February 1 was signed by Governor James P.
Goodrich. On February 8 the Presidential-Municipal suffrage bill
passed the Senate by 32 ayes, 16 noes. It also provided that women
could vote for delegates to the constitutional convention, were
eligible to election as delegates and could vote on the adoption of
the proposed new constitution. On the 22nd it passed the House by 67
ayes, 24 noes, and was signed by the Governor. The Legislature also
voted to submit a full suffrage amendment to the electors.
Although it was early apparent that these laws would be carried into
the courts preparations were at once made by the women for
registering. The Franchise League opened booths in the shopping
districts in the cities and urged the women in the country to go to
the court house and register when in town. They sent out women
notaries with blanks to register the women.[49] In Vigo county, of
which Terre Haute is the county seat, 12,000 registered, more than the
average number of men who usually voted at elections. In all parts of
the State the registration of women was very large and the women were
studying political questions and showing much interest in their new
duties.
Meanwhile the action of the Legislature was taken into the courts. On
June 25 Judge W. W. Thornton of the Marion County (Indianapolis)
Superior Court gave a decision that the Legislature had no authority
to call for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention
and no right to grant to women the privilege of voting for such
delegates or any constitution which might be submitted to the voters.
The case was at once appealed to the State Supreme Court, which on
July 13 sustained the decision. Chief Justice Erwin wrote the opinion
and Justices Spencer, Harvey and Myers concurred. Justice M. B. Lairy
filed a dissenting opinion. There was a wide difference of opinion
among the lawyers of the State.
This decision did not affect the limited suffrage law, which gave
women the right to vote for (1) Presidential electors; (2) all State
officers not expressly named in the constitution, including Attorney
General and Judges of the Appellate, Superior, Criminal, Probate and
Juvenile Courts; (3) all city, township and county officers not named
in the constitution. The law was referred to as nine-tenths suffrage.
Action was brought in the Superior Court of Marion county for a
decision on this law. The Court gave an adverse decision but it
embraced definitely only the Municipal suffrage. On October 26 the
Supreme Court upheld this decision concerning Municipal suffrage and
implied that the entire Act was invalid. The counsel for the
suffragists, including some of the foremost lawyers in the State,
with Eli Stansbury, Attorney General, and Mrs. McCulloch, presented
masterly arguments. The decision of the Supreme Court was condemned by
many besides the suffragists. The hearing was not held before a full
bench and the decision was not unanimous, Judge Lawson J. Harvey
handing down a dissenting opinion, so that two men virtually decided
this momentous question.
By Jan. 1, 1919 the Federal Suffrage Amendment had passed the Lower
House of Congress and was pending in the Senate and the first act of
this year's Legislature, convened in joint session before either House
had organized, was to adopt a resolution with but one opposing vote
calling on the U. S. Senate to submit the amendment, which was signed
by the Governor and forwarded to Washington.
There still remained from the legislation of 1917 the amendment to the
State constitution, which in order to be submitted to the voters had
to be passed also by the Assembly of 1919. The result of the election
of 1918 in the State had been an overwhelmingly Republican victory.
Since the party had the Governor and a majority of both branches of
the Assembly, it wished to put through a program of legislation that
called for amending the constitution and the leaders requested the
women to withdraw the suffrage amendment, as while one was pending
another could not be introduced. Feeling that withdrawal with a
friendly majority was better than defeat and enmity, the board of the
Franchise League consented. One of the rewards for this sacrifice,
which meant a delay of two years in presenting a State amendment to
the voters, was the Presidential suffrage bill, which passed on
February 6 with six dissenting votes out of a membership of 150. Three
of these were in the Senate, Erskine of Evansville, Haggerty of South
Bend and Kline of Huntington; three in the House, Sambor, Bidaman and
O'Neal, the last two from Terre Haute, Sambor from Indiana Harbor. The
vote to submit an amendment was unanimous in both Houses.
RATIFICATION. When the U. S. Senate finally voted on June 4 to submit
the Federal Suffrage Amendment the Legislature of 1919 had adjourned.
The question of ratification was of course uppermost in the minds of
the leaders of the Franchise League and there would be no regular
session until 1921. Governor Goodrich came to the rescue by promising
to call a special session, probably in August or September of the
present year, and sent out an invitation to other Governors of States
similarly situated to join him in securing enough special sessions to
ratify the amendment at an early date. The Governor of Indiana has
power to call a special session but can not restrict its action. Owing
to internal affairs of the State which developed the Governor
postponed indefinitely calling the session, assuring the suffragists,
however, that it should be held in time for them to vote at the
general election of 1920. Finally after repeated importunities he
announced on December 30 that he would call the special session for
Jan. 15, 1920, if a two-thirds majority of the Legislature would agree
to consider only ratification.
Although both political parties had declared in favor of ratifying the
amendment yet the women were expected to secure these pledges and it
was no small task but it seemed to be the only way. The suffragists
looked to the Franchise League for action and it assumed the burden.
Miss Helen Benbridge, its efficient president, soon made the
politicians see the wisdom of a special session. Under her skillful
management letters from the Governor were sent immediately to all the
legislators enclosing this agreement: "I hereby pledge myself to
attend a special session of the General Assembly limited to the
ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and to vote for
adjournment immediately afterwards."
The Franchise League opened headquarters in Indianapolis and every
pressure, political and other kinds, was brought to bear on the
members and answers began to come in as early as January 4. It
certainly was a surprise to the politicians when on the afternoon of
January 13 Miss Benbridge was able to take to Governor Goodrich signed
pledges from 35 Senators and 67 Representatives, a two-thirds majority
in each House. The Governor at once issued a call for a special
session on January 16, allowing two days for members to reach
Indianapolis. That so many legislators were willing to lay aside party
prejudice and meet for a non-partisan purpose speaks volumes for the
personnel of the General Assembly of 1919. Recognition is due
especially to the Democratic members, as the Republicans were obeying
the call of their chief but the Democrats, on the summons of a
Republican Governor, laid aside their convictions and acted solely in
the interest of the women of their State.
The Assembly convened at 10 a. m. on Jan. 16, 1920, and more than a
hundred suffrage workers from all parts of the State were present to
see the fruition of their hopes. Miss Benbridge, president, and Mrs.
Edwards, past president of the league, sat on the rostrum in the
Senate Chamber beside Lieutenant Governor Edgar D. Bush, and in the
House beside Speaker Jesse Eschbach, while the vote was being taken.
The Senators enjoyed what was termed "the last wail" of the three
anti-suffragists who voted no--Kline, Haggerty and Franklin McCray of
Indianapolis. Forty-three votes were cast in favor. The resolution was
then taken to the House, which had organized and was waiting, and,
after suspension of the rules so that the three necessary readings
might be had in one day, it was passed by the unanimous vote of the 93
members present. It was signed at once by the presiding officers and
at half past four of the same afternoon by Governor Goodrich, who
wished in this way to show his agreement, though his signature was not
legally necessary. Mrs. Goodrich, Miss Benbridge, many officers of the
Franchise League and other interested suffragists witnessed the
signing. With this act the long struggle for political rights for
women which began in Indiana in the middle of the nineteenth century
was finished.
A large and enthusiastic meeting of the board of the Franchise League
was then held and there was general congratulation. Miss Benbridge,
who presided, said: "The work that assured the special session and the
result achieved was done, not by the little group of women in the
Indianapolis headquarters, although their work was well done, but by
the women over the State. Much credit for the success belongs to the
Franchise League members everywhere, who have won the sentiment of
their localities for woman suffrage."
FOOTNOTES:
[45] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs. Anna
Dunn Noland, president of the Stale Equal Suffrage Association.
[46] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs.
Lenore Hanna Cox, an officer of the Woman's Franchise League from its
beginning in 1911 until its work was finished in 1920.
[47] From 1912-1919 the following women served as vice presidents,
some for several terms: Mrs. Meredith Nicholson, Mrs. Felix T.
McWhirter, Mrs. Ovid B. Jameson, Mrs. John F. Barnhill, Mrs. Julia
Fried Walker, Mrs. Isaac Born, all of Indianapolis; Mrs. Lenore Hanna
Cox, Mrs. C. M. Curry, Miss Helen Benbridge, Mrs. Leon Stern, of Terre
Haute; Mrs. Fred McCulloch, Mrs. Olaf Guldlin, of Fort Wayne; Mrs.
Horace Stilwell, Anderson; Mrs. R. M. Johnson, Franklin; Mrs. A. D.
Moffett, Elwood; Miss Adah E. Bush, Kentland; Mrs. A. H. Beardsley,
Elkhart; Mrs. Charles J. Gill, Muncie; Mrs. Chester Evans,
Bloomington; Miss Betsy Jewett Edwards, Shelbyville.
Mrs. Julia C. Henderson, secretary from 1912 to 1917, was succeeded by
Miss Dora Bosart, both of Indianapolis; Mrs. John C. Morrison of
Lafayette, and Mrs. Richard E. Edwards, of Peru.
Miss Harriet Noble, the first treasurer, was succeeded by Misses
Eldena and Sara Lauter, both of Indianapolis; Miss Adah E. Bush; Mrs.
Mindwell Crampton Wilson, Delphi; Mrs. Charles J. Gill.
[48] Mesdames Lucius B. Swift, William Watson Woollen, George C. Hitt,
L. H. Levey, S. A. Fletcher, Harry Murphy, Edward Daniels, Samuel
Reid, H. H. Harrison, William H. H. Miller, S. B. Sutphin, F. G.
Darlington, Philamon A. Watson, Henry Scott Fraser, E. C. Atkins, A.
Bennett Gates, Evans Woollen; Misses Caroline Harrison Howland and
Josephine Hershall.
[49] Issued by the Campaign Organization Committee of the Woman's
Franchise League and circulated by the thousands.
This is a Statewide campaign drive, so do your part by fully carrying
out the following program: 1. On Saturday June 30, an auto tour must
be made in each county. Start these tours in every town where there is
an organized league and proceed through the county, distributing
flyers, posting bills and making ten minute speeches in every town and
village. 2. Sunday, July 1, is Woman Citizen's Sunday throughout the
State. Ask that forceful appeal be made from all pulpits urging every
woman to recognize and discharge her new citizenship duty. The clergy
of all denominations feel the importance of this step--you will find
them ready and willing to cooperate. 3. Push registration of women
during the week of July 4 as a patriotic measure. Secure favorable
mention of woman suffrage in all speeches. 4. Close the week's
campaign by a mass meeting of all local women's organizations,
including clubs, lodges and church societies. 5. Secure all the
newspaper space possible for this patriotic week. Publish this entire
program and report its progress daily to your local papers....
CHAPTER XIV.
IOWA.[50]
The Iowa Equal Suffrage Association was still conducting in 1901 the
campaign of education begun when it was organized in 1870, as fully
described in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. It seemed at
times a deadly dull process and there rose bolder spirits occasionally
who suggested more vigorous and spectacular means of bringing the
cause to the attention of the general public and of focusing the
suffrage sentiment, which evidently existed, on the members of the
Legislatures and putting them into a more genial attitude toward
submitting a State constitutional amendment, which seemed in those
years the only method of attaining the longed-for goal. Women,
however, are conservative and the Iowa laws on the whole were not
oppressive enough to stir the average woman to active propaganda for a
share in making and administering them. Therefore the association
proceeded along the beaten path--by way of education, aided by social
and economic evolution, from which not even the most non-progressive
woman can protect herself, much less protect her daughters. The
association never missed an annual meeting and the women elected each
year to carry on its work were those who knew that the cause might be
delayed but could not be permanently defeated.
The convention of 1901 was held in November at Waterloo and Mrs.
Adelaide Ballard was elected president, having previously served two
terms. The conventions of 1902, 1903 and 1904 took place in October in
Des Moines, Boone and Sheldon, and Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall was each
year elected president, having held the office two years at earlier
dates. The annual meeting of 1905 was held in November at Panora; that
of 1906 in September at Ida Grove, and Bertha A. Wilcox was each year
elected president.
The conventions of 1907 and 1908 took place in October at Des Moines
and Boone and the Rev. Eleanor E. Gordon was at each elected
president. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, who was present at the Boone convention,
had just returned from England and was accompanied by two young
English women who had campaigned for suffrage there and who took part
in the convention. She had marched in a parade in London and was very
desirous that parades should be held here. After much urging from her
and the president, and with great trepidation and many misgivings on
the part of the members, a procession was formed and marched through
the principal streets on October 29. The Boone _Daily News_ said: "The
members of the Equal Suffrage Association in convention, scores of the
local women interested in the movement and the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union united in a monster parade through the main streets.
The Wilder-Yeoman Band led with the Rev. Eleanor Gordon, president,
Mrs. Coggeshall, honorary president, Mrs. Julia Clark Hallam, Dr. Shaw
of Philadelphia and the Misses Rendell and Costelloe of London next in
the procession. From every viewpoint it was a success." This was the
first or one of the first suffrage parades to be held in the United
States and it required much courage to take part in it. The crowd
which lined the sidewalks was most respectful and when Dr. Shaw and
the English visitors spoke from an automobile there was enthusiastic
response.
In 1909 at the State convention held in Des Moines Mrs. Hallam was
made president. In 1910, at the convention in Corydon, Mrs. Harriet B.
Evans was elected to this position. The report of the corresponding
secretary, Mrs. Lona I. Robinson, was similar to those that had been
made in many preceding years and that continued to be made for several
following years. It showed that hundreds of letters were sent to the
officers of local clubs, asking them to interview the candidates for
the Legislature on their attitude towards woman suffrage; to sign the
petitions to Congress for a Federal Amendment, which were sent to
them; to strengthen their organization; to increase their propaganda
work, for which quantities of literature were furnished. The report
showed the activities of the State officers, meetings arranged,
addresses made and legislative work done.
At the annual meeting in October, 1911, at Perry, the Rev. Mary A.
Safford became president. This year the _Woman's Standard_, a monthly
newspaper published since 1886 by the association, was discontinued,
as there was an ever-increasing opportunity for suffrage news and
arguments in the newspapers of the State. On Dec. 22, 1911, Mrs.
Coggeshall, who had been the inspiration and leader of the State
suffrage work since its beginning and part of the time an officer of
the National Suffrage Association, passed away. She was the link
between those who began the movement and those who finished it.
Whatever the later workers in Iowa had done had been as a candle flame
lighted from the torch of her faith and devotion. She was a friend of
Susan B. Anthony, of Lucy Stone and of many of the other veterans. Her
delightful home was open to every suffragist of high or low
degree--there were no degrees to her if a woman was a suffragist. She
showed her faith in the cause not only by her gifts, her hospitality
and her unceasing activity during her life but also by bequests of
$5,000 to the State association and $10,000 to the National
Association. The former was used, as she would have wished it to be,
in the amendment campaign of 1916 and the National Association
returned a large part of its bequest for use at this time.
In October, 1912, the convention was held in Des Moines and the Rev.
Miss Safford was re-elected president. By this time new methods of
propaganda were being used. During the State Fair the City Council of
Suffrage Clubs in Des Moines arranged for the photoplay Votes for
Women to be shown in a river front park near a band stand where
nightly concerts were given and literally thousands of people had
their first education in suffrage through the speeches made there.
The State convention met in October, 1913, in Boone and Miss Flora
Dunlap was made president. An automobile trip crossing the State
twice, with open air meetings in thirty towns, had been undertaken in
September. Governor George W. Clark and Harvey Ingham, editor of the
Des Moines _Register_, a long time supporter of woman suffrage, spoke
at the first meeting and other prominent men, officials, editors and
clergymen, joined the party for one or more days. Two reporters from
Des Moines newspapers went with it and there was excellent publicity.
Mrs. P. J. Mills of Des Moines managed the trip and accompanied the
party with her car, Miss Evangeline Prouty, daughter of an Iowa member
of Congress, acting as chauffeur. Miss Dunlap also made the entire two
weeks' journey, while other workers joined for briefer periods. J. R.
Hanna, Mayor of Des Moines, wrote the Mayors of all towns in which
meetings were scheduled asking the courtesies of the city for the
party, and this, with the Governor's opening speech, gave a helpful
official sanction.
The annual meeting took place in October, 1914, at Des Moines and Miss
Dunlap was re-elected president. In March the Mississippi Valley
Conference, with many interesting delegates, had been held in that
city and made a very favorable impression. Miss Jane Addams and Mrs.
Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the Ohio Suffrage Association, had
spoken at a Sunday afternoon mass meeting in the largest theater. When
the convention met at Des Moines in October, 1915, a woman suffrage
amendment to the State constitution had at last been submitted by the
Legislature to be passed upon by the voters in June, 1916. Miss Dunlap
was again re-elected and arrangements were perfected for continuing
the vigorous campaign already under way. By the time the association
held its convention at Waterloo in September, 1916, the amendment had
been defeated but nevertheless the meeting was large and enthusiastic.
Miss Anna B. Lawther was elected president and arrangements were made
for securing as soon as possible the re-submission of the amendment.
The convention of 1917 met in October at Des Moines and Miss Lawther
was re-elected. The country was now in the midst of war, and, like
patriotic women everywhere, Iowa suffragists turned all their
attention to helping win it. Miss Lawther served on a special
committee appointed by the Governor to organize the women of the State
for war activities. Every woman on the suffrage board filled an
important position in the various State war organizations and every
county chairman and local member was active in the work of her
community. The women worked long, full days for the war and far into
the night for suffrage.
When the State convention met at Cedar Rapids in September, 1918, the
women were still immersed in war work. Meanwhile the Lower House of
Congress had voted to submit the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment and
for some months the efforts of the association had been centered on
this amendment. It had secured pledges from all the Iowa
representatives in Congress to vote for it except Harry E. Hull, who
voted against it. In June a "suffrage school" had been held in Penn
College, Oskaloosa, for the express purpose of educating women in the
need of this amendment and the necessity of educating State
legislators to the point where it would be ratified as soon as it was
submitted. Miss Lawther was again re-elected but resigned the next
June and Mrs. James E. Devitt, the vice-president, filled the office.
In 1919 the association was in the thick of the struggle to obtain
from the Legislature Primary and Presidential suffrage. The former was
defeated; the latter passed both houses in April. The Federal
Amendment was ratified by the Legislature July 2.
The work of the Equal Suffrage Association seemed finished. The half
century of agitation, education and evolution was completed. The 48th
and last annual convention was held Oct. 2, 1919, in Boone, which had
been its hostess many times, and the association was happily dissolved
by unanimous vote. The State League of Women Voters was at once
organized with Miss Flora Dunlap, chairman, and the old workers faced
the new task of making political suffrage for women the privilege and
blessing they always had believed it would prove to be.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. A resolution to submit to the voters a woman
suffrage amendment to the State constitution was introduced in every
General Assembly beginning with 1870. In the early years petitions
were sent, the number of signatures rising from 8,000 in 1884 to
100,000 in 1900, but after that time they were almost entirely given
up, as they had no effect. The resolution was introduced according to
custom in the Legislature of 1902. Also according to custom, not
always so carefully observed, the Senate passed the resolution by 28
to 16, this being the Senate's year for this courtesy, and the House
accepted the report recommending indefinite postponement.
In 1904 the resolution was defeated in the House and did not emerge
from the Senate committee. In 1906 this program was repeated. The
meeting of the Legislature was now changed to the odd years and in
1907 the above program was reversed. After this year the members
omitted even the customary graciousness of an understanding that one
body would pass it and the other kill it, thus keeping the women
friendly and dividing the responsibility for the defeat, and both
Houses in 1909 rejected it.
In 1911 the Senate treated the resolution in a most contemptuous
manner by voting to strike out the enacting clause and then passing
it. This was the last time it was defeated. The tide was changing and
even the most confirmed opponents knew that it was a rising and not a
falling tide. Fortunately most of the active workers who sat through
that humiliating experience lived to see the men who were responsible
for it either retired entirely from public life or so changed in
sentiment as to claim a place among those who "always believed in
woman suffrage."
The neighboring State of Kansas fully enfranchised its women in 1912,
as did several other western States, and favorable pressure was
growing very strong. In 1913 the resolution to submit the amendment
passed in the House on February 20 by a vote of 81 to 26 and in the
Senate on March 7 by a vote of 31 to 15. The deadlock was broken and
every suffragist rejoiced.
The resolution had to pass two Legislatures and in July, 1914, the
Republican State convention strongly urged the next one to pass it. In
1915 this was done, by the Senate on February 12 by a vote of 38 to
11, and by the House on the 23rd by one of 84 to 19. The date for the
referendum to the voters was set at the time of the primary elections,
June 5, 1916, over three years from the time the resolution was first
passed. After forty-five years thus far had the workers for woman
suffrage arrived.
* * * * *
The activities of the State association were at once turned to the
education of the voters. It had been long thought by both State and
national leaders that if the amendment could be brought before them
they would give a large majority for it. Probably no State ever went
into a campaign under more favorable auspices and until the last few
weeks it seemed that victory was certain and the women had learned
that it was not entirely a State matter but one of national interest.
The national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, gave six weeks of
time to the campaign and liberal contributions of money, as she
considered Iowa her State, having spent a large part of her life
there. The honorary president, Dr. Shaw, other national officers,
State presidents and men and women suffragists from many other States
rendered valuable help in time, money and service of all sorts. Large
numbers of Iowa women who had never helped before now did effective
work. The long-time suffragists devoted themselves wholly to the
campaign. Many Iowa men gave great assistance. A Men's League for
Woman Suffrage, John H. Denison, president, was organized with
headquarters at Des Moines and branches in all the large cities, forty
altogether. These leagues not only assisted with counsel but raised
funds, placed speakers and helped get out the vote. O. G. Geyer was
the executive secretary and the State offices of the League adjoined
those of the State Suffrage Association. There were the closest
cooperation and the greatest harmony in the work of the two
organizations. An unusually well-conducted press campaign was carried
on with Mrs. Rose Lawless Geyer at the head of the press department
and she and Miss Alice B. Curtis, executive secretary, gave long hours
and invaluable service to the campaign. Five-sixths of the newspapers
not only used plate matter and a weekly press letter but supported the
cause editorially and some of them refused the paid advertising of the
"antis."
Dr. Effie McCollum Jones was finance secretary; Miss Mabel Lodge was
the first organizer in the field and there is a long list of men and
women whose names deserve mention for the abundant time and unstinted
devotion they gave to the campaign. In some of the counties along the
Mississippi River, where the situation was the most difficult, were
strong groups of men and women workers. Miss Anna B. Lawther of
Dubuque headed one of the most active and the record of the river
counties would have been even blacker than it was but for the
herculean work that they did. In Keokuk, the most southern city on the
river, this was so effective that it alone was a white spot in the
long, black line when the election returns came in. Each of the
eleven Congressional districts had an organizer in charge from January
until election day. In every one of the ninety counties there was
organization. Nine-tenths of them opened headquarters from one to
three months before the end of the campaign and 2,000 precinct workers
were enrolled. The whole State was covered by auto-trips in the last
month. Approximately 5,000,000 pieces of literature were distributed,
much of it especially printed to meet local needs and the false
statements circulated by the opposition. One cent postage for one
circularization of the voters of Iowa cost $5,000.
As suffragists throughout the nation gave their help, so the opponents
outside the State tried to defeat the amendment. The women's National
Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage sent a number
of its paid workers and a considerable sum of money into the State.
There was a small anti-suffrage organization in Iowa during the
campaign affiliated with this national association, with branches in
Des Moines, Davenport, Clinton, Sioux City and a few other places.
Mrs. Simon Casady of Des Moines was State president. John P. Irish, a
former resident, came from California under its auspices to work
against the amendment but the press department widely circulated his
favorable declarations for woman suffrage in early years and reprinted
his editorials written during the Civil War, in which his disloyalty
to Lincoln and to the Union was shown. He was much disturbed by this
publicity concerning his past and soon left the State. The women's
anti-suffrage association did no particular harm but the forces of
evil with which it was allied did great damage and in the end defeated
the amendment. Iowa women had believed that their men were free from
entanglements with these forces but they learned that no State line
bars out the elements which work against democracy and the influence
of women in government.
In spite of these opposing forces the amendment would have won but for
political complications which arose during the last few weeks of the
campaign. It became necessary for the Republican party to sacrifice
woman suffrage to its "wet" candidate for Governor, as it felt sure
that he could not be elected in November if the vote should be given
to women in June. A prominent supporter said openly: "We had to do it
in self-defense."
The special election and the primary election were held on June 5,
1916, and after several days of waiting the final returns showed that
the amendment was defeated--ayes, 162,683; noes, 173,024--lost by
10,341 votes.
The adverse vote was almost entirely in the counties along the
Mississippi River. They were in revolt against the State prohibition
law and there was constant evasion of it and agitation for its repeal.
Naturally those opposed to prohibition were also opposed to woman
suffrage. The vote in these counties was large enough to overcome the
vote in the central and western counties where the sentiment was
generally "dry." Des Moines, the capital and largest city in the
State, voted in favor; Sioux City, the second largest, recorded a
small adverse vote; Council Bluffs on the western border returned a
favorable majority; Keokuk on the river in the southeastern corner of
the State was carried, but all the other cities on the eastern border
voted "wet." The river counties of Dubuque, Scott and Clinton gave
9,383 of the 10,341 adverse majority. They were the stronghold for the
commercial liquor interests of the State. The Republican candidate for
Governor received a majority of 126,754 and this party could easily
have carried the amendment.
It was evident that there were many irregularities in the election and
the board of the State Suffrage Association conferred with competent
attorneys but after much consultation it was decided that it would not
be practical to contest it. The defeat of the amendment was a serious
disappointment to the temperance forces and the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union determined to have the returns canvassed and if
possible discover the cause. The election proceedings and officials
returns were investigated in 44 counties and the report in affidavit
form consisted of 200 closely typewritten pages. The Des Moines
_Register_ of Oct. 15, 1916, said of this report:
The investigation revealed several strange conditions. The
records in the Secretary of State's office disclose that there
were 29,341 more votes cast on the equal suffrage amendment than
the total cast for all candidates for Governor by all parties.
The canvass in these 44 counties, however, shows that there were
13,609 more names listed as voting, as shown by the poll books,
than there were suffrage ballots. Add to this the 2,289 votes
where certain precincts show more votes on the amendment than
names recorded in the poll books and altogether 15,898 more names
are found on the poll books than there were ballots cast on woman
suffrage. If this proportion is maintained in the other
fifty-five counties, there would be approximately 30,000 more
voters listed than there were votes on the amendment. The
question the investigator raises is: "Did 60,000 men go to the
polls and fail to vote a primary ballot, and did 30,000 of these
fail to vote on the amendment? Did 30,000 go to the polls and
fail to vote for anybody or anything?"
The W. C. T. U. can draw but one conclusion from this condition,
namely, that they were defrauded out of their right to the
ballot.
The investigators found that in the 44 counties ... 4,743
ballots, shown to have been cast by the list of voters, are
absolutely unaccounted for.... In 15 counties it was found that
in certain precincts 2,239 more ballots were certified than there
were names on the list of voters.... In 15 counties there were
8,067 more ballots on the amendment than there were voters
checked as having voted.
In 30 counties where the combination poll books were used no
voter was checked as having voted, but the certificates show that
55,107 votes were cast on the amendment. In 27 cities canvassed,
a total disregard or ignorance of the registration laws in nearly
all precincts appears and in many of these the violations are
most flagrant.
The law requires that the judges and clerks of election shall
make out a certificate showing the total number of votes cast,
the number voting "yes" or "no" or "rejected." A total of 9,320
votes in these counties are not properly certified to and the
"true return" is not signed in many instances by any of the
clerks or judges and in others not by all. In this class 27,362
votes were affected. In six counties certificates properly signed
by the clerks and judges had been changed by a different hand and
in some cases several different precincts had been changed by the
same hand....
Many other instances were given of incompetence and dishonesty beyond
question, but, notwithstanding this positive evidence, the legal
requirements and restrictions were such as made any effort for a
recount or another election of no avail.[51]
* * * * *
A conference of the suffrage leaders was held in Des Moines the next
month after the election. Every one was sad but no one was resigned
and those who had worked the hardest and sacrificed the most were the
first to renew their pledges for further effort. It was decided that
while their forces were well organized they should at once begin
another campaign. The half-century-old resolution was presented to the
General Assembly of 1917, and, though there were arguments that the
voters had just spoken and that the question ought not again be
submitted in so brief a time, the resolution passed by a vote of 35
ayes, 13 noes in the Senate and 85 ayes, 20 noes in the House.
The women continued their work for the second vote, which must be
given by the Legislature of 1919. When it convened the discovery was
made that the Secretary of State, William S. Allen, did not publish
notice of the passage of the resolution the first time, as required by
law and it had to be voted on again as if the first time. It passed
with but one dissenting voice in each House but the second vote could
not be taken till 1921.
A bill for Primary suffrage passed the Lower House in 1919 by 86 ayes,
15 noes, but met with great opposition in the Senate even from men
posing as friends of woman suffrage. In a one-party State, as Iowa had
been for many years, the dominant party hardly could feel that its
supremacy would be threatened by women's votes in the primary, but, as
one speaker naïvely disclosed in the debate, the "machine" might be
thrown entirely out of gear. "Why," said he dramatically to the
listening Senate, "the Republican party would be in hopeless
confusion. Nobody could tell in advance what candidate the women might
nominate in the primary!" The bill was postponed by 31 ayes, 17 noes.
The next step was to have a bill introduced to give women a vote for
Presidential electors. One of the contributing factors to its success
was the ever-increasing number of victories for similar bills in other
States, particularly the recent victory in Missouri, which had
completed the circle of "white" States surrounding Iowa. One of the
features of the debate in the Senate was the reading of a letter from
John T. Adams, vice-chairman of the National Republican Committee,
heretofore an anti-suffragist, by Senator Eugene Schaffter, the
sponsor of the bill, in which he impressed upon the Republicans the
political urgency of granting the Presidential franchise to women.
After a hard campaign by the Legislative Committee of the State
Suffrage Association, with Mrs. Frank W. Dodson of Des Moines as
chairman, the Iowa legislators joined the procession and on April 4,
1919, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 38 ayes, 8 noes, the
House following on April 19 with a vote of 84 ayes, 2 noes.
RATIFICATION. When the Federal Amendment went to the last vote in
Congress, the Iowa delegation maintained its record on each vote
that had been taken, both Senators and ten of the eleven
Representatives--all but Harry E. Hull--casting their votes in the
affirmative. Immediately Mrs. Devitt of Oskaloosa, acting president,
and Mrs. Fred B. Crowley of Des Moines, corresponding secretary of the
State association, requested Governor William L. Harding to call a
special session of the Legislature to ratify it. It met on July 2 in
special session for this sole purpose. Men and women had made their
way early to the Capitol, filling the galleries and the rear of the
chambers. The legislators, too, were apparently as happy as boys, with
a new idea of real democracy in Iowa. It seemed like a gathering of
great-hearted, honest-of-purpose men who were eager to do an act of
justice. The joyous expressions of these men, who had taken hot, dusty
rides on day trains from their farms and stores in the scorching July
weather to come and cast their votes for ratification, assured the
women of victory. It was a wonderful moment. After a joint session at
10 a. m., to hear the reading of the Governor's message, by 11:40 the
vote had been taken in both Houses. Every Senator but two was present
and was recorded in the affirmative; the vote in the House was 96
ayes, 5 noes; E. H. Knickerbocker, Linn county; T. J. O'Donnell,
Dubuque; C. A. Quick and George A. Smith, Clinton; W. H. Vance,
Madison. Senators J. D. Buser of Conesville and D. W. Kimberly of
Davenport were absent. The former had voted against Presidential
suffrage and the latter had not voted.
An informal luncheon followed in one of the Des Moines tea rooms which
had often housed the suffragists in times of desolation and it was
turned into a jollification meeting. Three former State presidents and
other women spoke and there were many present for whom the occasion
meant the fulfillment of an idea to which they had given years of
devoted service.
FOOTNOTES:
[50] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Flora Dunlap,
president of the State Equal Suffrage Association 1913-1915 and
chairman of the League of Women Voters.
[51] Space is given to this report because it is a fair illustration
of the conditions under which woman suffrage amendments were defeated
again and again in different States.
CHAPTER XV.
KANSAS.[52]
Kansas was not yet a State when in 1859 twenty-five of her
justice-loving men and women met and formed the first association to
gain political freedom for women, and the liberty lighting torch
kindled then was kept aflame by organization for fifty-three years
before the women received equal political rights with the men in 1912.
A State Equal Suffrage Association was formed in 1884 and thereafter
annual conventions were held.
During 1901 Miss Helen Kimber, president of the association, travelled
through fifteen counties and held twenty-five meetings. She had
obtained for the national suffrage bazaar held in New York in
December, 1900, besides many smaller donations, a car load of flour
from the Kansas Millers' Association and two hundred pounds of butter
from the Continental Creamery Company of Topeka. She was re-elected
president at the convention held in McPherson, Nov. 7, 8, and the
following year visited more than half the counties, forming
organizations where they did not already exist. The attempt made in
the Legislature through the influence of the liquor interests to
deprive women of their Municipal suffrage, possessed since 1887,
brought more of them to realize its value and at the spring election
more than ever before were elected on school boards, for which women
could vote.
The convention of 1902 was held in Topeka October 14-15 and Miss
Kimber was re-elected; Mrs. John B. Sims, secretary. Several thousand
people listened to the inspiring addresses of Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association,
and the senior editor of the _Woman's Journal_, Henry B. Blackwell.
Headquarters were established in Topeka. Petitions for Presidential
suffrage with about 32,000 signatures had been secured to be presented
to the Legislature of 1903. There was an increased vote of women at
the spring election and forty-two were elected as county officers, for
whom only men could vote.
The State convention of 1903 was held in Abilene December 8-9 and Miss
Kimber was again re-elected. She reported suffrage meetings conducted
at the Winfield, Beloit and Lincoln Chautauquas. Mrs. Mary C. C.
Bradford of Colorado was the outside speaker and afterwards spoke in
four of the principal cities. Mrs. Sadie P. Grisham of Cottonwood
Falls was elected president at the convention held in Topeka Nov. 9,
10, 1904. The increase of membership of nearly a thousand was largely
accredited to the efforts of Mrs. Alice Moyer, State organizer.
Presidential suffrage was again adopted for the year's work. The
suffrage departments were maintained at the Chautauqua meetings and
literature and letters were sent to every member of the incoming
Legislature. The convention of 1905 was held in Topeka October 20-21.
Mrs. Grisham refused a second term and Mrs. Roxana E. Rice of Lawrence
was elected president. On Oct. 14, 1906, the convention met in Topeka
and Mrs. Rice was re-elected and with others of her board represented
Kansas at the national convention in Chicago the next February.
The annual meeting of 1907 was again held in Topeka on November 14 and
a report from the national convention was given by the vice-president,
Mrs. Lilla Day Monroe, but all propositions and resolutions offered by
the mother organization were either rejected or referred to a
committee and at the conclusion of Mrs. Monroe's report she moved that
"the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association withdraw from the National."
After discussion to the effect that it could do more effective work
alone the motion was carried. Mrs. Monroe was elected president, Mrs.
J. D. McFarland first and Mrs. Rice second vice-president. The
treasurer reported $260 in the treasury and was instructed to pay $25
to the Susan B. Anthony memorial fund. The board decided to publish
the _Club Member_, devoted to women's activities.
The convention of 1908 met October 30-31 in Topeka, the Good
Government Club and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of that
city uniting with the association in an evening program. Mrs. A. H.
Horton was elected president, Mrs. Monroe first and Mrs. Margaret Hill
McCarter second vice-president. The fact was evident that there had
been no organization work and little activity throughout the State for
several years, and, as there was now no connection with the National
Association, interest was awakened only at biennial periods by the
convening of the Legislature.
At the convention of 1909 in Topeka, December 10, 11, T. A. McNeal of
this city, former member of the Legislature, principal speaker at the
evening meeting, chided the women and declared that the little advance
made along suffrage lines of recent years was not because of men's
lack of interest but on account of women's indifference. Mrs.
Catharine A. Hoffman was elected president; Mrs. R. V. Chambers first
and Mrs. McCarter second vice-president; Mrs. E. E. Raudebush,
secretary; Mrs. Emma Sells Marshall, treasurer; Mrs. McFarland and
Mrs. Rice, auditors. The president appointed an advisory board of
fifteen men and women and named Mrs. Genevieve Howland Chalkley State
organizer. The press was used to advantage and good speakers from
Kansas and neighboring States helped to make woman suffrage a more
popular subject. A number of meetings of a semi-social nature were
held in the capital city before the Legislature met. One, "a Kansas
equal suffrage banquet," followed a business meeting of the
association, Jan. 28, 1910, at Hotel Throop. About one hundred guests
were present, Governor W. R. Stubbs and wife and former Governor W. E.
Hoch and wife having seats of honor. Mrs. Hoffman was toastmistress
and about twenty men and women responded to toasts.
Mrs. Hoffman's policy was to make a strong appeal to the next
Legislature for the submission of a full suffrage amendment to the
voters. On Dec. 9, 1910, she called her officers and a number of well
known workers to a conference in Topeka and a plan of action was
outlined. A room in the State Historical Department, which through
the courtesy of Geo. W. Martin had been used as legislative
headquarters in other years, was again retained with Mrs. Monroe as
superintendent. Mrs. William A. Johnston, Mrs. Stubbs and Mrs. C. C.
Goddard were appointed a legislative committee. Governor Stubbs had
been re-elected in November, 1910, and in his message to the
Legislature in January he strongly advised the submission. Then the
battle royal for votes opened. The resolution was introduced early in
January. Every legislator was asked by each member of the committee to
vote for it; many of the members' wives were in Topeka and teas,
dinners and receptions became popular, at which the "assisting ladies"
were asked to keep the subject of woman suffrage to the front and in
this way many men and women were interested and educated.
Mrs. Hoffman was a conservative but diligent worker and among her able
assistants were a number of men and women from the colleges and
universities. Mrs. Lillian Mitchner, president of the State W. C. T.
U., was a constant helper. The names of all the valiant workers would
be those of hundreds of Topeka people and hundreds more out in the
"home districts," who used their influence with the legislators, and
those of wives of Senators and Representatives who influenced their
husbands' votes. The State House headquarters was a busy place and a
large amount of work was done there. The amendment resolution was
passed by the votes of the men but it could not have been done without
the careful, well planned work of the women. It was adopted by a large
majority in both Houses and signed by Governor Stubbs Feb. 12, 1911.
The State convention met in Representative Hall, Topeka, May 16, 1911.
Kansas women were now for the third time entering a campaign for
political liberty, which made the meeting one of unusual interest.
Mrs. Hoffman could not serve longer and the following officers were
elected: Mrs. Johnston, president; Mrs. Stubbs first and Mrs. Cora W.
Bullard second vice-president; Miss Gertrude Reed, corresponding
secretary; Miss Helen N. Eacker, recording secretary; Mrs. S. A.
Thurston, treasurer; Mrs. William Allen White, auditor; district
presidents, Mrs. Bullard, Mrs. Chalkley, Mrs. P. H. Albright, Mrs. L.
C. Wooster, Mrs. Matie Toothaker Kimball, Mrs. Anna C. Waite, Mrs. W.
Y. Morgan, Mrs. Nannie Garrett. An enthusiastic mass meeting was held
in the evening, the speakers, Chief Justice William A. Johnston; John
McDonald, former Superintendent of Public Instruction; George W.
Martin, secretary of the State Historical Society; David Leahy,
secretary to the Governor, and Mrs. Mitchner; Mrs. Hoffman presiding.
The next day a joint meeting of the old and new officers was held. The
treasurer reported $37.50 received as membership fees, and $100, a
gift from Mrs. Catt. This was a small sum to begin a campaign for
about 500,000 votes, but all hearts were filled with courage. Later
three district presidents resigned and Mrs. Minnie J. Brinstead, Mrs.
H. Wirick and Mrs. M. B. Munson were appointed; also Mrs. Hoffman,
chairman of press; Dr. Alberta Corbin, of membership extension, and
Miss Effie Graham of education.
These eighteen women constituted a board of management. At its meeting
July 10 a program was submitted by the president of the association
for the complete organization of the State. Organization, education
and publicity were the watchwords adopted. The need of money was so
pressing that the board made personal pledges of from $25 to $200,
which in many instances were more than doubled before the vote was
taken. This act of self-denial and consecration gave strength and
courage to go to others, for worthy as was the cause money would not
come without asking. The big public is much like the Lord, who helps
those who help themselves. The half-million voters to obtain and
almost as many women living in 105 counties to educate meant work as
well as faith.
The hottest summer and the coldest, stormiest winter followed and the
workers learned what it meant to travel across country with the
mercury ranging from 110 in the shade to 22 degrees below zero; to
have a Turkish bath while making a "votes for women" speech or be
delayed for hours on a freight or passenger train by a snow blockade.
By January, 1912, however, one-third of the counties were organized,
many newspapers pledged to help, and headquarters established in the
best business building in Topeka. Then began a "day in and day out"
battle for votes. At first there was one stenographer, later three
and two secretaries, and the president broke all the maximum hour
laws. Besides the regular county and precinct organizations, college
clubs were formed and a Men's State League, with Dr. E. S. Pettyjohn
president. This league had a large and influential membership,
including the Governor, the Chief Justice and other State officers;
many prominent business men, leading ministers, lawyers, teachers,
professors and politicians. It gave the campaign prestige with the
voters and its members were invaluable as advisers and active workers.
The State convention was held in Wichita, May 7-9, 1912. Greetings
were given by Mrs. W. J. Babb, the new president of the district; Mrs.
W. T. Johnston, hostess and president of the county, and Mrs. Sally
Toler, president of the City Federation of Clubs. Mrs. Mitchner
pledged the support of the W. C. T. U. and Mrs. W. D. Atkinson,
president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, brought its
endorsement and pleaded with other State organizations to "bring in
the reserves." Telegrams and letters were read from Miss Alice Stone
Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_; Governor John F. Shafroth
of Colorado; Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver; Omar E. Garwood, secretary
of the National Men's League; Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the
National Association; Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont of New York; J. H.
Braly of California and others. Dr. Helen Brewster Owens of Ithaca, N.
Y., field organizer, gave an interesting report of her work, which
included addressing 176 audiences and organizing five college leagues.
The first "motion" was that application be made for reinstatement in
the National Association, and it was carried unanimously. Pledges
amounting to $1,000 were given in five minutes to finance a whirlwind
campaign proposed by Mr. Braly similar to the one successfully made in
California the year before.
The evening meeting was held in the Crawford Theater and many were
unable to gain admission. Mrs. Johnson presided, Mayor W. W. Winnick
gave the address of welcome and Mrs. Stubbs responded. The Rev.
Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, a pioneer suffragist, and Miss Jane Addams
of Chicago were the principal speakers. During the convention
encouraging reports were made by chairmen of the three departments
and eight congressional districts and many county presidents. The
State officers were all re-elected; Mrs. C. W. Smith was made
president of the sixth district and Mrs. Babb of the eighth. The
afternoon features were an automobile ride by courtesy of the Commerce
Club and a street meeting where Miss Addams made her first outdoor
speech, standing on the rear seat of an automobile. An evening
reception at the Masonic Temple was a delightful finale to the
biggest, most enthusiastic suffrage convention ever held in the State.
An executive board meeting and a conference took place May 9, at which
date the State, district and county officers of the organized forces
numbered more than 2,000 women. These with the men in favor and most
of the newspapers created a suffrage sentiment which reached every
corner of the State. Nearly all of the forty field workers were
Kansans, but assistants and money came from other State organizations
and individuals. The National Association contributed in literature
and money $2,076. Mrs. Laura M. Johns, now of California, and other
"formerly of Kansas" women sent counsel and gifts. Kansas people gave
most of the money which the campaign cost, and some of the $6,000
expended was so sacred that it was handled with tearful eyes and
reverent touch. For instance, one letter enclosed a check for $100,
representing "the life savings of Mary," who wanted it used in a
campaign State. In another was $10 "from mother's money, who wanted
this justice for women, but it did not come while she lived." Another
woman wrote: "This is my sainted mother's birthday and I want this $5
used in her memory." One had made provisions in her will to leave $200
for the next campaign, but thanked God it had come while she could
work as well as give. There were the widows' mites, many times meaning
sacrifice and toil, and single dollars came from women who were too
old or too ill to work but wanted to have a part. There were also a
few surreptitious dollars from women whose husbands were boasting that
their wives did not want to vote, and "joy dollars" for sons and
daughters or the new-born babe. All these gifts were thrice blessed.
With votes as with most of the dollars--they were not coming
unsought, and in order to make sure of them they must be looked for in
their own habitat. This the women did on horseback, in wagons,
carriages, steam cars and automobiles. They were found in the shops,
offices and stores, at the fairs, conventions and Chautauquas, at the
theater and the circus, on the farms and the highways, at the fireside
and in the streets. One automobile trip covered a part of the same
route travelled by the Rev. Olympia Brown and other suffrage workers
in the campaign of 1867, when they often rode in ox-teams or on Indian
ponies, stopped over night in dugouts or sod houses and finally were
driven back by hostile Indians. This mental picture made the trip over
good roads and through villages of pretty homes seem like a pleasure
ride. Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky; the president, Mrs. Johnston; Mrs.
Kimball and Mrs. Hoffman, who furnished the car, made one trip of
1,000 miles in the fifth district and Miss Clay was then placed in
charge of the sixth district offices, where she rendered valuable
service for two weeks longer, all gratuitous.
Arthur Capper, owner and publisher of the Topeka _Daily Capital_, and
L. L. Kiene, editor of the _State Journal_, were most helpful. The
favorable Catholic vote was largely due to the excellent work of Mrs.
Mary E. Ringrose and her sister of California and to David Leahy of
Wichita, an active worker in the Men's League. W. Y. Morgan, member of
Congress from Kansas, and Professor S. J. Brandenburg of Oxford, Ohio,
looked after the voters in the colleges and universities.
Four-year-old Billy Brandenburg came with his mother to help in the
automobile tours and was adopted as the "campaign mascot." At the
street meetings his little cap was often heavy with nickels and
quarters when he helped take collections. Kansas had often stood in
the lime-light, but while the women avoided the humdrum, all
spectacular methods were discouraged and they won by keeping their
efforts on dignified, conservative lines.
All along those in charge of the campaign were warned that the big
interests whose business thrives on the degradation of human life
would rather defeat suffrage in Kansas than in any other two States.
Early in the summer of 1912 a bound book of letters, entitled
"Business Versus Woman Suffrage," was brought out by a certain C. F.
Tibbles of Chicago, cunningly devised to arouse the prejudice of
every kind of business man or reform worker. Later two other editions
were issued, enlarged and more daring in their statements. They were
left in railway coaches and sent to newspaper offices with strong
appeals for the publishing of the letters from time to time, but
Kansas men had fought too many battles with the saloon power not to
recognize its hydra head. Toward the last came one clothed in the
official garb of the exalted Methodist Church, but warning had been
sent by the women of Oregon, where he had united his efforts with the
worst elements to defeat the suffrage amendment in two campaigns. The
Men's League, the press and the ministers co-operated with the women
and "Clarence, the Untrue," was effectively bound and gagged. About
this time one of the good friends in Kansas City, Mo., discovered that
the same plan which had defeated the amendment in Ohio was going to be
used in Kansas, and he loyally reported it to headquarters. A busy day
followed and Mrs. Edwin Knapp, Miss Eacker and the president remained
up all night getting out letters to expose the plan. These were sent
to all of the weekly newspapers for their last issue before the
election and an Associated Press letter to be used in the Sunday and
Monday issues.
Thanks to the splendid manhood of Kansas, these were sufficient, and
women came into their own on November 5, 1912, by a vote of 175,246
ayes, 159,197 noes--a majority of over 16,000. No other State had won
by so large a majority and because the count was made and the victory
reported first of the three that were carried in 1912, Kansas claims
the right to the seventh place on the list of equal suffrage
States.[53]
The Jubilee Convention, May 19-20, 1913, was held in the Baptist
Church at Lawrence, and men and women came from every part of the
State. The evening program was under the auspices of the Men's League,
Dr. Pettyjohn, presiding. Professor W. H. Carruth of the State
University gave the address of welcome and the Hon. W. S. Guyer, an
active helper in the campaign, responded. Addresses were made by
Governor George H. Hodges (Democrat), ex-Governor W. R. Stubbs
(Republican), the Hon. W. Y. Morgan and the Rev. C. M. Sheldon. The
theme was The New Citizen, and she had a liberal share of the
compliments and good advice. At a large evening meeting Mrs. Agnes
Riddle, member of the Colorado House of Representatives, gave an
interesting address. As befitted a jubilee convention, there were
feasting and music, but the subjects discussed revealed a serious
realization of the enlarged responsibilities which the vote involved.
The name of the association was changed to the Good Citizenship
League. Mrs. Johnston declining re-election, received the title of
president emeritus, and Mrs. Chalkley was elected president; Mrs.
Stubbs first and Mrs. Laura Reed Yaggy second vice-presidents; Miss
Eacker, recording secretary; Mrs. Magdalen B. Munson, treasurer; Mrs.
W. T. Johnston, auditor, and eight district presidents.
During the months that followed, educational work and helpful interest
in States having campaigns was carried forward. At a meeting in
Emporia, April 3, 1914, the measures to be supported in the next
Legislature by the association were chosen and a study of the
political situation was made. The candidates for Governor, Arthur
Capper (Republican), George H. Hodges (Democrat) and Professor George
W. Kleihege of Washburn College (Socialist) presented the principles
of their parties. Henry J. Allen (Progressive) sent greetings and Dean
Relvix of Ottawa University explained the tenets of this party. A
legislative school followed, attended by women from many sections of
the State. A rally to help the campaign in Missouri was held in Kansas
City October 15, with a banquet and speeches on the Missouri side and
an all day and evening meeting on the Kansas side. The principal
speakers were Dean Sophonisba Breckinridge of the University of
Chicago and Justice J. S. West of the Kansas Supreme Court. The annual
convention met in Lawrence Dec. 19, 1914, and Mrs. Bullard was elected
president.
In 1915 the convention was held in Topeka. As war problems were
filling the hearts and minds of the people, only a business meeting
was held. The usual resolution urging the delegation in Congress to
use all honorable means to put through the Federal Suffrage Amendment
was passed.
In 1916 the convention was held in Memorial Hall, Topeka, and the name
Equal Suffrage Association was restored. Governor Capper commended the
women for their good influence on legislation. Mrs. Catt, president of
the National Association, reviewed its activities, and urged Kansas
women to work for the Federal Amendment and go to the national
political conventions. Money was raised for the Iowa campaign. There
had been several attempts to organize a "militant" suffrage society in
Kansas under the name of the Congressional Union and a number of men
and women had been innocently led into it. A "question box" conducted
by Mrs. Catt did much to clarify the situation, making it plain that
there was no chance of united work by the two organizations as they
were diametrically opposed in methods. She addressed the Commercial
Club at a noon luncheon and many business men testified to the good
results of woman suffrage. Mrs. W. Y. Morgan was elected president.
The Kansas members of Congress, all of whom were in favor of the
Federal Amendment, were continuously urged to press for its
submission. About fifty Kansas women marched in the great suffrage
parade in Chicago at the time of the Republican national convention in
June.
The convention met in Topeka June 21, 1917, and Mrs. Morgan declining
re-election, Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Wichita was made president. The
annual meeting of 1918 was held in Wichita June 12. The money had been
raised to send two envoys to the Southern States and then on to
Washington, Mrs. Henry Ware Allen and Mrs. Yaggy, both of charming
personality and belonging to the Democratic party, to obtain the help
of Congressmen from the South, and it is gratifying to remember that
the securing of the last necessary votes in the House in January might
be attributed to the efforts of these two women. It was voted to send
money and speakers to help in the Oklahoma campaign, where the liquor
interests were making a strong fight against the amendment. Mrs.
Brooks' excellent work soon brought results. It was hard to raise
money for anything except winning the war but she never lost sight of
the fact that winning votes for the Federal Amendment was winning
democracy for the world. Almost without exception the officers of the
association represented families with men in uniform. The suffragists
sold in the Third and Fourth Liberty Loans $20,000,000 worth of bonds
and they worked in every "drive" through the Woman's Committee of the
Council of Defense. Mrs. Brooks and her entire board were re-elected.
As guests of the Wichita Equal Suffrage Society delegates and visitors
were entertained at tea in the home of the Hon. Henry J. Allen.
The convention of 1919 was held in Wichita June 10-11. Mrs. Brooks had
been elected president of the National League of Women Voters and the
Kansas association loyally changed its name to the State League of
Women Voters. A largely attended "victory dinner" was given at the
Lassen Hotel. Mrs. Brooks was succeeded by Mrs. Henry Ware Allen, who
later resigned, and the Executive Board in November called on the well
beloved veteran, Mrs. Catharine A. Hoffman, again to take the
presidency. A special meeting of the association and a citizenship
school were held in Wichita Jan. 19-25, 1920, the latter conducted by
Miss Marie B. Ames of St. Louis, the regional director of the National
League of Women Voters.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After an amendment to the State constitution was
defeated by the voters in 1894, women asked for full suffrage only now
and then, but encouraged by Henry B. Blackwell of Massachusetts they
made special efforts after 1900 to obtain the vote for presidential
electors.
1901. The Presidential suffrage bill passed the Senate by a vote of 22
to 13, but the next day the vote was reconsidered on motion of Senator
G. A. Knofster and the bill defeated by 23 to 13. It died on the House
calendar. On January 14 Representative J. A. Butler of Wyandotte
county introduced a bill the purpose of which was to deprive women of
Municipal suffrage. A storm of protests began at once to pour in and
it was estimated that 10,000 letters were sent to members by women
from their home districts. The bill was twice killed in committee and
received less than ten votes, amid derision and laughter, when its
author tried to have it placed on the calendar.
1903. Senator Dumont Smith introduced the Presidential suffrage bill
and worked faithfully for it, but it was defeated on January 28 by 21
noes, 13 ayes. Cyrus Leland introduced it in the Lower House, where it
was killed in Committee of the Whole on February 11 by 62 noes, 57
ayes. At this session an extension of bond suffrage was granted to
women. They had had the right to vote on bonds for school buildings
since 1887, but this act extended the privilege to all other public
improvements in cities of the first class.
1905. Governor Edward W. Hoch in his message to the Legislature
recommended full suffrage for women and a committee of seven on the
Political Rights of Women was appointed in the House. Early in the
session the politicians stated that no full suffrage measure would be
introduced. Later I. W. Crumley, chairman of the committee, introduced
a bill for Presidential suffrage, which passed the House, 65 ayes, 50
noes, and was killed in the Senate.
1907. A House concurrent resolution to submit a constitutional
amendment died in Committee of the Whole and no action was taken in
the Senate.
1909. The House bill conferring Presidential suffrage was reported
favorably, made a special order for February 16 and received 59 noes,
57 ayes. The Senate bill was reported adversely.
1911. The amendment resolution was introduced by Representative Henry
Block, and all available space on the floor and in the galleries was
filled during the discussion. It passed on February 7 by 94 ayes, 28
noes. The Senate resolution introduced by Senator George H. Hodges was
passed on February 11 by 27 ayes, 12 noes. A two-thirds majority is
required to pass an amendment resolution and Senator Frank Travis cast
the last and deciding vote. It was signed by Governor Stubbs. The
amendment went to the voters Nov. 5, 1912, and received a majority in
favor of 16,049.
1913. The attitude of the Legislature this year was in marked contrast
to that of previous sessions and those who feared that women would
lose influence by being enfranchised were certainly undeceived.
Judging from the number of welfare bills introduced without their
solicitation it seemed that the members were vying with each other as
to who should champion the most. Instead of dodging or ignoring the
requests of women's committees their advice and wishes were sought.
1915. The following resolution was passed unanimously by both Houses:
"Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Kansas, the House
concurring therein, that it is the judgment of this Legislature that
the granting of the right of suffrage to the women of the State, so
long withheld from them, was not only an act of justice to a
disfranchised class, but that it also has proved to be of great good
to the State and to the women themselves." This was approved March 15
by the Governor and sent to Congress, and similar resolutions were
passed by each Legislature until the Federal Amendment was submitted.
1919. An Act this year required that instruction must be given in the
public schools in civic government, patriotism and the duties of a
citizen.
Among the women who were active in legislative work were Mesdames
Lillian Mitchner, C. C. Goddard, W. R. Stubbs, J. D. McFarland, E. E.
Rodebush, E. S. Marshall, Lilla Monroe, A. H. Horton, Lottie Case,
Frank Lindsay, Festus Foster and S. S. Estey.[54]
RATIFICATION. Governor Henry J. Allen called a special session of the
Legislature for the purpose of ratifying the Federal Suffrage
Amendment eleven days after it had been submitted by Congress on June
4, 1919. Representative Minnie J. Grinstead introduced the joint
resolution and it was passed unanimously on June 16 by both Houses and
approved by the Governor and forwarded to the Secretary of State on
the 17th.
FOOTNOTES:
[52] The History is indebted for this chapter to Lucy B. (Mrs. William
A.) Johnston, president of the State Equal Suffrage Association when
the victory was won. She is under obligations to H. G. Larimer,
legislative reference and bill drafting department; Miss Henrietta
Alexander, legislative reference librarian; L. J. Pettyjohn, Secretary
of State; Miss Lorraine E. Wooster, State superintendent of public
instruction; Miss Suzanne Henry, Supreme Court law clerk; Dr. S. J.
Crumbine, secretary State board of health; Mrs. Herbert Jones,
department vital statistics; Miss Linna Bresette, State labor
department; Miss Clara Francis, librarian State Historical Society.
[53] Among the many who aided in campaign work were Judge and Mrs.
Frank Doster, Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Codding, the Hon. A. M. Harvey, the
Hon. Geo. Waters, the Hon. C. C. Gafford, the Rev. Festus Foster, the
Rev. S. S. Estey, D. D., William Allen White, Sim Bromlette, John J.
Brown; Mesdames Doster Cook, C. W. Smith, Nanon Herren, Lucia Case,
Lida Buckley, Sherman Medill, Margaret Brandenburg, Edwin Knapp, L. S.
Corbin, Adrian Greene, Adrian Sherman, Pansy Clark, Z. Nason, Geo. W.
Rose, Effie Van Tuyl, Eva M. Murphy, Effie Frost; Misses Laura French,
Eva Corning, Florence Welch, Bertha Hemstead, Olga House, E. Galloo,
Mary Dobbs, Dorothy Sherman.
[54] A complete résumé of the unexcelled welfare legislation of the
past twenty years was sent with this chapter but had to be omitted for
lack of space. The first State constitution in 1859 guaranteed the
same educational rights to women as to men. The State University at
Lawrence has 54 women on its faculty; the State Agricultural College,
52; the State Normal, 46.--Ed.
CHAPTER XVI.
KENTUCKY.[55]
When the Equal Rights Association was formed in 1888 Kentucky was the
only State that did not permit a married woman to make a will; a
wife's wages might be collected by the husband; property and
inheritance laws between husband and wife were absolutely unequal;
fathers were sole guardians of their children and at death could
appoint one even of a child unborn; the age of consent was 12 years
and it was legal for a girl to marry at 12. An infinitesimal number of
women had a bit of School suffrage. In the rest of that century, under
the leadership of Miss Laura Clay, with the able assistance of such
women as Mrs. Josephine K. Henry, Mrs. Eliza Calvert Obenchain and
many others, much was accomplished in the improvement of the laws and
in other ways beneficial to women.
No State convention was held in 1900. Conventions took place annually
in the autumn from 1901 to 1917 inclusive in the following cities:
Louisville, Lexington, Covington, Newport, Richmond, Ashland,
Owensboro, most often in Lexington. The convention of 1918 was
postponed on account of the influenza epidemic and held in Louisville
March 11-12, 1919. The convention which should have been held in the
fall of this year was postponed because of work for ratification and
became a "victory" convention held Jan. 6-7, 1920, in Frankfort and
Lexington.
The first president of the Equal Rights Association, Miss Laura Clay
of Lexington, elected in 1888, served until November, 1912. The
constitution was then amended at her desire to prevent a president
from succeeding herself and to provide for a three-year term. Mrs.
Desha Breckinridge of Lexington was elected in November, 1912, and in
1915 Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Smith of Frankfort. In 1916, Mrs. Smith
resigning because of her election to the National Board, Mrs. John
Glover South of Frankfort was elected to fill out the unexpired term.
In March, 1919, Mrs. Breckinridge was again elected.
For many years the association worked on a non-dues-paying basis and
was supported by voluntary contributions. Increase of activity is
indicated by the following figures: The financial report for 1903
shows that $359 were spent; that for 1917 gives an expenditure of
$7,838. In 1912 there were 1,779 members, with organizations in 11
counties; 4,655 members were reported in November, 1913, and 10,577 in
November, 1914, with completely organized suffrage leagues in 64
counties; partially organized leagues in 23; a roll of members in 32
and but one county in which there was no membership.
Many suffrage addresses have been made in the State by eminent
Kentucky men and women and in later years by outside speakers
including Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Senator Helen Ring Robinson, Mrs.
T. T. Cotnam, Max Eastman, Walter J. Millard, Mrs. Beatrice
Forbes-Robertson; Mrs. Philip Snowden, Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence and Mrs.
Pankhurst of England, and Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary.
Propaganda work has been done by means of the press and the lecture
bureau, by the offering of prizes in schools and colleges for the best
essays on woman suffrage and at the State, Blue Grass and county fairs
through speaking and circulating literature. In recent years many
newspapers have given editorial support and many more have given space
for frequent articles furnished by the press bureau. Notable among
those of recent date is the Louisville _Courier-Journal_, in which for
many years Colonel Henry Watterson inveighed against woman suffrage in
immoderate terms. From the time it passed into the hands of Judge
Robert W. Bingham, and "Marse Henry's" connection with it ceased, it
consistently and persistently advocated suffrage for women, including
the Federal Amendment. Miss Clay writes: "The paper with the largest
circulation of any in the State outside of Louisville and of great
influence in central Kentucky, the Lexington _Herald_, owned and
edited by Desha Breckinridge, has from the beginning of the century
editorially advocated and insisted upon suffrage for women, including
School, Presidential and full suffrage, whether through 'State rights'
or Federal Amendment. It has given unlimited space to suffrage
propaganda and is largely responsible for making the question one of
paramount political moment." The _Herald_ of Louisville has been also
a valued supporter of the cause.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of which Mrs. Frances E.
Beauchamp, always a prominent suffragist, has for thirty years been
president, and the Federation of Women's Clubs have continually worked
with the State Equal Rights Association for the improvement of
conditions affecting women. By mutual agreement bills in the
Legislature have been managed sometimes by one and sometimes by the
other.
In addition to organizing the suffrage forces and creating favorable
sentiment the principal work of the State Association has been to
secure action by the Legislature for suffrage and better laws and
conditions for women. This work was under the direction of Miss Clay
until the end of her presidency, with a corps of able assistants, and
she continued to help the legislative work. She was always sustained
by the interest and generosity of her sister, Sallie Clay (Mrs. James)
Bennett of Richmond, Ky. Mrs. S. M. Hubbard of Hickman was the largest
contributor and was a strong factor in the western part of the State.
As early as 1902 a bill for the franchise for presidential electors
was presented. In 1904, to the amazement of the suffragists, the act
of 1894 was repealed which gave School suffrage to the women of the
three third-class cities, Lexington, Covington and Newport. The reason
given was that too many illiterate negro women voted. It was made a
strict party measure, but one Democrat voting against the repeal and
but one Republican for it.
Following this action the women went to work to obtain School suffrage
for all women in the State able to read and write. In organizing this
protest against the repeal Mrs. Mary C. Roark, afterwards head of the
Eastern Kentucky Normal School, was a leader. Mrs. A. M. Harrison,
member of the school board in Lexington, was prominently identified
with the effort. This proved a long, hard struggle, as it was
considered an entering wedge to full suffrage by the liquor interests
and ward politicians of the cities and was bitterly fought. Year after
year the bill was defeated in the Legislature. At the request of the
suffrage association in 1908 the State Federation of Women's Clubs
took charge of it as a part of its work for better schools, but it was
defeated that year and in 1910. The Federation did not cease its work
and in 1912 the Democratic party included a School suffrage plank in
its platform. It already had the support of the Republican party and
this year the bill passed both Houses by a vote of more than two to
one. The Democrats were in control of the two Legislatures that
rejected it and also of the one that passed it. Mrs. Breckinridge was
legislative chairman for the federation during the years covering
these three sessions.
In 1912 the suffragists accepted the invitation of the Perry
Centennial Committee to have a suffrage section in the parade in
Louisville and their "float" attracted much attention. This is
believed to have been the first suffrage parade in the South.
In 1914 amendments to the new primary law were made by the Legislature
securing the right of women to vote in the primary elections for
county superintendent of schools. This right was in doubt the year
before and was denied in many counties. Much work was done by the
association in acquainting the women of the State with their rights
under the new law. This year after many efforts a resolution to submit
to the voters an amendment to the State constitution giving full
suffrage to women was before the Legislature, presented by Senator J.
H. Durham of Franklin and Representative John G. Miller of Paducah,
both Democrats. Favorable reports were obtained from Senate and House
Committees, it was placed on the Senate calendar, but after its defeat
in the House by 52 noes, 29 ayes, was not considered.
In 1915 a plank was obtained in the Republican State platform
endorsing woman suffrage, largely through the work of Mrs. Murray
Hubbard, chairman of a committee from the Federation of Women's Clubs.
When the Legislature met in January, 1916, the Republicans, under the
leadership of Edwin P. Morrow, caucused and agreed to support solidly
the resolution to submit a suffrage amendment to the State
constitution. The legislative work of the State association was
managed by Mrs. Breckinridge, chairman, and Mrs. Hubbard,
vice-chairman. The resolution was presented in the Senate by Thomas A.
Combs and in the House by W. C. G. Hobbs, both of Lexington and both
Democrats. It passed the Senate by 26 ayes, 8 noes. In the House it
was held in the committee and although three test votes were made in
an effort to bring it out and a majority was obtained on one of them,
a two-thirds vote was necessary and it was not allowed to come to a
vote. No Republican in the Senate gave an adverse vote and only three
in the House. Governor A. O. Stanley (Democrat) used the full strength
of the administration, even invoking the aid of the Kentucky
delegation in Congress, to kill the measure in the House.
This year the Republican and Progressive State conventions endorsed
woman suffrage, the Democrats refusing to do so. At the national
Republican convention in Chicago the Kentucky member of the
Resolutions Committee voted for the suffrage plank in its platform. At
the national Democratic convention in St. Louis all the twenty-six
delegates, on account of the "unit ruling," cast their votes for the
State's rights suffrage plank.
During 1917 suffrage work was displaced by war work, of which Kentucky
suffragists did a large share. They were asked to raise $500 for the
Women's Oversea Hospitals of the National Association and more than
doubled the quota by the able management of Mrs. Samuel Castleman of
Louisville. Under the direction of Mrs. E. L. Hutchinson of Lexington
a plan to raise money for an ambulance to be named in honor of Miss
Laura Clay, the pioneer suffragist, was successfully carried through.
In 1918 for the first time there was every reason to believe that a
resolution to submit a State amendment would pass the Legislature, but
a majority of the State suffrage board voted to conform to the desire
of the National Association to avoid State campaigns and concentrate
on the Federal Amendment and no resolution was presented.
At the State convention, held March 11, 1919, resolutions were adopted
calling upon all Kentucky members of Congress to vote for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment; calling on the Legislature to ratify this
amendment, when passed, at the first opportunity and asking it to
enact a law giving to women a vote for presidential electors. Miss
Clay, who for over thirty years had been the leader of the
suffragists, withdrew from the State association, which she had
founded, and formed a new organization to work for the vote by State
action alone, as she was strongly opposed to Federal action. It was
called the Citizens' Committee for a State Suffrage Amendment and
opened headquarters in Lexington. It issued an "open letter to the
public," an able argument for the State's control of its own suffrage
and an arraignment of interference by Congress, which it declared
would "become possessed of an autocratic power dangerous to free
institutions." It conducted a vigorous campaign against every move for
a Federal Amendment and met the representatives of the old association
at the Republican State convention in May to prevent their securing an
endorsement of it. In an eloquent speech before the platform committee
Miss Clay urged it to reaffirm the State's rights plank in the
National platform and pledge the party to secure the submission to the
voters of a State suffrage amendment and to support it at the polls.
The plank adopted was as follows: "We reaffirm our belief in the
justice and expediency of suffrage for women and call upon our
representatives in the Congress of the United States, in the
Legislature and in all executive positions to use their votes and
their influence for all measures granting political rights to women."
The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress June 4. Both
organizations urged their claims at the Democratic State convention in
September and the platform contained the following plank:
We favor the ratification by the Legislature of Kentucky at its
next session of the amendment to the Constitution of the United
States extending to women the right of suffrage and we urge our
representatives in the Legislature and all executive or other
officers to use their votes and influence in every legitimate way
to bring about the ratification of the same. We pledge ourselves
to support in the next General Assembly, if the Federal Amendment
has not become operative by that time, the submission of an
amendment to the State Constitution granting suffrage to women on
the same terms as to men and when the amendment is submitted to
support it at the polls as a party measure.
Every candidate for the nomination for Governor had stood on a
suffrage platform and the successful Democratic candidate, Governor
James D. Black, defeated at the election by Edwin P. Morrow, was a
staunch and life-long suffragist. When he was filling out Governor
Stanley's unexpired term and he received a telegram in June, with all
other Governors of Southern States, from the Governor of Louisiana,
asking him to oppose ratification of the Federal Amendment, he gave to
Mrs. Breckinridge a ringing interview for use in the press to the
effect that he would not oppose it. Governor Morrow, a Republican, had
always been a friend of woman suffrage in whatever form it was asked.
Kentucky suffragists could easily remember when they could poll but
one vote in Congress--that of John W. Langley. When in 1919 the final
vote was taken on the Federal Amendment but one of the State's ten
votes in the Lower House, that of A. B. Rouse of Covington, was cast
against it. There was one vacancy. Senator George B. Martin voted for
the resolution and Senator J. C. W. Beckham against it. He had voted
against it in February, when, having passed the House, it was lost in
the Senate by a single vote.
RATIFICATION. The November legislative election in 1919 resulted in a
Republican House and a Democratic Senate. The Republicans caucused and
agreed to vote for ratification. Governor Morrow urged it in a
vigorous message personally delivered to the Legislature in which he
said:
A government "of the people by the people" can not and does not
exist in a commonwealth in which one-half of its citizens are
denied the right of suffrage. The women of Kentucky are citizens
and there is no good or just reason why they should be refused
the full and equal exercise of the sovereign right of every free
people--the ballot. Every member of this General Assembly is
unequivocally committed by his party's platform declaration to
cast his vote and use his influence for the immediate
enfranchisement of women in both nation and State. Party loyalty,
faith-keeping with the people and our long-boasted chivalry all
demand that the General Assembly shall break all previous speed
records in ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment and passing
all measures granting political rights to women.
By agreement, a Democrat, Senator Charles M. Harriss, presented the
resolution for ratification in the Senate, and a Republican, Joseph
Lazarus, in the House. On Jan. 6, 1920, the first day of the session,
it was passed by a vote of 30 ayes, 8 noes in the Senate and 72 ayes,
25 noes in the House. The affirmative vote by parties was as follows:
In the two Houses 39 Democrats out of a possible 65, and 63
Republicans out of a possible 73. That any measure should pass on the
first day of the session was unprecedented in Kentucky legislative
history. Democrats were in control of the two Legislatures--1914 and
1916--which defeated the full suffrage measures. Democrats were in
control of the Legislature in 1918 which undoubtedly would have passed
a resolution for a State amendment, a Presidential suffrage bill, or
would have ratified the Federal Amendment had Congress acted in time.
The leaders of both parties by this time had seen a great light!
The delegates who had gathered in Frankfort for the State convention
were entertained at a buffet luncheon by the local suffrage
organization, went in a body to the State House and had the
gratification of seeing the Federal Amendment ratified. A
glorification meeting was held that night at Lexington, twenty-five
miles away, at which Governor Morrow told why the new women voters
should enter the Republican party and Judge C. S. Nunn and Senator
Harriss, leader of the Senate, told why they should enter the
Democratic party. The latter were introduced by former Senator Combs,
who had sponsored the suffrage cause among the Democrats in the last
two Legislatures. The convention closed with an address by Mrs.
Emmeline Pankhurst of England the following night, and on the next day
the officers and members of the association went to Frankfort again to
see the Governor sign the ratification.
As it was not certain that the amendment would be completely ratified
before the general election in November the Legislature decided to
pass a bill giving to women the right to vote for presidential
electors. On March 11 it passed the House and on the 15th the Senate
by almost the same vote given on the Federal Amendment. Only three
Senators voted against it--Thomas J. Gardner of Bardwell, Hayes Carter
of Elizabethtown and C. W. Burton of Crittenden. On the 16th bills
were passed making necessary changes in the election laws to insure
the voting of the women in the primaries and at the regular elections.
Kentucky women who rendered conspicuous service in the lobby work at
Washington under the auspices of the National Suffrage Association
were Mrs. John Glover South, Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Smith, Mrs. Edmund
M. Post, Mrs. Samuel Castleman, Mrs. Charles Firth and Mrs. Samuel
Henning. They were equally helpful in the State political work and
among many others who deserve especial mention are Mrs. James A.
Leech, Mrs. J. B. Judah and Mrs. Robinson A. McDowell. The association
is indebted to Mr. McDowell for legal assistance. An important factor
was the press work of Miss Eleanor Hume.[56]
The organizing of classes in citizenship was begun in the summer of
1919 and the services of a specialist in politics and history, Miss
Mary Scrugham, a Kentucky woman, were secured to prepare a course of
lectures for their use. These were published in the Lexington _Herald_
and supplied to women's clubs, suffrage associations and newly formed
Leagues of Women Citizens, soon to become Leagues of Women Voters.
The Equal Rights Association voted at its convention in January, 1920,
to change its name to the League of Women Voters as soon as
ratification of the Federal Amendment was complete or Presidential
suffrage granted. The league was fully organized on December 15, with
Miss Mary Bronaugh of Hopkinsville chairman.
The first vice-president of the State Equal Suffrage Association, Mrs.
South, was elected as chairman of the Women's Division of the National
Republican Committee, and the second vice-president, Mrs. Castleman,
as Kentucky member of the National Democratic Woman's Committee.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] The History is indebted for this chapter to Madeline McDowell
(Mrs. Desha) Breckinridge, president of the State Equal Rights
Association 1912-1915 and 1919-1920; vice-president of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association 1913-1914.
[56] In addition to the presidents the following served as officers of
the association: Vice-presidents: Mrs. Mary B. Clay, Mrs. Mary Cramer,
Mrs. N. S. McLaughlin, Mrs. John Castleman, Mrs. E. L. Hutchinson,
Mrs. Charles Firth, Mrs. Judah, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Samuel Castleman,
Mrs. Leech, Mrs. McDowell, Mrs. Joseph Alderson, Mrs. F. A. Rothier.
Corresponding secretaries: Miss Anna Miller, Mrs. Mary C. Roark, Mrs.
Alice Carpenter, Miss Clay, Mrs. Herbert Mendel, Mrs. South. Recording
secretaries: Mrs. Emma Roebuck, Mrs. McDowell, Mrs. Firth, Mrs. J. D.
Hays. Treasurers: Mrs. Isabella Shepherd, Mrs. Warfield Bennett, Mrs.
Judah. Auditors: Miss Laura White, Mrs. Charles L. Nield, Mrs. W. F.
Lillard, Mrs. Alderson. Historians: Mrs. Mary Light Ogle, Mrs. M. B.
Reynolds. Press work: Mrs. Obenchain. Members National Executive
Committee: Miss Mary E. Giltner, Mrs. Post, Miss Clay.
CHAPTER XVII.
LOUISIANA. PART I.[57]
The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana is unique inasmuch as it
records largely the activity of one club, an influence, however, which
was felt in the upbuilding of sentiment not alone in Louisiana but in
almost every Southern State. When in 1900 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt on
her accession to the presidency of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association called for conventions in the Southern States it
was found that in Louisiana the State Suffrage Association, formed in
1896 by the union of the Portia and Era clubs, had lapsed because the
former was no longer in existence. The Era Club, however, was
flourishing under the stimulus and prestige gained by the successful
Drainage, Sewerage and Water Campaign of 1899.[58] Mrs. Catt decided
that, while it was a new precedent to recognize one club as a State
association, it would be done in this case. Mrs. Evelyn Ordway was
made president, Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, vice-president; Miss
Jeannette Ballard and Miss Jean Gordon, secretaries, and Mrs. Otto
Joachim, treasurer of the new association at a meeting in May, 1900,
at New Orleans. It went on record at this first meeting as a State's
rights organization, which Mrs. Catt ruled was permissible under the
dual character of the National Association's constitution.
The secretary entered into active correspondence with individuals in
all sections of the State known to be favorable to suffrage, but all
efforts to secure clubs were unsuccessful. The Era Club, therefore,
extended its membership over the State in order that representation in
the national suffrage conventions could be state-wide. It had a
standing Legislative Committee and for thirteen years its activities
constituted the work of a State association. In 1904, Mrs. Merrick,
Louisiana's pioneer suffragist, was made honorary president; Miss Kate
M. Gordon, president; Mrs. James McConnell, vice-president; Mrs.
Armand Romain, corresponding secretary; Miss Jean Gordon, recording
secretary; Mrs. Lucretia Horner (now Mrs. James McBride), treasurer.
There was no change in this board until 1913 except that on the death
of Mrs. Romain in 1908 Mrs. Judith Hyams Douglas was appointed in her
place.
Clubs were formed during the years in various towns, but did not
survive, until in 1913 a league was organized in Shreveport which did
excellent work under its presidents, Mrs. S. B. Hicks, Mrs. S. P.
Weaver and Mrs. J. M. Henry. The first State convention was held Nov.
12, 1913, in New Orleans, and the following officers were elected:
Miss Jean Gordon, president; Mrs. George Wesley Smith, Rayville; Mrs.
James C. Wooten, Monroe; Mrs. Louis Hackenjos, Alexandria,
vice-presidents; Mrs. R. M. Carruth, New Roads, corresponding
secretary; Miss Lois Janvier, New Orleans, recording secretary; Miss
Olivia Munson, Napoleonville, treasurer; Mrs. Fannie Wolfson,
Coushatta, auditor.
This board was unchanged until 1915, when Mrs. Clarence King of
Shreveport became treasurer and Mrs. M. H. Lawless of Garden City and
Mrs. D. C. Scarborough of Natchitoches, auditors. There was no further
change until 1920, when Mrs. McBride became treasurer and Mrs. Horace
Wilkinson took Mrs. Scarborough's place. State conventions met in
Alexandria in 1914 and in Shreveport in 1915. Conferences were held in
twenty-five parishes in anticipation of the proposed constitutional
convention of 1915. A convention was held in Alexandria in July, 1918,
and chairmen were appointed in forty-eight parishes in preparation for
the State amendment campaign.
In reviewing the history of woman suffrage in Louisiana three factors
stand out prominently as influences that molded a favorable public
opinion. These are the national suffrage convention in 1903; the
inauguration of charity campaigns on the lines of political
organization and the forming of the Southern States Woman Suffrage
Conference, the object of which was to place the Democratic party on
record for woman suffrage in this Democratic stronghold of the "solid
South."
In public opinion woman suffrage was largely associated with the
Abolition movement. In 1900 Miss Gordon had accepted an invitation to
address the convention of the National Association in Washington on
the famous Sewerage and Drainage Campaign of women in New Orleans.
Then and there she decided that the most important work before
Louisiana suffragists was to bring this conservative State under the
influence of a national convention. In 1901 she attended another
convention and was elected corresponding secretary of the National
Association. In 1903 she brought its convention to New Orleans and it
proved to be one of the most remarkable in the history of the
association.[59] So impressed was Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president
at large, with the possibilities in the South that she volunteered a
month's series of lectures in the next autumn and many places in
Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas came under the spell of her
eloquence.
The influence of this convention was immediately seen in the
increasing membership of the Era Club. Its leaders recognized that the
best policy to rouse both men and women to the value of suffrage to
the individual and the community was by applied politics in social
service. It had already secured a partial franchise for taxpaying
women and its achievements in the following years made it an
acknowledged power.[60] In 1910 a great charity and educational
benefit was launched for the Anti-Tuberculosis League and the Woman's
Dispensary. A complete plan of organizing with Era Club members as
ward and precinct leaders taught them political organization.
By 1913 the movement for a Federal Suffrage Amendment was growing so
insistent that southern women who were opposed to this method felt the
necessity of organizing to combat it and to uphold the State's rights
principle of the Democratic party. Through the initiative of Miss
Gordon a Call for a conference was sent in August to leading women in
every southern State and signed by twenty-two from almost as many
States asking the Governors to meet in New Orleans for a conference.
It said:
We are united in the belief that suffrage is a State right and
that the power to define a State's electorate should remain the
exclusive right of the State. We recognize that Woman Suffrage is
no longer a theory to be debated but a condition to be met. The
inevitable "votes for women" is a world movement and unless the
South squarely faces the issue and takes steps to preserve the
State's right the force of public opinion will make it mandatory
through a National Constitutional Amendment....
While as Southerners we wish to see the power of the State
retained, yet as women we are equally determined to secure, as of
paramount importance, the right which is the birthright of an
American citizen. We, therefore, appeal to you gentlemen vested
with the power largely to shape conditions to confer with us and
influence public opinion to adopt woman suffrage through State
action. Failing to accomplish this, the onus of responsibility
will rest upon the men of the South if southern women are forced
to support a National Amendment, weighted with the same
objections as the Fifteenth.
It was not expected that the Governors would come, but the desired
publicity was secured and several of them sent representative women.
At the invitation of the Era Club the conference was held in New
Orleans Nov. 10-11, with an excellent attendance. The Southern States
Woman Suffrage Conference was organized with Miss Gordon president. On
May 1, 1914, headquarters were opened in New Orleans in charge of Mrs.
Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania, as executive secretary, who had had
long experience in suffrage organization and press work. For the next
three years Miss Gordon went regularly to these headquarters and gave
her entire time to the promotion of the Southern Conference without
financial remuneration. In October a 20-page magazine, the _New
Southern Citizen_, made its appearance, which became self-supporting
and proved to be a most valuable factor in the work of the conference.
The first convention was held in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Nov. 10, 1914,
just before that of the National American Association in Nashville,
which its delegates attended. It was welcomed by the Mayor, the
president of the Chamber of Commerce and many club presidents.
Delegates were present from twelve States and in addition a number of
distinguished visitors. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont brought with her
Miss Christabel Pankhurst of Great Britain and both made addresses.
About $1,500 were pledged.
Miss Gordon said in her president's address: "The Southern States
Woman Suffrage Conference has for its immediate object to make the
Democratic party declare itself in favor of votes for women in its
next national platform. This, we southern suffragists believe, is the
first step in what will prove a veritable landslide in the South. The
conference therefore recommends to the suffragists of the South the
adoption of a policy of concentration upon the Democratic party to
declare itself."
In December, 1915, a national conference was held in Richmond, Va.
Smaller conferences were held in Atlanta, Greenville, S. C., and
Little Rock. Miss Gordon visited most of the cities of the South to
organize the women. In July, 1916, an executive meeting was held in
St. Louis at the time of the national Democratic convention. Its
Resolutions Committee gave a hearing to the representatives of the
conference, Miss Clay, Mrs. O. F. Ellington of Little Rock, Mrs.
Boyer, Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner of Washington. Miss Gordon made an
extended appeal for an endorsement of woman suffrage in the party
platform and presented a resolution to "secure for women
self-government while preserving to the State a like self-government."
This was not adopted, but the platform did recommend "the extension of
suffrage to the women of the country by the States."
Although the principal object of the conference had been attained, its
leaders hesitated to dissolve it because of its excellent magazine and
work yet to be done. It was maintained until May, 1917, when the
entrance of this country into the World War made its discontinuance
seem advisable.[61]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. Prior to 1904 it was an unheard of thing for women
in Louisiana to take an active part in legislative procedure. A
woman's club, the Arena, had been instrumental in obtaining the first
"age of consent" legislation, but a Unitarian minister had entirely
managed the Legislature. Therefore the tyros who formed the first
Legislative Committee of the Era Club showed their ignorance and
enthusiasm when their program included at least twelve bills which
they proposed to have enacted into law in one session.[62] Without any
friends at court it was with considerable relief that they followed
advice to put them all in the hands of an influential lobbyist. Reform
bills were not in his line and the session was drawing to a close with
nothing done when the Gordon sisters cast precedent and propriety to
the winds, telegraphed to the Senator from their district for an
audience, boarded a morning train for Baton Rouge and descended upon
the Capitol. Article 210 of the State constitution adopted in 1898
made women ineligible to serve in any official capacity. One of the
first acts of the Era Club had been to try to have it amended so as to
allow the appointment of a woman to fill a vacancy on the School
Board. The surprised Senator met them on their arrival, learned the
object of their visit and they will never know whether sympathy,
amusement or curiosity actuated the Committee on Judiciary to whom he
appealed for a hearing, but a few minutes after their arrival they
were pleading their cause before its members. They then called on
Governor Newton Blanchard, who offered to have Article 210 amended to
enable the appointment of a factory inspector, but in their zeal for
the larger object they declined.
1906. Wiser by two years' experience, the Legislative Committee was
glad to accept Lieutenant Governor Jared Y. Sanders's offer of an
amendment for the above purpose, and Miss Jean Gordon was appointed
factory inspector for the city of New Orleans. It was not long before
she realized that the Child Labor law, under which she must operate,
was not worth the paper on which it was written. She then studied the
child labor laws of every State and selected what was best suited to
southern conditions, and put it into form for submission.
1908. The legislative program was limited to the attempt to amend
Article 210, pass a School suffrage bill and the Child Labor bill. The
School suffrage bill, under the skillful management of Senator R. E.
Gueydan, assisted by Senators Albert Estinopal and James Brady and
Lieutenant Governor Thos. C. Barrett, passed the Senate but failed in
the House. The Child Labor bill passed the House but not the Senate.
1910. Senator Gueydan introduced the amendment of Article 210.
Representative S. O. Shattuck introduced the first resolution to
strike out the word "male" from the State constitution, with
instructions from the women to substitute a School or Municipal
suffrage bill if a favorable report was more likely to result. By this
time the women had sufficiently progressed to address a joint suffrage
committee hearing in the House in the presence of an immense audience,
Miss Belle Van Horn, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Douglas, Miss Gordon and labor
representatives presenting suffrage arguments. The School suffrage
bill was substituted and received a unanimous favorable report, but
not the necessary two-thirds vote.
1912. The amendment to Article 210 was introduced by Martin Manion in
the House and William Byrnes in the Senate. In the interim between the
sessions Mrs. O. W. Chamberlain, legislative chairman, had rolled up a
monster petition from all sections of the State and the favorable
report of the committee was followed by the required two-thirds vote
in the House. There seemed no hope in the Senate, but Miss Gordon
appealed to Senator Byrnes to call it from the calendar. There was
active lobbying among the opponents, but it finally passed and was
sent to the voters! In the campaign for it the Newcomb College
Alumnae, the State Nurses' Association and the Federation of Women's
Clubs were very active, but it was defeated.
An interesting phase of this year's session in connection with the
suffrage amendment was the presenting of the idea of Primary suffrage
for women by Miss Gordon at the hearing. She had grown so tired of
hearing from the opponents of woman suffrage that their objection
rested solely upon the fact that negro women would be enfranchised,
that on the part of the Legislative Committee she offered as a
substitute for the full suffrage bill one limiting it to the white
primary elections. This novel offer was received with great applause
by the assembled members of the two Houses, but was not accepted. [See
Arkansas and Texas chapters for Primary suffrage for women.]
1914. The full suffrage bill was introduced by Representative Manion
and a quiet committee hearing held, with representatives from the
State Suffrage Association and the Woman Suffrage Party. It received
60 ayes, 41 noes in the House, but not the necessary two-thirds.
Amending Article 210 had become a city administration measure and was
slated for success. A donation towards a Tuberculosis Hospital in New
Orleans had been made by Mrs. John Dibert and the gift was
municipalized by a condition which required a certain annual revenue
from the city. She desired to be a member of the hospital board, but
was ineligible under this article. The Era Club gave notice that it
would challenge her eligibility and she supported its position. The
long desired amendment was on the way to a successful passage, but
went on the rocks because of the club's campaign against a financial
measure for refunding the city debt known as the Nine Million Bond
issue, in which the provisions for the public schools and the
teachers' pay were totally inadequate and it was to be in effect for
fifty years! The Era Club and the Mothers' Co-operative Club protested
and worked against this political-financial alliance. In retaliation
twenty-four hours before the election the order went to the voters to
defeat the amendment to Article 210, which would have made women
eligible to serve on school and charity boards, and they did so.
1918. Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant recommended in his message the
submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution.
The State association had a resolution for it introduced in the House
by Frank Powell; the Woman Suffrage Party one in the Senate by Leon
Haas, and it passed in both.
CAMPAIGNS. There have been two campaigns in the interest of woman
suffrage in Louisiana, one for preparing for an expected
constitutional convention which would have met in 1915, and the other
in 1918 to amend the State constitution by striking out the word
"male." A special session of the Legislature in 1915 proposed a
convention to revise the constitution and submitted the question to
the voters. Immediately Miss Jean Gordon, president of the State
Suffrage Association, accompanied by Miss Lilly Richardson and Mrs.
Ida Porter Boyer, visited the various parishes and formed working
committees in 40 of the 63. The enthusiastic reception wherever they
went was practical testimony to the sentiment for woman suffrage that
they knew existed and could be utilized if the politicians could be
made to submit the amendment to the voters. The latter rejected the
proposal to hold a convention, but the work done by the women laid the
foundation for the campaign three years later.
In 1918 there was finally submitted for the first time the long
desired amendment to the State constitution to enable women to vote.
To Governor Pleasant is due a great debt of gratitude, for every
influence that he could bring to bear was exerted, not alone to secure
its submission but also its ratification. He had particularly urged in
his Message at the opening of the Legislature the great importance of
the South's realizing the danger threatened from the proposed
submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The State Suffrage
Association was in the midst of opening the campaign when the Woman
Suffrage Party announced that they would retire from all suffrage
activity and devote themselves to Red Cross work. Robert Ewing, member
of the Democratic National Committee, owner of the New Orleans _Daily
States_ and Shreveport _Times_, and a political power, offered his
support if the Woman Suffrage Party would unite with the State
association and leave the Federal Amendment question entirely out of
the campaign. They finally agreed to this and a joint committee was
formed of the president and three capable women in each organization.
Headquarters were opened in New Orleans; the parish committees which
were organized in 1915 were found to be ready for active work. A
petition to be signed was sent to each with a strong official letter
from the Campaign Committee. A bitter three-cornered Senatorial fight
was under way and the women were asked to delay action until after the
September primaries, which they consented to do.
All was ready for beginning a whirlwind campaign on October 1, when
suddenly just before that date the influenza epidemic broke out and no
assembling of people was allowed. To add to the difficulties, instead
of the usual dry, clear weather of this season there came a deluge of
rains that lasted for six weeks and the condition of the roads made it
wholly impossible to do any work in the outlying districts. Thus there
was practically no campaign in the way of making personal appeals to
the voters, but in New Orleans and other cities thousands received
urgent letters from Miss Gordon and other leaders. Notwithstanding
these adverse conditions, the majority against the amendment was only
3,600, nearly all of it in New Orleans, where it was the result of
direct orders from Mayor Martin Behrman, through the ward "bosses" of
a perfectly controlled "machine." From parish after parish in the
State came reports of precincts not even being opened on account of
the epidemic and the weather. There is no doubt that others which
reported an adverse majority were really carried for the amendment. At
a public meeting of protest immediately after Miss Gordon made an
address recalling the glorious history of the Democratic party and
comparing it with this election which had repudiated its highest
principles.
In 1920 the State Suffrage Association stood alone in again having a
resolution introduced for amending the State constitution, all the
other suffrage societies concentrating on the ratification of the
Federal Amendment, which had been submitted by Congress on June 4. It
was presented in the Lower House by L. L. Upton, in the Senate by J.
O. Stewart. They were followed immediately by Representative S. O.
Shattuck and Senator Norris C. Williamson with one to ratify the
Federal Amendment. At the close of the session Miss Jean Gordon issued
the following statement:
To the Friends of Woman Suffrage:
Now that the smoke of battle has cleared ... as president of the
State association I feel that an unbiased statement of facts
should be given in order that the history of woman suffrage in
this State may be correctly recorded. Having been at Baton Rouge
from the opening day of the Legislature until its adjournment I
can give all the facts and some of the reasons for one of the
most remarkable controversies ever held in Louisiana.
The proposed amendment to the State constitution having been
defeated in 1918 by the malevolent influences of the influenza
throughout the State and Mayor Behrman in New Orleans, it was
necessary to have another sent to the voters in 1920.
Congress having submitted a Federal Amendment to the Legislatures
it was to be expected that men and women who believe in
centralizing the voting power in Congress would work for its
ratification, but that those who claimed to be ardent suffragists
would work to defeat State submission after they found the
sentiment for ratification amounted to almost nothing in both
Houses seems incredible. The fact remains, however, that while
the actual defeat of the State amendment was due primarily to
personal animosity on the part of Senator Leopold of Plaquemine
parish, when he realized what he had done he said that if it was
possible to have it re-introduced he would vote for it, thus
giving the necessary twenty-eight votes. After all arrangements
for re-consideration had been made, Senator Louque, a faithful
suffragist of many years' standing, provoked because one of his
bills had been defeated, slipped away and it was again deprived
of the one vote needed.
In the Senate Chamber were those nine Senators who proclaimed all
through the session their intense belief in woman suffrage--so
intense that they wanted the women enfranchised immediately and
they wished to help all the women of the United States--these and
many other reasons were given by them for standing firmly for a
Federal Amendment but they voted against State submission,
knowing the Federal Amendment had been killed overwhelmingly.
Therefore the real defeat of the State amendment must be
accredited to the following nine Senators: Bagwell, Brown,
Cunningham, Hood, Johnston of Bossier, Lawrason, Wear, Williamson
and Wood....
Very different was the spirit among the proponents of the Federal
Amendment in the House. Men who have always been suffragists
voted for both Federal and State suffrage.... When Senators
Craven, Johness, Johnson of Franklin and Durr saw the Federal
Amendment was hopelessly defeated they voted for State
submission. When Mayor Behrman caught the vision of how a Federal
Amendment could help him in the September primary, he had
Senators Davey, Thoele and Roberts vote for it, though it was
reported that all had said no power on earth could ever make them
do it. After it was defeated they continued to vote against the
State amendment. The interpretation put upon their attitude was
that they would not help it because its success would be
considered a victory for Mr. Ewing, as his _Daily States_ had
been the only city paper to stand for State submission. Be it
said to the credit of Senators Boyer, Butler, Clinton, Doussan,
Domengeaux, Dugas, Weil and Wilbert that although avowed
anti-suffragists, they worked hard to secure the submission of
the State amendment while so-called ardent suffragists worked
overtime for its defeat.
LOUISIANA. PART II.[63]
Louisiana had no State organization for woman suffrage when in March,
1913, Mrs. A. B. Singletary of Baton Rouge organized there the State
Equal Suffrage League,[64] and in April Mrs. John T. Meehan organized
the Woman Suffrage Party of Louisiana in New Orleans.[65] Both
enrolled men as well as women, affiliated with the National American
Suffrage Association and worked harmoniously for the enfranchisement
of Louisiana women by State and national legislation. Later the League
became the Sixth District branch of the Party. When the Woman Suffrage
Party was organized its platform contained only a pledge to work for
an amendment to the State constitution, but after affiliating with the
National Association it was pledged to work also for a Federal
Suffrage Amendment, and this was fully understood by the members.
By June 15 the Party, with Mrs. Edgar M. Cahn as State chairman, had
enrolled 300 members. It held open air rallies, organized by
legislative districts, which are known as "parishes," and in the
seventeen wards of Orleans parish congressional chairmen were
appointed by the beginning of 1914. This year the Teachers' Political
Equality Club and the Newcomb College Suffrage Club became branches of
the Party, and the Orleans Parish Branch was organized. Delegates were
sent to the national suffrage convention at Nashville in November.
The first State convention of the Party was held in April, 1915, at
Baton Rouge and Mrs. Meehan was elected chairman. Throughout the
summer suffragists of all groups campaigned vigorously for the
recognition of woman suffrage in the State constitutional convention
expected in the autumn, but the convention itself was voted down at
the polls. A Men's League was formed and among its members were Dr.
Henry Dickson Bruns, W. A. Kernaghan, M. J. Sanders, Solomon Wolff,
Oscar Schumert, I. A. Strauss, J. J. Fineran, Lynn Dinkins, James
Wilkinson, Louis J. Bryan, Captain James Dinkins, L. H. Gosserand,
Rabbi Max Heller and Rabbi Emil Leipziger.
In 1916 the resolution for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the
word "male" again failed to pass when introduced by Frank E. Powell of
De Ridder in the Lower House, though asked for by all the suffrage
organizations, which now included a new group--the Equal Rights
Party--formed by Miss Florence Huberwald. Owing to the absence of Mrs.
Meehan, Mrs. H. B. Myers, vice-chairman, was active head of the party
most of the year. In November Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe Holmes of Baton
Rouge was elected State chairman at the annual convention in New
Orleans. Under her leadership all the groups in accord with the policy
of the National Suffrage Association were merged before the close of
1917, so that the Woman Suffrage Party now included the Equal Suffrage
League, the Equal Rights Party and the Louisiana League for Equal
Suffrage, formed the winter before in New Orleans by Mrs. W. J.
O'Donnell. At the annual convention in New Orleans Mrs. Holmes was
re-elected.
State headquarters, known as Suffrage House, were established in New
Orleans in February, 1918, a large house on St. Charles Avenue, which
was furnished largely through the efforts of Mrs. O'Donnell, who was
in charge. In May a resolution for a State suffrage amendment,
introduced in the Upper House by Senator Leon Haas of Opelousas, was
combined with one brought by Representative Powell in the House, and
passed on June 18, to be submitted to the voters in November. Active
campaigning for its adoption at the polls began in September under a
Joint Campaign Committee of the Woman Suffrage Party and the State
Suffrage Association. In spite of the influenza epidemic thousands of
signatures were obtained to a petition asking Governor Ruffin G.
Pleasant to issue a proclamation calling on the electors to vote for
it. This he did and those in the State at large responded favorably,
but their voice was nullified by the adverse votes cast in the
machine-controlled wards of New Orleans at the behest of Mayor Martin
Behrman, and the amendment was lost by 3,605 votes. The annual
convention held at Suffrage House in New Orleans after the election
chose Mrs. Holmes again for president.
In the winter of 1919 an attempt was made to secure such a
modification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment before Congress as
might meet the objections of southern opponents by removing the fear
of federal interference with elections. An amendment was devised by
Assistant Attorney General Harry Gamble and National Committeeman
Robert Ewing, which would leave its enforcement to the States. They
went to Washington accompanied by Mrs. Holmes and obtained the consent
of the officers of the National Suffrage Association. Senator Gay of
Louisiana introduced it and it was unanimously reported out of the
Committee on Woman Suffrage, but the session was just closing and
consent for a vote on it was refused.
On the social side an "inquiry" dinner dance given at the Country Club
in New Orleans in May to discuss why Louisiana women were not yet
enfranchised was attended by the Governor and many other prominent
politicians from all parts of the State. The annual convention was
held in the autumn at the headquarters, now removed to 417 Royal
Street, and Mrs. Holmes was elected to her fourth term.[66]
The Woman Suffrage Party conducted a vigorous fight for ratification
of the Federal amendment from the opening of the Legislature May 10,
1920, until its defeat on June 15. The final vote for ratification was
given by the Legislature of Tennessee in August, which insured the
complete suffrage for women in all the States. At the annual
convention of the Woman Suffrage Party in New Orleans, December 8-9,
its formal dissolution took place, followed immediately by the
organization of the State League of Women Voters, a branch of the
National League, with Mrs. Philip Weirlein as chairman. The Party's
seven years of work for the enfranchisement of Louisiana women by
State and national legislation were fittingly recognized at a dinner
in the Restaurant de la Louisiane, at which the men and women who had
aided the cause in various ways were honored. Prominent men predicted
happy results of woman's political freedom. Gifts in appreciation of
services were made to Martin H. Manion, Marshall Ballard and Norris C.
Williamson. General Robert Georges Nivelle, the hero of Verdun, was
present and congratulated the women, expressing the hope that ere long
the women of France would gain their political liberty. A silver vase
was presented to the retiring chairman, Mrs. Holmes, from her fellow
workers, and she was unanimously chosen honorary chairman of the new
league.
RATIFICATION. On the eve of departure for the national convention in
February, 1920, Mrs. Holmes, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party,
went to John M. Parker, who had just been nominated for Governor by
the Democratic party, and asked: "If the thirty-sixth State ratifies
the Federal Suffrage Amendment while we are in Chicago will you send
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt a telegram of congratulations?" To this he
answered: "You write a message and sign my name to it--I'll stand for
anything you may say." "If, however, the amendment is not ratified and
it becomes necessary for Louisiana to make the fight for it," Mrs.
Holmes continued, "what must I tell Mrs. Catt you will do?" "Just say
to her," he replied, "that I am a suffragist, and she will
understand." Mr. Parker had joined the Progressive party in 1912 and
in 1916 he had made a campaign as its candidate for vice-president on
a platform that strongly endorsed the Federal Suffrage Amendment, so
his support of ratification was fully expected.
On their return from the convention the leaders of the Party began to
line up the important men of the State by letter and by personal
interviews. Beginning with the ex-Governors, they secured the
endorsement of L. E. Hall, H. C. Warmoth, N. C. Blanchard, Jared Y.
Sanders and W. W. Heard. Against these, however, was the present
Governor, Ruffin G. Pleasant, who took an aggressive stand for State's
rights, although at a public banquet eight months earlier he had told
the women that 'if Louisiana women could not obtain the ballot by
State enactment he would favor Federal action.' Among those who
declared for ratification were J. J. Bailey, Paul Capdeville, F. R.
Grace, T. R. Harris, A. V. Coco, Semmes Walmsley, Rufus E. Foster,
Howell Morgan, Percy Saint, E. N. Stafford, Phanor Breazeale,
Donaldson Caffery and many other men of affairs. The New Orleans
_Item_ had always advocated woman suffrage and the Federal Amendment
especially; the _Times-Picayune_ now approved ratification, as did
nearly all the papers in the State. The Orleans Democratic
Association, which had put Governor Parker in office, passed a
resolution endorsing it. The State Central Committee chairman, Frank
J. Looney, and the National Democratic Committeeman, Arsene Pujo, were
in favor, and North Louisiana was almost solid for it. The opposition
was chiefly in New Orleans, where certain elements under ward-boss
leadership were opposed to woman suffrage in any form.
Mrs. Holmes had a number of interviews with Governor-elect Parker
alone, with other women and with Marshall Ballard, editor of the
_Item_, one of his valued supporters. She was always led to believe
that he would help when the time for it came, although some of his
strongest adherents were opposed to ratification. It was deemed best
to make the fight along non-partisan lines, and so he was asked if it
would be wiser to have two of his own supporters take charge of it or
to have one who had opposed him in the primary campaign. He advised
the latter course and Norris C. Williamson of East Carroll parish, his
opponent, was selected to introduce the bill in the Senate, and S. O.
Shattuck of Calcasieu, a supporter and the introducer of the first
woman suffrage bill in the Legislature in the Lower House. The day
Mayor Martin Behrman came out for ratification, Mr. Parker said to
Mrs. Holmes: "I have always been for woman suffrage any way it could
be obtained and I have never understood a suffragist's taking any
other stand."
Early in March Governor-elect Parker told a group of suffragists that
the women should get together on a program for the Legislature if they
wished to be successful. Acting on this suggestion the Party publicly
invited all suffrage organizations to come together and form a Joint
Ratification Committee. Men and women from all parts of the State
attended this meeting on April 7 and one of the speakers, Charles
Rosen, pledged Parker to ratification, while Marshall Ballard vouched
for the authenticity of his statement. The bodies that composed this
committee were the Natchitoches Equal Rights Club, represented by Mrs.
S. J. Henry; the Shreveport Suffrage Club by Mrs. J. D. and Mrs. W. A.
Wilkinson; the Louisiana branch of the National Woman's Party, by Mrs.
M. R. Bankston, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Mrs. Rosella Bayhi; the Woman
Suffrage Party by Mrs. Joseph Devereux, Mrs. J. E. Friend. Mrs. Holmes
was made chairman, headquarters were taken in Baton Rouge and 46
lobbyists were at the Capitol day and night during the session.
On reaching Baton Rouge the women saw the "anti" forces lining up with
the "State's rights" advocates and witnessed the curious spectacle of
women who had worked for woman suffrage for a generation allying
themselves with the paid organizers of the National Association
Opposed to Woman Suffrage, headed by Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers,
N. Y., its field secretary. Ex-Governor Pleasant and his wife came out
as leaders of the opposition, assisted by the Misses Kate and Jean
Gordon and other advocates of State action.[67] It was early seen that
the fight for the Speakership might endanger the ratification program
and the women were careful to take no part in it. R. F. Walker was
chosen, an unfortunate choice for the suffragists, for he leaned
strongly toward the "anti" side in his rulings, as did Lieutenant
Governor Hewitt Bouanchaud.
Although in his campaign speeches in the autumn Mr. Parker had
repeatedly said: "I am for suffrage; it is almost here, and we must
have it," his platform as sent into some of the parishes had contained
a "State's rights" plank, designed, with or without his knowledge, by
some of his backers, to placate those who feared the Federal Amendment
on account of its supposed effect on the negro question. This was not
known to the ratification leaders and therefore he created great
consternation by announcing shortly before his inauguration that he
"was going to keep his hands off the suffrage fight; that it was a
matter for the Legislature." After the Speakership contest was over he
refused to receive a delegation of women and declined to allow any
member of the Ratification Committee to approach him. On May 10, 1920,
the General Assembly convened in Baton Rouge and on the 11th the rival
woman suffrage bills were introduced. Representative L. L. Upton
presented the State amendment in the House. The Federal amendment
measure was a joint resolution. The attention of the country was
centered on the fight in Louisiana. Thirty-five State Legislatures had
ratified and the Republicans were claiming the credit. Democratic
leaders were very desirous of having it for the final ratification.
Appeals were sent out to prominent Democrats within and without the
State for help in putting it through. Colonel William J. Bryan was
one of the first to respond, urging it to help the Democratic party in
the coming campaign. Senator Williamson called on the new "convert,"
Mayor Behrman, and he appealed to the New Orleans "organization"
Senators, but was not entirely successful.
On May 13 Governor Pleasant submitted the Federal Amendment to both
Houses, with a message which filled several columns of print, urging
them not to adopt it but to pass in its stead the resolution for a
State amendment. On the 16th, Senator N. C. Simmons, a former leader
of the anti-suffrage forces, issued an appeal for ratification,
ridiculing Governor Pleasant's "negro peril" bugaboo. This same day
Mrs. George Bass, chairman of the Women's National Democratic
Committee, came to Baton Rouge at the request of the Joint
Ratification Committee and addressed a large meeting in the Istrouma
Hotel in favor of it.
John M. Parker was inaugurated Governor May 17. The next day he
received a telegram from President Woodrow Wilson which said: "May I
not very respectfully urge your favorable interest and influence in
the matter of the Federal Suffrage Amendment? It seems to be of the
deepest national significance and importance." The Governor answered
that he found a great difference of opinion among the legislators,
large numbers opposed to any form, and, all being Democrats, any
dictation on his part would be unwise.
Efforts made by the "antis" to force an immediate vote on the Federal
Amendment failed and it was decided that all suffrage bills should
take the usual course and be referred to committees for hearings.
Women thronged the capital. On June 2 the House passed the Upton bill
for State suffrage by 93 ayes to 17 noes. That same night a hearing
before the Joint Committees on Federal Relations was held, which
lasted five hours, with some notable speeches. S. O. Shattuck, Phanor
Breazeale, Percy Saint, Judge Rufus E. Foster, Congressman Jared Y.
Sanders, Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Miss Florence
Huberwald, Mrs. Joseph Devereux and Mrs. M. R. Bankston appeared for
the Federal Amendment, while the opposition was voiced by Senator
Stewart, ex-Governor Pleasant, Miss Kate Gordon, and Miss Charlotte
Rowe. On June 4, the Federal Amendment was reported favorably in the
Senate. "Get suffrage out of the way" became the slogan, but neither
side was ready to risk a vote. The Federal bill was passed to third
reading. On June 8 former Speaker of Congress Champ Clark addressed
the General Assembly and urged its ratification as an act of justice
to women and a great benefit to Louisiana and the Democratic party.
The next day the vote on ratification was indefinitely postponed by a
vote of 22 to 19 in the Senate while the Upton bill was returned to
the House calendar.
On June 14, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, wired Behrman urging his help on the ground of party
advantage, to which the Mayor replied that he was doing all he could.
On June 15 the ratification of the Federal Amendment was defeated in
the House by a vote of 67 noes to 44 ayes, and Representative Jordan
then introduced a resolution definitely rejecting it, which was passed
by 60 ayes to 29 noes. The House declined to hear Congressman John E.
Raker of California on the ground that they had heard enough on woman
suffrage. The Upton bill for a State amendment was defeated in the
Senate by 23 noes to 16 ayes on June 17.
On June 18, Representative Conrad Meyer sought to re-introduce the
Federal measure but permission was refused by 61 to 18, while a motion
to re-consider the Upton bill passed the Senate by 18 to 12. Every
possible pressure was brought to bear by the Governor's forces to
secure its passage. All kinds of tactics and tricks were employed but
on July 7 it was again defeated, lacking one vote of the necessary
two-thirds. Those who were making the fight for the Federal Amendment
finally appealed to Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, Democratic nominee
for President, to use his influence. On July 7 he sent a telegram
urging the ratification and saying that "the Legislature owed such
action to the Democratic party." A strong effort was made to obtain
another vote but it failed by 46 ayes, 52 noes, and the Legislature
adjourned on July 8 with the record of having defeated both
ratification and a resolution to let the voters decide on amending the
State constitution for woman suffrage. Senator Williamson issued a
statement saying: "There was never a time during the entire session
when Governor Parker could not have had the Federal Amendment
ratified and he is the only man in the State who could have done it.
He had control of both House and Senate and when he went after
anything with all his force he did not fail to get it."
The last day of the session Mrs. Holmes, chairman of the Joint
Ratification Committee, went to Governor Parker and told him that she
would place the blame where it belonged; that the women had helped put
him in office and he had not stood by them, to which he answered: "Go
to it." She therefore issued a statement on July 15 saying in part:
"The responsibility for the failure of this Federal Amendment to
enfranchise 27,000,000 women, including those of Louisiana, rests on
Governor John M. Parker. This assertion is borne out by every woman
who lobbied at Baton Rouge and by all the fair-minded men. It was in
his power to secure ratification the day the session opened; it was in
his power the day Woodrow Wilson wired and asked his support; it was
in his power when Governor Cox sent his request. The women, who, in
their zeal for a broad-visioned progressive leader of clean, honest
characteristics, did all in their power to elect him Governor--those
are the women who in sorrow today must realize that it is the only
thing he stood for that he did not 'put across.'" ...
FOOTNOTES:
[57] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Kate M. Gordon,
corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association from 1901 to 1909; president of the State Suffrage
Association from 1904 to 1913; president of the Southern States Woman
Suffrage Conference from its founding in 1914 to its end in 1917.
[58] The gaining of partial suffrage for taxpaying women and this
campaign are fully described in the Louisiana chapter in Volume IV of
the History of Woman Suffrage.
[59] For full report see Chapter III of Volume V.
[60] Among the accomplishments of the Era Club were the following:
Publication of the assessment rolls of New Orleans; admission of women
to the School of Medicine in Tulane University; first legislation in
the State against white slavery; the Southern States Woman Suffrage
Conference; equalized division of Tulane scholarships between boy and
girl students.
[61] Further matter on the Conference will be found in Vol. V, Chapter
XXI.
[62] Among those specially identified with legislative work were Mrs.
Celeste Claiborne Carruth, Mrs. McBride, Mrs. Hackenjos, Mrs. Fred W.
Price, Mrs. Wooten, Mrs. Wallace Sylvester, Mrs. George Wesley Smith,
Mrs. Lawless.
[63] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Miss
Ethel Hutson, chairman of publicity for the State Woman Suffrage
Association from its organization in 1913 to its close in 1920.
[64] Other workers were Mrs. Lydia, Wickliffe Holmes, Professor W. O.
Scroggs, Mrs. C. C. Devall, Mrs. C. Harrison Parker, Mrs. Horace
Wilkinson, Mrs. Elmo Bodly, Mrs. D. R. Weller, Alma Sabourin, Nellie
Spyker.
[65] Among charter members of the Woman Suffrage Party were Mrs. E. C.
G. Ferguson, Mr. and Mrs. O. W. Chamberlain, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Myers,
Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Graham, Mrs. Rosella Bayhi, Mrs. M. M. Reid, Mrs.
Margaret Hunt Brisbane, Miss Florence Huberwald, Edward Wisner,
Marshall Ballard, James M. Thomson, Lynn Dinkins, Mr. and Mrs. J. E.
Edmonds, Trist Wood, Ethel Hutson, Mr. and Mrs. N. J. Cosu, all of New
Orleans; Mrs. J. R. Mouton, of Jennings, Katherine Channelle and W. E.
Krebs, of Lake Charles, Mrs. M. M. Bodenbender of Covington.
[66] Among other officers and workers were: Mrs. H. Aschaffenburg,
Mrs. Eva C. Wright, Mrs. J. G. Skinner, Mrs. C. A. Meissner, Mrs. C.
G. Robinson, Mrs. Lee Benoist, Miss E. J. Harral, Mrs. W. W. Van
Meter, Miss Anna Morrell, Mrs. L. B. Elliott, Mrs. J. E. Friend, Mrs.
J. E. Wilkinson, Mrs. A. F. Storm, Mrs. James M. Thomson, Mrs. Reuben
Chauvin.
[67] For their further efforts see Tennessee chapter in this volume.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MAINE.[68]
There were meetings and some organized work for woman suffrage in
Maine from the early '70's but little activity until toward the close
of the century. In August, 1900, a convention of the State association
with a "suffrage day" was held at Ocean Park, Old Orchard Beach,
attended by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association. This year under the presidency of
Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day, organized work was systematically begun, with
meetings in eight or ten towns. State conventions were held annually
for the next twenty years, in October with but four exceptions.
In 1901 special attention was given to enrollment and new sections of
the State were reached in this way. The literature and press
departments also extended their work. The summer assembly at Ocean
Park made "suffrage day" a part of its regular program. At the
convention held at Saco in 1902 plans were made to ask the next
session of the Legislature to grant Municipal suffrage to taxpaying
women. The State Grange passed a resolution in favor of this measure,
placed woman suffrage on its convention program and from that time
gave active support to the movement.
The State convention took place at Auburn in 1903 and the association
became an incorporated body that year. The organization of county
leagues was begun in 1904 and a successful convention was held in
Portland. In 1905 after eight years of efficient service, Mrs. Day
retired from the presidency. She had organized several departments in
the association and was in charge of the campaign to secure Municipal
suffrage for taxpaying women. Mrs. Fannie J. Fernald was elected as
her successor at the convention held at Old Orchard Beach. She
travelled extensively over the State, speaking before Granges and
other organizations and securing their interest and endorsement. She
also had charge of the legislative work.
In 1906 woman suffrage was endorsed by the Maine Federation of Labor,
an important accession. The annual convention again was welcomed in
Saco. At the convention of 1907 in Farmington it was voted to support
the National American Association in its efforts to secure a Federal
Suffrage Amendment. A department of church work was established. In
1908 at the convention in Portland it was arranged to petition
Congress for the submission of this amendment. In 1909 and 1910 the
usual propaganda work was continued under the presidency of Mrs.
Fernald and the usual State conventions were held at Old Orchard and
Portland. In 1911 Mrs. Fernald left the State and the Rev. Alfreda
Brewster Wallace was elected president at the convention in Portland.
The association increased in size and interest and at the convention
of 1912 in Portland Miss Helen N. Bates of that city was elected
president with a very capable board. At this time the association
began to do more aggressive work in personally urging the members of
Congress to support the Federal Amendment. Miss Bates acted as
chairman of the Congressional Committee until the submission of the
amendment, when the favorable vote of every member of the Maine
delegation had been secured.
In 1913 the College Equal Suffrage League was formed to help the
association in its legislative work, with Mrs. Leslie R. Rounds as
president. The annual convention took place at Portland this year and
the next, and in 1915 at Kennebunk. Many newspapers in the State had
become favorable to suffrage and propaganda was carried on through
fairs, moving pictures, street speaking, etc. In 1914 the Men's Equal
Suffrage League was formed with Robert Treat Whitehouse of Portland
president and Ralph O. Brewster secretary. Many leading men of the
State joined this League, which helped in the legislative and campaign
work. The Methodist Episcopal Church endorsed woman suffrage at its
state conference.
In February, 1916, a Congressional conference was held in Portland in
the interest of the Federal Amendment, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt
in attendance and speaking at public meetings with Mrs. Maud Wood Park
and Mrs. Glendower Evans. It was attended by women from all parts of
the State and as a result of the great interest aroused many new
leagues were organized. Miss Bates resigned on account of ill health
in March and her term of office was finished by Mrs. Augusta M. Hunt
of Portland, who had always been deeply interested in the suffrage
cause. The National Association sent Mrs. Augusta Hughston, one of its
field directors, to put into operation a state-wide plan of
organization. At the State convention in Portland in October Mrs.
Katharine Reed Balentine, daughter of the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, was
elected president. The outlook seemed favorable for securing the
submission of a suffrage amendment to the voters. This year Mrs.
Deborah Knox Livingston of Bangor was appointed State organizer and
legislative chairman and work begun for this purpose.
From January 8th to 20th, 1917, the National American Association held
a suffrage school in Portland to prepare for the expected campaign.
The instructors were Mrs. Nettie R. Shuler and Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson,
its corresponding and recording secretaries, and Mrs. T. T. Cotnam.
The subjects taught were Suffrage History and Argument, Organization,
Publicity and Press, Money Raising and Parliamentary Law. This school
was attended by suffragists from different sections of the State.
Later Mrs. Edward S. Anthoine and Mrs. Henry W. Cobb of the State
association carried on suffrage schools in other towns and cities. On
February 9, 10, Mrs. Catt went to Portland to attend a board meeting
of the association at the home of the president, Mrs. Balentine, to
confer on the approaching campaign.
CAMPAIGN. In February, 1917, urged by the suffrage leaders, the
Legislature submitted the amendment. This had been done against the
urgent advice of Mrs. Catt, the national president, who knew of the
slight organization there, and she wrote to them Oct. 9, 1916: "If
Maine goes into a campaign for 1918 with the chances largely against
success, we feel that it would be a general damage to the cause and a
waste of money. If it would plan instead to go into a campaign in
1919, taking three years for preparation, we should feel that it was
far more certain of victory. Let us look at the resources you need to
get and which you have not yet secured: (1) a fund to begin with of at
least $5,000 or $6,000; (2) at least five State officers who can give
practically all of their time, with the determination to win as many
other people to the same sacrifice as they are making themselves. I
most earnestly recommend that you ask your Legislature this year for
Municipal and Presidential suffrage, making a good strong campaign for
this, which it can grant without referring it to the voters."
A copy of this letter was sent to the president of the association and
at its annual convention held in October it was read and a long
discussion followed. A delegate thus reported it: "Only a few
delegates agreed with her. Many women never having been in a campaign
declared that victory was sure. The convention almost unanimously
voted for the referendum and when the vote had been taken and the
cheers had subsided, the grand sum of $500 was raised for the
campaign...." Nevertheless the National Association at its next
convention (still believing that the referendum would not be submitted
until 1918), voted to back the Maine campaign, although against the
judgment of Mrs. Catt.[69]
At the request of the Maine association the National Association made
it possible for Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston to take the position of
campaign manager. Through her extensive work for the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union she was widely acquainted in church, club and
suffrage circles, was experienced in campaigning and an eloquent
speaker. In her report after the election she said: "Maine presented
as difficult a field for the conducting of a suffrage campaign as has
ever been faced by any group of suffragists in any part of the
country. The referendum was submitted the very last of February and as
the election came so early in September only about six months' time
was given us for the campaign. Deducting from this time the months of
April and May, on account of the almost impossible condition of the
roads, and June with its heavy rains, there was left but little more
than three months for active work. Early in the campaign our country
entered the World War, and the whole thought and attention of the
people were given to securing support for the Liberty Bonds, Red
Cross, Navy League and other patriotic and preparedness work. This
greatly handicapped us in the raising of finances and the creating of
organization, the two foundations upon which the structure of a
successful campaign must be built, and the two things which more than
anything else the State of Maine needed, so far as the amendment was
concerned."
A campaign committee was formed from members of organizations in the
State in favor of suffrage, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Federation of Women's Clubs, Men's Suffrage League, Civic League,
Referendum League, the Grange and the State Suffrage Association, and
headquarters were established in Bangor. There were only fourteen
suffrage societies in the State, not all active. Eleven of the sixteen
counties had an organizer in charge for the last six weeks and 269
local committees were formed in the different towns but many of them
were ineffectual, as they were made up of untrained women and the time
was too short to train them. The argument for suffrage, however, was
put before the voters very thoroughly. One hundred thousand were
circularized with the convincing speeches of U. S. Senator Shafroth of
Colorado and later with a leaflet Have You Heard the News? which
carried the strong appeal of the suffrage gains over the entire world.
House to house distribution of "fliers" was made in many communities.
Altogether 1,500,000 leaflets were distributed, ten to every voter in
the State. In hundreds of towns there was absolute ignorance on the
subject. The clergy were circularized three times--over a thousand of
them--the State Grange twice, committees of the political parties and
members of the Legislature twice.
As soon as a committee was organized petition blanks were sent to it
and in this short space of time the names of over 38,000 women of
voting age asking for the suffrage were obtained, nearly all by
volunteer canvassers. The names from each county were sent to the
voters from that county and 100,000 received these lists. The
petitions did a vast amount of educational work among the women and
answered the men who insisted that the women did not want to vote.
The newspapers on the whole were favorable. Especial mention should be
made of the valuable assistance continued throughout the campaign of
the Lewiston _Journal_, Portland _Argus_, Kennebec _Journal_,
Brunswick _Record_ and Waldo County _Herald_. The Portland Express
gave editorial support. The Bangor Commercial, owned and edited by
John P. Bass, made a bitter fight against the amendment and refused
generally to publish even letters on the other side. It would not
publish President Wilson's letter even as a paid advertisement. From
July 1 to September 10 Mrs. Rose L. Geyer, a member of the staff of
the _Woman Citizen_, official organ of the National Suffrage
Association, conducted the publicity work in connection with Miss
Florence L. Nye, the State press chairman. On August 18 the Lewiston
_Journal_ issued a supplement for the State association, edited by
Miss Helen N. Bates, of which 65,000 copies were distributed through
twenty-two newspapers.
President Wilson sent a letter to Mrs. Livingston on September 4
appealing to Democratic voters as follows: "May I not express through
you my very great interest in the equal suffrage campaign in Maine?
The pledges of my party are very distinct in favor of granting the
suffrage to women by State action and I would like to have the
privilege of urging all Democrats to support a cause in which we all
believe." On September 8 former President Roosevelt sent the following
telegram addressed to the Campaign Committee: "I earnestly hope that
as a matter of plain justice the people of Maine will vote 'yes' on
woman suffrage."
The letter and telegram were put on the moving picture screens, which
were also used in other ways for propaganda. The poster sent by the
National Association and those printed by the Campaign Committee,
fastened on trees, fences, windows and every available space, carried
the message to all passers by. Mrs. Livingston said in her report: "We
can not express too gratefully our appreciation of the value of the
work accomplished by the experienced organizers sent to us by the
National Association and by Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island; of that of Mrs. Mary G. Canfield of
Vermont, who gave her services for one month; and of the untiring and
successful labors of Mrs. Augusta M. Hunt, who had charge of York and
Cumberland counties."
The entire State was thoroughly covered by public meetings, over 500
being held during the last three months. It would be impossible to
give the names of all who spoke at these meetings but among the more
prominent were Governor Carl E. Milliken, U. S. Senator Bert Fernald,
former Senator Charles F. Johnson, Representative Ira G. Hersey,
former Representative Frank E. Guernsey; among the members of the
Legislature and other influential men, former Attorney General W. R.
Pattangall, Judge Robert Treat Whitehouse, Ralph O. Brewster, Frank W.
Butler, Daniel A. Poling, the Rev. Arthur L. Weatherly. On July 23,
24, in Augusta, and July 25, 27, in Bangor, Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Shuler
addressed mass meetings in the evenings and held conferences with the
workers through the days. In September Mrs. Catt gave a week to
speaking at public meetings in various cities. Other speakers were
Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, Dr. Lee Anna Starr,
Mrs. Sara A. Gilson, Miss Emma L. McAlarney, Miss Anne E. Coughlin and
the Misses Loitman. The members of the Men's League were active and
helpful. The mass meetings were well attended and in all the cities
and many of the towns street meetings were very successful. Mrs.
Livingston travelled more than 20,000 miles in the State, delivered
150 addresses and raised over $4,000.
Not in any other State campaign had the women anti-suffragists taken
so conspicuous a part. There was a society of considerable social
prominence in Portland and the associations in Massachusetts and New
York sent nearly twenty speakers and workers, all women except J. B.
Maling of Colorado and Charles McLean of Iowa, whose utterances had
more than once been repudiated by the men and women of their States.
Mrs. James W. Wadsworth, Jr., president of the National Association,
addressed parlor meetings. Toward the end of the campaign their
numbers became much less, as they learned that the "machines" of both
political parties expected to defeat the amendment.
The election took place Sept. 10, 1917, and the amendment received
38,838 noes, 20,684 ayes--lost by 18,154, the negative majority nearly
two to one. About half as many men voted for it as the number of women
who signed a petition for it. Mrs. Livingston gave as the principal
reasons for the defeat: 1. Inherent conservatism and prejudice. 2.
Resentment at the "picketing" of the White House by the "militant"
suffragists. 3. Briefness of the campaign. 4. Inability because of
lack of organization to reach the rural vote. 5. Reactionaries of both
parties uniting in opposition.[70]
In her summing up Mrs. Livingston said: "Without the aid of the
National American Association the campaign would have been impossible.
The magnificent generosity with which it furnished speakers,
organizers, posters and literature will make the women of Maine
forever its debtors.[71]
At the convention of the State Association in September, 1917, in
Augusta, Miss Mabel Connor was chosen president and at the conventions
of 1918 in Lewiston and 1919 in Portland was re-elected. At the
convention in October, 1918, having recovered somewhat from its
defeat, the association voted to introduce a bill for the Presidential
suffrage in the next Legislature in 1919. The Legislative Committee
consisted of Mrs. Balentine, chairman; Miss Connor, Miss Bates, Mrs.
Pattangall, Mrs. Cobb and Mrs. Guy P. Gannett, with Miss Lola Walker
as executive secretary to the chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The State Suffrage Association and the State
Woman's Christian Temperance Union always worked for woman suffrage
measures in the Legislature in cordial cooperation, beginning in 1887.
1901. Suffrage bills did not come out of committee.
1903. A bill was introduced for Municipal suffrage for tax-paying
women by Representative George H. Allan of Portland. The Joint
Standing Committee eliminated "taxpaying" and reported a bill giving
Municipal suffrage to all women. The State Suffrage Association did an
enormous amount of work in behalf of this bill, sending letters to
15,000 women representing 239 cities and towns who were paying taxes
on approximately $25,000,000. Several thousand answers urging the bill
were received, coming from every county and from 237 of the cities and
towns. It was lost in the Senate by a tie and in the House by a vote
of 110 noes, 29 ayes.
1905, 1907, 1909, no suffrage bills were reported out of committee.
1911. Four members of the Judiciary Committee made a minority report
in favor of the suffrage measure and the House voted to substitute the
minority report but the Senate refused to concur.
1913. A new resolve asking for submission of a suffrage amendment was
drafted by George H. Allan and introduced in the Senate by Ira G.
Hersey, which gave a vote of 23 ayes, 6 noes. In the House the vote
was 89 ayes, 53 noes--only six more votes needed for the necessary
two-thirds.
1915. A joint resolution to submit a full suffrage amendment passed
the Senate by 26 ayes, 4 noes; the House vote by 88 ayes, 59 noes--ten
more votes needed for the two-thirds. Introduced by Representative
Lauren M. Sanborn.
1917. The resolution was adopted in the House February 21 by 112 ayes,
35 noes; unanimously adopted by the Senate February 22. In signing it
the next day Governor Carl E. Milliken said to the suffrage leaders:
"You have appealed to reason and not to prejudice. Your campaign has
been a very fine example of what a campaign should be." The amendment
was defeated at the polls in September.
1919. In March an Act granting women the right to vote for
Presidential Electors, prepared by George H. Allan, was introduced in
the Senate by Guy P. Gannett of Augusta and in the House by Percival
P. Baxter of Portland. The joint committee by 8 to 2 reported "ought
to pass." The hearing before the Judiciary Committee was called one of
the best ever held. Lewis A. Burleigh of Augusta, editor of the
Kennebec _Journal_, and Professor Frank E. Woodruff of Bowdoin College
made the principal speeches. Telegrams were read from U. S. Senator
Fernald and Representatives Ira G. Hersey, John A. Peters and Wallace
H. White, Jr., urging the passage of the bill. The "antis" were
present in force and made a hard fight. They were fully answered by
Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker of Connecticut. An effort was made to attach
a clause to the bill referring it to the voters but it was thwarted,
Senator Leroy R. Folsom of Norridgewock making a strong speech against
it. In the House a still more determined effort was made to secure a
referendum but it did not succeed. Speeches were made by Frederick W.
Hinckley, Percival F. Baxter and Elisha W. Pike, legislators, and Mrs.
Katharine Reed Balentine, chairman of the Legislative Committee, and
Miss Mabel Connor, president of the State Suffrage Association. On
February 26 the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 25 ayes, 6 noes.
On March 19 it passed the House by 85 ayes, 54 noes.
The favorable vote was obtained after six months of quiet, continuous
and intensive political work by the Legislative Committee. Members of
the Legislature worked for the success of the bill; the Governor
supported it and the press was largely in favor.
The anti-suffragists immediately announced their proposal to bring the
Presidential Suffrage Law before the voters under the initiative and
referendum, upon petition of at least 10,000 legal voters filed within
a specified time. The effort to secure these names lagged and without
doubt would have been given up had it not been for Frank E. Mace,
former State Forest Commissioner, who organized committees all over
the State at the eleventh hour and petitions bearing 12,000
signatures were filed July 3, within 90 days after the Legislature
adjourned, as required. As there was doubt about the constitutionality
of this referendum, the State Supreme Court, on July 9, 1919, was
requested by Governor Milliken to decide. On August 6 the Court
rendered its decision that the Act came within the provisions of the
initiative and referendum. As the petition did not ask for a special
election the Governor sent out a proclamation for the referendum to be
submitted at the next general election Sept. 13, 1920. The Federal
Suffrage Amendment was declared to be adopted on August 26 but there
was no way in which the referendum could legally be omitted from the
ballot. Therefore on September 13 the women, already having full
suffrage, went to the polls to vote on getting partial suffrage and
the official count showed 88,080 ayes, 30,462 noes.
RATIFICATION. Governor Milliken called a special session of the
Legislature for November, 1919. In his message he recommended the
ratification of the Federal Amendment in the strongest possible
manner, saying that if only one woman in Maine wanted to vote she
should have the chance. The anti-suffrage forces of the entire country
were concentrated on Maine at this time to prevent ratification and it
was with the greatest difficulty that a movement to postpone action
until the regular session was defeated. The amendment was ratified in
the Senate on November 4 by 24 ayes, 5 noes; in the House on November
5 by 72 ayes, 68 noes. After the vote was taken an attempt to
reconsider was made but was unsuccessful.
The same Legislative Committee of women that had charge of the
Presidential bill had charge of the ratification.
* * * * *
At the annual convention of the State Suffrage Association in Portland
in October, 1919, it was voted to hold a School for Citizenship at
Bates College in August, 1920. Mrs. George M. Chase was made chairman
of the Committee of Arrangements and the work was largely carried out
by Miss Rosamond Connor, 100 women from many parts of the State
attending and deriving much benefit. Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker was the
principal instructor. At a meeting of the association in Augusta on
November 12 it was merged into the League of Women Voters with Miss
Mabel Connor as chairman.
Suffrage work in Maine was carried on for many years in the face of
the greatest obstacles but there was always a small group of devoted
women willing to make any sacrifice for the cause, who carried the
torch until another group could take it, and every step gained was
fought for. The history would be incomplete without mention of the
Portland Equal Franchise League, of which Mrs. Arthur L. Bates was
president, which for many years was the backbone of the State
association. The list of State officers who freely gave their services
is too long to publish. Among other prominent workers not already
mentioned were Dr. Jennie Fuller of Hartland; Mrs. Zenas Thompson and
Miss Susan Clark of Portland; Mrs. Isabel Greenwood of Farmington;
Miss Anna L. Dingley and Miss Alice Frost Lord, connected with the
Lewiston _Journal_.[72]
Among the men not mentioned elsewhere, who advocated woman suffrage in
the face of criticism and with no advantage to be gained, were Judge
William Penn Whitehouse and Obadiah Gardner of Augusta; Leonard A.
Pierce of Portland; L. B. Dessy of Bar Harbor; E. C. Reynolds of South
Portland.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Caroline Colvin,
Professor of History in the State University, Miss Helen N. Bates,
president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, 1912-1916, and Miss
Mabel Connor, president, 1917-1919.
[69] The above paragraphs have been copied for the sake of historical
accuracy from an official report of the national corresponding
secretary.--Ed.
[70] Mrs. Clarence Hale, State president of the anti-suffrage
organization, issued the following: "The large majority vote cast
against suffrage today must indicate, as did the great vote of
Massachusetts in 1915, that the East is not in favor of the entrance
of women into political life. The result should satisfy the
suffragists for all time and they should now practice the principles
of democracy and fairness, which they are so ready to preach, by
refraining from further disputing the will of the people.... We can
now return to give our services to the State and the nation in woman's
normal way."
On November 7 the "East" spoke again when the voters of New York by a
majority of 102,353 gave full suffrage to women.
[71] Besides paying the expenses of the suffrage school, the National
Association paid the salary of Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston as
campaign manager; the salary of Miss Lola Walker from February 10 to
September 10; the salaries of eight other organizers who worked for
varying periods and the expenses of four; for 120,000 Shafroth
speeches; circularized 1,200 of the Protestant and Catholic clergy;
prepared especially for Maine 125,000 baby fliers and 100,000 copies
of Have You Heard? and furnished envelopes and stamps for them; 14,000
pieces of literature for advanced suffragists; 1,000 copies of Do You
Know? to circularize the politicians; 400 each of thirteen different
kinds of posters; 500 war measure fliers; 2,000 blue and yellow
posters. The Leslie Commission contributed the services of Mrs. Geyer
for press work from July 1 to September 10. This campaign cost the
National Association $10,282 and the Leslie Commission $4,986, a total
of $15,268.--Ed.
[72] Among the active workers in the Anti-Suffrage Association were
Mesdames John F. A. Merrill, Morrill Hamlin and George S. Hobbs, all
of Portland; Norman L. Bassett, John F. Hill, and Charles S. Hichborn,
all of Augusta; George E. Bird, Yarmouth; Miss Elizabeth McKeen,
Brunswick.
Among the men actively opposed were the Rev. E. E. Newbert, Benedict
F. Maher, Samuel C. Manley, Charles S. Hichborn, all of Augusta;
ex-Governor Oakley C. Curtis, of Portland; Governor-elect Frederick H.
Parkhurst, of Bangor; U. S. Senator Hale, opposed but finally voted
for the Federal Suffrage Amendment.
CHAPTER XIX.
MARYLAND. PART I.[73]
When the fourth volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1900
it left the Maryland association just eleven years old. Since 1894,
when the Montgomery County and the Baltimore City Associations united,
it has been represented by accredited delegates in every national
convention. These thirty-one years of organized effort by no means
represent all of the suffrage agitation in the State.[74]
As Baltimore is the only large city and contains more than half the
population of the State it is not surprising that this city has been
the real battleground of the movement. Twenty-five State conventions
have been held here, continuing one or two days, and two State
conferences of two days each. The first of the conferences was
arranged by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the new national president, and
held in Baltimore in 1900, at which time Miss Susan B. Anthony was the
guest of honor and was presented with a purse of gold for her 80th
birthday by the Maryland women. The second conference was held in
1902. The speakers at these conferences besides the national officers
were Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Annie L. Digges of Kansas,
Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., Dr. Cora Smith Eaton of
Minneapolis and Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago. The day sessions
were devoted to business and discussions, followed by addresses in the
evening. The State convention of 1901 met in the Friends' Meeting
House; that of 1902 in Heptasophs Hall, with a bazar and supper; that
of 1903 in the Friends' Meeting House. The local speakers were Dr. O.
Edward Janney, R. Henry Holme, Lizzie York Case, Annie Davenport, Emma
Maddox Funck and Mary Bentley Thomas. Out of town speakers were Mrs.
Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president at large; Harriet
May Mills of New York and Emma M. Gillett, a lawyer of Washington, D.
C. The convention of 1904 met in the Church of the Disciples. A supper
was served between sessions and Dr. Shaw and the Rev. Peter Ainslie
spoke to crowded houses at night.
The convention of 1905 was held in the Harlem Avenue Christian Church.
Memorial services were held for George W. Catt, husband of the
national president. The following departments of work were adopted:
Peace and Arbitration, Church, Enrollment, Finance, Legislation and
Press. Dr. Shaw spoke in the evening on The New Democratic Ideal.
Invitations were given in 1904 and 1905 to the National American
Suffrage Association to hold its annual convention in Baltimore. The
second was accepted and the convention took place Feb. 7-13, 1906.
Half of the $1,200 raised for it was given to the National
Association. Most of the delegates were entertained in homes. The
meetings were held in the Lyric Theater and the audiences at the
evening sessions numbered from 1,500 to 3,000. The State association
sent out 20,000 invitations. Music was provided for every session by
the Charles M. Stieff Piano Company and clergymen came from various
churches for the opening devotional services. Three men gave unlimited
time and assistance to the work of the convention, Dr. J. William
Funck, Dr. Janney and Charles H. Holton. As this was the native city
of Miss Mary Garrett and Dr. M. Carey Thomas they united as hostesses
of the association during the convention and thereafter became
important factors in the national work.[75] This was the last
convention attended by Miss Anthony, who died a month later. A
memorial service was held in Baltimore, the following taking part: the
Rev. Alexander Kent of Washington, Mary Badders Holton, Mrs. Funck,
Mrs. Janney, Mrs. Holme and Miss Maddox. Music was furnished by the
Cecilian quartette of women's voices.
The State convention of 1906 was held in the Friends' Meeting House,
addressed by Ellen Spencer Mussey of Washington. In 1907 the
convention met in Arundell Hall November 21 and in the Hampden
Methodist Church the 22nd. The afternoon program included interesting
talks by six Baltimore men--Henry White, Dr. Funck, Dr. Janney, R.
Henry Holme, State Forester Albert M. Beasley and the Rev. B. A.
Abbott, pastor of the Harlem Avenue Christian Church. A large number
of fraternal delegates were present. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Boston
spoke at both evening sessions.
In 1908 the annual meeting was held in McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins
University, with Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Maud Nathan of New York
and Rachel Foster Avery of Philadelphia as speakers. Dr. Lewellys F.
Barker presided at the evening meeting. In 1909 the convention took
place in the Baltimore Business College, Nov. 23, 24, with Dr. Barton
O. Aylesworth of Colorado and the Rev. John Roach Straton of the
Seventh Baptist Church as the orators at the evening sessions.
Memorial services were held for Henry B. Blackwell. A supper and bazar
were pleasant features. In 1910 the convention was held in Osler Hall,
Cathedral Street, with both sessions devoted to business. A noteworthy
event of the year was the election of Miss Sarah Richmond, a pioneer
suffragist, as president of the State Teachers' Association, the first
woman to be accorded this honor in the fifty years of its existence.
Prizes of $25 were offered for essays on woman suffrage by girls in
the high school.
At the convention of 1911 in Heptasophs Hall the California victory of
October 11 was celebrated with a banquet attended by 400 men and
women, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Washington presiding. The meeting on
the next evening was addressed by Miss A. Maud Royden of London on The
Economic, Spiritual and Religious Aspect of Woman Suffrage. During the
year a leaflet had been issued entitled Opinions of Representative Men
of Maryland on Woman Suffrage, through Miss Mary B. Dixon, chairman of
publicity, and 600 suffrage posters were placed in the counties. In
Baltimore they were made into double faced placards and men were
employed to carry them through the business sections. Suffrage
petitions and resolutions had been endorsed by the State Federation of
Labor, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Ladies of the Maccabees,
Grange and Jewish Council of Women.
The convention of 1912 was held in the Baltimore Business College, the
afternoon devoted to discussions of plans of work, reports, etc.,
followed by a supper and bazar. A report was given of the organization
of a Men's League for Woman Suffrage by Dr. Donald R. Hooker, Dr.
Funck, Dr. Janney, the Rev. James Gratten Mythen, Dr. Warren Lewis,
Jacob M. Moses, S. Johnson Poe, Frank F. Ramey and William F. Cochran.
In the evening there was a debate on the enfranchisement of women by
the boys of the Polytechnic Institute, Samuel M. North, a member of
the faculty and a pioneer suffragist, presiding. At the convention of
1913 the twenty-fourth anniversary of the State association was
celebrated in Veteran Corps Hall with a supper, dance and addresses by
Laura Clay of Kentucky, Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, Ella S.
Stewart of Illinois and Lucy Burns of New York. The convention of 1914
was held in the Royal Arcanum Building. The speakers were Mrs. Robert
LaFollette of Wisconsin, Mrs. Nathan of New York, Mrs. Louis F. Post
of Illinois and Mr. Western Star. It was reported that at the great
suffrage parade held the preceding March in Washington Maryland had
the largest delegation.
The business session of 1915 was held in the W. C. T. U. Building and
the evening session in the Universalist Church, whose pastor, the Rev.
C. Clifton Clark, spoke on the pro-suffrage side. This year a union of
all the organizations in the State was effected under the name of the
Woman Suffrage Party of Maryland. Mrs. Funck was elected president and
served two years.
The annual meeting of 1916 was held on the lawn at the home of
Elizabeth Bruce Gwynn; that of 1917 on the grounds of the Young
Woman's Christian Association; in 1918 at Tolchester Beach and in 1919
at the home of Evelyn Albaugh Timanus. The workers during these years
always were volunteers, who served without financial compensation. The
association is indebted for the past ten years to Mary Elizabeth Ward
for all stenographic work and to Margaret A. Maddox for most of the
publicity work.
Among those who have represented their counties in State conventions
are the following: Montgomery county, Mary Bentley Thomas, Sarah
Miller, Rebecca Miller, Mary E. Moore, Mary Magruder; Baltimore
county, Elizabeth Herring, Josephine E. Smith, Julia F. Abbott, Anna
S. Abbott, Ella Warfield, Kate Vanhorn, Mrs. Charles Weed, Mrs. James
Green, Mary C. Raspe, Ethel C. Crosby; Harford, Annie H. Hoskins,
Lydia Reckord, Eliza Edell; Carroll, Maggie Mehring; Cecil, Alice
Coale Simpers; Somerset, Florence Hoge; Caroline, Miss Eliza
Messenger; Anne Arundel, Mrs. Wilhelmina Nichols; Howard, Miss
Elizabeth B. Wilson.
BALTIMORE CITY CLUB. For more than twenty years this club averaged
from four to twenty public meetings annually in theaters, churches and
suffrage headquarters. Scores of business and executive meetings were
held and sociables, suppers, lawn fetes, banquets, excursions and
bazars were given. The club opened the first headquarters in 1902 at
107 West Franklin Street, one of the city's noted thoroughfares. In
1908 they were established on North Gilmore Street, West Baltimore,
and in 1912 on the corner of Baltimore and Carey Streets. At both
localities the plate glass windows were decorated with pictures of
suffrage leaders, cartoons, platforms of political parties and
literature; afternoon tea was served and public meetings held at
night. It also inaugurated Sunday afternoon meetings which became very
popular and it was responsible for bringing to Baltimore many men and
women of national and international distinction. The first English
"militant" to speak in Baltimore was Mrs. Annie Cobden Sanderson, on
My Experience in an English Jail, in January, 1908, in the Christian
Temple, the Rev. Peter Ainslie, the pastor, introducing the speaker,
who made a profound impression. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst came next,
speaking in Osler Hall on Ideal Democracy, followed by Sylvia
Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden, the latter speaking at the Seventh
Baptist Church, the pastor presiding.
In 1909 at a mass meeting one Sunday afternoon in the Lyric Theater
an audience of over 2,000 was present, more than half of them men,
with Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Florence Kelley the speakers; Judge Jacob M.
Moses of the Juvenile Court presided and a number of men of
distinction were seated on the platform. Mrs. Catt spoke at a mass
meeting in the Academy of Music in March, 1913, at which Miss Eliza H.
Lord of Washington, D. C., presided and Senator William E. Borah of
Idaho was a guest. Other Sunday afternoon meetings were held in
Ford's, Albaugh's, the Garden and the New Theaters with well known
speakers. Baltimore clergymen assisting at these meetings, besides
those already mentioned, were the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Ellis and the Rev.
Dr. J. W. Wills; the Reverends Kingman Handy, Henry Wharton and W. H.
Baylor of the Baptist Church; George Scholl and Thomas Beadenkoph of
the Lutheran Synod; Richard W. Hogue and George W. Dame of the
Episcopal, E. L. Hubbard of the Methodist and Wynne Jones of the
Highlandtown Presbyterian Churches.
Through the State Woman Suffrage Association and the Baltimore City
Club much educational work was done from 1900 to 1910 in the way of
public and parlor meetings. The pictures of suffrage leaders were
placed in the public schools. The History of Woman Suffrage and the
Life of Susan B. Anthony were given to public libraries. Boys and
girls were trained for suffrage debates and prizes given for essays.
Subscriptions were solicited for _Progress_ and the _Woman's Journal_;
press work was pushed; opportunities were sought to speak before all
kinds of organizations and there was a wide distribution of suffrage
literature. Handsomely engrossed resolutions were presented in 1902 to
Senator Jacob M. Moses in appreciation of his having introduced the
bill in the Legislature to permit women to practice law in Maryland;
and to Miss Maddox, the first to be admitted to the bar, a gold pin
bearing the State coat-of-arms as an expression of esteem for her
onerous work in securing its passage.
In 1906 and thereafter by specially appointed committees suffrage
planks were requested in the platforms of the political parties but
with no success. In 1907 a delegation appeared before the State
Federation of Labor asking for its endorsement of woman suffrage,
which was refused.
For 1908 the slogan was, Convert the public school teachers. To this
end a mass meeting was held in Baltimore with Miss Grace C. Strachan,
a district superintendent of the public schools of New York; the Rev.
Olympia Brown of Wisconsin and Mrs. Emma Smith Devoe of the State of
Washington as speakers. Mrs. Funck attended tri-county conventions of
teachers, speaking on woman suffrage and distributing 5,000 leaflets.
Three women attended the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee
of Congress in the interest of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Funck
addressing the committee. Independence Day was observed by a parade
and street speaking by Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Timanus and others.
In 1911 the first debate on woman suffrage took place before the Men's
Club of the Harlem Park Methodist Church, Mrs. Funck taking the
affirmative side against two members of the Anti-Suffrage Society,
Mrs. Francis T. Redwood and Mrs. Haslup Adams. The following year
another debate was held at the State Normal School by the pupils. In
both instances the affirmative won.
In 1914 a large suffrage bazar was held under the auspices of all the
clubs in the Fifth Regiment Armory with good financial results. This
year the association entered the political arena, the logical
culmination of previous years of work. Legislation and Publicity was
the slogan. It specialized in ward work, besieged legislative and
political leaders with telegrams and letters, visited their offices
and homes, watched at the polls, worked to defeat anti-suffrage
candidates; addressed shop and factory employees, spoke on street
corners and at county fairs, made use of suffrage posters and unique
advertisements and had parades.
The State Woman Suffrage Association has had but two presidents, Mary
Bentley Thomas of Ednor, 1894-1904 and Emma Maddox Funck, 1904-1920.
The latter was president of the Baltimore City Society 1897-1920.
Others who served as State officers ten years and more were Mary
Badders Holton, Evelyn Albaugh Timanus, Etta H. Maddox, Anne Webb
(Mrs. O. Edward) Janney, Pauline W. Holme, Mary Young Taylor, Edna
Annette Beveridge, Nellie C. Cromwell, Florence E. Barnes, Mary E.
Moore, Margaret Smythe Clark and Annie H. Hoskins. Space will not
permit the names of the many women who were loyal and helpful during
these years. Women were not left entirely alone to fight the battle
and many men besides those mentioned assisted and encouraged.
The Maryland Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was organized in
Baltimore in 1911, opening its first headquarters in North Charles
Street with Mrs. N. C. Talbott as executive secretary. Later there was
some organization in the counties. The members through public
meetings, legislative hearings and distribution of literature
vigorously carried on their opposition to women's enfranchisement. The
society was affiliated with the National Anti-Suffrage Association and
was organized for the purpose of fighting the movement to enfranchise
women by both Federal and State amendments. The presidents were Mrs.
John Redwood, Mrs. Oscar Leser, Mrs. Rufus Gibbs and Mrs. Robert
Garrett, the last named serving until after the Federal Amendment was
adopted. Other women active in opposition were Mrs. Michael Wild, Mrs.
Rosalie Strauss, Mrs. W. P. E. Wyse, Mrs. P. Lea Thom, Mrs. Coyle
Haslup Adams, Mrs. George A. Frick and Mrs. William L. Marbury. This
association gave substantial aid in money and other ways to the
Maryland legislators who went to Virginia, North Carolina and
Tennessee to work against the ratification of the Federal Amendment by
their Legislatures.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Maryland Woman Suffrage Association in
connection with its suffrage activities worked in the Legislature for
other progressive measures, among them the use of the public schools
for social centers; equal pay for equal service; appointment of women
on boards of education and on all public institutions; the abolition
of capital punishment; initiative and referendum; co-education;
abolition of child labor.
1906. Legislators declined to introduce any suffrage measure and
treated the request as a joke.
1907. A special committee appointed by the Legislature to revise the
election laws was asked that the word "male" be stricken out. No
attention was paid to the request.
1910. The resolution for submitting an amendment was framed by Etta H.
Maddox, introduced by Delegate William Harry Paire, the Republican
floor leader, and referred to the Committee on Constitutional
Amendments. The hearing was held in the House of Delegates at
Annapolis on February 24 before the committee and an audience that
taxed the chamber's capacity. Miss Maddox presided and introduced the
speakers--Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage
Association; the Rev. John Roach Straton, the Rev. Peter Ainslie,
Attorney John Grill, Dr. Flora Pollack, Mrs. Mary Badders Holton, Mrs.
Funck, the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, Dr. J. William Funck and
Miss Belle Kearney of Mississippi. An evening meeting also was held in
the same place in the interest of the amendment. On March 24 Carville
D. Benson of Baltimore county moved to lay it on the table which was
done by a vote of 61 ayes, 18 noes. No action was taken by the Senate.
1912. All the suffrage societies united in asking for the submission
of a State amendment for full suffrage. Their best speakers appeared
before the committees. A petition was presented to both Houses, signed
by 30,000 voters, but it polled only 22 affirmative votes in the
House. Soon after a limited suffrage bill, sponsored by the Equal
Suffrage League, failed by a vote of 16 noes, 9 ayes in the Senate.
1914. The amendment resolution was introduced in the House by Charles
H. McNab of Harford county and in the Senate by William Holmead of
Prince George county. It was supported by all the suffrage societies,
and ably advocated but lost by 34 ayes, 60 noes in the House and
defeated in the Senate. A resolution introduced in the Senate asking
for the full suffrage for women with an educational and property
qualification, endorsed only by the Equal Suffrage League, failed to
get a hearing. One in the Senate requiring a literacy test only was
not reported.
1916. The constitutional amendment for full suffrage was introduced in
the House by Lloyd Wilkinson (Democrat) of Baltimore and in the Senate
by Sydney Mudd (Republican) of Charles county and strongly supported.
House vote was 36 ayes, 64 noes. The Senate committee reported
favorably and the vote stood 17 ayes, 7 noes, William F. Chesley the
only Republican who voted no. The lobbyists were Mrs. Hooker, Mrs.
Dora Ogle, Mrs. Robert Moss, Miss Lucy Branham, Miss Maddox, Miss
Gwendolyn Willis, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Charles E. Ellicott,
Mrs. Ross Thompson, Miss Emma Weber, Mrs. William H. Maloy, Mrs.
Calvin Gabriel, Mrs. Timanus, Mrs. Howard Schwartz, Mrs. Funck. This
was the last time a State amendment was asked for.
1917. At the special session a bill for Presidential suffrage,
supported by the State association and the Just Government League,
passed the Senate by a vote of 18 ayes, 6 noes, after a joint hearing
held in the State House, where the outside speakers, were Dudley Field
Malone, U. S. Senator Shafroth and Representative Jeannette Rankin. In
the House it failed by a vote of 41 ayes, 56 noes.
1918. The Presidential suffrage bill received in the House 42 ayes, 53
noes; in the Senate 12 ayes, 13 noes.
RATIFICATION. For twenty-five years the women of Maryland tried to get
some form of suffrage from their Legislature without success and it is
not surprising that they felt obliged to look to a Federal Amendment
for their enfranchisement. The delegation in Congress was divided on
its submission, Senator Joseph I. France (Republican) voting in favor
and Senator John Walter Smith (Democrat) in opposition; two
Representatives in favor and five in opposition. After it had been
sent to the Legislatures for ratification in June, 1919, pressure was
brought to bear on Governor Emerson C. Harrington to call a special
session, as it was reported that a majority in favor might be secured.
U. S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer urged it in a letter July
10, saying: "Pennsylvania has already ratified and it will be a
service to our party if a Democratic State like Maryland will promptly
follow suit." The Governor advised waiting till the regular session as
"this Legislature was not elected with the question of this amendment
before the people."
The regular session convened Jan 7, 1920, and Albert Cabell Ritchie
had been elected Governor. Mrs. William Milnes Maloy was chairman of
the Suffrage Campaign Committee and Mrs. Robert Moss of the
legislative work in Annapolis, and the committee was composed of
prominent suffragists from all the societies. A mass meeting took
place on January 20 in the State Armory at Annapolis, with addresses
by U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee, State Senator Oliver
Metzerott and Mrs. Donald R. Hooker. State Senator George Q. Bartlett
read letters from Senator France advocating ratification. Many members
of the Legislature were seated on the platform. At the close of the
meeting Mrs. Maloy offered a resolution in favor of ratification,
which was carried by a large majority.
On Friday, February 6, Governor Ritchie submitted the Federal Woman
Suffrage Amendment to the General Assembly. Senator Metzerott
(Republican) introduced a resolution for ratification in the Senate
and Representative Cobourn (Democrat) in the House. It was sent to the
Senate Committee on Federal Relations, Senator Grason, chairman; to
the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Mr. Roberts
chairman. A hearing was set for February 11 but on being informed that
most of the suffrage leaders would be in Chicago attending the
national suffrage convention at that time and that others of their
speakers could not be present, Senator Grason said that, with Mr.
Robert's consent, the hearing would be postponed until the 18th.
The suffragists heard no more and great was the surprise of those of
the committee who were left to find on returning to Annapolis February
10, when the session reconvened, that Mr. Roberts absolutely refused
to delay and the hearing would take place on February 11. A hasty
canvass of his committee showed that a majority was in favor of
deferring it until the 18th, so the suffragists returned to their
homes. The next morning the Baltimore papers announced that it would
be held that day. The suffragists learned that the preceding night
Speaker Tydings had transferred the suffrage amendment from the
Committee on Constitutional Amendments, which was favorable to it, and
had put it into the Committee on Federal Relations, which was hostile!
There were of course no members of the suffrage committee present at
the hearing. Mrs. Rufus Gibbs, president of the State Anti-Suffrage
Association, urged the defeat of ratification. William F. Marbury made
a strong argument against it. Senator Legg of Queen Anne's, who had
announced that he "would do just what Governor Ritchie desired," spoke
against it. Delegates Cobourn, Shartzer, Curry and the minority floor
leader, Vernon Simmons, explained how the suffragists had been
deceived and made an earnest plea for fair play.
It had been intended to bring the measure to a vote immediately but
the feeling against this was so intense that it was finally set for
the 17th. The suffragists demanded a hearing but the House committee
refused it and made an adverse report on the resolution to ratify. The
Senate committee granted one for the morning of the 17th. Long before
the hour set suffragists from many places began to gather. At 10:30
the larger delegations arrived, heralded by Farson's band, and marched
straight into the State House. Their number was so large that Chairman
Grason adjourned from the committee room to the Senate Chamber. Mrs.
Hooker presented resolutions and petitions for ratification from
organizations representing over 125,000 residents of Maryland. They
were from many State labor associations, patriotic societies, the
Grange, Federation of Women's Clubs, Women's Trade Union League,
Teachers' Association, Graduate Nurses, Goucher College Alumnae, clubs
for every conceivable purpose. She was followed by Mrs. Edward
Shoemaker, chairman of the women's State branch of the National
Council of Defense, who made an eloquent appeal for the proposed
amendment. Judge J. Harry Covington, member of Congress, gave a strong
legal and political argument, answering that of Mr. Marbury. Mrs.
Henry Zollinger represented the Women's Anti-Suffrage Association and
Judge Oscar Leser spoke in opposition. The Hon. Thomas Parran summed
up for the suffragists.
At twelve o'clock the suffragists went to the reception room of the
Governor, who announced that he wished to give them all the time that
they desired to present their case. The speakers were Mrs. Sydney M.
Cone, Mrs. Shoemaker, Miss Kate McLane, prominent in war work; Mrs.
Robert Moss, Guion Miller representing the Society of Friends; Mrs.
Robert H. Walker, the college women; Miss Hunt, the nurses; Miss Mary
Dubrau, the eastern shore. The Governor, answering, said that the
ratification was a question for the Legislature alone to determine;
that the platform on which he ran pledged the Democratic party
against it and that he could not ask the legislators to repudiate the
platform. Mrs. Hooker in vigorous language held him wholly responsible
for the action they took on it.
In the afternoon Representatives Cobourn, McBride, Shartzer, Demarco,
Jones and Gambrill spoke for ratification. The vote stood 64 noes, 36
ayes. The same afternoon Senators Metzerott, Gibson, Bartlett and
Robins earnestly urged ratification; Senators J. Frank Parran,
McIntosh and Legg spoke against it. The vote stood 18 noes, 9 ayes,
seven Republicans and two Democrats. In the House 32 of the 45
Republicans and 4 of the 56 Democrats voted in favor.
Undaunted by their defeat the suffragists gathered in front of the
State House and with colors flying and band playing martial airs
marched two by two around the Capitol, receiving many cheers and good
wishes from the spectators. A brief meeting was then held at which
resolutions of appreciation were passed for all the brave men who had
fought so valiantly for democracy.
Committees of both Houses had reported a resolution of definite
rejection, which the Senate passed, and a delegation of women from the
Anti-Suffrage Association, headed by Mrs. Gibbs, carried it to
Washington and presented it to the Acting Secretary of State, serving
formal notice that "the State of Maryland denies the lawful right and
power of Congress to propose the amendment for woman suffrage and the
validity of such an amendment as part of the Federal Constitution even
if ratified by three-fourths of the States."
The Maryland Legislature was by no means satisfied with its
demonstration of State's rights in defeating the ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment but it undertook to interfere with the
rights of other States. On February 24 the House of Delegates voted by
54 to 44 for a joint resolution to send a delegation of seven
anti-suffrage members to West Virginia to urge its General Assembly to
follow the course of Maryland in rejecting the amendment. This was
adopted by the Senate with little delay and three of its members were
appointed to accompany four selected by the House. The next day two
resolutions drawn up by Mr. Marbury were introduced in the
Legislature. One was to "repeal, rescind and recall the resolutions
ratifying the so-called Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States." The other authorized and requested the Governor to
call on the national government, in behalf of the State of Maryland,
to "have the so-called Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act
declared null and void." The reason for his opposition to woman
suffrage was clearly apparent.
On March 30 by a vote of 20 ayes, 7 noes, the Senate passed a joint
resolution introduced by George Arnold Frick authorizing and directing
the Attorney General of Maryland to bring suit or suits to prevent the
Secretary of State of the United States from proclaiming the Federal
Amendment prior to the holding of a referendum thereon in certain
States, and to test the validity, should the same be ratified by the
elected Legislatures of three-fourths of the States. This also passed
in the House. The opponents thought that now they had spiked every gun
but in September it was discovered that the vote on ratification had
been pigeonholed instead of being sent by the Governor to the
Secretary of State in Washington. Immediately there was hustling to
bring it again before the two Houses and on September 22 it was
rejected in the Senate by a vote of 17 to 8 and in the House by 51 to
42, nearly a month after the Federal Amendment had been proclaimed!
A Men's Anti-Suffrage Association had been formed under the name of
the Maryland League for State Defense and a suit was brought by its
board of managers. This was called the case of Leser vs. Garnett,
Judge Leser and his associate lawyers representing this League, Mr.
Garnett representing the Board of Registry of the 7th Precinct of the
11th Ward of Baltimore. On Oct. 12, 1920, Judge Leser challenged the
registration there of Cecilia S. Waters (white) and Mary D. Randolph
(colored) in order to test the validity of what the "antis" called the
"alleged" 19th Amendment. The plea was that it exceeded the amending
power of Article V in the Federal Constitution and that it was not
legally ratified by 36 States. The States arraigned as having
illegally ratified were West Virginia and Missouri. The case came
before the court of common pleas, Judge Heuisler presiding. Besides
Mr. Marbury the attorneys for the petitioners were Thomas Cadwalader,
Senator Frick and Everett P. Wheeler of New York. The defendants were
represented by George M. Brady, Roger Howell, Jacob M. Moses and
Assistant Attorney General Lindsay C. Spencer. The case occupied four
full days and the petitioners lost. Judge Heuisler ruled that the
power to amend the Constitution of the United States granted by the
Fifth Article thereof is without limit except as to the words, "equal
suffrage in the Senate." He added: "The court is further of the
opinion from all the exhibits and other evidence submitted that there
was due, legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the
required number of State Legislatures." Mr. Wheeler contended that
three-fourths of the States had not legally ratified, to which the
Court answered: "There was one legal and proper ratification of the
amendment by the required number of State Legislatures."
The case was carried up to the State Court of Appeals and argued on
April 7. On June 28 the Judge affirmed the decision of the lower
court. The case was then taken to the U. S. Supreme Court, which gave
a decision adverse to all these claims and established the validity of
the Federal Suffrage Amendment beyond all further controversy.
MARYLAND. PART II.[76]
The Woman Suffrage League of Maryland was organized Feb. 27, 1917, in
Baltimore at a meeting called with the approval of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association. Mrs. J. Ross Thompson of Garrett
Park was elected president and served for two years. The league
started with a sustaining membership of 1,400, including organizations
in Baltimore and thirteen counties. By 1920 the city was organized by
congressional districts and some of these by wards; twenty of the
twenty-three counties had organizations, some of them strong branch
leagues, others merely small groups with a chairman.
The history of the league must be traced through its mother, the Equal
Suffrage League of Baltimore, back to the Mary A. Livermore League, a
society of Friends, which had been founded in 1905 with Mrs. Edward
O. Janney as president. In the spring of 1909 this league, in order to
broaden its scope, became the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore. Mrs.
Elisabeth King Ellicott was elected president and filled this office
with wisdom and rare executive ability until her death in May, 1914.
The league, as a branch of the State Suffrage Association, sent Miss
Julia Rogers as a delegate to the national convention held in Seattle
in 1909. This year a mass meeting was held in McCoy Hall, Johns
Hopkins University, Dr. Thayer of the Medical School presiding. Miss
Ethel Arnold of England was the speaker and made many converts.
In 1910 the league had a bill introduced in the Legislature giving
Municipal suffrage to "every bona fide resident of the city of
Baltimore, male or female, 21 years of age.... (a) If such person is
qualified to vote for members of the House of Delegates; or (b) can
read or write from dictation any paragraph of more than five lines in
the State constitution; or (c) is assessed with property in said city
to the amount of $300 and has paid taxes thereon for at least two
years preceding the election...." The league was fortunate in securing
as attorney Judge Jacob M. Moses of the Juvenile Court. He conducted a
hearing on February 16 in the House of Delegates attended by both
branches of the Legislature. Six hundred women and men went on a
special train to Annapolis, carrying a petition for the bill
representing 173,000 names. The speakers were Dr. Howard Kelly of
Johns Hopkins, president of the Men's League; Dr. Mary Sherwood of the
medical department; Judge Moses, Mrs. Ellicott, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper
of New York, Miss Janet Richards of Washington, Misses Julia Rogers,
Mary E. Lent, Ellen La Mott and Sarah Brookes. The House committee
reported eight to one in favor. The advocates in the House were Robert
H. Carr, who introduced the bill, H. Pairo, R. F. Beacham and Mr.
Henderson. It received 67 noes, 24 ayes and did not come before the
Senate. Three other woman suffrage bills were defeated this session.
In 1909-1910 Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, chairman of the Lecture Committee,
was instrumental in securing many noted speakers for public meetings.
In 1910 she formed the Just Government League of Maryland, which was
affiliated with the National Association for six years. Miss Lent was
president two years and then Mrs. Hooker continuously.
In 1910 a field secretary was engaged by the Equal Suffrage League,
ward organization progressed and money was raised through rummage
sales, lawn fetes, suppers at headquarters, etc. In 1911 the _New
Voter_ was started, a lively suffrage paper, with Miss Anne Wagner as
editor-in-chief. A committee was appointed, with Mrs. Charles E.
Ellicott chairman, to investigate methods in the Criminal Court of
conducting trials when young girls were witnesses in cases of assault,
etc. This committee attended trials and employed a woman to keep
records of cases and decisions. Later it had the first woman probation
officer appointed and paid her salary until 1916, when Mayor Preston
agreed to its payment by the city temporarily.
The State Equal Franchise League was founded in 1911 and became
auxiliary to the National American Association. Mrs. Elisabeth King
Ellicott was the president for two years and she was succeeded by Mrs.
W. J. Brown, who was president for one year. The affiliated societies
were the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore, Woman Suffrage Club of
Montgomery county, Just Franchise League of Talbot county, Junior
Suffrage League of Walbrook, College Suffrage League of Frederick,
Equal Franchise Leagues of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Junior Suffrage
League of Bryn Mawr School and Political Equality League of Baltimore
county. It joined in the work of the other associations for various
bills in the Legislature until 1914, when it disbanded, and, the
constitution of the National Association now permitting the direct
affiliation of any suffrage society numbering 200 members, the Equal
Suffrage League of Baltimore became a direct auxiliary. In May, 1914,
it met with a great loss in the death of Mrs. Ellicott, who had
organized and held it firm for the non-partisan, non-political,
educational principles of the National Association. She left $25,000
in the hands of trustees, the interest to be used by the league until
equal suffrage had been obtained in Maryland. Mrs. Charles E. Ellicott
then became president and successfully continued the work. The
extensive development of the Children's Playground Association under
her leadership is well known throughout the State.[77]
The Woman Suffrage League of Maryland was formed in February, 1917,
and the Baltimore City Committee took the active place of the Equal
Suffrage League, which became a funding body to carry out the bequest
of Mrs. Ellicott, with Miss Caroline Roberts as president, whose
unwearying and ceaseless service had been for years an inspiration to
her fellow workers. Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, chairman of Campaigns
and Surveys for the National Association, went to Baltimore this
month, meeting there Miss Emma MacAlarney and Miss Eleanor Furman, two
of the national organizers, and planning a speaking and organization
route. The organizers remained in Maryland two months and were very
successful in interesting new groups of people all over the State, who
joined the new Woman Suffrage League. Later Miss Alice Hunt, a
national organizer, took up this work for four weeks. The total cost
to the National Association was over $600.
In the spring of 1917 a Suffrage School was held in Baltimore by the
league to which all were invited. The National Association sent some
of its best teachers, among them Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore, Mrs. Halsey
W. Wilson and Mrs. Shuler, members of its official board. The climax
of the week was a parade, street speeches and a mass meeting, at which
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, was the principal
speaker. An outcome of the school was the printing in Maryland
newspapers of the suffrage literature supplied by the National
Association.
When the United States entered the World War Mrs. Ellicott, president
of the league, was appointed by the Governor a State member of the
Woman's Council of National Defense and the league cooperated in all
of the departments of war work created by the National Suffrage
Association. A Red Cross Circle was established in its headquarters
and it entered actively into the sale of Liberty Bonds. Its war work
brought into it many new members.
In the work for ratification of the Federal Amendment the League
joined the other suffrage societies in the headquarters at Annapolis
and in public meetings, house to house canvass, interviews with
legislators and the other work of a vigorous campaign. The officers
were: Mrs. Ellicott, president; Mrs. Edward Shoemaker, Mrs. William
Milnes Maloy and Mrs. Sidney Cone, vice-presidents; Miss Julia Rogers
and Mrs. Robert Moss, corresponding and recording secretaries; Mrs.
Frank Ramey, treasurer; Mrs. George Crawford and Mrs. William Silver,
auditors.
The officers of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore were Miss
Caroline Roberts, president; Miss Clara T. Waite, vice-president; Mrs.
William Chatard, secretary; Miss Mary Claire O'Brien, treasurer: with
eight directors.[78]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. This has been described. A Ratification Committee
of Men was formed in 1919 with N. Winslow Williams chairman, De Courcy
W. Thom vice-chairman, Arthur K. Taylor secretary, Donald R. Hooker,
treasurer. Prominent members of the Allied Building Trades Council,
Carpenters' Union and other labor organizations were on the committee
and every county had a chairman. In Allegany it was Francis J. Drum,
president of the Maryland and D. C. Federation of Labor; in Baltimore
county B. John Black, master of the State Grange. In other counties it
was a member of Congress or the Legislature or a Judge or some one of
influence.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emma Maddox
Funck, president of the Baltimore Suffrage Club twenty-five years and
of the State Woman Suffrage Association eighteen years.
[74] Dr. William Tindall, of Washington, has the records to prove that
in 1838, when the people of Georgetown voted on a proposal to withdraw
from the State of Maryland, 63 women cast their ballots. As early as
1867, through the efforts of Lavinia C. Dundore, a large equal rights
society of men and women was organized in Baltimore, which continued
until 1874 and was represented in the national conventions by its
president, Mrs. Dundore. A Baltimore paper of April 4, 1870, says: "A
petition, asking for the right of suffrage and political justice, was
presented to the House of Delegates, signed by Eliza S. White, Lavinia
C. Dundore, Ellen M. Harris and 150 other ladies. It was referred to
the Committee on Federal Relations."
[75] For full account of the convention see Chapter VI, Volume V.
[76] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Clara Turnbull
Waite, vice-president of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore.
[77] Additional names of women who held office or were prominent in
work of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore or the State Equal
Franchise League of Maryland are Drs. Fannie Hoopes, Lillian Welsh,
Mary Sherwood, Florence Sabin, Claribel Cone, Nellie Mark; Mesdames
Pauline Holme, George Lamb, S. Johnson Poe, J. Williams Lord, Frank
Ramey, C. C. Heath, George H. Wright, J. H. Webb-Peploe, Jacob M.
Moses, Mary N. Parry and W. W. Emmart; Misses Mary Bartlett Dixon,
Elisabeth Gilman, A. Page Reid, Henrietta Norris, Romaine McIlvaine
and Emma Weber.
[78] Among these directors, active members of the city committee,
chairmen of standing committees and devoted workers not elsewhere
mentioned were Mesdames Edwin Rouse, Jr., chairman of the city
committee; Caleb Athey, Harvey Bickel, C. C. Peffer, J. W. Putts, John
Parker, A. Morris Carey, C. C. Heath; Esther Moses and Esther Katz.
CHAPTER XX.
MASSACHUSETTS.[79]
From the beginning of the present century the Massachusetts Woman
Suffrage Association, organized in 1870, steadily gained in membership
year after year. Its annual conventions for many years were held in
Boston in January and those of the New England Woman Suffrage
Association in May, when the two united in a great Festival, which
generally took place in Faneuil Hall. The day sessions usually were
held in the rooms of the New England Women's Club, the evening
sessions in some large place, in 1901 at Faneuil Hall.
At the State annual meeting Jan. 23, 1901, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, who
had been president since 1893, presided and among the speakers were
Mrs. Helen Campbell, the Rev. Charles W. Wendte, Dr. Emily B. Ryder
and the Rev. Ida C. Hultin. Mrs. Livermore was re-elected and Mrs.
Maud Wood Park succeeded Miss Alice Stone Blackwell as chairman of the
State Board of Directors. The office of president had always been
mainly honorary and the actual work was done by the chairman of this
board. The other officers chosen were Henry B. Blackwell,
corresponding secretary; William Lloyd Garrison, treasurer; Miss Eva
Channing, clerk; Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Richard P. Hallowell,
auditors; Mrs. Judith W. Smith, member National Executive Committee.
There was a long list of distinguished vice-presidents. Mr. Blackwell
had been secretary for over twenty years and was re-elected.
At the Festival on May 22, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe presided, Miss Sarah
Cone Bryant was toastmistress and there were addresses by William M.
Salter, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and others of note. On May 23
at the annual meeting of the New England Association, organized in
November, 1868, reports were made from the New England States, and
addresses by the Rev. Florence Kollock Crooker, Mrs. Isabel C.
Barrows, Mrs. Inez Haynes Gillmore and others. Mrs. Howe, who had been
its president since 1893, was re-elected, with a board composed of
eminent men and women.
During the year the State association sent out 1,246 press articles,
circulated many thousand pages of literature and printed several
leaflets. It held well-attended fortnightly meetings at its
headquarters, No. 3 Park Street, and gave a brilliant reception in
honor of Mrs. Livermore's 80th birthday. It compiled a list of about
forty persons ready to give addresses on suffrage and sent a speaker
free to every woman's club or other organization willing to hear the
subject presented. It held ten public meetings and sent out 11,000
circulars to increase the women's registration and school vote in
Boston. Many addresses under its auspices were given by Mrs. Abby
Morton Diaz, Professor Anna May Soule of Mt. Holyoke and Señorita
Carolina Holman Huidobro of Chile. Massachusetts contributed
four-fifths of the money given to the Oregon campaign of 1900 from
outside that State, and the Massachusetts booth (named the Lucy Stone
booth) at the National Suffrage Bazar that year took in more money
than that of any other State except New York. The College Equal
Suffrage League's prize of $100, for the best essay in favor of
suffrage by a college student, was won by Ava M. Stoddard of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The above is a sample of the
activities carried on year after year by the association during the
first decade of the century.
In 1901 the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government was
organized through the efforts of Mrs. Mary Hutcheson Page, with
Pauline Agassiz (Mrs. Quincy A.) Shaw as president, Mrs. Fanny B.
Ames, chairman of Executive Committee, and Mrs. Park as executive
secretary.[80] It continued to be a power in the State till suffrage
was won and aimed to devote itself not only to suffrage but to all
activities in which women could be especially useful to the community.
The National Woman Suffrage Association of Massachusetts, a smaller
organization, disbanded in 1901 after nearly twenty years of
existence. Mrs. Sarah A. P. Dickerman was acting president, Miss
Lavina A. Hatch secretary. It had held eleven monthly meetings during
the past year, done congressional work and contributed to the Susan B.
Anthony table at the national bazar in New York.
1902. At the annual meeting on January 23, Mrs. Park presided and a
work conference was substituted for the usual public meeting. The
Festival was held on May 28 with the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer
presiding. Other speakers were the Rev. Dr. James H. Ecob, Professor
John Graham Brooks, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, Colonel T. W. Higginson
and the Rev. Charles F. Dole. Miss Vida Goldstein of Australia
addressed a number of meetings this year. An enrollment of suffragists
was begun. There was an increase of women's registration for the
school vote in fourteen cities, in Boston of about 5,000. An
investigation of the tax records by Mr. Blackwell showed that in
Boston alone 18,500 women paid taxes on several hundred million
dollars' worth of property.
1903. At the annual meeting of the State association on January 13,
Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Park presided. Mrs. Livermore was made honorary
president and Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead president, Mrs. Mary Schlesinger,
vice-president; Miss Harriet E. Turner, corresponding secretary;
William Lloyd Garrison, treasurer; Mrs. Otto B. Cole, clerk; Mr.
Blackwell, member of the National Executive Committee. Mrs. Page,
chairman of the Organization Committee, reported that forty towns had
been visited. There were speeches by Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Enid
Stacy Widdrington of England. Miss Blackwell presided at the New
England annual meeting May 27 and the Rev. Charles G. Ames at the
Festival the next day. On August 13 Lucy Stone's birthday anniversary
was celebrated by a pilgrimage to the old farm house near West
Brookfield where she was born. About 400 persons gathered from various
States, even California being represented. Her niece, Mrs. Phebe Stone
Beeman, president of the Warren Political Equality Club, presided and
there were addresses by Mrs. Livermore, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. Mary
A. Safford and others. The beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery
combined with the beautiful memories to make it a memorable occasion.
Mrs. Livermore wrote afterwards: "It was greater and grander than any
public day, not specially devoted to religion, that I have ever known.
The hill was a Mount of Transfiguration, the faces of the people
shone."
The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw addressed a series of meetings throughout
the State. Mrs. Page, Mrs. Park, Mrs. Diaz, Mrs. Esther F. Boland,
Miss Bryant and George H. Page spoke repeatedly for the association.
Work conferences were held in various counties and equal rights plays
by Mr. Page were performed for the benefit of the cause. The State
headquarters were moved from Park Street to a house at No. 6 Marlboro
Street, the use of which was given by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw.
Massachusetts this year contributed more money to the National
Association than did any other State. The time of the State annual
meeting was changed to October and it began to be held outside of
Boston, a second one for this year in the Newtons, October 29 and 30.
It opened with a reception by the Newton League at the Hunnewell Club
House, where Mrs. Electa N. L. Walton presided and Mayor Weeks of
Newton and the Hon. Samuel L. Powers gave addresses of welcome. The
following day at West Newton Mrs. Livermore presided, the Hon. Gorman
D. Gilman gave the address of welcome and Mrs. Florence Kelley and Dr.
Shaw spoke. The Enrollment Committee reported obtaining 11,169
signatures. A resolution of tribute was passed to Miss Harriet E.
Turner, who retired after 21 years' devoted service at headquarters,
where she had suggested some of the most successful lines of work.
Mrs. Page was chosen as chairman of the State board, Mrs. Susan S.
Fessenden succeeding her later in the year.
1904. The Festival was held on May 10, Mrs. Howe presiding. The
speakers were Judge Edward E. Reynolds of Portland, Maine, the Rev.
Florence Kollock Crooker of Michigan, Frank K. Foster of the State
Federation of Labor, Mrs. Livermore, Professor George E. Gardner of
the Boston University Law School, Mrs. May Alden Ward, president of
the State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Mead.
The State meeting was held at Attleboro, October 21, in the Opera
House, with the usual list of well known speakers. The International
Peace Congress, held in Boston this year, gave an impetus to the
movement. The men from abroad were much impressed by the American
women. Other notable events were the celebration by the State W. C. T.
U. of the quarter centennial of the granting of School suffrage and a
conference of women ministers of different denominations, called by
Mrs. Howe. There was a Suffrage Day at the big Mechanics' Fair in
Boston, with addresses by Miss Jane Addams, Miss Sheriff Bain of New
Zealand and W. P. Byles of England. A library of books bearing on the
woman question was started at headquarters with a fund given by Miss
M. F. Munroe in memory of Mary Lowell Stone.
1905. There was a very large attendance at the Festival on May 10,
with Mrs. Mead presiding. Professor Edward Cummings was toastmaster,
ex-Governor Garvin of Rhode Island and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt spoke
and the Festival then resolved itself into a celebration of Mr.
Blackwell's 80th birthday (May 4), with the presentation of a silver
pitcher from the State association and addresses by William Lloyd
Garrison and Mrs. Livermore. She had insisted upon coming, although by
no means able. She said, "Mr. Blackwell and I have worked together for
nearly half a century; we have gone anywhere and everywhere for woman
suffrage. This evening he has been doing his best to persuade me to go
out to the Oregon convention. I can not say half that ought to be said
of his character, his devoted service, his fraternal spirit." She died
a few days later and there was profound sorrow for her loss.
At the meeting of the New England Association on May 11 Miss Blackwell
presided. Francis J. Garrison was elected treasurer. The State annual
meeting was held at Holyoke, October 24, 25, in the Second Baptist
Church and Mayor Nathan P. Avery gave the address of welcome. Miss
Blackwell was made chairman of the board of directors; Mrs. Mead was
elected president; Mrs. Schlesinger vice-president. The association
took part in the celebration of the centennial of William Lloyd
Garrison on December 10. He had been a life-long champion of equal
rights for women and his last public speech was made at a suffrage
hearing in the State House. There was a noteworthy memorial meeting
for Mrs. Edna D. Cheney, long a pillar of the suffrage association and
of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Catherine
Breshkovsky, "the little grandmother of the Russian revolution,"
visited Massachusetts this year and addressed a number of meetings
arranged by the suffragists, including a large one in Faneuil Hall.
The convention was held in October, 1906, at Lowell in the Trinitarian
Congregational Church. Harriet A. Eager gave a stone from the pavement
of the little church at Delft Haven in Holland, where the Pilgrims
attended their last religious service before sailing for America and
the association presented it to the Cape Cod Memorial Association to
be placed in the monument. The World's W. C. T. U. convention in
Boston this month aroused much interest and enthusiasm. At the opening
banquet Miss Blackwell gave the address of welcome in behalf of the
women's organizations.
1907. The annual meeting took place in Worcester at Trinity Church.
Letters were read from Colonel Thomas W. Higginson and Mrs. Elizabeth
Smith Miller, the only two survivors of the 89 men and women who
signed the Call for the first National Woman's Rights Convention, held
in Worcester in 1850; and a poem from the Rev. Antoinette L. Brown
Blackwell, D. D., the only survivor of the speakers on that occasion.
Dr. Shaw gave an address and conducted a question box and there was a
symposium on Why I am a Suffragist by five young women, one a
grandniece and namesake of Margaret Fuller.
A noteworthy meeting was held on March 23, 1907, by the Boston Equal
Suffrage Association to consider "the indebtedness of women of
collegiate and professional training to the leaders of the suffrage
movement." Every woman's college in the State was represented, as well
as law and medicine. Mrs. Fanny B. Ames presided and college girls in
cap and gown acted as ushers. The speakers were Mrs. Howe, Miss
Georgia L. White, Assistant Professor of Economics at Smith College;
Professor Helen M. Searles of Mt. Holyoke; Dr. Emma Culbertson of the
New England Hospital for Women and Children; Miss Emily Greene Balch,
Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology at Wellesley; Miss
Caroline J. Cooke, instructor in Commercial Law at Simmons, and Mrs.
Park of Radcliffe.
On August 13 suffragists from different parts of the State again made
a pilgrimage to Lucy Stone's old home, West Brookfield, to celebrate
her birthday. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, a daughter of Richard Cobden, one
of the "militant" English suffragettes, spoke at the women's colleges
and elsewhere. The Boston association, in connection with the Women's
Educational and Industrial Union, gave courses in citizenship,
addressed by heads of State and city departments. Mrs. Fessenden
conducted many classes in Parliamentary practice (these were continued
year after year), and there was a "suffrage day" in the woman's
department of the great Food Fair.
The Association of Collegiate Alumnæ celebrated its quarter centennial
in Boston November 5-9, which brought many distinguished suffragists
from other States. In 1872 the New England Women's Club had given a
reception for the only three college women then in this city. In 1907
this association had 3,147 members, several hundred of them in Boston
alone. At the Whittier Centennial celebration at Amesbury on December
17 the poet's championship of equal rights for women was recalled with
his work for other reforms. The Boston Federation of Suffrage
Societies was organized by the Association for Good Government. The
State Federation of Labor and the State Letter Carriers' Association
endorsed woman suffrage.
The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of
Suffrage to Women changed its organ _The Remonstrance_ from an annual
to a quarterly and sent out a copy broadcast. The suffragists followed
with an answer. The _Woman's Journal_ pointed out that the M. A. O. F.
E. S. W., according to its own official reports, had sold $40.86 worth
of literature in 1905, $13.50 worth in 1906 and $12.30 worth in 1907,
and that in 1906 the total receipts were $2,907, of which $2,018 were
expended on salaries.[81]
1908. The State annual meeting was held in Boston October 27, 28. Mrs.
Mead presided and Mrs. Ethel Snowden of England was the chief speaker.
There was a reception to Mrs. Howe, with addresses by Mrs. Maud Howe
Elliott, Mrs. Carota Von Koch of Sweden and Mrs. Howe. Miss Jane
Addams gave suffrage lectures this year at Radcliffe, Smith, Mt.
Holyoke and Wellesley colleges and Boston University, arranged by the
College Equal Suffrage League, with large audiences and much
enthusiasm. Mrs. Snowden spoke for the State association at Faneuil
Hall and a reception was given by the College and Boston suffrage
associations. Another large suffrage meeting in Faneuil Hall was
addressed by Professor Charles Zueblin. Mrs. Park and Mrs. Eager held
a series of meetings in Berkshire county, arousing much interest. At
the suffrage booth in the Boston Food Fair, in charge of the Newton
League, 6,255 names were added to the enrollment. The association by
this time had more than 100 local branches. This year 145 labor unions
endorsed equal suffrage. The association carried on a "poster
campaign," putting up posters in towns and at county fairs. Mrs.
FitzGerald composed the inscriptions and Mrs. George F. Lowell with a
group of friends put them up. At the Biennial of the General
Federation of Women's Clubs held in Boston every mention of suffrage
was cheered and no one got such an ovation as Mrs. Howe, the fraternal
delegate from the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
1909. The College Equal Suffrage League of Massachusetts attained a
membership of 320 this year and a suffrage club was formed at
Radcliffe College. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology any
notices put up by the suffragists were at once torn down. The State
annual convention was held in Boston October 22, 23, with the evening
meeting in Tremont Temple, and Miss Blackwell was elected president.
For the first time the report of the Legislative Committee was given
by Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, who continued to be its chairman for
years.
Ex-Governor Long presided at a memorial meeting for Henry B.
Blackwell, with addresses by Edwin D. Mead, Julia Ward Howe, the Rev.
Charles G. Ames, Professor Sumichrast, Moses H. Gulesian, Francis J.
Garrison, James H. Stark of the Victorian Club, Meyer Bloomfield and
Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows. Mr. Blackwell was called by Mrs. Catt "one of
the world's most heroic men." He was the only man of large abilities
who devoted his life to securing equal rights for women. In his youth
a reward of $10,000 was offered for his head at a public meeting in
the South because of his leading part in the rescue of a young slave
girl. He made his first speech for woman's rights at a suffrage
convention in Cleveland in 1853. Two years later he married Lucy
Stone. She had meant never to marry but to devote herself wholly to
the women's cause but he promised to devote himself to the same cause.
He was the unpaid secretary of the American Woman Suffrage Association
for twenty years, of the Massachusetts association for thirty years
and of the New England association for nearly forty years. He traveled
all over the country organizing suffrage societies, getting up
conventions and addressing Legislatures. He attended the Republican
national conventions year after year trying to get a suffrage plank
and in 1872 secured a mild one in the national platform and a strong
one in that of Massachusetts. He took part in constitutional amendment
campaigns in Kansas, Vermont, Colorado, Michigan, Rhode Island and
South Dakota. In 1889, when Washington, Montana and North Dakota were
about to enter the Union as States, he attended the constitutional
convention of each to urge equal suffrage. He was an editor of the
_Woman's Journal_ from its founding in 1870 till his death. An able
writer, an eloquent speaker, he was widely beloved for his kindness,
humor and geniality.
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the "militant" suffragettes of
England, visited Boston this year. She was met at the station by the
suffragists with automobiles and flags and was taken through the
streets to the headquarters--Boston's first suffrage procession--and
later addressed in Tremont Temple a huge audience, critical at first,
highly enthusiastic at the close. A reception was given by prominent
suffragists to Miss Ethel M. Arnold of England, and there were
lectures by her and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman; a series of
"petition teas" and meetings addressed by Dr. Shaw, Miss Leonora
O'Reilly, a labor leader of New York; Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver;
Charles Edward Russell, the Rev. Thomas Cuthbert Hall; and by Mrs.
Snowden, Dr. Stanton Coit and the Misses Rendell and Costello, all of
England.
In June the first of the open-air meetings that later became so
important a feature of the campaign was held on the Common at Bedford.
The speakers were Mrs. FitzGerald, Mrs. Leonora S. Little, Mrs. Mary
Ware Dennett, Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick and Mrs. Crowley. The
attendance was small; people were shy at first of seeming to
countenance such an innovation but the crowds grew as the meetings
continued and it was found to be the best if not the only way to reach
the mass of voters. A summer campaign of 97 open-air meetings was
held, the speakers traveling mainly by trolley, covering a large part
of the State and reaching about 25,000 persons.[82] Suffrage buttons
and literature were distributed, posters put up, and sometimes mammoth
kites flown to advertise the meetings. Mrs. H. S. Luscomb had
presented a kite big enough to hold up a banner six feet wide by forty
deep. The campaigners were resourceful. At Nantasket, when forbidden
to speak on the beach, they went into the water with their Votes for
Women banner and spoke from the sea to the audience on the shore.
1910. Among the speakers at the Festival in May were Mrs. Frances
Squire Potter, former Professor of English at the University of
Minnesota; Professor Max Eastman of Columbia University, secretary of
the New York Men's League for Woman Suffrage, and Professor Henry S.
Nash of the Episcopal Theological School. At the State annual meeting
in Lowell, October 27, 28, Philip Snowden, M. P., of England was a
speaker. In connection with the convention Mrs. Park spoke before the
Woman's Club; Rabbi Fleischer before the Board of Trade; Miss Alice
Carpenter at the Congregational Church in Tewksbury; four factory
meetings were held; the suffrage slides were exhibited twelve times at
the Merrimac Theater; Miss Foley and Miss Anne Withington addressed
seven trade unions; 27,000 fliers were distributed and four street
meetings held.
An eight-weeks' summer campaign of open-air meetings was conducted
through the great industrial cities of eastern Massachusetts, with
from four to six regular and occasional special speakers. Three
Englishwomen, Miss Margaret G. Bondfield, Miss M. M. A. Ward and Miss
Emily Gardner, reinforced the American speakers, Miss Foley, Mrs.
FitzGerald, Mrs. Glendower Evans, Miss Emily Pierson of Connecticut,
and others. In each city, besides the outdoor meetings, there was some
special feature; in two, garden parties; in Brockton, the women joined
the circus parade, driving in a decorated team and giving out fliers.
In Fall River they got two popular stores to wrap a colored flier in
every parcel. In Taunton they had an evening band concert on the
Common, accompanied with red fire and speeches. In Lawrence Miss Foley
made a balloon ascension and showered down rainbow literature upon an
eager crowd. Several times the women spoke from the vaudeville stage
and showed colored lantern slides. They spoke in parks and pleasure
resorts and outside the factories as well as in the streets and at one
Yiddish and one French meeting. They held 200 meetings and talked to
about 60,000 persons. Afterwards they held outdoor meetings in and
about Boston and sent an automobile of speakers and literature to the
Aviation Meet. A fall campaign of open-air speaking followed. Mrs.
Park came home from a tour around the world and lectured on the women
of different countries. Mrs. A. Watson-Lister of Australia and Mrs.
Dora B. Montefiore of England addressed a number of meetings.
A week of meetings took place in Springfield, State speakers
cooperating with the local suffragists, among them Mrs. Henry
Phillips, president of the suffrage league; Mrs. McDuffie and Mr.
Myrick, publisher of the "Farm and Home" and "Good Housekeeping."
Headquarters were opened in a vacant store with daily meetings and
teas; addresses were given before the Board of Trade, the teachers,
the Woman's, the Mothers', the Socialist and the College Clubs, the Y.
M. C. A. training school and other groups; colored slides of suffrage
events were shown and prominent local women opened their homes for
social affairs. Much interest was aroused and permanent Springfield
headquarters were opened soon afterwards. Boston started to organize
by wards and invitations were printed in various languages. The first
meeting, in Ward 8, arranged by Mrs. Leonard, was attended by nearly
1,000 women and there were speeches in English and Yiddish. A class to
train suffrage speakers was started. A suffrage club was organized in
the College of Liberal Arts of Boston University. The suffragists sent
Alfred H. Brown to help the campaign in the State of Washington.
The general sorrow for the death of Julia Ward Howe on October 17
brought support to the suffrage movement. In her later years people
had revered her as they revered the flag and all her great influence
had been placed unreservedly at the service of this cause. A large
memorial meeting was held in Faneuil Hall on December 16.
1911. The State convention was held in Boston October 27, 28, the
evening meeting at Tremont Temple addressed by Dr. Shaw and Professor
Edward Howard Griggs. The Boston association raised $1,100 for the
campaigns in Oregon, Kansas, Wisconsin and Michigan and gave Mrs.
Park's services to Ohio and Michigan. A Men's League for Woman
Suffrage was organized at Harvard University under the presidency of
A. S. Olmstead. At the meeting of the New England Association Miss
Blackwell was elected president. Mrs. Howe had held the office
twenty-six years.
Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, one of the few surviving pioneers,
passed away this year. He had been a champion of women's rights for
more than sixty years. When a young minister he spoke for the cause.
He signed the Call for the First National Woman's Rights Convention in
1850. He married Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell in 1855 and
prefixed an approving foreword to their published protest against the
inequalities of the marriage laws. He took part in organizing the
American Woman Suffrage Association, was its president for a year and
an officer in the New England and Massachusetts associations until his
death. For years he was a great power as a lecturer and writer and
addressed suffrage conventions in many States. Beginning with 1870 he
contributed a long series of brilliant editorials to the _Woman's
Journal_. He wrote four books on the woman question and gave 1,000
books about women to the Boston Public Library. The founder of Smith
College said she was led to leave her fortune for that purpose by
reading his article, Ought Women Learn the Alphabet?
1912. The State annual meeting was held in Boston, October 11, with an
unusually large attendance from western Massachusetts. In 1913 it met
in Boston May 27, 28. The executive secretary, Mrs. Marion Booth
Kelley, reported that 111 indoor meetings and 45 outdoor meetings had
been held in the past six months. It was voted to have a suffrage
parade in Boston the following spring. There was much doubt of the
propriety of this but when a rising vote of the women present was
taken to see how many would march almost the whole convention rose.
1914. The State annual meeting was held in Boston May 1 and 2, and
again in 1915 on May 13-15. The latter opened with a brilliant banquet
at the Hotel Somerset, attended by about 800. Mrs. Park presided and
among the speakers were ex-Governor Bass of New Hampshire, ex-Governor
Foss of Massachusetts, Dr. Hugh Cabot and Mrs. Judith W. Smith, aged
93. Suffrage clubs were reported at Wellesley, Smith and Mt. Holyoke
Colleges, the last formed largely through Miss Mildred Blodgett,
assistant professor of geology. A band concert and a mass meeting on
the Common closed the convention.
1916. At the State annual meeting in Boston May 18, 19, dues were
abolished and provision made for organizing the State along political
party lines, as recommended by the National Association. Mrs. B. F.
Pitman of Brookline gave a large reception. The treasurer reported
receipts of $67,232, expenditures of $63,483.[83]
1917. At the annual State meeting on May 10 resolutions were adopted
calling upon the 125,000 enrolled members to "show their patriotism by
doing their utmost to help their country and the world," especially
along the five lines recommended by the National Suffrage Association;
urging nation-wide prohibition as a war measure and commending the
efforts to minimize moral dangers at the training camps; protesting
against "any attempt to lower educational standards or to weaken the
laws safeguarding the workers, especially women and children," because
of the war emergency. The Twentieth Century Club rooms were crowded at
the New England Conference and Festival. Miss Blackwell presided. A
greeting from the National Association was brought by Mrs. Nettie
Rogers Shuler, its corresponding secretary, and speakers were present
from all the New England States. Pledges and a collection were taken
for the Maine campaign and it was voted to give $2,000, a bequest from
Miss Marian Shannon, to the National Association, to help it.
1918. At the winter business meeting held in Fitchburg February 26
Mrs. Pitman reported that more than $30,000 had been raised by the
association for war work. The State annual meeting in Boston on May
24, 25 was crowded and exciting. A resolution pledging the
association's support to the country in the war was passed by
acclamation, and it responded to the request of Mrs. Catt, president
of the National American Suffrage Association, to follow its program
of war work. The convention voted with enthusiasm to take up the
circulation of the national petitions for the Federal Amendment and
also to give $600 to the National Association to finance an organizer
in Oklahoma, where a suffrage campaign was in progress and the
Massachusetts "antis" were financing the opposition. In the evening a
magnificent meeting was held in the Opera House with Mrs. Grace A.
Johnson presiding and addresses by Mrs. Catt and Dr. Shaw. The
collection of $1,124 was given to the Red Cross.
On August 13 the State and Boston associations celebrated the
centenary of Lucy Stone's birth by a luncheon at the Hotel Somerset,
Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird presiding, with addresses by ex-Governor
Walsh, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, D. D., 93 years of age;
Mrs. Judith W. Smith, almost 97; Miss Blackwell and Mrs. Maud Howe
Elliott. Letters and telegrams of appreciation were received from
President Wilson's secretary in his behalf; from Theodore Roosevelt,
ex-Governor McCall, Mrs. Catt, Mayor Andrew James Peters of Boston
and many others. The fall meeting was held in Boston November 30, when
Miss Mary Garrett Hay, national vice-president, spoke on the national
suffrage situation and there were addresses by heads of civic and
philanthropic organizations.
1919. The mid-winter meeting was held in Worcester February 15 and
eight young girls presented to Miss Blackwell the national petition
bearing 16,434 names, many more than the quota for this city. The
State meeting was held May 21, 22, in Boston. While it was in session
the news came that the Federal Suffrage Amendment had passed the U. S.
House of Representatives. This called out great enthusiasm and it was
voted to telegraph Mrs. Maud Wood Park: "Three cheers for our
Congressional Chairman! Very proud that Mrs. Park is a Massachusetts
woman!" The following Sunday the Boston association held a meeting in
Tremont Theater to rejoice, with Samuel L. Powers, a prominent
Republican lawyer, presiding, and addresses by Mrs. Park, Joseph
Conry, a prominent Democrat, and Secretary of State Langtry for
Governor Coolidge.
1920. The annual meeting was again held in Boston, May 27, 28, Mrs.
Bird presiding. She stated that it was the 100th anniversary of the
birth of Julia Ward Howe, to whose work for suffrage and other good
causes a heart-felt tribute was paid. Mrs. Bird presented Miss
Blackwell with a laurel wreath as representing the pioneers and as
having been at the head of the association when victory was won. As
the complete ratification was almost at hand it was voted to take
legal steps to dissolve the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.
Later it was decided, in accordance with the policy of the National
Association, to continue it as a skeleton organization with the same
officers until all possible need for it should be over. The State
League of Women Voters was organized, with Mrs. George R. Fearing,
Jr., as chairman and Miss Blackwell as honorary president, the
delegates and members of the association enrolling in the new society.
The New England Woman Suffrage Association never formally disbanded
but simply ceased to meet.
From 1910 onward what had tended most to increase membership was the
formation of the Woman Suffrage Party to work as the State
association, with a non-dues-paying membership of men and women,
similar to the political parties, having district leaders, precinct
captains and ward chairmen, strictly non-partisan and solely to
promote woman suffrage. The first chairman was Mrs. Gertrude Halladay
Leonard. A convention was held in Faneuil Hall on March 5, 1912, at
which time twenty-three of the twenty-six Boston wards had been
organized, also Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Newton and many
other cities and towns. The membership was 25,000 and by the
referendum campaign in 1915 it had advanced to about 250,000.
This change in the type of organization was indicative of a change in
the whole suffrage movement. It was recognized that more widely
diffused education on the subject was needed and that suffrage must
become a political issue. The suffrage leagues were changed into
political district organizations; the parlor meeting gave place to the
outdoor meeting; State headquarters were moved from No. 6 Marlboro
Street, a residential section, to 585 Boylston Street in a business
building, and local societies were kept in touch. Every effort was
made to reach labor unions and other organizations of men with
speakers and educational propaganda and to carry information to the
man in the street, who often had never heard of the Woman Suffrage
Association. The executive board met every two weeks and later every
week or oftener. Mrs. Page, its chairman, was followed in 1911 by Mrs.
Marion Booth Kelley; in 1912 by Mrs. Gertrude B. Newell, and in May,
1913, Mrs. Leonard was elected and served to October, 1917. Upon her
resignation Mrs. Grace A. Johnson was chosen, who was succeeded by
Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird.
In 1912 a new State organization, called the Political Equality Union,
was formed, with Miss Mabel Gillespie as chairman, Mrs. FitzGerald as
secretary and Dr. Lily Burbank as treasurer, which made a special
effort to reach the labor men and women. As the vote on the
constitutional amendment approached, in order that there might be no
overlapping, ten per cent. of the State was assigned as a field for
the work of the Union and the rest for that of the State association.
The two cooperated in legislative work. The Union disbanded in
November, 1916, advising its members to join the State association.
CAMPAIGN. Through the campaign year of 1914, preceding the vote on a
constitutional amendment, which had been submitted by the Legislature,
the association kept five salaried speakers continually in the field,
besides numerous volunteers. On the list of the speakers' bureau there
were 125 women and 76 men. The State and the Boston headquarters had a
large office force, and in the field were nine organizers, giving full
or half time. The State College Equal Suffrage League handled the
retail literature for the association and took charge of the office
hospitality. The Equal Franchise Committee, Mrs. Robert Gould Shaw,
president, had an important part in the campaign. The Men's League for
Woman Suffrage was reorganized with Oakes Ames as president and Joseph
Kelley as secretary. The Harvard Men's League cooperated in many ways.
The use of one of the University Halls for a speech by Mrs. Pankhurst
was refused to it, much to the chagrin of liberal-minded graduates and
undergraduates, but she held a very successful meeting in a nearby
hall. The use of a hall was refused also for Mrs. Florence Kelley,
although she had spoken at Harvard on other subjects. In order to
avoid further trouble the Harvard Corporation voted that thereafter no
woman should be allowed to lecture in the college halls except by its
special invitation. This rule was abandoned later and Miss Helen Todd
of California spoke on suffrage in Emerson Hall before a large
audience.
Other suffrage organizations sprang up or were enlarged, the Writers'
League, the Players' League, etc. Local branches were built up rapidly
under the leadership of Mrs. Pinkham, State organization chairman, and
by the spring of 1914 there were 138 leagues and committees. Just
before the vote in November, 1915, these had grown to 200. Monthly
conferences of the district leaders were held at State headquarters. A
systematic effort was made to build up strong suffrage organizations
in the cities outside of Boston. Workers and speakers were sent
through the State to help the local workers. In 1914 a series of
two-day conferences was held in eleven of the sixteen counties, the
first day devoted to discussion of work with local leaders and the
second to holding often as many as twenty meetings by a corps of
speakers, at factories, stores, men's clubs, labor unions, church
organizations, on the street, etc.
To educate the men who were to vote upon the question, a State-wide
canvass of voters was begun by Mrs. Crowley, which was carried on up
to election day. A body of from five to seven intelligent women,
informed on the question, re-enforced by local volunteers, called from
house to house, talking to the voter or his wife, leaving suffrage
literature and if possible getting the voter's signature to a card
pledge to vote yes. These canvassers moved from city to city and from
town to town, reaching from one-half to two-thirds of the registered
voters, averaging about 1,500 calls per week and leaving the rest of
the work to be carried on by local women. By election day over 250,000
voters had been interviewed, 100,000 had signed pledge cards and more
than 50,000 others had expressed themselves as favorable.
Much of this work was made possible by the activities of the Ways and
Means Committee of the State Association, under the chairmanship of
Mrs. B. F. Pitman, who, during the many years that she served in that
capacity, repeatedly rescued the association from the verge of debt
and filled up its treasury. Her committee accomplished this by a Bay
State Bazaar held every year at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston; by
balls, theatrical performances, outdoor fêtes, pageants and other
entertainments.
As an extra provision for the campaign of 1915, the Bay State Finance
Committee was formed in 1914 by Mrs. Park, chairman, which with the
State association raised and spent about $54,000 in the campaign. This
was exclusive of the money spent by the various leagues and branches
throughout the State, including $10,820 by the Boston Association for
Good Government.
For two years educational work was pushed in every way. It was carried
into the country districts by systematic trolley and automobile trips,
parties of workers carrying out well planned itineraries in different
parts of the State, involving usually from two to four open-air
meetings per day. Audiences were secured in all the small and
scattered places, even the most remote, by postal notices mailed from
State headquarters several days in advance to every registered voter.
Among the means employed to draw attention were huge "Votes for
Women" kites, voiceless speeches (a series of placards held up to view
in a store window or other public place), distribution of literature
in the baseball parks; a suffrage automobile or a section in the
parades on Labor Day, Columbus Day, etc.; a pilgrimage to Worcester on
the anniversary of the First National Woman's Rights Convention, led
by Miss Florence Luscomb in old-fashioned costume, in Lucy Stone's
carriage; the running of propaganda films in the moving pictures and
the placing of 100,000 brightly painted tin Blue Birds in conspicuous
places throughout the State, each bird bearing the words "Votes for
Women, Nov. 2, 1919." There were speakers and debates at men's clubs,
church organizations, labor unions, in factories, granges, at cattle
shows and at conventions of all sorts.
Large indoor meetings were held, addressed by distinguished visitors
to the State, among them Philip Snowden and Mrs. Snowden, Senator
Helen Ring Robinson of Colorado, U. S. Senators Clapp of Minnesota,
Kenyon of Iowa and Thomas of Colorado. Mrs. Pankhurst and her daughter
Sylvia spoke in Boston and Cambridge with great success. Louis D.
Brandeis, afterwards Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, came out for
woman suffrage. In Boston, under the direction of Miss Mabel Caldwell
Willard, innumerable street meetings were held for a year before the
vote, with mass meetings every Sunday in the Tremont Theater and on
the historic Common.
Press material was supplied to city and country papers. The newspapers
as a whole grew more favorable as time went by but their editorial
pages were much more friendly than the news columns, which frequently
carried stories that were unfair or wholly untrue. The Boston _Sunday
Herald_ printed regular suffrage notes for some months before the vote
and once the daily edition gave the suffragists a full page. The
Boston _American_ let them issue a special supplement, in charge of
Mrs. Jennette A. S. Jeffrey and Mrs. Leonard, and this example was
followed by other papers in the State. As always, the _Woman's
Journal_ did much to hold together, encourage and stimulate the
workers. A special committee distributed more than 100,000 copies of
suffrage speeches made in Congress and more than 300,000 pieces of
other literature within the last few months before the election.
The most impressive publicity put forth by the State association was
the two parades in Boston; the first held May 2, 1914, and the second,
Oct. 16, 1915, just before the election. The first one caused a
sensation. It contained about 12,000 women, with a small section of
men, and was conducted under the chairmanship of Mrs. Leonard, with
Mrs. Page, Mrs. Johnson and nine sub-committee chairmen. It was
extremely well organized and the large mass of totally untrained
marchers was handled so efficiently as to surprise all who saw it.
Delegations from all over New England took part and one from
Australia; women in national costumes; nurses in uniform; delegations
from all the women's colleges in the State and men and women from the
universities; also a singing chorus trained by Dr. Archibald Davidson,
Jr., of Appleton Chapel, Harvard. In the procession were a son, three
grandsons, a granddaughter and two granddaughters-in-law of William
Lloyd Garrison; the daughter of Abby Kelley Foster, the
daughter-in-law of Angelina Grimké and Theodore Weld and the daughter
of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell. The Concord banner was carried
by the grandniece of Louisa M. Alcott. Arrangements had been made for
a delegation from the Boston Central Labor Union but when the time
came the sole marcher to appear was the president, who courageously
marched alone carrying the banner of the union.
The second, called the Victory Parade, was even more successful. It
included about 15,000 marchers with a substantial men's section and
was viewed by 500,000 people. It was reviewed by Governor David I.
Walsh in front of the State House and Mayor James Michael Curley in
front of the City Hall and was followed by a tremendous mass meeting
in Mechanics' Building, addressed by the Mayor and others. Parades
were held also in other large cities.
The State Federation of Women's Clubs at its annual meeting in 1915
endorsed woman suffrage, on motion of Mrs. Herbert J. Gurney, by a
vote of 203 to 99. The extreme to which bitter feeling ran was shown
by a widely advertised attempt to organize a Non-partisan League among
the club women in consequence but only a few hundred joined out of a
federation membership of 65,000. It had been endorsed by the General
Federation and by 28 State federations but in no other had the
defeated minority undertaken to organize another society.
Thirty county fairs out of thirty-seven were covered systematically.
Special help in the campaign work was given by Ohio, Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The question of woman
suffrage was presented before 621 organizations of men through the
efforts of a committee formed for that purpose, under Mrs. Evelyn
Peverly Coe's chairmanship. Women attended nearly all the primaries
and town meetings, distributing literature and urging the men to vote
yes.
As the election approached the work along all lines grew more
intensive. Well-organized victory automobile tours ran steadily
throughout the summer and fall, in the eastern part of the State under
the direction of Mrs. Walter G. Morey and in the western under Miss
Luscomb. Meetings were held at the fashionable hotels on the north and
south shores and outdoor meetings at the popular beach resorts.
Comparatively few were held indoors but 1,675 were supplied with
speakers. Big meetings were addressed in Boston and other large cities
by U. S. Senator William E. Borah and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw. An
elaborate luncheon was given by the Men's League and the State
association at the Hotel Bellevue to the Governors' conference held in
Boston. Valuable help at this time was rendered by Governor Walsh and
the favorable opinions of the Governors of equal suffrage States were
published at length in the Boston papers by the Men's League. At the
last moment mass meetings were held in Boston at Symphony Hall and in
the largest halls of many other cities. A symbolical and picturesque
flag-raising took place on Boston Common. A last-minute circular was
sent to each of the State's 600,000 registered voters. The day before
the vote the railroad stations in Boston were visited morning and
evening and thousands of pieces of literature were given to the
commuters.
On election day, Nov. 2, 1915, practically all the polling places in
the State were covered by 8,000 women, who stood for hours holding
aloft placards reading, "Show your Faith in the Women of
Massachusetts; vote 'Yes' on Woman Suffrage." And yet after all this
strenuous effort and self-sacrificing devotion the amendment was
defeated by a vote of 295,489 to 163,406, a majority of 132,000. The
vote in Boston was: Noes, 53,654; ayes, 31,428; opposing majority,
22,226.
Louis D. Brandeis said in an address on Columbus Day: "I doubt if
there has been carried on ever in Massachusetts--certainly not in my
lifetime--a campaign which for intelligence, devotion and intensity
surpassed the campaign of the women for suffrage. It should silence
any doubt as to their fitness for enfranchisement." The suffragists,
however, had to contend with serious and insuperable difficulties. The
population of the State had changed radically since the early days
when Massachusetts had been the starting point of liberal movements.
For more than half a century its most progressive citizens had been
going west and their places had been filled by wave after wave of
immigration from Europe, largely ignorant and imbued with the Old
World ideas as to the subjection of women. The religious question also
entered in, and, while the Catholic Church took no stand as to woman
suffrage, many Catholics believed that it would be a step toward
Socialism, against which the church was making a vigorous contest. On
the other hand, many Protestants believed that the Catholic women's
votes would be unduly influenced by the priests.
Massachusetts was the home of the oldest and most influential
anti-suffrage organization of women in the United States under the
leadership of Mrs. Charles Eliot Guild, Miss Mary Ames, Mrs. James
Codman, Mrs. Charles P. Strong and others. Few of its members did any
active work but they were connected through the men of their families
with the richest, most powerful and best organized groups of men in
the State, who worked openly or behind the scenes against woman
suffrage. They had an influence out of all proportion to their
numbers. Most of the literature, most of the money and a liberal
supply of speakers for anti-suffrage campaigns all over the country
had emanated from this association. While always posing as a woman's
protest, the real strength of the movement was in the men.
In May, 1912, a Man's Anti-Suffrage Association had been organized,
its Executive Committee consisting of ten lawyers, one cotton broker,
one Technology Professor, the treasurer of Harvard College and the
treasurer of the Copley Society. Other societies were organized
later. All through the summer and fall of 1915 the women's and the
men's organizations and various groups and combinations of men, who
for one reason or another did not want equal suffrage, worked publicly
and privately in every conceivable way against the amendment. They
held meetings, mostly indoor, sent out speakers, advertised in street
cars, prepared and mailed to every voter at great expense an elaborate
pamphlet, The Case Against Woman Suffrage, full of misrepresentations,
and did all an active opposition could do, and they had an efficient
and highly paid Publicity Committee. The liquor interests fought the
amendment from start to finish. Pink slips were passed out in saloons
on election day, saying, "Good for two drinks if woman suffrage is
defeated."
The vote was curiously uniform. Every part of the State gave an
adverse majority; so did every city and town except Tewksbury and
Carver; and generally in about the same proportion--places with strong
suffrage organizations and places with none; whether the work done in
them had been much or little; even towns where a majority of the
voters had signed pledge cards promising to vote for the amendment
voted adversely and in about the same ratio. The vote was the largest
ever cast on any amendment in the State. By appealing adroitly to all
kinds of prejudices, as on the religious question, the opposition got
out an enormous number of men who generally did not vote at all.
Both sides were required by law to file at the State House a record of
their campaign expenses. An analysis of the lists showed that the bulk
of the anti-suffrage campaign fund was made up of personal
contributions, four-fifths of them from men, and more than
three-fifths of the total from 135 men, whose average donation was
$235. The slogan of their campaign had been that women did not want to
vote. The official figures showed that those who claimed to speak for
"80 per cent. of the women" received 80 per cent. of their
contributions from men, and not from the rank and file of men but
chiefly from bankers, brokers and powerful directors of the monied
section of Boston. The bulk of the suffrage campaign fund came from
fairs, sales and entertainments and of the personal contributions more
than four-fifths were from women, their average donation being $17.
After the election in 1915 there was started a State branch of the
Congressional Union, later called the National Woman's Party, formed
some years before to push the Federal Amendment. It was under the
leadership of Mrs. Morey, chairman, and other women most of whom had
been active with the State association during the campaign. The defeat
of the State amendment caused the work of all organizations to be
directed toward the submission of the Federal Amendment.
At the annual meeting of the State association in May, 1916, a budget
of $30,000 was adopted and $20,000 toward it was pledged on the spot.
Through the preceding winter the association had five paid organizers,
two of them working in Boston, and a large number of volunteer field
workers, at least 230 in Boston alone. Besides the chairmen for the
sixteen congressional districts, each of the forty senatorial
districts had its chairman, all working under the State Chairman of
Organization, Mrs. Sara S. Gilson. She was followed by Mrs. Mary P.
Sleeper and by Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton, who formed an Advisory Council
of 100 influential men in preparation for the campaign to ratify the
Federal Amendment.
After the United States entered the World War in 1917 the suffrage
organizations, State and local, devoted their efforts largely to
various forms of war work, called for by the Government. They served
on all committees, took part in all "drives," sold Liberty Bonds and
continued their service till the last demand had been met.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Massachusetts Legislature began in 1869 to
grant hearings to women asking for the franchise and it continued to
do so every year thereafter. These hearings usually crowded the
largest committee room at the State House, the throng often extending
far out into the hall. Able arguments were presented by eminent men
and women but it was impossible to obtain favorable action. There was
at least one hearing every year and often several on different
measures. In later years they were generally conducted by Mrs. Maud
Wood Park, Miss Amy F. Acton, a young woman lawyer, or Miss Alice
Stone Blackwell for the petitioners; and by Thomas Russell, Aaron H.
Latham, Charles R. Saunders or Robert Luce, as attorney for the
Anti-Suffrage Association. Miss Blackwell usually replied for the
petitioners. In recent years the suffragists had influential
politicians of both parties to speak at the hearings, thus making
woman suffrage a political question.
1901. The State association asked for the Municipal and Presidential
franchise and for the submission to the voters of a constitutional
amendment giving full suffrage. At the hearing on the latter, held
February 18, the crowd broke all records and members of the committee
who came late had to reach their seats by walking on top of the long
table. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was among the speakers.[84] The
measure was defeated March 11 by a vote, including pairs, of 156 to
53. Individuals petitioned for Municipal suffrage for women taxpayers,
which was referred to the next Legislature without a roll call.
1902. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was
debated in the House on March 5 and defeated by a vote (including
pairs) of 153 to 61. Petitions from individuals for Municipal suffrage
for taxpaying women and that women qualified to vote for school
committee might vote in the primaries on the nominations for it and a
petition of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that women might
vote on licenses, were all rejected, after lively hearings. The
Anti-Suffrage Association opposed all of them.
The great legislative triumph of 1902 was the passage of the Equal
Guardianship bill. Ever since Lucy Stone in 1847 began to urge the
amendment of the old law, which gave the father absolute control, the
suffragists had endeavored to have it changed. Bill after bill, drawn
by Samuel E. Sewall and others, had been introduced and rejected and
it required a tragedy to obtain a new law. Mrs. Naramore of Coldbrook,
Mass., went insane and killed her six young children when she learned
that their father intended to give them away and could legally do so.
This deeply stirred the Rev. Charles H. Talmage, who had conducted the
funeral service, with the six little coffins ranged before the pulpit.
He made a careful inquiry into all the circumstances and gave a full
account of them in the Boston _Herald_ of April 15, 1901 (republished
in the _Woman's Journal_ of April 27). He gave his time and the State
Suffrage Association paid his expenses while he went through the State
enlisting the support of different organizations of women to secure a
change in the law. Mr. Blackwell also put in much time for this
purpose.
When the Equal Guardianship bill was introduced by Representative
George H. Fall of Malden it was backed not only by the suffrage
association but by the State Federation of Women's Clubs, the State W.
C. T. U., the Women's Relief Corps, the Boston Children's Friend
Society and more than a hundred other organizations, aggregating
34,000 women. Among them the Anti-Suffrage Association was not
included. For six years it had been circulating, under its official
imprint, a leaflet against the proposal to give mothers equal custody
and control of the children and in defense of the law as it stood.
The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported adversely by 8 to 3.
The outlook for its passage seemed so dark that Mr. Fall came to the
_Woman's Journal_ office and asked if it might not be better to drop
it and await a more propitious time. Miss Blackwell urged him to push
it to a test. On May 27 it was debated in the House. Representative
Marshall of Gloucester said that the Probate Judges were all opposed
to it; that its advocates were "sentimentalists" and that "it would
create strife, separation and divorce." He added: "Those who appeared
for it before the committee were practically the same crowd that
appeared for woman suffrage." Representative Sleeper exclaimed: "If
you want to enact legislation which will disrupt the home and sunder
the tenderest and most sacred relations, pass this bill!" The House
rejected the committee's adverse report by a viva voce vote and the
next day passed the bill without further debate. It passed the Senate
by a large majority. Thanks and praises were showered upon
Representative Fall, who modestly said that two-thirds of the credit
for working up the case belonged to his wife, Mrs. Anna Christy Fall.
1903. The bill for taxpayers' Municipal suffrage was defeated February
5 without a roll call; the association's petition for a constitutional
amendment by 99 to 87.
1904. Governor John L. Bates recommended woman suffrage in his
Message. The association asked for Municipal suffrage for women having
the same qualifications required of men. The bill was debated in the
House on February 16 and defeated without a roll call. The bill to let
women vote on nominations for school trustees was defeated by 62 to
30.
1905. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was
rejected without a division and without even discussion. Petitions
were rejected for License suffrage, for a vote on school nominations
and to enable women to vote for the appointing officer if the Boston
school board should be made appointive instead of elective. The
association always joined with other societies in asking for measures
for the public welfare.
1906. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was
debated March 23 and defeated without a roll call. One headed by John
Golden, president of the Textile Workers, for Municipal suffrage for
wage-earning women was also defeated without a division, as were the
petitions for License suffrage and for a vote on school nominations.
1907. The constitutional amendment was debated February 20 and
defeated by 125 to 14. The Good Templars asked for License suffrage
for women. At the hearing the bill was supported by representatives of
the Anti-Saloon League, the W. C. T. U., the Christian Endeavorers,
etc., and opposed by the Anti-Suffrage Association and the attorney of
the Wine and Spirits Wholesale Dealers' Association. A bill requiring
that the same measures be taken to keep the names of women voters
(school) on the register as the names of men failed to pass.
1908. Municipal suffrage for all women, asked for by the association,
was vigorously debated and voted down by 99 to 30. Municipal suffrage
for women taxpayers, asked for by individuals, was defeated without a
roll call.
1909. At the hearing on February 23 the Boston _Herald_, which was not
in favor of equal suffrage, estimated that 2,000 women besieged the
State House. They crowded the corridors and the large portico until
two great overflow meetings were held in the open air at either end of
the broad stairway leading up to the entrance. Later the overflow
meeting moved on to the Common. The huge crowd of women made a deep
impression and was largely featured in the press, which said that
nothing like it had ever been seen in Boston.[85] The hearing was
conducted for the petitioners by Mrs. Crowley and for the "antis" by
Mr. Saunders. He was so impressed by the crowd that his usual sneering
and jeering manner was wholly changed. The suffrage speakers were Dr.
Shaw, John F. Tobin, president of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union;
Rabbi Charles Fleischer, Miss Josephine Casey, secretary of the
Women's Trade Union League; Henry Abrahams of the Central Labor Union;
Miss Rose Brennan of Fall River, Miss Blackwell, Miss Eleanor Rendell
of England, Winfield Tuck and Mrs. Belle Davis. Mrs. Gorham Dana,
Professor Sedgwick and Mrs. George spoke for the "antis." Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe and Ex-Governor Bates, who were to have spoken for suffrage,
could not get into the room.[86] The constitutional amendment was
debated March 23. The galleries were reserved for women, yet many were
turned away. The vote stood 171 noes to 54 ayes, including 11 pairs.
1910. The hearing February 23 on a constitutional amendment was
unusually impressive. It was held in the evening to enable women busy
by day to attend. In the past two or three members of the Legislature
not on the committee had sometimes dropped in. This year about sixty
were present. Mrs. Crowley and Mrs. Luce conducted the hearing for the
two sides. The petitioners had arranged delegations representing
different groups of women--mothers, home-makers, leisure women,
lawyers, mission and church workers, artists, authors and journalists,
doctors and nurses, Socialists, W. C. T. U., the "unrepresented"
(widows and single women), business women, trade unions, teachers,
social workers, taxpayers, saleswomen, clerks and stenographers and
college women. These 1,500 or more marched to the State House from
Ford Hall, each group under its own banner, and presented themselves
before the committee in turn, the spokeswoman of each group telling
briefly why she, and women like her, wanted the ballot. Then they went
over to Ford Hall, where a big rally was held and the main address was
made by Mrs. Fanny Garrison Villard. An overflow meeting was held on
the State House steps addressed by Edwin D. Mead and others. In order
to line up the labor vote in the Legislature, resolutions by different
labor unions, signed by their secretaries, were sent to each
legislator, under the direction of Mrs. Page. The measure was defeated
March 31 by 148 to 47.
1911. For the first time in many years, the Legislative Committee of
the State association, Mrs. Crowley, chairman, appeared, before the
Resolutions Committee of the political parties to urge the adoption of
a suffrage plank. The Democratic party inserted one favoring the
submission of the question to the voters; the Republican party ignored
it. The legislators were interviewed both at the State House and by
representative suffragists within their districts, and they received
suffrage literature. The hearing on February 23 was unusually
successful from a political and publicity standpoint. It was conducted
by Mrs. Crowley and was addressed by Mrs. Park and Mrs. Katharine
Dexter McCormick; John Sherman Weaver, representing the State branch
of the American Federation of Labor, and Henry Abrahams for the Boston
Central Labor Union. Sylvia Pankhurst addressed the committee in a
simple and effective way. Two of the opposition speakers were Mrs.
George and Professor Sedgwick. The debate was spirited and was
conducted for the suffragists by prominent Senators and
Representatives. Four members spoke in opposition. The vote in the
House was ayes, 69, noes, 161; in the Senate, ayes, 6, noes, 31.
During all these years a quiet but effective opposition had been
working at the State House under the direction of Charles R. Saunders,
legislative counsel for the Anti-Suffrage Association.
One of the most significant features in the fall of 1911 was the
political work of Miss Margaret Foley, as it marked the beginning of a
new type of effort. She had made a special trip to England the year
before with Miss Florence Luscomb and Miss Alice Carpenter to observe
the methods of the English suffragettes, who were then receiving great
publicity. After her return she began by attending with other women
the political rallies of the various candidates for the State
Legislature and at the close of each rally asking the candidate how he
stood on the question of Votes for Women. By her knowledge of crowd
psychology and gift as a speaker, she was able not only to handle but
to win the roughest crowd to the consternation of the candidates. When
the candidates for Governor started on their campaign, Miss Foley,
with a group of workers, followed the Republican candidate in a fast
automobile, attended all his meetings, spoke to the crowd on suffrage
after the Republican speeches were over and questioned the candidates
for Governor and other State officers as to their stand on suffrage.
This unique and somewhat sensational method was taken up with avidity
by the newspapers, which gave it front-page articles with
illustrations. Later she turned her attention to the Democratic
candidates. This was kept up until election and suffrage facts and
arguments were presented to thousands of voters who would never
otherwise have heard them.
In 1912 the Legislative Committee, Miss Mary Gay, chairman, conducted
the hearing on February 26. Afterwards a special letter of thanks was
sent to Professor Lewis J. Johnson of Harvard and the Hon. Joseph
Walker for their help at the hearing. The amendment had able support
from members and the campaign work began to show results. The vote in
the House was ayes, 96, noes, 116; in the Senate, aye's, 14, noes, 17.
In the autumn the method was introduced which many believed was
ultimately responsible for putting the amendment through the
Legislature. It was the defeating of individual legislators who had
been prominent opponents by making an active political campaign in
their districts. The first was begun at the primaries against State
Senator Roger Wolcott of Milton, chairman of the Constitutional
Amendments Committee in the preceding Legislature. The women compiled
a record of his negative votes on many liberal measures, including
suffrage, and spread this record before his constituents. This work
was done at the suggestion and under the direction of Mrs. Fitzgerald,
who conducted open-air meetings in the district. The effort to defeat
his renomination in the primary failed, however, largely through their
inexperience. The Legislative Committee at the time consisted of Mrs.
Crowley, chairman, Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Park, Mrs. Page, Miss Foley and
Mrs. Mary Agnes Mahan and remained substantially the same during the
next two or three years, with the addition of Mrs. Marie Burress
Currier, Miss Cora Start and Mrs. Evelyn Peverley Coe. Then they made
a fight against Mr. Wolcott's election and by a most thorough campaign
defeated him at the polls and a Democrat was returned from that
district for the first time in many years.
This year marked the high tide of the Progressive party in
Massachusetts. It had put a straight suffrage plank in its platform
and its members in the Legislature were very helpful. The defeat of
Wolcott, the publicity, the increasing vote in the Legislature and the
general stirring of the suffrage question, had caused the opponents to
fear that the constitutional amendment would be submitted.
Consequently a bill was filed calling for another referendum like the
one in 1895 which would have no effect after it was taken. The
Executive Board of the State association protested against it but the
situation looked extremely dark. Levi H. Greenwood, President of the
Senate, and Grafton D. Cushing, Speaker of the House, were bitter
opponents of woman suffrage and on the Committee on Constitutional
Amendments there was only one avowed friend, Lewis H. Sullivan of
Dorchester. The association's Legislative Committee worked strenuously
to pledge votes against the bill. A visit to every editor in the city
by Mrs. Page and Mrs. Crowley enlisted them against it and the
numerous editorials that followed were sent day by day to the
legislators: The bill's support dwindled, and on April 18 it was
defeated in the House by 117 to 73, although the Speaker left the
chair for the only time that session to argue in favor of it.
At the hearing on the submission of the constitutional amendment,
Louis D. Brandeis, ex-Congressman Samuel L. Powers, Joseph Walker and
Professor Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard spoke in favor and letters
were read from Samuel W. McCall, afterwards Republican Governor;
Charles Sumner Bird, the Progressive leader, and Thomas W. Riley, an
influential Democrat. For the first time since 1895 woman suffrage
commanded a majority in the House, the vote standing ayes, 144, noes,
88, but this was not the necessary two-thirds and the Legislative
Committee consented that it might be voted down in the Senate,
provided the "straw" vote bill was defeated at the same time.
It now seemed practically certain that the amendment would pass the
next Legislature. In the fall of 1913 the Boston Equal Suffrage
Association defeated Walter R. Meins of the 21st Suffolk District; the
Legislative Committee of the State Association defeated
Representatives Butler of Lowell and Underhill of Somerville at the
primaries, and Bliss of Malden and Greenwood, president of the Senate,
at the election. This being the first time for many years that a
Democrat had been returned from Greenwood's district, his defeat
caused a sensation.
In 1914 the Progressive party, the State Federation of Labor, the
Socialists and the State Suffrage Association all introduced suffrage
measures. The Progressive and Democratic parties had planks in their
platforms recommending the submission of the constitutional amendment
to the voters and Governor Walsh was in favor of it. The suffragists
were unable to get a plank in the Republican platform. For reasons of
political expediency, Mrs. Crowley turned over the conduct of the
hearing to John Weaver Sherman, representing the State Federation of
Labor. There were speeches in favor by Guy A. Ham, chairman of the
Resolutions Committee of the State Republican convention; Henry
Sterling, representing the American Federation of Labor; Mrs. William
Lloyd Garrison, Jr., Mrs. Pinkham and Mrs. Katherine Lent Stevenson,
president of the W. C. T. U. Letters were read from ex-Governor Bates
and Sherman K. Whipple, Republican and Democratic leaders. The Women's
Political Equality Union had speakers from the Textile Workers' Union
of Boston and the unions of the telephone operators, candy-makers and
street-car men. The debate in the House was successfully led by
Sanford Bates, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
The resolution to submit the amendment passed by 168 to 39 in the
House and 34 to 2 in the Senate, commanding the required two-thirds
for the first time, but it had to pass a succeeding Legislature.
In 1915 the legislative work was less onerous and the amendment passed
the House by 193 to 33, the Senate by 33 to 3 and was signed by
Governor Walsh, who presented the pen to Mrs. Crowley. His signature
was not necessary but he wished to show his approval.
Under the Corrupt Practices Act a political committee, so-called, of
at least five men, had to be formed to handle the funds of any group
that spent more than $20 to carry or defeat a constitutional
amendment. A bill was passed which allowed women to form the committee
in the case of the equal suffrage amendment and the following were
named: Miss Blackwell, chairman; Mrs. Blanche Ames, treasurer; Mrs.
Crowley, Mrs. Leonard and Miss Foley. The strenuous campaign and the
defeat of the amendment after a struggle of more than half a century
to have it submitted, have been described.
In 1916 no suffrage bill of any kind was presented to the Legislature
by the State Association but it turned its attention to congressional
work. This was skilfully conducted by Mrs. Grace A. Johnson, chairman;
members of Congress were interviewed, letters and telegrams sent to
the Congressional Judiciary Committee and delegates to the National
party conventions were urged to support suffrage planks. When these
planks were secured in the national platforms of all parties during
the summer the victory was celebrated with a mass meeting in Faneuil
Hall.
In 1917 Massachusetts held a Constitutional Convention. The Act
calling it, in describing those to whom its recommendations should be
submitted for ratification, used the word "people." A bill drawn by
Mrs. Crowley was filed in the Legislature by the State Suffrage
Association asking that women be considered people within the meaning
of this Act. The Senate asked the opinion of the State Supreme Court
as to its constitutionality and she filed a brief. The Supreme Court
decided adversely and in view of the rapid advance of the Federal
Suffrage Amendment the association decided that no State amendment
should be submitted by the convention.
The directions of the National Suffrage Association for congressional
work were carried out. Federal Amendment meetings were held, thousands
of letters sent to members of Congress from their districts and about
500 telegrams sent just before the vote was taken in 1918. The
amendment lacked but one vote of passing the U. S. Senate and it
became necessary to defeat at least one among the anti-suffrage
Senators who were coming up for re-election, so it was decided to
defeat Senator John W. Weeks in Massachusetts. His reactionary record
was spread before the Republican voters by 370,000 circulars and
advertisements in Republican papers. A special campaign among the
working men was made by members of the Women's Trade Union League,
under the leadership of Miss Mabel Gillespie, and among the Jewish
voters, who were normally Republican, under the leadership of Mrs.
Joseph Fels and Mrs. Lillian E. deHaas of New York. The great
popularity of President Wilson at this time was of assistance and also
that of the Democratic candidate for the Senate, ex-Governor Walsh. A
special letter was sent to every listed member of the State
association asking that at least one vote be secured against Mr.
Weeks, with a spirited appeal by Mrs. Ames, who belonged to a
prominent Republican family. Mr. Walsh was elected by about 20,000
majority, the first Democratic U. S. Senator from Massachusetts since
the Civil War.
The Congressional Committee, Mrs. Ames, chairman, sent more than 5,000
letters and telegrams asking suffragists in the State to write and
telegraph the Massachusetts Senators and members of Congress to vote
for the Federal Amendment. Concentrated work was done upon three
doubtful Representatives, one of whom was secured, Carter of Needham.
This proved most fortunate as the House gave exactly the two-thirds
vote.
The work done in 1918 on the great petition for the Federal Amendment
was very successful despite the influenza epidemic. In Worcester,
Springfield, Pittsfield and North Adams women signed numbering more
than 51 per cent. of the men's last vote for President and in Boston
62,000 names were secured or 60 per cent. of that vote. The
anti-suffragists in twenty-four years had accumulated only a little
over 40,000 signatures in the whole State, according to their own
figures. In less than one year the suffragists obtained 70,792 in the
above cities and over 100,000 in the State.
RATIFICATION. When the Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress on
June 4, 1919, the Legislative Committee of the State Association, Mrs.
Anna C. M. Tillinghast, chairman, was expanded into a Ratification
Committee. It had already polled the Legislature, which was in
session. A hearing was held before the Federal Relations Committee
conducted by Mrs. Tillinghast for the suffragists and by Mrs. Henry
Preston White for the "antis," who asked for a referendum to the
voters in place of ratification. The suffrage speakers were Frank B.
Hall, chairman of the Republican State Committee; Joseph Walker,
Progressive Republican; Josiah Quincy, Democrat, Joseph Walsh,
Democrat, of the Senate; Mrs. Bird, Mrs. FitzGerald, Mrs. Pinkham, who
presented a petition of 135,000 names from representative sections of
the Commonwealth; Mrs. Mary Thompson, representing the working women;
Miss Margaret Foley, a prominent Catholic; a representative of the
State W. C. T. U.; Charles J. Hodgson, legislative agent for the
American Federation of Labor. The speakers for the Woman's Party were
Mrs. Morey, Miss Betty Gram, Michael O'Leary, chairman of the
Democratic State Committee, and Mrs. Louise Sykes. On the
anti-suffrage side sixteen women representing the sixteen
congressional districts told of their vote against suffrage in 1915.
Miss Blackwell spoke in rebuttal for the suffragists, Miss Charlotte
Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., for the "antis." B. Loring Young, Republican
floor leader in the House, acted as chairman of the suffrage Steering
Committee in the House and Joseph Knox in the Senate. The committee
reported in favor of ratification with two dissenting.
The debate in the House on June 25 was notable, about fifteen members
speaking on each side. An amendment calling for a referendum was
defeated by 166 to 67 and ratification carried by 185 ayes to 47
noes. The Senate ratified by 34 ayes, 5 noes. Massachusetts was the
eighth State to ratify. Mrs. Tillinghast expressed especial gratitude
for the assistance given by Governor Calvin Coolidge, Lieutenant
Governor Channing M. Cox, Edwin T. McKnight, President of the Senate,
Joseph E. Warner, Speaker of the House, B. Loring Young, Republican,
and William H. McDonnell, Democratic floor leader, Leland Powers of
the House, Joseph Knox of the Senate and the chairmen of the
Republican and Democratic State committees.
After women had been enfranchised the State and the Boston suffrage
associations conducted citizenship schools in every county to instruct
them in their new duties.
LAWS. [The very complete digest of the legislation of the past twenty
years in relation to women and children, especially to those in the
industries, prepared by Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, attorney at law, and
filling nine typewritten pages, has to be omitted for lack of space.]
FOOTNOTES:
[79] The History is indebted for the first part of this chapter to
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, an officer of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association from 1890 to 1912 inclusive; president of the New
England Woman Suffrage Association from 1911, and president of the
Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association almost continuously from 1909
to 1920; and for the second part of the chapter to Mrs. Teresa A.
Crowley, chairman of the Legislative Committee of the State
association from 1909 for many years.
[80] Later presidents were Mrs. Page, Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, Mrs.
Robert Gould Shaw and Mrs. J. Malcolm Forbes. When Mrs. Park was
called to Washington to become national congressional chairman in 1916
Mrs. Wenona Osborne Pinkham succeeded her as executive secretary.
[81] At the annual meeting of the M. A. O. F. E. S. W. on May 1,
officers were elected as follows: President, Mrs. G. Howland Shaw;
vice-presidents, Mrs. J. H. Coolidge, Miss Anna L. Dawes, Mrs. Charles
D. Homans, Miss Agnes Irwin, Mrs. Henry M. Whitney; corresponding
secretary, Miss L. C. Post; recording secretary. Miss Elizabeth
Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. James M. Codman; executive committee, the
officers and Miss Sarah H. Crocker, Mrs. Gorham Dana, Mrs. Charles
Eliot Guild, Miss Katherine E. Guild, Miss Elizabeth H. Houghton, Miss
Sarah E. Hunt, Mrs. Francis C. Lowell, Mrs. J. H. Millet, Mrs. B. L.
Robinson, Mrs. R. H. Saltonstall, Miss E. P. Sohier and Mrs. Henry M.
Thompson.
[82] Additional speakers through the summer were Miss Margaret Foley,
Miss Gertrude Y. Cliff, Miss Edith M. Haynes, Mrs. Marion Craig
Wentworth, Miss Florence Luscomb, Miss Katherine Tyng, Miss Alfretta
McClure and Miss Rosa Heinzen, the last four college girls.
[83] Much help was given for years by the steady financial support of
Mrs. R. D. Evans, Mrs. Robert Gould Shaw and Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw. The
last named paid the rent of the suffrage headquarters during many
years and her heirs continued this assistance for some time after her
death in 1917.
[84] Many of the same persons appeared at these hearings year after
year. Among those not mentioned who spoke for suffrage between 1900
and 1910 were Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev.
Charles G. Ames, Mrs. Fanny B. Ames, Miss Sarah Cone Bryant, the Rev.
Charles F. Dole, Mrs. Anna Christy Fall, Mrs. Helen Campbell, Miss
Mary Ware Allen, Miss Eva Channing, Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, Miss
Lillian Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott, Frank B. Sanborn, Mrs.
Eliza R. Whiting, Mrs. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, Mrs. A. Watson Lister,
of Australia; ex Governor John D. Long. Letters in favor were read
from Professor Borden P. Bowne, of Boston University, U. S. Senator
George F. Hoar, ex Governor George S. Boutwell, Dr. J. L. Withrow of
Park Street Church, Congressman Samuel W. McCall, Professor W. O.
Crosby of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mrs. Sarah Platt
Decker, president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. May
Alden Ward, president of the State Federation, Mrs. F. N. Shiek,
president of the Wyoming Federation, and Judge Lindsey of the Denver
Juvenile Court.
Among those who spoke in opposition were Professor William T. Sedgwick
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Mrs. Sedgwick, Mrs A.
J. George, Mrs. Barrett Wendell, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Foxcroft and Dr.
Lyman Abbott of New York. A number of women spoke every year who
opposed the suffrage because it would take women into public life.
[85] The suggestion to get out a record-breaking crowd was made by
Representative Norman H. White of Brookline, the first man for some
years to lead a serious fight in the Legislature for woman suffrage.
The work of getting it out was engineered by Mrs. Crowley, Mrs. Page
and Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, who also arranged the great procession at
the hearing of the following year.
[86] Among the speakers at the overflow meetings on the steps were the
Misses Rendell and Costello, Miss Foley, Mrs. George F. Lowell, Mr.
Blackwell, Mrs. Fitzgerald, John Golden and Franklin H. Wentworth. At
the overflow meeting on the Common Mrs. Fitzgerald presided and Dr.
Shaw was the chief speaker. A great meeting in Faneuil Hall had been
addressed by Dr. Shaw and others the night before.
CHAPTER XXI.
MICHIGAN.[87]
The Michigan Equal Suffrage Association is almost as old as any in the
United State, having been organized in January, 1870, eight months
after the National Association was formed, and its work has been long
and arduous. It has had triumphs and disappointments; gained partial
suffrage at two periods and ended in a complete victory in 1918.
In 1900-1901 the principal efforts of the association, which consisted
of 14 auxiliaries, were along educational lines. At the annual
convention in 1902 a petition was sent to President Theodore Roosevelt
to recommend a woman suffrage amendment to the National Constitution
in his message to Congress, which was heartily endorsed by the
National Grange then in session in Lansing. Little active work was
being done with the Legislature but it is the pride of the suffragists
that no Legislature ever convened which they did not memorialize and
only two years passed without a State convention--1912, and two were
held in 1913; and 1917, when a congressional conference was held
instead.[88] The presidents during these years were Mrs. Emily Burton
Ketcham, Grand Rapids, 1901 (at intervals from 1892); Mrs. Martha E.
Snyder Root, Bay City, 1902-3; Mrs. Guilielma H. Barnum, Charlotte,
1904-6; Mrs. Clara B. Arthur, Detroit, 1906-1914; Mrs. Orton H. Clark,
Kalamazoo, 1914-1918; Mrs. Belle Brotherton, Detroit, acting
president, 1918; Mrs. Percy J. Farrell, Detroit, 1918-1919.
From 1902 to 1906 the work was largely confined to the preparing of
public opinion for the probable revision of the State constitution.
Legislatures refused to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the
voters on the plea that a new constitution would soon be in force. It
was decided to make an intensive educational campaign, especially
among the club women. To this end suffragists served on club
committees working for legislative or civic ends, and the rebuffs of
the measures urged by them finally resulted in the endorsement of
woman suffrage by the State Federation of Women's Clubs with 8,000
members, at Battle Creek in October, 1908.
In 1906 speakers were sent over the State for lectures and debates.
Prizes for suffrage essays were offered in high schools with material
supplied. At county and State fairs, church bazars, picnics and
meetings of various societies, literature was freely distributed. The
_Woman's Journal_ was placed in all public libraries and small
suffrage tracts kept in interurban waiting rooms and in rest rooms of
churches, societies and dry-goods stores. Birthdays of pioneer
suffragists were celebrated by special meetings, local clubs always
responding to a call with so concrete an object. A committee of
members in all parts of the State attended constantly to press work,
sending in items of interest concerning the progress of women,
educationally and politically, and answering attacks on woman
suffrage.
This year the Supreme Court decided that Mrs. Merrie Hoover Abbott,
who had been elected prosecuting attorney of Ogemaw county, could not
serve because no woman was entitled to hold office. The association
used this decision as a practical lesson on the position of women
under the present constitution. Finally the Legislature of 1907
arranged for a constitutional convention. The annual convention of the
association promptly met the situation by appointing a Constitutional
Revision Committee headed by Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs of Bay City, a
former president, and each auxiliary was invited to appoint one woman
to serve on an advisory committee. The purpose of this committee was
to urge upon the convention the omission of the word "male" from the
suffrage clause as a qualification for voting.
The Committee on Elective Franchise of the constitutional convention
reported unanimously in favor and on Jan 8. 1908, granted the
suffragists a hearing in Representatives Hall. Ten societies
cooperating with the State suffrage association were represented--the
Grange, two organizations of the Maccabees, Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, State Federation of Labor, Detroit Garment Workers,
State Woman's Press Association and several women's and farmers'
clubs. A petition representing 225,000 names, 175,000 of individual
women of voting age, was presented. The State president, Mrs. Clara B.
Arthur, introduced the speakers, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and Mrs. Catharine
Waugh McCulloch, a lawyer of Chicago, who made earnest addresses. The
Governor came in to hear them. The women "antis" circulated a leaflet
opposing the change. On January 29 the debate took place in the
convention on the proposed revision, and, although not a voice had
been raised in protest, the vote stood 38 ayes, 57 noes. Some members
who voted "no" did so because they believed that the whole
constitution would be defeated at the polls if it proposed to
enfranchise women. The hard work of the association was not, however,
barren of results, for a clause was inserted in the new constitution
giving taxpaying women the right to vote on any public question
relating to the public expenditure of money or the issuing of bonds.
[In 1915 the Legislature extended it to the granting of public
franchises.]
In the spring Mrs. Arthur with Mrs. Maud Wood Park, organizer for the
National College Suffrage League, formed branches in the colleges at
Albion, Hillsdale, Olivet and Ann Arbor and among the collegiate
alumnae in Detroit, of which Dr. Mary Thompson Stevens was made
president. In June the fifty-six State delegates to the National
Democratic convention were petitioned for a woman suffrage plank in
the platform.
The next task was to try to comply with the request of the National
Suffrage Association to secure 100,000 names to a nation-wide petition
to be presented to Congress for a Federal Suffrage Amendment. Mrs.
Fern Richardson Rowe, Grand Rapids, was chairman of the work, which
took up the greater part of the year 1909 and went over into 1910.
This last year the State association obtained the consent of the Hon.
Levi L. Barbour, former U. S. Senator Thomas W. Palmer and the Rev.
Lee S. McCollester, pastor of the Church of Our Father (Universalist),
all residents of Detroit, to act as an invitational committee in
organizing a Men's State League for Woman Suffrage. The charter
membership consisted of 100 influential men well known throughout the
State. In March a committee of the association went to the Republican
State convention to have a woman suffrage resolution adopted but were
unsuccessful.
In March, 1912, the association was thrown unexpectedly into a turmoil
when Governor Chase S. Osborn called a special session of the
Legislature to consider, among other things, the submission of a woman
suffrage amendment to the State constitution to the voters at the
general election on November 5, urged by the Detroit branch of the
College Suffrage League. The time was not propitious but the
Legislative Committee of the association, under the direction of Mrs.
Jennie C. Law Hardy, went immediately to work, receiving able
assistance from the Governor, the Rev. Eugene R. Shippen (Unitarian)
of the Men's League and Dr. Mary Thompson Stevens of the College
League. The State Grange immediately appropriated $1,000 for their
Woman's Committee, directed by Miss Ida L. Chittenden. These united
efforts were vigorously opposed by representatives of the liquor
dealers but the measure passed the Senate and House. This big contest
Michigan entered almost single-handed. Campaigns in other States which
had been months in progress and gave greater promise of success were
engaging nearly all of the organizers and speakers from outside the
State. There was less than $250 in the treasury. This amount was
augmented by $1,340 from the National Association; $211 from various
States and the State Association raised $6,322. It was not until early
June that plans were completely under way. The five months remaining
were devoted to an intensive educational campaign, made possible only
by the organizing work since 1906.
State headquarters were opened in Detroit and subsidiary headquarters
in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. County suffrage societies cooperated
heartily and much help came from the press. The Men's League, the
College League, the powerful State Grange, the Farmers' Clubs and
many labor organizations helped and all that was possible was done in
this short and unexpected campaign. When the returns began to come in
they were overwhelmingly in favor of the amendment. The newspapers
fixed its majority at figures varying from 3,000 to 12,000.
Immediately following these reports came rumors of large errors in the
count. Ballot boxes were mysteriously lost and every artifice known to
the politicians was employed to delay the official returns.
Governor Osborn was quoted in the press as follows: "If the liquor
interests defeat the suffrage amendment by fraud, proved or suspected,
the people of Michigan will retaliate, in my opinion, by adopting
state wide prohibition. The question seems to be largely one as to
whether these interests own, control and run Michigan. Those most
feared are certain election 'crooks' in certain Detroit precincts, who
would not hesitate to do anything they thought they could get away
with." The Governor demanded that the returns be sent to Lansing at
once. When at the end of three weeks the official count was published
it showed that the amendment had been defeated by 762 votes, ayes,
247,373; noes, 248,135. Clear evidence of fraud was apparent in Wayne,
Kent, Saginaw and Bay counties. The State association engaged the best
legal talent and in Genesee county the courts threw out the vote on
the amendment. It developed, however, that there was no law allowing a
recount in a vote on a constitutional amendment and in the face of
glaring fraud the defeat had to be accepted.
No State convention was held in November, 1912, because of the stress
of campaign work but a postponed convention was held Jan. 15, 16,
1913. Indignation ran high over this defeat and an immediate
resubmission of the amendment was decided upon as the result of
favorable answers to questionnaires which had been sent to all county
chairmen and the heads of all cooperating societies. During the
campaign no open or organized opposition among women had been in
evidence. A legislative hearing was arranged by the suffragists and
the State and College League presidents on starting to Lansing found a
special car attached to their train bearing about thirty prominent
women members of a new Anti-Suffrage Association. Their only speaker
was Miss Minnie Bronson of New York, secretary of the National
Anti-Suffrage Association. As Mrs. Arthur rose to answer her hour's
speech she remarked that for the first time the voice of a woman was
heard in this State in protest against her own enfranchisement and she
rejoiced that it was not the voice of a Michigan woman.
Despite determined opposition the proposal passed both Houses to be
voted on at the spring election just five weeks ahead. Owing to the
social position of the "antis," the State press gave much prominence
to their association, published pages of the members' pictures and
quoted their reasons for organizing it. Branches were at once formed
in ten adjoining towns; State offices were opened on Woodward Avenue,
near the suffrage headquarters, books opened for registration and
great quantities of literature sent over the State. Several debates
were attempted but few materialized, as they had no home talent.[89]
A placard printed in English and German and posted in saloons in
various parts of the city by the Michigan Staatterbund announced that
if the amendment should be adopted in Michigan, foreign born women
would have to take out naturalization papers at a large price. This
and the Royal Ark, an association of 1,100 liquor dealers in Detroit,
were the only organizations in the State to pass resolutions against
the amendment. A Men's Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was
organized on March 15 at a meeting in the University Club; President,
Charles A. Kent; vice-president, William A. Livingston, Jr.;
treasurer, Garvin Denby; secretary, Henry C. Bulkley. A well known
lawyer, William E. Heinze, wrote very bitter articles for the press
and undoubtedly influenced the German-American vote. The Rev. Wm.
Byron Forbush, pastor of the North Woodward Congregational Church,
spoke at anti-suffrage meetings.
On March 29, with the election less than a week away, John Dohrinan
and Senator James R. Murtha, representing Mr. Livingston, and Carl
Bauer of the Staatterbund appeared before the Circuit Court with a
petition to have the suffrage amendment printed on a separate ballot.
The Court denied the petition. The case was immediately carried to the
State Supreme Court which decided that all amendments must be on
separate ballots.
Necessarily the campaign was short for the vote was to be taken April
7. Unlike the one preceding, three-fourths of the financial support
came from without the State. Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania was
engaged for press and executive work. The National Association
furnished speakers, among them its president, Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, Mrs. Park, Mrs. Celia J. White, Mrs. Susan W.
FitzGerald, Mrs. Glendower Evans, Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff, Mrs.
Ella S. Stewart, Miss Doris Stevens, Mrs. Clara Laddey, Mrs. Clara
Bewick Colby and Mrs. Beatrice Forbes Robertson Hale. Miss Laura Clay
came from Kentucky at her own expense. The State was organized by
counties and the speaking and circularizing were done under the
immediate direction of the county chairmen. In the report of Mrs. Edna
S. Blair, chairman of organization, she stated that there were but
eight counties in the State which had no working committees and only
three of these were in the Lower Peninsula, their total voting
strength being less than 2,500. The amendment was defeated by 96,144,
receiving 168,738 ayes, 264,882 noes. Her analysis of the vote,
prepared from county returns, showed that there was a gain of a little
more than 16,000 negative votes over those of 1912, and 13,000 of
these were in counties having a "wet" and "dry" issue.
The preceding year the liquor forces had not realized the need of
active work. Never in any other State campaign did these forces make
so open a fight as in this one. They paid for columns of space in the
newspapers and circulated vast quantities of the literature prepared
by the women's Anti-Suffrage Association. This was in piles on the
bars of the saloons and, according to reports, in even more
questionable places. The defeat was not due so much to a change in
public opinion as it was to an absence of the favorable vote which had
been called out in the previous year by reason of the presidential
election.
After the election county chairmen and all suffragists were asked to
urge their representatives in Congress to support the Federal
Amendment. This was followed by a trip through the State by Mrs.
Blair, who contributed her services, and at the convention in Jackson,
in 1913, she reported that there were now only four counties, all in
the Upper Peninsula, where there was no record of active workers. Mrs.
Arthur was reelected.[90]
Although recovering from two successive defeats the association found
itself in 1914 able to carry on more systematic work than had ever
been attempted. In February a monthly magazine, the _Michigan
Suffragist_, was established with Mrs. Blair editor. At the convention
in Traverse City Nov. 4-6, 1914, Mrs. Orton H. Clark was elected
president and the State board adopted her scheme for financing the
association, which was successfully carried forward by the finance
chairman, Mrs. J. G. Macpherson of Saginaw. It consisted in the
apportionment of a fixed revenue on the basis of ten cents from each
taxpaying woman, of whom there were 100,302 in the State. More than
one-third of the counties met all or a part of their apportionment,
which enabled the president to open headquarters in a business
building in Kalamazoo, employ an executive secretary and an organizer
and engage Mrs. Robertson Hale for a series of lectures.
Much of the effort during the early months of 1915 was directed toward
securing Municipal suffrage, which necessitated active work by the
Legislative Committee, Dr. Blanche M. Haines of Three Rivers,
chairman. An attempt was made to organize according to congressional
districts; chairmen were found for ten of the thirteen and a number of
district conferences were held. All State and national candidates were
interviewed on woman suffrage personally or by letter. Many meetings
were addressed by national and international speakers.
This program was continued through 1915 and 1916. The State
conventions were held in November in Saginaw and Grand Rapids and Mrs.
Clark was re-elected president. Following the plan made by the
National Association, suffrage schools were held in Kalamazoo, Grand
Rapids and Detroit in March, 1917, with Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, Mrs.
T. T. Cotnam and Mrs. Nettie R. Shuler as instructors. Upon America's
entry into the World War in April, communities, counties, the State
and even the nation made demands on the association. Mrs. Clark called
together the heads of nearly forty organizations to coordinate the war
activities of Michigan women. The Rev. Caroline Bartlett Crane was
made chairman of the State committee, which afterwards became the
State Division of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National
Defense, Dr. Crane chairman.
Notwithstanding this situation, however, a bill to give a vote for
Presidential electors to women was introduced in the Senate and almost
simultaneously one in the House asking for another referendum on a
constitutional amendment by Representative Flowers, who had fought the
suffrage battle for nearly a quarter of a century. The association
protested but the sponsors of both bills were adamant. As a result
both bills were passed in March and April and it found itself in the
midst of a campaign on the referendum at this most inopportune time.
There was nothing to do but to plunge into it. Interest lagged,
however, as the women were absorbed in war work and there was a wide
belief that in recognition of this work the men would give the
suffrage without a campaign for it. Mrs. Catt, now national president,
did not share this view and she requested a conference with the State
workers. They decided to hold a State convention in Detroit, March
25-27, 1918, and she and Mrs. Shuler, national chairman of
organization, came to it. Mrs. Brotherton was serving as president and
it was one of the largest ever held. The names of the honorary
committee filled two pages of the program. It was welcomed by Mayor
Marx and many organizations of women were represented. Mrs. Catt
addressed the evening meetings and Mrs. Shuler spoke at the banquet in
Hotel Statler, where the convention took place.
The State Board presented a full report and program for war activities
but no plan for campaign. Most of the delegates believed the men would
give them the vote without any activity on their part. Mrs. Catt made
a stirring appeal in which she pointed out that war work would be
expected as their duty and that the vote would not be given as a
recognition. Before the end of the convention she had thoroughly
aroused the delegates and the force of her appeal was evident when the
campaign plans providing for the budget, petition and political work,
which had been prepared by the National Association as a basis of work
for the three States then in campaign, was cheerfully adopted. The
budget called for $100,000 to be raised equally by Detroit and the
congressional districts. At the dinner on the 26th $50,000 were
quickly subscribed, $24,000 by the districts. Detroit women, who had
already secured $6,000, partly to pay back debts, pledged $10,000
more. Mrs. Catt promised the equivalent of $10,000 in help from the
National Association if the full budget were raised. Mrs. Percy J.
Farrell of Detroit was elected president of the association and
chairman of the campaign committee and the following women were named
chairmen of congressional districts; Mrs. Brotherton, Mrs. G. W.
Patterson, Dr. Haines, Mrs. Huntley Russell, Mrs. Alice B. Locke, Mrs.
Macpherson and Mrs. Alberta Droelle. The delegates went away from the
convention filled with enthusiasm and ready for an active campaign.
Press work was again under the direction of Mrs. Boyer who was the
adviser and right hand of Mrs. Farrell, giving unstintedly of her
large experience. Mrs. Henry G. Sherrard was chairman of literature
and Mrs. Myron B. Vorce of political work. Dr. Haines supervised
eleven counties, which gave 15,000 majority. Mrs. Boyer said of Mrs.
Brotherton: "Her faith, devotion and work extended through three
campaigns and she was one of those who could remain steadfast through
the sowing until the reaping time." Mrs. Russell, the State
vice-president, was a recognized force. Mrs. E. L. Caulkins, president
of the W. C. T. U., devoted its full organization to the amendment,
especially to the petitions and at the polls on election day. The most
telling feature of the campaign was the petition under the direction
of Mrs. Emerson B. Davis of Detroit, signed by more than 202,000 women
over twenty-one years old and addressed to voters, urging them to vote
"yes" on the referendum. The work was finished in October and
interesting uses were made of the names. Those in Grand Rapids were
published in the daily papers of that city from day to day; in Saginaw
they were hung as a frieze on the walls of the woman's section at the
State Fair; in other places they were exhibited in store windows. Mrs.
Catt had stipulated for this petition because of its educational value
and its influence on the voters and the public. The work was done by
volunteers.
Few campaigns ever had so much help from organizations outside of
those for suffrage, among them were the W. C. T. U., Federation of
Women's Clubs, State Grange, State Farmers' Clubs, Gleaners, American
Federation of Labor, Anti-Saloon League, and Woman's Committee of the
Council of National Defense. The Men's League was an important factor.
The clergy almost as a unit gave generous endorsement and constant
help. The support of the press was nearly unanimous, many papers
refusing pay for space from the "antis."
Most valuable assistance came from the two great fraternal insurance
organizations of women, Ladies of the Maccabees and the Women's
Benefit Association of the Maccabees, Miss Bina M. West supreme
commander, which had had the experience of having to defeat two
referenda aimed at crippling their form of insurance. Partly for this
reason they were especially interested in securing the franchise for
women. The Ladies of the Maccabees confined their work mainly to the
women in their own large organization. The Women's Benefit Association
assumed the responsibility of organizing six congressional districts.
They financed their own work entirely, using their own skilled
organizers whenever it was necessary, especially in the Upper
Peninsula, where no other workers were sent. The story of Mrs. Locke
and Mrs. Droelle reads like that of the pioneers in the far western
countries. This contribution, if measured in dollars, would have
represented many thousands.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford, Mr. and Mrs. Willard Pope, Mr. and Mrs.
Gustavus Pope, Mrs. John B. Ford, Mrs. Delphine Dodge Ashbaugh and
Mrs. Sherrard contributed nearly half of the amount required for the
entire campaign. The teachers of Detroit financed a worker for several
months, as did the Detroit business women. Many of the larger cities
financed their own campaigns for the last six weeks. Among the
individual men who gave great financial assistance at this time were
James Couzens, Chas. B. Warren, member of the Republican National
Committee and William A. Comstock of Alpena, who as treasurer of the
Men's Suffrage League, collected the major part of their donations,
nearly $9,000.
The National Suffrage Association gave in cash $1,400, paid the bill
for literature and posters, $1,335, and made other contributions
amounting to $6,000. It paid salaries and part of the expenses from
Jan. 1, 1918, of Mrs. Augusta Hughston and the organizers, Miss Lola
Trax, Miss Edna Wright, Miss Marie Ames, Miss Alma Sasse and Miss
Stella Crossley, until the State was able to assume them. Mrs.
Hughston became the campaign manager of Detroit. Mrs. Shuler came
three times and campaigned all over the State. Mrs. Mary E. Craigie of
New York gave assistance. The magnitude of the detail work of the
campaign may be understood from the report of Mrs. Hughston, who said:
"In Detroit alone there were distributed 500,000 pieces of literature;
50,000 buttons, 13,000 posters put in windows, 1,000 street car
advertisements, 174 large billboard posters and 1,766 inches of paid
advertisements in newspapers."
The election took place on Nov. 5, 1918, when the suffrage amendment
received 229,790 ayes and 195,284 noes--carried by a majority of
34,506. Four strong factors influenced the vote; first, prohibition,
which had been adopted in 1916, was in effect and the forces that had
led past opposition were badly disorganized; second, the astute
politicians saw the trend of events, and few, if any, openly opposed
it; third, the war work of women, which, although it lessened the
number of workers for suffrage, yet made forceful appeal to the
voters; fourth, the activity of all organizations of women.
This summary of the work of Michigan women for their political freedom
is most incomplete without the names of hundreds of workers who
toiled, suffered, sacrificed, gave of their time, their strength,
their money, year after year, but the list is too long. Every city,
every locality had its special difficulties, which had to be overcome
and their women were equal to the task. All contributed to the great
victory. The _Woman Citizen_, official organ of the National American
Suffrage Association, in its edition of Nov. 30, 1918, gave a detailed
summary of this campaign and the workers.
After a brief respite, the suffragists took up the work of a
registration "drive" for the spring election in April, when an
amendment to weaken the prohibition law was to be voted on. The
registration by women in some places was larger than that of men.
Prohibition had been carried in 1916 by a majority of 68,624. At this
election in 1919, with women voting, the majority was over three times
as large--207,520--and the amendment was defeated.
The convention of the State Equal Suffrage Association met in Grand
Rapids, April 3, 4, 1919, Mrs. Farrell presiding. The name was changed
to the State League of Women Voters and Mrs. Brotherton was elected
chairman. Plans for the approaching ratification campaign were made
and she was authorized to secure chairmen for the new departments of
work. The willingness of women to accept the various chairmanships was
in marked contrast to the difficulties encountered during suffrage
campaigns.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress
June 4, 1919, and fortunately Governor Albert E. Sleeper had called a
special session of the Legislature to convene on June 3. He was at
once requested to submit the amendment for ratification and soon
announced his willingness to do so. A recess had been taken over
Sunday but each member received a letter from the League of Women
Voters asking for a favorable vote and many cordial answers were
received. The Legislature assembled at 2 o'clock on Tuesday, June 10.
The Senate and House at once voted unanimously in favor of
ratification. The same day the Wisconsin and Illinois Legislatures
also ratified. These three States were the first to take action.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1903. A joint resolution to amend the State
constitution by striking out the word "male" as a qualification for
voters was introduced by Representative Nathan A. Lovell but was not
reported out of the committees.
1905. A similar resolution was introduced by Representative George E.
Dewey but failed to pass by seven votes.
1911. The same resolution received in the House 55 ayes, 44 noes,
lacking the necessary two-thirds, and failed in the Senate by two
votes.
1912. In the call for a special session Governor Osborn included the
consideration of a woman suffrage amendment. It was introduced in the
Senate by Robert Y. Ogg and in the House by Representative Charles
Flowers. The Senate opposition was led by James A. Murtha and Charles
M. Culver, while William M. Martz sought to block it in the House. The
vote in the Senate was 23 ayes, 5 noes; in the House 75 ayes, 19 noes.
It was submitted to the voters and defeated.
1913. A hearing on the amendment resolution was arranged by the State
board in February. Without the knowledge of the suffragists the
"antis" secured one to precede theirs. The president, Mrs. Arthur, Dr.
Mary Thompson Stevens, Dr. Caroline Bartlett Crane and Mrs. Jennie C.
Law Hardy spoke for the amendment. The vote in the Senate was 24 ayes,
5 noes; in the House, 73 ayes, 19 noes. Submitted and defeated at the
polls.
1915. The bill for Municipal suffrage was rejected as
unconstitutional.
1917. Two measures were introduced, one for the amendment by
Representative Flower and the other for Presidential suffrage by
Senator John M. Damon of Mt. Pleasant. At last the officers of the
State Association had to withdraw their opposition to the referendum
in order to save the Presidential bill. The vote on the referendum
March 28 was, House 71 ayes, 21 noes; April 19, Senate, 26 ayes, 4
noes; a two-thirds vote required. The Presidential suffrage vote on
March 21 in the Senate was 22 ayes, 7 noes; on April 18 in the House,
64 ayes, 30 noes. There was no strong opposition. The amendment was
carried by a large majority on Nov. 5, 1918.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Clara B. Arthur,
vice-president of the State Equal Suffrage Association 1895-1906;
president, 1906-1914, and Mrs. Belle Brotherton, acting president,
1918; chairman of the League of Women Voters, 1919.
[88] Following are the times and places of holding State conventions:
Oct. 23-25, 1901, Saginaw; Oct. 29-31, 1902, Charlotte; Nov. 10-12,
1903, Paw Paw; Oct. 25-27, 1904, Jackson; Nov. 1-3, 1905, Port Huron;
Oct. 9, 10, 1906, Kalamazoo; Sept. 18-20, 1907, Charlotte; Nov. 5, 6,
1908, Bay City; Dec. 7, 8, 1909, Grand Rapids; Nov. 6-8, 1910,
Kalamazoo; Nov. 16, 17, 1911, Kalamazoo; no convention in 1912; Jan.
15, 16, 1913, Lansing; Nov. 5-7, 1913, Jackson; Nov. 4-6, 1914,
Traverse City; Nov. 10, 11, 1915, Saginaw; Nov. 15-17, 1916, Grand
Rapids; no convention in 1917; March 26, 27, 1918, Detroit; April 3,
4, 1919, Grand Rapids.
[89] The officers of the Association Opposed to Equal Suffrage as
published in the press were: President, Mrs. Henry F. Lyster;
secretary, Miss Helen Keep; publicity committee, Miss Julia Russell,
Mrs. A. A. Griffiths, Mrs. J. A. McMillan, Mrs. Fred Reynolds, Mrs.
Edward H. Parker, Mrs. Richard Jackson and Miss Caroline Barnard.
[90] Mrs. Brotherton writes: "Special tribute should be paid to the
splendid administrative ability of Mrs. Arthur. Her conduct of the
1912 and 1913 campaigns and the years of effort that preceded them
deserve the unending gratitude of Michigan women. Her greatest
monument was the vote of taxpaying women on bond issues. Mrs. Orton H.
Clark, who succeeded Mrs. Arthur in 1914, brought to the work the same
patient and consecrated zeal and to her is largely due the gaining of
Presidential suffrage.
CHAPTER XXII.
MINNESOTA.[91]
The great event for the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association in 1901
was the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association
May 30-June 5 in Minneapolis. Large audiences night after night filled
the First Baptist Church to listen to the eloquent addresses of Miss
Susan B. Anthony, honorary president; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president, and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president of the
association; Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_,
Rachel Foster Avery and other speakers of national fame. The officers
were entertained at West Hotel and the 200 delegates in the homes of
suffragists. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, who was the chairman of
arrangements, was elected second auditor of the National Association.
The State convention of 1901 was held in Mankato in October, with Mrs.
Catt as the principal speaker. Mrs. Maud C. Stockwell and Mrs. Jennie
Knight Brown were re-elected president and vice-president and Mrs. A.
H. Boostrom appointed chairman of press. Through the generosity of
Mrs. E. A. Russell of Minneapolis Miss Anna Gjertsen was engaged to
organize the Scandinavian women. Among the names enrolled in the
suffrage booth at the State Fair were those of Theodore Roosevelt,
Vice-President of the United States; Gen. Nelson Miles, Gov. Samuel R.
Van Sant and Archbishop Ireland. The annual convention of 1902 was
entertained in June by the St. Paul Club, which had been organized a
few months before. Mrs. Hannah Egelston was elected vice-president.
The press chairman stated that fifteen newspapers were using suffrage
articles and the enrollment and the petition work for Presidential
suffrage was being successfully carried on. The association was
incorporated this year.
In September, 1903, the State convention was held in Austin with Dr.
Shaw the chief speaker. The former officers were re-elected. Reports
showed old clubs revived and new ones formed through the efforts of
Miss Gail Laughlin, one of the national organizers. Mrs. Eugenia B.
Farmer was this year appointed chairman of press and held the office
till 1915 when she was made honorary chairman. She did not relinquish
the work but continued to assist her successor, Mrs. W. H. Thorp. For
eight years Mrs. Farmer kept press headquarters in the Old Capitol,
St. Paul. She added new papers to the list which accepted suffrage
matter till it had 500, about all of them, and much of the suffrage
sentiment in the State can be traced to her years of work. The
quarterly bulletin was edited by Mrs. Julia B. Nelson.
In October, 1904, the convention met in Anoka and Dr. Shaw addressed
large audiences. Miss Marion Sloan of Rochester was made
vice-president. During the year the association offered prizes for the
best essay on woman suffrage to the students of the four Normal
Schools, many competing. The annual meeting for 1905 was held in
Minneapolis in November. In answer to the many calls a Lecture Bureau
of twenty well-known speakers directed by Dr. Annah Hurd had been
organized; a generous contribution was sent to Oregon for its
campaign.
In March, 1906, an impressive memorial service was held in Minneapolis
for the beloved leader, Susan B. Anthony. Another was held in
Monticello in November during the State convention. It was reported
that the Governor had appointed Dr. Margaret Koch, one of the active
suffragists, to the State Medical Board; that many organizations had
passed resolutions endorsing suffrage and that in June Mrs. Stockwell
had presented the greetings of the National Association to the General
Federation of Women's Clubs in convention in St. Paul. In October,
1907, the convention met in Austin. During the year a Scandinavian
association had been formed by Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, with Mrs. Jenova
Martin president, and a College Equal Suffrage League at the State
University by Professors Frances Squire Potter and Mary Gray Peck,
with Miss Elsa Ueland president. Miss Laura Gregg, sent by the
National Association, had organized suffrage committees in twelve
towns. It was decided to circularize the teachers of the State.
In November, 1908, the convention was held in Minneapolis with Dr.
Shaw and Professor Potter as speakers. Mrs. Martin was elected
vice-president. The energy of all suffrage workers had been turned
toward the great petition to Congress for the Federal Amendment
planned by the National Association and directed in the State by Mrs.
F. G. Corser of Minneapolis. Mrs. Maud Wood Park made a tour of the
State in March speaking in eight colleges in the interest of the
National College Equal Suffrage League. In October, 1909, the State
convention went to St. Paul. The _Bulletin_, official organ of the
association and a valuable feature of its work, had had to be
abandoned because of lack of funds. It had been edited for ten years
by Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, recording secretary, who sometimes mimeographed
it herself, sometimes had it typewritten and when possible printed,
always herself addressing and mailing copies to the State members. An
important event of the year was the unanimous endorsement of woman
suffrage by the State Editorial Association, secured by Miss Mary
McFadden, a journalist. For the first time a speaker was supplied to
the State convention of the Federation of Women's Clubs.
In November, 1910, the State convention was entertained by the
Minneapolis Political Equality Club, organized in 1868. Mrs.
Stockwell, who had served as president for ten years, asked to be
relieved from office and Miss Emily Dobbyn of St. Paul was elected
president with Dr. Margaret Koch, who had been treasurer ten years,
first vice-president. The petition was reported as finished with
20,300 names. It was sent to Washington and presented to Congress by
Senator Moses E. Clapp with an earnest plea for its consideration. In
October, 1911, the convention again went to St. Paul and Mrs. A. T.
Hall of this city was elected president.
The convention of 1912 was held in Minneapolis in September. Under
direction of Mrs. A. H. Bright of this city the first automobile
suffrage parade took place, the route extending from the court house
where the convention was held to the Fair grounds where addresses were
made. Eleven new clubs were reported. The Woman's Welfare League of
St. Paul joined the State association and did excellent work for
suffrage. Mrs. Hall was re-elected president and removing from the
State later Mrs. P. L. De Voist of Duluth was selected to fill out her
term.[92]
In October, 1913, at the annual convention in St. Paul, Mrs. Bright
was elected president. The Minneapolis Equal Suffrage Club, which had
been organized independently by Mrs. Andreas Ueland, joined the State
association and later became the Hennepin County suffrage
organization. A Women Workers' Suffrage Club was formed with Mrs.
Gertrude Hunter, president.
In November, 1914, at the convention in Minneapolis, Mrs. Ueland was
elected president and served for the next five years.[93] It was
reported that the Everywoman Suffrage Club of colored women had been
organized in St. Paul with Mrs. W. T. Francis president. The clubs of
St. Paul and Minneapolis, at the request of the National Association,
had joined in the nation-wide demonstration May 2 with mass meetings
in each city, a street meeting and parade in St. Paul at noon and a
joint parade in Minneapolis in the afternoon with 2,000 men and women
in line.
In October, 1915, the convention took place in St. Paul. Up to this
time headquarters had been maintained free of charge in Minneapolis,
at first in the office of Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Margaret Koch and
for many years in the office of Drs. Ethel E. and Annah Hurd. This
year they were opened in the Essex Building of that city and a paid
secretary installed. Organization by districts was arranged for. In
conformity with plans sent out from the National Association,
quarterly conferences were held in different sections of the State.
"Organization day" on February 15, Miss Anthony's birthday, was
celebrated in fifteen legislative districts with meetings and
pageants. During the national convention in Washington this year
deputations of suffragists from Minnesota called on the State's two
Senators and ten Representatives asking them to promote the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. To assist the campaign the services of the State
organizer, Mrs. Maria McMahon, were given to New York for September
and October; Mrs. David F. Simpson and Miss Florence Monahan
contributed their services as speakers and $400 were sent to the New
Jersey campaign.[94]
In October, 1916, at the convention in Minneapolis, a delightful
feature was a banquet of 500 covers at the Hotel Radisson, where
President George E. Vincent of the State University made his maiden
speech for woman suffrage. Mrs. Simpson presided. There were favorable
reports from officers, committee chairmen and organizers. At the
request of the National Association deputations had called upon the
State delegates to the national Republican and Democratic conventions
urging them to work for suffrage planks in their party platforms.
Twenty-five Minnesota women marched in the parade in Chicago at the
time of the Republican National Convention and many went to the
National Democratic Convention in St. Louis on a "suffrage barge,"
holding meetings on the boat and at a number of stopping places. In
May the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference was entertained in
Minneapolis and a mass meeting of 2,000 was held. Automobile speaking
trips were made. Money, organizers and speakers were contributed to
the Iowa campaign.
In December, 1917, the convention again met in Minneapolis with Mrs.
Nellie McClung of Edmonton, Alberta, as speaker. Pledges were made of
$8,000 for State work and $3,000 to the National Association as the
State's apportionment. In order to push Federal Amendment work
chairmen were secured for the ten congressional districts. Resolutions
for it were passed at many conventions. In May Dr. Effie McCollum
Jones of Iowa had made a lecture tour of the State, contributed by the
National Association, and addressed 10,000 people. An attractive
concrete building had been erected on the State Fair grounds by the
Scandinavian Association and presented to the State association.[95]
This was known as the Woman Citizen Building and a tablet was placed
in it in memory of Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, one of Minnesota's staunchest
pioneer suffragists.
Owing to the influenza epidemic all meetings were forbidden in 1918.
This year district organization was completed. With three organizers
in the field, Mrs. Rene F. Stevens, Mrs. James Forrestal and Mrs. John
A. Guise, ratification committees in 480 towns outside of the three
large cities had been appointed and 90,000 signatures obtained for the
national petition under the leadership of Miss Marguerite M. Wells. In
March the following plank had appeared in the platform of the
Democratic Statewide Conference held in St. Paul: "We believe in the
principle of State woman suffrage as supported and commended by our
leader, Woodrow Wilson." This was the only official Democratic
endorsement ever received and there was none from the Republicans.[96]
A State conference was held at Minneapolis in May, 1919, with Mrs.
McClung as the principal speaker. On June 9 in the rotunda of the
Capitol at St. Paul an impressive program of addresses and ringing
resolutions was given, 3,000 people taking part in this celebration of
the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress on the
4th. A. L. Searle marshalled the 250 gaily decorated automobiles
carrying the Minneapolis delegates, accompanied by a band.
RATIFICATION. Monday, September 8, was a beautiful and spirited
occasion. Automobile parades assembled in the two cities and started
for the Capitol with cars gay with sunflowers, goldenrod, yellow
bunting and the word "suffrage" on the windshields. By 10 o'clock the
galleries and the corridors were filled to overflowing with
enthusiastic suffragists. Out-of-town women flocked in to join the
festivities. The Federal Amendment came up immediately after the
organization of both Houses in special session but the lower House won
the race for the honor of being first to ratify, for it took up the
amendment without even waiting for Governor Burnquist's message, and
when it was presented by Representative Theodore Christiansen it was
ratified by a vote of 120 to 6. The Senate considered it immediately
after hearing the Governor's message. It was presented by Senator Ole
Sageng, called the "father of woman suffrage" in Minnesota, and with
no debate went through by 60 to 5.
The moment the Senate vote was polled the corridors, floors and
galleries of both Houses were in an uproar, hundreds of women cheered
and laughed and waved the suffrage colors, while in the rotunda a band
swung into the strains of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Then
Representatives and Senators became the guests of the State Suffrage
Association, whose members having leased the Capitol restaurant for
the day cooked and served an appetizing chicken dinner. There was a
banquet at the St. Paul Hotel in the evening with 400 guests.
On that memorable day the curtain was rung down on the last act of the
many years' long drama participated in by a vast host of consecrated
women with inspired faith in the ultimate attainment of justice.
A conference was called for Oct. 28, 29, 1919, in Minneapolis and a
State League of Women Voters was formed with Mrs. Ueland as chairman.
It was voted to delay the dissolution of the State association until
the 36 States had ratified the Federal Amendment and the date was set
at the first annual meeting of the League.[97] Mrs. Ueland soon
resigned to take the chairmanship of the Legislative Committee and
was succeeded by Miss Wells, the vice-chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1903. A Presidential suffrage bill was introduced
in the House and energetically pushed but was not reported by the
Judiciary Committee.
1905. A large delegation headed by Mrs. Stockwell, State president,
called on Governor John A. Johnson and urged him to recommend woman
suffrage in his message to the Legislature but he failed to do so. The
resolution to submit a constitutional amendment was introduced in the
House but not reported by the Judiciary Committee.
1907. After the resolution for a suffrage amendment was presented a
hearing was granted by the Senate Elections Committee and the Senate
Chamber secured for it through Senator Virgil B. Seward, who had
charge of it. The college women were represented by Professor Frances
Squire Potter of the University of Minnesota and the committee
reported favorably. It was defeated in the Senate and not brought up
in the House.
1909. At the hearing before the Joint Committee on Elections on the
resolution for a State amendment, which was the largest ever held by
the association, convincing addresses were made by eminent lawyers,
educators and other public men. It was defeated in the Senate by a
vote of 30 to 26; in the House by 50 to 46.
1911. The chairman of the Legislative Committee was Miss Mary
McFadden, who carried out a demonstration on Susan B. Anthony's
birthday--February 15--the presenting by large delegations from the
Twin Cities of a Memorial to a joint gathering of the two Houses with
pleas for a State amendment. The resolution for it, sponsored by Ole
Sageng, passed the House a few days later by a majority of 81 but the
liquor interests and public service corporations defeated it in the
Senate by two votes.
1913. Senator Sageng again had charge of the suffrage resolution,
which passed the House by a majority of 43 votes but failed in the
Senate by three.
1915. Mrs. Andreas Ueland was chairman of the Legislative Committee
from 1915 to 1919 inclusive. Senator Sageng presented the amendment
resolution in the Senate and Representative Larson in the House. An
impressive hearing was held in a crowded Senate chamber, with Senators
J. W. Andrews, Richard Jones, Frank E. Putnam, F. H. Peterson and Ole
Sageng making speeches in favor. Those who spoke against it were
Senators George H. Sullivan, F. A. Duxbury and F. H. Pauly.[98] It
failed by one vote and was not brought up in the House. A Presidential
suffrage bill was also introduced but did not come to a vote.
1917. The suffrage work was confined to the Presidential suffrage bill
which was defeated in the Senate by two votes.
1919. This Legislature adopted a resolution calling upon Congress to
submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment; House 100 to 28 in favor,
Senate 49 to 7. It was decided not to introduce an amendment
resolution but to work for Presidential suffrage. The resolution was
introduced, however, by a small group of women outside the
association. It passed the House by 96 ayes, 26 noes, but was
indefinitely postponed in the Senate. The bill giving women the right
to vote for Presidential electors passed the House March 5 by 103
ayes, 24 noes; and the Senate March 21 by 49 ayes, 11 noes. It was
signed by Governor J. A. A. Burnquist two days later in the presence
of a group of suffragists.[99]
FOOTNOTES:
[91] The History is indebted for this chapter to Maud C. (Mrs. S. A.)
Stockwell, for ten years president of the State Suffrage Association
and for over twenty years a member of its executive board. Mrs.
Stockwell wishes to acknowledge assistance from Mrs. David F. Simpson
and Mrs. John A. Guise.
[92] A State Anti-Suffrage Association was organized in Minneapolis in
1912 and later branches were formed in other cities. The president was
Mrs. J. B. Gilfillan of Minneapolis and other active workers were Mrs.
E. L. Carpenter, Mrs. Edmund Pennington and Mrs. Frank Reed of
Minneapolis, Mrs. J. W. Straight of St. Paul and Mrs. J. L. Washburn
of Duluth. Time was given to their speakers at the last three hearings
granted the State Suffrage Association by the Legislature. Miss Minnie
Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association, came
from New York for one.
[93] Too much credit for the final success of woman suffrage in
Minnesota can not be given to Mrs. Ueland, president of the
association for the last five years of its existence. She organized
the entire State, raised large sums of money each year, induced many
prominent women to join in the work, carried out the instructions of
the National Association to the letter, secured legislation, and not
only took advantage of every opportunity for propaganda but created
opportunities.
[94] In 1915 the Congressional Union, afterward the National Woman's
Party, formed an organization in St. Paul with Mrs. Alexander Colvin
chairman. The members were recruited from the State association and
for a few years were active in both organizations.
[95] During the twenty years covered by this chapter the Twin City
suffragists never failed to keep open house during the State Fair,
where speakers were heard and literature was distributed.
[96] Following are the names of State officers besides the presidents
who served over three years: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Jenova Martin, four
years; Mrs. David F. Simpson, three years; Mrs. H. G. Harrison, five
years; Mrs. E. A. Brown, four years; Mrs. C. L. Atwood, six years; Dr.
Margaret Koch, vice-president, three years and treasurer, ten years;
Dr. Ethel E. Hurd of Minneapolis served on the board in different
capacities for twenty-two years, as corresponding secretary for four
years and recording secretary four; Mrs. Eva W. Morse, recording
secretary five years; Mrs. Victor H. Troendle, treasurer five years.
Those who served from four to ten years as directors on the State
board were: Mesdames A. T. Anderson, Julia B. Nelson, Margaret K.
Rogers, E. A. Russell, C. F. Lutz, Elizabeth McClary, A. H. Bright and
A. B. Jackson.
[97] Following are a few names not mentioned elsewhere in the chapter
of the many devoted friends and workers during the score of years: Dr.
Cyrus Northrup, Professor Maria Sanford, Judge A. C. Hickman,
Professor A. W. Rankin, Dr. Elizabeth Woodworth, Mesdames Margaret K.
Rogers, Martha A. Dorsett, May Dudley Greeley, M. A. Luley, Eva S.
Jerome, Alice Taylor, Lilla P. Clark, Milton E. Purdy, C. P. Noyes,
Adelaide Lawrence, O. J. Evans, George M. Partridge, J. W. Andrews, C.
M. Stockton, Stiles Burr, J. M. Guise, J. W. Straight; Misses Ella
Whitney, A. A. Connor, Nellie Merrill, Hope McDonald, Josephine
Schain, Blanche Segar, Cornelia Lusk, Martha Anderson (Wyman); Messrs.
C. W. Dorsett, S. R. Child, A. H. Bright.
[98] For ten years Senator Sullivan of Stillwater, and for twenty-two
years Senator W. W. Dunn, attorney for the Hamm Brewing Company of St.
Paul, worked actively against all suffrage legislation, in late years
being able to defeat bills by only two or three votes.
[99] Among legislators not mentioned who were helpful during these
years were Senator S. A. Stockwell and Representatives W. I. Norton,
H. H. Harrison, W. I. Nolan, Sherman Child, John Sanborn and Claude
Southwick.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MISSISSIPPI.[100]
From 1899 to 1906 no State convention of the Mississippi Woman
Suffrage Association was held. Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt, who was elected
president at its second annual convention in Clarksdale in 1899, acted
as president during this time but the editing of a weekly newspaper in
addition to other duties left her little time for its trying demands
at this early stage of its existence. Among the few other women
consecrated in their hearts to woman suffrage some were barred from
leadership by ill health, some by family cares, while others were
absent from the State most of the time. No definite progress,
therefore, was made during the early years of the century.
In 1901 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, gave addresses in six cities in the State,
arrangements for which were made by local suffragists, and a great
deal of interest was aroused. In 1903 a business conference was held
in Jackson, at which Mrs. Butt and three other women were present, to
consider whether anything could be done for the cause of woman
suffrage. In 1904 enrollment cards were distributed in a limited and
unsystematic way, letters were sent to members of the Legislature,
State officials and others and literature was distributed. An
inspiring feature was the visit of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
vice-president at large of the National Association, who spoke in
three cities.
Early in December, 1906, Miss Belle Kearney of Flora, formerly
organizer for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, at this time a
public lecturer, returned from an absence in Europe and on the 21st,
in response to a call sent out by her, a meeting was held in the
parlor of the Edwards House in Jackson. Those in attendance were Miss
Kearney, Mrs. Butt, Mrs. Edward Sloan and Dr. Delia Randall. By
invitation Dr. William La Prade of the First Methodist Church opened
the meeting with prayer, after which he retired leaving these four
women to reorganize the State Suffrage Association. Mrs. Nellie Nugent
Somerville of Greenville was in touch with the conference by telegraph
and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson of Jackson, physically unable to
attend, received reports from the meeting at her telephone. In this
historic hour the breath of a new life was blown into the expiring
association and from that time it grew and thrived. The officers
elected were Miss Kearney, president; Mrs. Somerville, vice-president;
Mrs. Thompson, treasurer.
During the following spring Miss Kearney, lecturing in the State on
sociological subjects, spoke unfailingly for suffrage and wherever
possible organized clubs. Press work was taken up earnestly by the
newly elected superintendent of that department, Mrs. Thompson. All of
the over two hundred editors in the State were interviewed by letter
in regard to their attitude towards woman suffrage and space was
requested for suffrage items. Twenty-one agreed to publish them, only
two openly declining. Among the friendly editors were L. Pink Smith of
the Greenville _Democrat_, J. R. Oliphant of the Poplarville _Free
Press_, Frank R. Birdsall of the Yazoo _Sentinel_, C. E. Glassco of
the Cleveland _Enterprise_, Joseph Norwood of the Magnolia _Gazette_,
James Faulk of the Greene County _Herald_.
Adverse articles were carefully answered and private letters were
sent, the enemy quietly reasoned with and in most cases converted.
News bulletins furnished by the national press department were used
but most of the matter sent out was prepared at home in the belief
that an ounce of Mississippi was worth a pound of Massachusetts.
Articles published in leaflet form and distributed broadcast were
written by Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Thompson, the Rev.
Thomas K. Mellen and the Rev. H. Walter Featherstun, Methodist
ministers. One of the most valuable contributions was The Legal Status
of Mississippi Women, by Robert Campbell, an attorney of Greenville.
In November, 1907, a conference lasting five days was held at Jackson
in the home of Charles H. Thompson, a devoted suffragist, and his
wife, Lily Wilkinson Thompson. Among those attending were Miss
Kearney, Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, president of the
State W. C. T. U. and a life-long suffragist; Miss Laura Clay of
Kentucky and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The advisability of
attempting to have a woman suffrage measure introduced in the next
session of the Legislature was considered. Two men besides the host
appeared at this conference, a reporter, who regarded the meeting as
something of a joke, and the Hon. R. H. Thompson of Jackson, an
eminent lawyer, who came to offer sympathetic advice. Visits were made
to the Governor, James K. Vardaman, and other State officials; to the
Hinds county legislators who had recently been elected and to others.
Most of these gentlemen were polite but bored and it was decided to
defer legislative action. When two months later Governor Vardaman sent
his farewell message to the Legislature he mentioned woman suffrage as
one of the questions "pressing for solution in a National
Constitutional Convention."
In the spring of 1908 the State convention was held in the Governor's
Mansion at Jackson, Governor and Mrs. Edmund Favor Noel giving the
parlors for the meeting. Six clubs were reported and State members at
twelve places. Three or four women from outside of Jackson were
present, Mrs. Pauline Alston Clark of Clarksdale having come from the
greatest distance, and about fourteen were in attendance. The officers
elected were: President, Mrs. Somerville; vice-presidents, Mrs.
Thompson, Mrs. Fannie Clark, Mrs. Kells; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Pauline Clark; recording secretary, Dr. Randall; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah
Summers Wilkinson. Superintendents were appointed for Press,
Legislative, Enrollment, Industrial, Educational and Bible Study
departments.
In the spring of 1909, the convention was held in the ladies' parlor
of the Capitol at Jackson. It lasted two days, a public evening
session being held in the Senate Chamber, at which Miss Kate Gordon,
corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association, told of the work of the Era Club of New Orleans; Miss
Jean Gordon, factory inspector for that city, spoke in behalf of child
labor regulations and Mrs. Thompson gave a report of the press work,
which had grown to such proportions that it was considered very
significant of advance in suffrage sentiment throughout the State.
The Rev. George Whitfield, a venerable Baptist minister, came from the
neighboring town of Clinton and conducted devotional exercises and
gave a talk on woman's position from a Biblical standpoint. R. K.
Jayne of Jackson, an early suffragist, also spoke. At this time
dues-paying members were reported from seventeen towns. Mrs.
Somerville was re-elected president.
The annual convention was held in Greenville in 1910. Dr. Shaw and
Miss Ray Costello of England made addresses; Judge E. N. Thomas of
Greenville presided at one of the evening meetings; John L. Hebron, a
Delta planter and afterwards State Senator, made an earnest speech of
endorsement. It was reported that hundreds of letters were written and
the association had gained a hold in fifty places, ranging from rural
neighborhoods and plantation settlements to the largest towns.
Frederick Sullens, editor of the Jackson _Daily News_, had given space
for a weekly suffrage column edited by Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. J. C.
Greenley edited a similar column in the Greenville _Democrat_. Mrs.
Madge Quin Fugler supplied five papers and Mrs. Montgomery two. Miss
Ida Ward of Greenville wrote articles for the papers of that town and
Mrs. Mohlenhoff edited a column in the Cleveland _Enterprise_. Among
other papers publishing suffrage material were the McComb City
_Journal_ and the _Enterprise_ and the Magnolia _Gazette_. From the
press superintendent there had gone out 1,700 articles, ranging in
length from a paragraph to a half page, many of them written by her,
and they were given prominence in special editions. Ten copies of the
_Woman's Journal_ which came from the national press department for
years were forwarded to college, town and State libraries and to
editors. How far and deep the influence of those _Journals_ reached is
beyond computation.
In the fall of 1910 the State association joined the Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association in a booth at the Tri-State Fair in Memphis. An
interesting feature was the press exhibit, consisting of a width of
canvass many yards long on which had been pasted clippings from
Mississippi newspapers, suffrage argument and favorable comment. The
annual convention was held in Cleveland in 1911. Miss Gordon and Judge
Thomas spoke at the evening session. Editor C. E. Glasco gave an
earnest talk at a morning session. The department chairmen brought
encouraging reports of their work. A letter was read from Colonel Clay
Sharkey of Jackson, which later was published in leaflet form.
The State meeting was held at Flora in April, 1912. Mrs. Judith Hyams
Douglas, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, and Omar Garwood of
Colorado, secretary of the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage,
were the principal speakers. The president, Mrs. Somerville,
recommended that the various State organizations of women be invited
to unite with the suffrage association in forming a central committee
to secure such legislation as should be agreed upon by all. This was
afterwards accepted by the Federation of Women's Clubs and the United
Daughters of the Confederacy. Resolutions were passed regretting the
retirement from the presidency of Mrs. Somerville, to whose good
generalship during the past four years the success of the association
was in a large part due. Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson was elected
president.
In response to the call to take part in the parade in Washington March
3, 1913, Mrs. Avery Harrell Thompson, temporarily residing there, was
put in charge and with her husband, Harmon L. Thompson, arranged for a
handsome float, on which Miss Fannie May Witherspoon, daughter of the
member of Congress, represented Mississippi. Mr. Gibbs, a
Mississippian, carried the purple and gold silk banner of the State
Suffrage Association and four other young Mississippians, Judge Allen
Thompson and his brother, Harmon, Walter and Edward Dent, marched
beside the float, preforming valiant volunteer police duty when it
became necessary. During this year the enrolled membership increased
four-fold. Quarterly reports, nearly a thousand, were printed for the
first time instead of written. A letter from the Irish Women's League
of Dublin and one from the English Women's Equal Rights Union to the
State president indicated the world-wide spirit of fraternalism which
embraced even Mississippi's modest organization. Good work was done by
the new superintendent of press work, Mrs. Dent. Not only did editors
by this time willingly accept material but some of them wrote
favorable editorials. The Yazoo City _Herald_, edited by N. A. Mott,
was a new recruit. The _Purple and White_, a Millsaps College paper,
was supplied with suffrage material by a bright senior, Janie
Linfield.
For the first time suffrage headquarters were maintained at the State
Fair by the Equity League of Jackson. Furnishings were loaned by Mr.
and Mrs. C. C. Warren from their beautiful home "Fairview." A rest
room for mothers and babies was provided, other tired visitors were
also welcomed and the suffrage booth was the most popular place on the
grounds. For the first time the association was invited to take part
on Woman's Day at the State Fair, when representatives from the
women's State organizations held a joint meeting, and the president,
Mrs. Thompson, spoke for the suffragists.
Letters were sent to the Mississippi members of Congress urging them
to vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and to President Wilson,
pleading for his favorable consideration. Motion pictures were
utilized in three ways--suffrage plays were shown, local clubs selling
tickets received a part of the proceeds and suffrage slogans were
thrown on the slides between pictures.
The State convention was held in the Senate Chamber of the new Capitol
at Jackson in April, 1913. At the evening sessions all seats on the
floor were taken, the galleries filled and chairs brought from
committee rooms to accommodate the audiences. Music was furnished by
the Chaminade Club of Jackson. Mayor Swepson I. Taylor gave the
address of welcome. Others who spoke were Mrs. Fannie S. Clark, Mrs.
E. T. Edmonds, president of the Equity League, and Mrs.
Royden-Douglas, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. In
her president's address Mrs. Thompson recommended that the association
ask the next Legislature to submit to the voters a State
constitutional amendment giving women the ballot, and this was
unanimously adopted. The Rev. E. T. Edmonds of the First Christian
Church of Jackson spoke on Woman Suffrage in New Zealand, where he had
been a resident.
Letters to the president and secretary from U. S. Senators John Sharp
Williams and James K. Vardaman were read in reply to appeals that they
vote for the Federal Amendment. Senator Vardaman said that when the
amendment came up he would "be glad to vote for it." Senator Williams
said that he thought "the federal government ought not attempt to
control a State in the exercise of this privilege," that he favored a
"white woman's primary, in which the women of the State might say
whether they wanted the ballot or not" and that he thought women just
as competent to use it as men but did not approve of "forcing it upon
them." He was "inclined to woman suffrage" and believed that "with
safeguards it might be made a bulwark of white supremacy in the
State." The large reception planned by Governor and Mrs. Earl Brewer
had to be omitted because of the sudden illness of Mrs. Brewer. On
account of home demands Mrs. Thompson declined re-election and Mrs.
Dent was made president.
Under Mrs. Dent's administration the work prospered and advanced in
popular favor. In the fall "woman suffrage day" was for the first time
on the calendar of the State Fair. Headquarters were again maintained,
for which space three times as large as that used the previous year
was occupied. Mrs. Dent, a successful cotton planter, brought a bale
of cotton from her plantation and presented it to the headquarters,
where it afforded a unique platform for the speakers. Women from
different parts of the State came to act as hostesses and take part in
the speaking. This year a college contest was conducted by Mrs.
Thompson, who offered a gold medal for the best argument for woman
suffrage written by a college student of the State. Six of the largest
colleges were represented and the medal was won by Mrs. Pearl Powell,
of the Industrial Institute and College.
In April, 1914, the State convention was again held in Jackson. Among
the speakers were Rabbi Brill of Meridian and Mrs. Alex Y. Scott of
Memphis. Mrs. Dent was re-elected president. In the fall for the first
time there was a suffrage section in the parade that marked the
opening of the State Fair. Six women, gowned in white and wearing
yellow silk Votes for Women badges marched--Mrs. Ella O. Biggs and
Miss Sadie Goeber bearing a banner inscribed Women vote in twelve
States, why not in Mississippi? followed by Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Avery
Harrell Thompson, Mrs. Sarah C. Watts and Mrs. R. W. Durfey and they
were generously cheered along the way.
In the spring of 1915 the State convention was held in Greenville. Dr.
Shaw was a guest, stopping on her way to Jackson, where under the
auspices of the Equity League she spoke in the House of
Representatives to a large audience, many standing throughout her
address, which made a profound impression. The convention was well
attended. Some of the interesting features were "an hour for men"
presided over by Congressman B. G. Humphries, with excellent speeches;
a five o'clock tea, given by the Belvidere Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, and the presentation of the motion picture
play, Your Girl and Mine. Miss Pauline V. Orr was elected president.
Miss Orr served as president for two years, widely extending the
influence of the association through the hundreds of young women who
came under her instruction at the Industrial Institute and College,
where for many years she held the chair of English.
The annual convention was held in 1916 in the city hall in Meridian,
where nineteen years before the State Woman Suffrage Association was
organized, and Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama, auditor of the
National Association, made an address on the opening evening. During
the following year eight new leagues were formed. The convention met
in Starkville in April, 1917, and addresses were made by Dr. Shaw,
Miss Margaret Hamilton Erwin, president of the Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association; Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, first vice-president
of the National Association; Mrs. W. H. Price, president of the
Mississippi Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and
Mrs. Edward F. McGehee, president of the State Federation of Women's
Clubs. Miss Orr, the president, declining re-election was succeeded by
Mrs. McGehee. The United States had now entered the war and the
suffragists began to concentrate on war work. As chairman of the
Woman's Committee, Mississippi Division of the National Council of
Defense, she was able to help popularize woman suffrage.[101]
In April, 1918, a one-day conference was held in the Capitol at
Jackson, when Mrs. Marion B. Trotter of Winona was elected president
and brought a great deal of energy and enthusiasm into her office. No
convention was held in 1919 but at the close of the meeting of the
State Federation of Women's Clubs in Clarksdale in November a
conference of the suffragists present was called. It was there decided
to organize to support the ratification of the Federal Amendment,
which had been submitted by Congress and was to come before the
Legislature the following January. Mrs. B. F. Saunders of Swan Lake,
retiring president of the federation, was made chairman of the
Ratification Committee; Mrs. Trotter, treasurer; Mrs. Somerville
chairman of Petition and Press Work; Mrs. McClurg chairman of Finance.
By request the National Association sent into the State its
organizers, Miss Watkins of Arkansas and Miss Peshakova of New York.
Mrs. Cunningham, president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association and
a national worker, also came to assist. Petitions were circulated,
leaflets published and distributed, newspapers enlisted and
legislators systematically interviewed. The organization thus speedily
effected worked during the session of 1920. In April of this year the
convention of the State Federation, held in Gulfport, closed with a
"suffrage luncheon," a brilliant affair attended by 125 prominent men
and women. Speeches were made by the Hon. Barney Eaton, a lawyer of
Gulfport; Mrs. S. P. Covington, its president, and others. The State
League of Women Voters was organized at this time with Miss Blanche
Rogers chairman.
It had been the hope for years to have an endorsement of woman
suffrage from the Federation of Women's Clubs, a strong and popular
organization numbering over 3,000 of the State's leading women. During
its annual meeting in 1916 Miss Orr, president of the State Suffrage
Association, had introduced a favorable resolution and with Mrs.
Somerville, Mrs. J. W. McGrath of Canton, Mrs. William Baldwin of
Columbus and Mrs. W. S. Lott of Meridian led the fight for suffrage.
Mrs. William R. Wright of Jackson headed the opposition, which asked
for the postponement of the question until the next year and won. At
the next convention, held in Meridian in 1917, the resolution was
introduced by Miss Ann Rothenberg (now Mrs. Rosenbaum) of Meridian
and passed almost unanimously. In 1919 at the annual meeting held in
Clarksdale, during the presidency of Mrs. Saunders, a resolution
endorsing the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment was
carried with but one dissenting vote, that of Mrs. Lizzie George
Henderson of Greenwood, daughter of the late U. S. Senator J. Z.
George. When the League of Women Voters was formed the next year Mrs.
Henderson was among the first to join it.
In 1919, the State Teachers' Association passed unanimously a
resolution endorsing woman suffrage introduced by Professor Frederick
Davis Mellen of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, the son
of the late Reverend Thomas L. Mellen, one of Mississippi's earliest
suffragists. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union here as elsewhere
was a great school for women, teaching them the need of the ballot,
and the majority of its members were suffragists but all through the
years the minority, who did not want the question brought into the
Union, overruled their wishes. Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, the president
for many years and a lifelong suffragist, was not able to overcome
this situation and it never endorsed woman suffrage.
There never has been any organized opposition among Mississippi women.
During the session of the Legislature in 1920 there was an open
attempt to organize opposition to ratification of the Federal
Amendment but it failed.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After the suffrage association in 1913 decided to
ask for the submission of an amendment to the State constitution to
enfranchise women the preliminary work of interviewing legislators and
distributing appropriate literature was conducted by the chairman of
the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Nellie Nugent Somerville, the
president, Mrs. Annie Kinkead Dent, and other members. The president
at her own expense sent the _Woman's Journal_ and other literature to
all legislators for three months. The concurrent resolution asking for
the submission was introduced in the House Jan. 9, 1914, by N. A. Mott
of Yazoo county. Senator Hall Sanders of Tallahatchie county offered
it in the Senate three days later. The House Committee on
Constitution, to which the bill was referred, granted a hearing, at
which speeches were made by Mrs. Monroe McClurg, Miss Belle Kearney,
Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kate Gordon (La.), Judge Allen Thompson and
Colonel Clay Sharkey. The committee reported unfavorably by a majority
of one. A minority report was made by the chairman, Henry A. Minor of
Noxubee county, and others. Representative Mott offered a resolution
inviting the women to present their case in the House the next day,
which was carried by a close vote about one o'clock in the afternoon
and the hearing was set for ten the next morning. The _Daily News_ had
gone to press and the _Clarion Ledger_, a morning paper, had some time
before forbidden its columns to any news or notices in any way
favoring woman suffrage or advertising it.
The president of the Equity League of Jackson, Mrs. J. W. Tucker, with
her assistants, announced the hearing over the telephone, the
legislators spread the story and when the women who were to speak
filed into the House on that memorable morning of January 21 they
found all available space occupied and the galleries overflowing. An
invitation was sent to the Senators to come over but so many had
already deserted their posts for the House that there was not a quorum
to vote on the invitation. Hilary Quin of Hinds county, Speaker of the
House, presided, introducing the speakers and extending every possible
courtesy. They were Mrs. McClurg, Miss Kearney, Miss Orr, Miss Gordon,
Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Somerville. The speeches made so
profound an impression that hardly had the last word been spoken when
there came a loud and insistent call from the enemies for adjournment.
The bill was presented next day. Emmett Cavette of Noxubee county
strongly championed it and Speaker Quin left the chair to make a
speech in its favor. Representative S. Joe Owen of Union county
vigorously led the fight against it and it was lost by 80 noes, 42
ayes.
In 1916 the women's organizations united in a bill making women
eligible to serve as county school superintendents and on the boards
of educational and benevolent institutions. During the session of 1918
the suffrage association being in the midst of war work took no
initiative in behalf of legislation but Senator Earl Richardson of
Neshoba county on his own account introduced in the Senate a
concurrent resolution to amend the State constitution. The members of
the Equity League gave assistance; Mrs. Isaac Reese of Memphis was
invited to come to the Capitol and on the day the vote was taken she
and Miss Kearney made brief speeches before the Senate. On motion of
Senator P. E. Carothers the question was submitted without debate,
which was a disappointment to its friends, H. H. Casteel of Holmes
county declaring that he had remained up nearly all of the night
before preparing his speech. The vote was a tie, 21 to 21. The House
took no action.
Through the years the officers and members of the State and local
suffrage associations united with those of other women's organizations
to obtain laws. The age of consent was raised first to 12, then to 16
and in 1914 to 18; better child labor laws were secured; the law
permitting a father to dispose of the children by will at his death
was repealed. It is a fact not generally known that Mississippi was
the pioneer State in securing to married women the right to own and
dispose of property. This was done by an Act of the Legislature on
Feb. 15, 1839.
RATIFICATION. Congress submitted the Federal Amendment in June, and
the Ratification Committee was organized in November. It opened its
headquarters in Jackson at the beginning of the legislative session in
January, 1920, after having made a whirlwind campaign. At the initial
meeting of the committee in Clarksburg there had been great enthusiasm
and women gave money as they never had done before. Mrs. B. F.
Saunders was made chairman and among those who worked with her in
Jackson were Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Trotter, Mrs. Sam Covington, Miss
Blanche Rogers, Mrs. Thompson, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Annie Neely and Mrs.
Cunningham of Texas. The legislators were systematically interviewed,
literature distributed, petitions circulated and the press kept
supplied with arguments and news.
Mrs. Thompson, in charge of the Jackson press, wrote innumerable
articles, and Mrs. Somerville and others contributed to the press
work. Letters, telegrams and petitions from all over the State urging
ratification poured in daily upon both Houses. Delegations of women
came to urge their representatives to vote for ratification. Nine
influential women came from Lauderdale county bringing a petition of
2,100 names of prominent people obtained in a day and a half and
begged their representatives to vote for the amendment but not one of
them did so.
Many of the State's leading newspapers were in favor of ratification.
The _Daily News_ of Jackson, in keeping with its policy for years,
gave editorial support and generously of its space. The _Clarion
Ledger_, also a Jackson daily, boasted of being the only paper in the
State which openly fought ratification. The editor, Colonel Hiram
Henry, a veteran journalist of the State, always bitterly opposed to
any form of woman suffrage, began his attack weeks before the
Legislature met and daily during the session the pages of his paper
reeked with hatred for the cause. The literature of the "antis" was
largely copied and extracts from negro journals published in the North
were reproduced in glaring headlines, extracts so offensive that had
they been used against any cause save that of disfranchised women
would have been suppressed. It was through his influence that Mrs.
Cola Barr Craig, once a resident of Jackson, and Mrs. James S.
Pinckard of Alabama came early in January to organize a branch of what
they called the Southern Women's Rejection League. They held a public
meeting in the Carnegie library, at which besides the two speakers,
there were nineteen women present, many of them the old friends of
Mrs. Craig. No one would take even the temporary chairmanship and the
attempt to organize failed ignominiously. Not daunted Mr. Henry sent
for Miss Kate Gordon of New Orleans, a veteran suffragist who had
joined hands with the "antis" in fighting ratification. She was
advertised for a speech at the Carnegie library and all legislators
were urged to attend. Two legislators and fifteen women were present,
six of the latter State workers for ratification.
The retiring and incoming State officials were almost to a man
outspoken in their advocacy of ratification. Governor Theodore G.
Bilbo, the retiring Governor, instead of having the clerk of the House
read his farewell message, according to time honored custom, delivered
it in person. Woman suffrage was its conspicuous feature and after a
profound argument for ratification of the Federal Amendment, he closed
his remarks with the solemn statement: "Woe to that man who raises
his hand against the onward march of this progressive movement!" The
newly elected Governor, Lee M. Russell, in his inaugural address,
delivered in front of the Capitol to an audience of thousands, devoted
more time to woman suffrage than to any other topic, making a clear
cut, logical argument for ratification and a powerful plea for the
enfranchisement of women.
On January 21, W. A. Winter, Representative from Grenada county,
offered the following resolution: "Resolved that the proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the United States be and hereby is
rejected as an unwarranted, unnecessary and dangerous interference
with the rights reserved to the States, or to the people, in both
State and Federal Constitutions...." This came without warning to the
friends of ratification and was not referred to a committee but rushed
to a vote after Representative Guy W. Mitchell of Lee county had
spoken strongly against it. It was carried by a vote of 94 ayes to 25
noes and the announcement received with cheers and laughter. Sennett
Conner of Covington county was the Speaker of the House whose ruling
permitted this unparliamentary action.
Sent to the Senate the Winter Resolution of Rejection was referred to
the Committee on Constitution, of which Senator Minor was chairman. At
the meeting of the committee W. B. Mixon of Pike county was authorized
to draft a resolution ratifying the amendment, to be offered in the
Senate as a substitute. This was done and Senators Minor, Mixon and
Fred B. Smith made a majority report. This resolution was earnestly
advocated by Senators Percy Bell and Walton Shields of Washington
county, W. B. Roberts of Bolivar, Fred B. Smith of Union, A. A. Cohn
of Lincoln and E. F. Noel of Holmes. It failed of adoption and the
Winter resolution was recommitted to the Committee on Constitution,
where it remained.
In the meantime Senator Mixon had introduced a bill in the Senate
giving the right to women to vote in Primary elections and
Representative A. J. Whitworth of Pike county a similar one in the
House. In Mississippi a nomination is equivalent to an election. Both
bills were defeated. A resolution for a woman suffrage amendment to
the State constitution to be submitted to the voters at the election
of November, 1920, passed both Houses with very little opposition.
During the last three weeks of the session Senator Mixon introduced a
bill giving the right of suffrage to women in the event of the
ratification of the Federal Amendment by thirty-six Legislatures, thus
enabling them to vote in the August primaries, and Representative
Whitworth introduced two bills, one giving suffrage to women in
primary elections and the other in general elections, both contingent
upon ratification. These bills passed without opposition.
During the last week of the Legislature Senator Roberts called out of
the committee the original Winter Resolution of Rejection and in
Committee of the Whole it was amended by striking out the word
"reject" and substituting the word "ratify." Thus amended the vote in
the Senate stood 21 ayes, 21 noes and Lieutenant Governor H. H.
Casteel broke the tie in favor of its adoption. News of the Senate's
favorable action spread all over the country in a few hours. Telegrams
came pouring in to the Governor and Legislature offering
congratulations and appealing to the House to make Mississippi the
36th State to ratify.
The Senate substitute was presented to the House the next afternoon,
March 31. Representative Winter moved that the House "do not concur
with the Senate Resolution of Ratification." Immediately there came
calls for the vote. Telegrams were on the Speaker's stand from William
Jennings Bryan, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer and many other prominent Democrats. A vote was taken
as to whether these should be read to the House. Representative E. M.
Lane of Smith county, although an opponent of ratification, made an
earnest appeal that the courtesy of a hearing should be accorded these
national party leaders. A vote of 65 to 32 decided that the telegrams
should not be read. Governor Russell had stated that he desired the
privilege of the floor to make an appeal in behalf of ratification but
this courtesy was denied him. Representatives T. D. Rees of Prentiss
county and Walter Sillers of Bolivar spoke in favor of ratification
but were poorly heard so great was the confusion and so loud and
insistent the calls for the vote. Representative Mitchell was absent.
Dr. Whitworth (author of three suffrage bills at this session) spoke
against ratification and while he was speaking Representative R. H.
Watts of Rankin county interpolated, "I would die and go to hell
before I would vote for it." The substitute was defeated by 94 noes,
23 ayes.
Thus was banished forever the dream of Mississippi suffragists that
the women would receive the ballot from the men of this great State.
Speaker Sennett Conner was responsible above every one else for the
defeat of ratification. Its chance was weakened by the fact that
Mississippi's entire delegation in Congress, including Senators John
Sharp Williams and "Pat" Harrison had voted against submitting the
Federal Amendment.
Did space permit there would be added to the names mentioned in this
chapter many others who gave "aid and comfort" to the cause. Among
those who never failed when asked to help with financial burdens was
the late Major R. W. Millsaps, founder of Millsaps College for men and
women. The army of active suffragists was never large. Many women
wanted the ballot but comparatively few were under conviction to work
for it. To those who did, especially in early, trying days, belongs
that indescribable exultation which is the portion of those who help
onward a great revolutionary movement for the uplift of the race.
The amendment to the State constitution was voted on at the general
election in November, 1920, and received 39,186 ayes, 24,296 noes but
it was not carried, as the law requires a majority of all the votes
cast at the election. As the women were already enfranchised by the
Federal Amendment they did not make a campaign for it but as
registration is necessary four months before election and the
ratification did not take place until two months before this one, they
were not able to vote, Mississippi and Georgia being the only two
States that denied this privilege.
FOOTNOTES:
[100] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lily Wilkinson
Thompson, an officer in the State Suffrage Association from its
organization until its work was finished.
[101] Besides those mentioned the following served on the official
board: Mrs. Jimmie Andrews Lipscomb, Mrs. Nella Lawrence Lee, Miss
Mattie Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Annie Kinkead Dent, Mrs. Ella O. Biggs, Mrs.
Alma Dorsey Birdsall, Mrs. Durrant, Mrs. Edith Marshall Tucker, Mrs.
Mary Powell Crane, Miss Ethel Clagett, Mrs. C. C. Miller, Mrs. T. F.
Buntin, Miss Estelle Crane, Miss Nannie Herndon Rice.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MISSOURI.[102]
When the last volume of the history of woman suffrage was written in
1900 Missouri was one of the blackest spots on the suffrage map and
there was little to indicate that it would ever be lighter. The able
and courageous women who inaugurated the movement in 1867, Mrs.
Virginia L. Minor, Mrs. Beverly Allen, Mrs. Rebecca Hazzard, Miss
Phoebe Couzins and Mrs. Sarah Chandler Coates, were no longer living
or past the age for strenuous work. A few women kept up a semblance of
a State organization, met annually and in 1901 Mrs. Addie Johnson was
elected president; in 1902 Mrs. Louis Werth and in 1903 Mrs. Alice
Mulkley, but there was great apathy among women in general. From 1903
to 1910 no State convention was held. In St. Louis, which comprised
one-fourth of the inhabitants of the State, there was no visible
organization working for woman suffrage. The largest and most
influential woman's club refused to allow the subject on its programs.
During the decade to 1910 only one speaker of national prominence came
into the State--Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association--and evidently at the
national headquarters Missouri was considered too hopeless to
consider.
The movement was only smoldering, however, and needed but a spark to
burst into flame and that spark came from afar--from the torch held
high by the "militant" suffragists of England. In no State perhaps was
there more bitter invective hurled at them than by the press and
people of Missouri but the conscience of the convinced suffragists was
aroused. Stirring addresses in St. Louis by Stanton Coit of London and
John Lovejoy Elliott of New York in defense of the English
"militants" brought matters to a crisis and a few bold spirits
decided to reorganize the scattered suffrage forces.
In March, 1910, Mrs. Florence Wyman Richardson, Miss Marie R. Garesche
and Miss Florence Richardson (later Mrs. Roland R. Usher) barely out
of her teens, renounced society and invited twenty or twenty-five
women, whom they thought might be interested, to meet in Miss
Garesche's home. Only five responded, Miss Bertha Rombauer, Miss
Jennie M. A. Jones, Mrs. Robert Atkinson, Miss Lillian Heltzell and
Mrs. Dan Knefler. Not at all daunted it was decided as a first step to
engage a prominent lecturer. Miss Ethel Arnold, the well-known
Englishwoman, a suffragist but not a "militant," was then touring this
country and before the meeting adjourned a telegram was sent to her
and the eight women present guaranteed the sum to cover her charge and
the rent of a hall. As her itinerary would bring her to St. Louis
about the middle of April it was thought best to organize immediately,
so that the publicity which would undoubtedly be given to Miss Arnold
would be shared by the infant society. A circular letter outlining the
project was sent broadcast and April 8 about fifty women gathered at
the residence of Mrs. Richardson and effected an organization. Thus
came into being the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League, which was
destined to play the principal part in winning the vote for the women
of the State. The following officers were elected: President, Mrs.
Richardson; first vice-president, Miss Garesche; second, Mrs.
Atkinson; corresponding secretary, Miss Rombauer; recording secretary,
Miss Heltzell; treasurer, Mrs. Knefler; auditor, Mrs. Leslie Thompson.
Miss Arnold's lecture took place April 11 and her charm, culture and
cogent reasoning won many friends to the cause and disarmed many of
its opponents. Branch organizations were soon formed in the northern
and southern parts of the city with Mrs. Atlanta Hecker and Miss
Cecilia Razovsky as presidents. Meetings were held in the Cabanne
Branch Library and before the end of the year the members had
increased to 275.[103] During the first year the league brought a
number of lecturers to the city, realizing that this was the most
valuable form of propaganda in a community so entrenched in
conservatism. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England;
Professor Frances Squire Potter of the University of Minnesota; Mrs.
Lucia Ames Mead of Boston; Professor Nathaniel Schmidt of Cornell and
Professor Earl Barnes of Philadelphia.
On Nov. 3, 1911, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England, at the invitation
of the league, lectured in the Odeon, the largest hall in the city, to
an audience that taxed its capacity. Her charming personality set at
rest all fears as to the ill effect of suffrage, even of the
"militant" variety, on feminine grace and refinement. Soon afterwards
the Mary Institute Alumnae Association invited Miss Sylvia Pankhurst
to lecture and the result was most gratifying to the friends of
suffrage.
The old State organization having ceased to exist the St. Louis league
with its branches and the recently formed Webster Groves Suffrage
League, Mrs. Lee Roseborough, president, met in St. Louis Feb. 14,
1911, and organized a State Woman Suffrage Association, which
affiliated with the National American Association. The officers were:
President, Mrs. Atkinson; vice-president, Mrs. Morrison-Fuller;
corresponding secretary, Mrs. Boyd; recording secretary, Miss
Rombauer; treasurer, Miss Jane Thompson; auditor, Mrs. R. D. McArthur.
Owing to various causes this board was in a few months reduced to
three working members, Mrs. Atkinson, Mrs. Boyd and Miss Rombauer.
Realizing that it must enlist the support of the press they sent out
letters to a long list of the State editors and favorable replies were
received from twenty-six, who promised to give a weekly column in
their papers for suffrage news and propaganda. All the libraries were
written to and a number of them induced to procure the four large
volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, generously offered by the
National Association. The librarians, who were often women, were asked
to keep on hand a supply of suffrage literature. The St. Louis public
library, at the suggestion of the board, made a special exhibit of
this literature, much of which was new. In the center of the exhibit
was a large picture of William T. Harris, former superintendent of
schools in St. Louis and later U. S. Commissioner of Education, with
his strong testimony in favor of woman suffrage.
Mrs. Atkinson was permitted to make an address on suffrage before the
State Federation of Women's Clubs at Sedalia but no action was taken.
She also addressed a large audience at the dedication of the Woman's
Building which had been erected by the Legislature on the State Fair
grounds near that city and Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Columbia also
made an address. The board paid a lawyer to compile the State laws for
women under the direction of E. M. Grossman. Mrs. Atkinson, Mrs. Boyd
and Mrs. John L. Lowes of St. Louis and Mrs. Virginia Hedges of
Warrensburg went as delegates to the convention of the National
Association in 1911 at Louisville, where much satisfaction was
expressed that Missouri had at last come into the fold. The Kansas
City League was organized this year with Mrs. Henry N. Ess, president;
Miss Helen Osborn, secretary; and Mrs. Helena Cramer Leavens,
treasurer. The women of Warrensburg, under the leadership of Miss
Laura Runyon, organized a club of fifty members. There was the State
Normal School, to whose faculty Miss Runyon belonged, and through her
the support of the students was obtained and suffrage propaganda
extended gradually to every section of the State. Mrs. Knefler,
president of the St. Louis Women's Trades Union, organized a league
among its members, which, under the leadership of Mrs. Sarah Spraggon
and Miss Sallie Quick, did excellent work in the campaigns that
followed.
In 1912 a Business Woman's Suffrage League was formed in St. Louis
under the leadership of Miss Mary McGuire, a graduate of the St. Louis
University Law School, and Miss Jessie Lansing Moller, which starting
with 50 members, eventually numbered 250. The same year the Junior
Branch of the St. Louis League was organized, which included many of
the younger society girls and matrons. Miss Ann Drew (later Mrs. James
Platt) was president. In Kansas City in the autumn the Southside Equal
Suffrage League was formed with Mrs. Cora Kramer Leavens, president,
and Miss Cora Best Jewell, secretary. A Men's Equal Suffrage League
was also organized with D. H. Hoff president; J. H. Austin,
vice-president; David Proctor, secretary, which did a large work in
securing the big vote given to the suffrage amendment in Kansas City
and Jackson county in 1914.
In 1912 the first State convention was held in September at Sedalia,
where Mrs. George Gellhorn was elected president and Mrs. John W.
Barringer vice-president, both of St. Louis. They went to Jefferson
City in September and tried to get a suffrage plank into the platform
of the Democratic State convention. Though unsuccessful it was the
initial step in bringing the subject out of the parlor and
lecture-room into the sphere of politics, the arena where the battle
ultimately had to be fought. Twenty-eight leagues were formed this
year. Miss Amelia C. Fruchte, member of the St. Louis Central High
School faculty, went before the State Teachers' Association and
secured its endorsement of woman suffrage.
In 1913 at the State convention held at St. Louis in September, Mrs.
Walter McNab Miller, formerly of Ohio, was elected State president.
She had been the leading spirit in work for suffrage in Columbia, the
seat of the State University, where her husband was a professor, and
in November, 1912, an organization was formed with Dr. R. H. Jesse,
former president of the university, at its head. Though the State in
general was still apathetic the women in the large places, especially
in St. Louis and Kansas City, were alert and active. Mrs. Richardson,
after two strenuous years, had been succeeded by Mrs. David O'Neil as
president of the St. Louis League. She was followed in October by Mrs.
John L. Lowes, who had to resign from exhaustion and Mrs. O'Neil was
again elected.
The hard work that had been done was beginning to bear fruit and the
Farmers' Alliance, the Prohibitionists, the Single Taxers and other
organizations were seeking the cooperation of the suffrage societies.
The press was giving more and more space to suffrage news. Mrs. Emily
Newell Blair of Carthage was a powerful influence with country
editors. The St. Louis _Post Dispatch_ offered prizes amounting to
$100 for the best arguments in favor and often contained strong
editorials. Thanks largely to Miss Jane Winn, on the editorial staff
of the _Globe Democrat_, suffrage news was seldom refused by that
paper. The Kansas City _Star_ and the _Post_ gave strong support.
Best of all, the women were gaining in courage and confidence. In
September the managers of a Merchants' and Manufacturers' Street
Exposition in St. Louis invited the suffragists to conduct a parade
under their auspices and a large number of automobiles and auto-trucks
gaily decorated with white and yellow bunting and accompanied by
several bands of music went through the principal downtown streets.
The crowds were respectful and occasionally enthusiastic. The
enthusiasm of the paraders reached such a pitch that they left their
protecting cars and marched boldly down the middle of the street,
preceded by a band playing "Everybody's doing it." The details were
arranged by Mrs. W. W. Boyd, Jr.
The time was judged to be ripe for an organized effort to secure
action at the general election of 1914 and two plans presented
themselves: First, to ask the Legislature to submit to the voters an
amendment to the State constitution giving full suffrage to women;
second, to secure the necessary number of signatures under the newly
enacted initiative petition law to place the amendment on the ballot
regardless of action by the Legislature. The former method was tried
first but the latter was found to be necessary. A finance committee
was appointed by the league to raise funds for the campaign and at a
luncheon in St. Louis amid great enthusiasm $11,000 were pledged,
which were turned over to Mrs. B. B. Graham, campaign treasurer.
Headquarters were opened down town with Mrs. Knefler, campaign
manager, in charge. The interest aroused throughout the State by the
circulating of the petition was manifested at the State convention in
Columbia, in May, 1914, which was attended by a number of delegates
from the country districts. Mrs. Miller was re-elected president. On
"suffrage day," May 1, men and women addressed crowds between acts at
different theaters and on the steps of public buildings. Miss Fola
LaFollette was the speaker at a large evening meeting and addressed
the Men's City Club at luncheon the next day. The slogan was sent out
far and wide, "Suffrage for Missouri in 1914." After the heavy task of
obtaining 14,000 names to the petition and a strenuous campaign the
amendment was defeated at the polls.
In 1915 an offer was made by a newspaper man in Monet to publish a
suffrage magazine and eagerly accepted, the suffragists agreeing to
furnish the material and to work up the subscriptions. Mrs. Blair was
the first editor of the _Missouri Woman_ and all went well for a few
months, then the publisher failed. This was a keen disappointment but
through the efforts of Miss Mary Bulkley and Percy Werner of St.
Louis, Flint Garrison, president of the Garrison-Wagner Printing
Company, a prominent Democrat and an ardent suffragist, became
interested and agreed to publish the magazine. It was adopted as the
organ of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and was endorsed by the
State branch of the National Congress of Mothers and the State Parent
Teachers' Association. In March, 1916, Mrs. Blair, owing to the
difficulty of editing the magazine from her home in Carthage while it
was published in St. Louis, resigned as editor and was succeeded by
Miss Mary Semple Scott of St. Louis, who continued in that office
during the remaining three years of its useful existence, until the
women of the State had been partially enfranchised and the Federal
Suffrage Amendment had been ratified by the Legislature.
During 1916 the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League reorganized on
political lines with a Central Committee composed of a member from
each of the twenty-five wards. Mrs. William C. Fordyce, who for a long
time had urged this action, was unanimously elected chairman. At the
convention held in Springfield in May Mrs. John R. Leighty of Kansas
City succeeded Mrs. Miller, who had been elected first vice-president
of the National Association and would reside in Washington. At the
meeting of the board held in St. Louis in June the State association
also was reorganized on political lines and a Congressional Committee
of sixteen members representing the sixteen congressional districts
was appointed. The St. Louis League subscribed $500 to carry on the
work and Mrs. Charles Passmore was made chairman. The committees
appealed to the Republican State convention to put a plank for woman
suffrage in its platform but with no success. Later, after the two
national parties had adopted suffrage planks, an effort was made to
have the State committees adopt the same plank but they refused.
The National Democratic Convention held in St. Louis in June, 1916,
offered a splendid opportunity which both State and city suffragists
eagerly seized. Some unique schemes were evolved, among them the
"golden lane," the idea of Mrs. Blair. It has been described as "a
walkless, talkless parade" and consisted of about 7,000 women arranged
in a double line on both sides of the street, the front row sitting,
the back row standing, all dressed in white with yellow sashes and
each one carrying a yellow parasol. They held their places on the
opening day of the convention, June 14, from 10 a. m. till noon, on
both sides of Locust Street for a distance of ten blocks, the route
the delegates had to take in going from their headquarters in the
Jefferson Hotel to the Coliseum, where the convention was held.
Another striking appeal was in the form of a beautiful and imposing
tableau staged on the steps of the old Art Museum, also on the route
of the delegates, which was given with an occasional interval of rest
for two long hours. The details were managed by Miss Virginia
Stevenson. Under a canopy of gold cloth, which cast a glow over the
group below, there stood at the top of the steps "Liberty," posed by
handsome Mrs. O'Neil. Grouped about her were thirteen women dressed in
white representing the twelve equal suffrage States and Alaska.
Farther down on the steps were the States in which only partial
suffrage had been granted, impersonated by women dressed in gray. At
the bottom were figures in black, representing the States where women
were wholly disfranchised, extending their manacled arms to Liberty. A
mass meeting was held later in the day in the auditorium of the
Museum, when Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, William Jennings Bryan, U. S.
Senator John F. Shafroth and Mrs. Miller addressed large and
enthusiastic audiences. The Town Club, an organization of women, gave
a dinner with covers laid for 300, which was followed by music and
speaking in front of the Jefferson Hotel. On the same night there was
street speaking on the principal down town corners for two hours, one
speaker relieving another as the crowds called for more. Miss Scott
brought out an impressive number of the _Missouri Woman_ during the
convention. William Burns, a well-known artist on the _Post Dispatch_,
designed an attractive and significant cover and Miss Marguerite
Martin illustrated a story by Mrs. Blair; editors of the St. Louis
dailies, Louis Ely, Casper Yost and Paul W. Brown, contributed
editorials and William Marion Reedy, editor of the St. Louis _Mirror_,
wrote a charming article. The edition of 10,000 was sold at the
bookstands and by volunteers who acted as "newsies." The business men
advertised generously.
The result partially of all the hard work and enthusiasm was a woman
suffrage plank in the platform according to the Democratic principle
of State's rights, which, though not entirely satisfactory to the
suffragists, was regarded as a decided victory.
The entrance of the United States in the World War in 1917 acted as a
deterrent of suffrage activities, as the various organizations threw
themselves whole-heartedly into war work. Mrs. Leighty, State
chairman, Mrs. Stix, chairman of the St. Louis League, and other heads
of suffrage societies throughout the State, had the difficult task of
directing their activities in war work and at the same time keeping at
the front the idea that, while working to make the world safe for
democracy abroad, the cause of democracy at home demanded the speedy
enfranchisement of the women of America. Missouri's quota for the
Oversea Hospitals organized by the National Suffrage Association was
$1,000. At a luncheon given by the St. Louis League May 8, where Mrs.
Charles L. Tiffany of New York was the speaker, $4,331 were subscribed
in fifteen minutes. Mrs. Miller was chairman of the Food Conservation
Committee of the National Association and Mrs. George Gellhorn
organized its work for Missouri. All demands of the Government were
fully met.
In May, 1917, the State convention was held at Kansas City and Mrs.
Miller having returned from Washington was again elected president.
This year a Men's Advisory Committee in St. Louis was formed composed
of 147 well-known residents organized under the following leaders:
Jackson Johnson, N. A. McMillan, Ernest W. Stix, Joseph Woracek,
Edward F. Goltra, E. N. Grossman, Benjamin Gratz, J. L. Babler. A
teachers' division including many thousand was formed, with Miss
Tillie Gecks as president. Largely through the efforts of the
executive secretary of the St. Louis league, Mrs. Lucille B.
Lowenstein, its membership in 1918 was increased to 8,000. Mrs. Stix,
resigning because of illness, Mrs. Gellhorn was elected.
At the State convention held at Macon in May, 1918, Mrs. Miller was
re-elected. Owing to the splendid organization of the St. Louis League
it was able to invite the National Suffrage Association to hold its
Golden Jubilee in this city in 1919. It was held March 23-29 inclusive
at the Statler Hotel with two evening mass meetings at the Odeon, and
was declared by Mrs. Catt to have been "the best convention ever held
anywhere." A large group of women worked indefatigably for weeks in
advance to make it a success but to Mrs. Gellhorn, chairman of the
Local Arrangements Committee, must go the chief honor. Second must be
placed the name of Mrs. Stix, who had raised the funds to defray the
local expenses.
On the evening of March 28 was held one of the mass meetings. The
large auditorium of the Odeon, beautifully decorated for the occasion
under the supervision of Mrs. Fred Taussig and Mrs. Everett W.
Pattison, was filled to overflowing. On the stage were Mrs. Catt, Dr.
Shaw and the other national officers, also the speakers of the
evening, among whom were Governor Henry J. Allen of Kansas and Miss
Helen Frazier of England. Suddenly music was heard from the back. It
heralded the Missouri delegation, composed of Mrs. Miller, Mrs. David
O'Neil, Mrs. W. R. Haight and Miss Marie B. Ames, who had been in
Jefferson City for ninety-six days working in the interest of the
Presidential suffrage bill and had just returned with the joyful
tidings that it had passed both Houses! The delegation was met at the
door and escorted down the center aisle by Mrs. Gellhorn, holding
aloft a banner bearing the words, "Now we are voters." The large
audience rose spontaneously and amidst deafening cheers and wild
waving of handkerchiefs and hats the women ascended to the stage,
where they were individually presented to the audience by the
presiding officer, Dr. Shaw, who congratulated them and the rest of
the women of Missouri on the great victory. [Full account of
convention in Chapter XVIII, Volume V.]
To celebrate the success of this great convention and especially the
winning of Presidential suffrage, the St. Louis League at its annual
meeting in April gave a "victory tea" in the Statler Hotel. The guests
of honor were Senator James W. McKnight and Representative Walter E.
Bailey, who had so successfully led the suffrage forces in the Senate
and House. With music and the presentation to Mrs. O'Neil, in
acknowledgment of her long and faithful services, of an illuminated
testimonial, it was a delightful afternoon. Mrs. Fred English was
elected president of the league. At the State convention held at St.
Louis Mrs. Gellhorn was elected president, Mrs. Miller honorary
president, Mrs. David O'Neil honorary vice-president of the
association.
With Presidential suffrage won, the work before both State and city
association was obviously the organization and education of the new
voters. At a State meeting held in Kansas City May 3, a "budget"
system was adopted and a definite quota assigned to each county.
Kansas City raised $3,000 at a banquet in the Muehlbach Hotel, Mrs. J.
B. White presiding. St. Louis then raised its quota of $6,000 and
another $6,000 was pro-rated throughout the remainder of the State,
giving $15,000.
The next step in order was the establishment of Citizenship Schools
and the slogan "Every Missouri Woman an Intelligent Voter in 1920" was
adopted. Under the direction of Mrs. Olive B. Swan, executive
secretary of the State association, citizenship schools were arranged
for in every one of the sixteen congressional districts. Miss Ames and
Miss Lutie Stearns, two expert organizers, traveled through the State
holding meetings and conducting schools. Mrs. Leighty and Mrs. Alfred
Buschman assisted in this work. Mrs. English and Mrs. Clarke conducted
all those in St. Louis. The Young Women's Christian Association
allowed them the use of its auditorium for the first suffrage normal
school. Some mothers of families got up at five o'clock and did part
of their day's work in order to be able to attend; some women traveled
miles in order to do so; others came to night classes after a hard
day's work in office or school room. The St. Louis Board of Education
recognized the importance of this work and offered to incorporate the
citizenship schools in the night school system. It furnished the
building and paid the instructors, the St. Louis League managed the
schools. The response of the colored women to these opportunities was
especially noteworthy; in one school over 300 were in constant
attendance. Mrs. McBride, secretary of the Jackson county suffrage
league, conducted classes throughout the county. Kansas City secured
Professor Isador Loeb of the University of Missouri for a course of
lectures on government. All the women's clubs united into one school.
The course included principles of government, organization, publicity,
public speaking, suffrage history and argument, parliamentary law and
use of literature.
* * * * *
The submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress in June,
1919, was celebrated with the greatest joy throughout the State.
Prominent suffragists in St. Louis waited upon Mayor Keil, the board
of aldermen and other city officials and escorted them in gaily
decorated automobiles to the steps of the Post Office, where the
Mayor, an old friend of woman suffrage, made a rousing speech. Mrs.
Miller and Mrs. Gellhorn also spoke and Charles M. Hay closed the
meeting with an eloquent address. In Kansas City a similar meeting was
held in one of the large theaters.
RATIFICATION. Steps were at once taken to secure the ratification of
the amendment by the Legislature. Edward F. Goltra, National
Democratic Committeeman, a proved friend, and Ben Neals, State
Democratic chairman, were often asked for advice and other help. Jacob
Babler, Republican National Committeeman, and W. L. Cole, Republican
State chairman, Mayor Keil and many others of both political parties
assisted the suffrage associations in placing before Governor Gardner
the urgency of calling a special session. He was not slow in
responding and one was called for July 2, 1919. All the suffrage
organizations in the State, with the Federated Clubs and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, started to work immediately to make sure
of a large majority. Legislators were visited by their constituents
and letters and telegrams were showered on them by prominent men and
women from other sections of the State.
On July 1 the suffragists gathered in Jefferson City and opened a
State board meeting with a luncheon and speeches at the New Central
Hotel to which every one was welcome. At 7 o'clock the ratification
dinner took place, with members of the Legislature as the invited
guests of the State association. Every foot of space in the
dining-room, ante-room and lobby of the hotel was filled with tables.
The Governor and Lieutenant Governor were escorted to the hall by
prominent suffragists and both made stirring appeals.
At 10 o'clock the morning of July 3, a procession of women wended its
way from the hotel to the beautiful new Capitol. The yellow parasols,
which had figured in every suffrage celebration since the time of the
historic Golden Lane in 1916, were everywhere in evidence and yellow
banners, ribbons and flowers gave the dominant note of color to the
scene. The galleries in both Senate and House were filled. The
resolution passed the House by a vote of 125 to 4; the Senate by a
vote of 29 to 3.
A great sorrow came in the midst of the rejoicing, as the news was
received that Dr. Anna Howard Shaw died the evening before the
ratification. She had addressed the Legislature in other years and
both Houses passed resolutions of regret.
Missouri women will forever remember gratefully the 50th General
Assembly, as it did all possible for it to do toward their
enfranchisement. It memorialized Congress urging the passage of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment; it passed the Presidential suffrage bill
and it promptly ratified the Amendment.
A called convention of the State association was held October 16-18,
at the Hotel Statler in St. Louis and the name was changed to the
Missouri League of Women Voters. Mrs. Gellhorn was elected chairman.
Every district was represented by the 122 delegates present.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1913. A petition signed by 14,000 voters of the
State, of whom 8,000 were from St. Louis, was presented to the
Legislature asking it to submit an amendment for woman suffrage at the
election of 1914. The women who had had charge of the petition were
Mrs. David O'Neil, president, Miss Mary Bulkley, Miss Charlotte
Rumbold and Mrs. William C. Fordyce of the St. Louis Equal Suffrage
League and Mrs. St. Clair Moss and Mrs. Rose Ingels of Columbia. A
letter had been sent to every legislator saying that all he was asked
to do was to help get the amendment before the voters. The resolution
was introduced by Representative Thomas J. Roney and Senator Anderson
Craig. It was referred to the House and Senate Committees on
Constitutional Amendment and a joint hearing was set for February 6.
A number of women from different parts of the State appeared before
these committees and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National
Suffrage Association, disarmed all prejudice. There was a unanimous
favorable report from the Senate Committee and only one adverse vote
in the House Committee. A week later the resolution was sent to
engrossment by both Houses with but five dissenting votes in the
Senate while in the House the "ayes" were so overwhelming that the
"noes" were not counted. The women went home feeling that the fight
was won but the last week of the session the resolution was taken off
the calendar, referred back to the committees and pigeon-holed.
The women then decided to resort to the newly created device of the
"initiative petition," by which the amendment could be submitted
without legislative action. Mrs. Walter McNab Miller was urged to take
charge of the work, the St. Louis Suffrage League agreeing to look
after the three most difficult congressional districts. She began the
latter part of August to canvass a State that has 114 counties, in
many of which there are no railroads and the other roads are almost
impassable. After six weeks of constant travel and hard work she
obtained only 1,000 names. The cooperation of Mrs. Nellie Burger,
president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the only woman's
organization in the State outside of the regular suffrage societies
which had endorsed suffrage, was then secured. The St. Louis and
Kansas City leagues took the most thickly populated districts and the
others were apportioned among little bands of suffragists, who, under
the leadership of Mrs. Miller, worked steadily for the next six
months. At last the required 14,000 signatures were obtained and
representatives from each district went to Jefferson City to present
the petitions to Secretary of State Cornelius Roach. He received them
in a most friendly manner, saying that he hoped this work, which had
been done at such great cost, would bring the desired reward.
It had only begun and the task during the next six months was to
induce the men to vote for the amendment, which now had an assured
place on the ballot. Help came from the outside, as well as within the
State. Ruth Hanna (Mrs. Medill) McCormick of Chicago, chairman of the
Congressional Committee of the National Association, sent an organizer
and paid her expenses for four months. From friends outside $3,264
were sent and about $1,800 were raised in various ways in the State.
Dr. Shaw and Miss Jane Addams spoke in several cities and other
prominent speakers were Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky, Miss
Helen Todd of California, Mrs. McCormick and "General" Rosalie Jones
of New York. The State and county fairs were utilized. Headquarters
were rented in a big downtown building in St. Louis with Miss Rumbold
as director of publicity, Miss Genevieve Tierney and Mrs. R. L.
Sanford in charge of the business part, Mrs. Alice Curtis Moyer-Wing
head of the speakers' bureau and Miss Bulkley treasurer. Mrs. Blair
had charge of the press work for the State, Miss Clara Sommerville for
St. Louis.[104] The St. Louis _Times_, the Kansas City _Post_ and the
Warrensburg _Daily Star_ allowed the women to get out a special
suffrage edition.
All the hard work of a year and a half was in vain. On Nov. 3, 1914,
the woman suffrage amendment went down to defeat with fourteen other
amendments on the ballot. More votes were cast on this one than on any
other--182,257 ayes; 322,463 noes; lost by 140,206. In Kansas City the
adverse majority was only 1,000. Thirteen counties were carried.
1915. It had been decided at the first State board meeting after the
defeat to attempt again to have an amendment submitted by the
Legislature. Mrs. Miller took charge of the work and remained six
weeks in Jefferson City. The resolution was written by Judge Robert
Franklin Walker, now Chief Justice of Missouri, and was introduced by
Senator Craig and Representative Roney, as before. A joint hearing was
arranged at which twelve Missouri women, representing various
professions and occupations, spoke five minutes each. It passed the
House by 88 ayes to 42 noes. Through the efforts of Senator William
Phelps, who was showered with letters and telegrams from his
constituents, the committee, a majority of whom were violently
opposed to woman suffrage, was persuaded to report it favorably but it
did not come to a vote in the Senate.
1916. As the Federal Amendment was now well advanced and the bad
effect on it of the loss of a State campaign was clearly recognized,
the National Board asked the officers of each State association to
refrain from entering into one. Therefore it was agreed at the State
convention in May, 1916, to give up the projected campaign.
1917. A bill for Presidential suffrage, which was approved by the
national officers, was introduced. Headquarters were opened in the
Capitol with Miss Geraldine Buchanan of California, Mo., in charge and
a strong lobby of State women remained there during the session--Mrs.
Leighty, Mrs. Fordyce, Mrs. O'Neil, Mrs. Passmore and Mrs. Grossman of
St. Louis. Mrs. Katherine Smith, daughter of Judge Walker, and Miss
Matilda Dahlmeyer of Jefferson City gave effective aid. Percy Werner,
a lawyer of St. Louis, agreed to defend its legal status before the
Legislature if necessary and in January it was introduced by Senator
Robert J. Mitchell of Aurora and Representative Nick Cave of Fulton.
It was reported favorably by the House Committee but when it came to a
hearing before the Senate committee there appeared Miss Minnie Bronson
from New York, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association.
The speaker in favor was Mrs. Fordyce, a granddaughter of the pioneer
suffragist, Mrs. Beverly Allen. The House passed it by 87 to 37 but
the Senate defeated it.
Missouri women now turned their attention to furthering the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. The Congressional Committee appointed for this
purpose worked indefatigably and early in January, armed with two
large bundles of petitions for it, one from the State and one from St.
Louis, aggregating 75,000 names, a delegation went to Washington. Mrs.
Miller, vice-president of the National Association, arranged, with the
assistance of Miss Mabel Stone, daughter of the Missouri Senator,
William R. Stone, for a meeting in his office between them and the
State's members of Congress. They presented their petitions and made
earnest appeals for the amendment.
Suffragists throughout the State kept up a constant stream of
telegrams and letters to the Missouri members and Governor Gardner
used his influence. Senator Stone, and after his death Senator
Xenophon P. Wilfley, were pledged to the amendment, and Senator Selden
P. Spencer, who later was elected, could positively be depended upon.
All possible efforts were concentrated upon Senator James A. Reed but
to no avail. To disprove his statements that his constituents were not
in favor of woman suffrage, the Jackson county campaign committee,
with Mrs. J. B. White of Kansas City chairman, sent him the signatures
of 47,382 women and 12,583 men from his district, asking for it. When
the amendment came to a vote in 1918, Senator Wilfley and all the
Representatives voted in the affirmative except Meeker of St. Louis,
who died soon afterwards. In 1919 Senator Spencer and the entire
delegation in the House voted in favor. Senator Reed fought it every
time it came before the Senate.
Delegations of women appeared before the State conventions of both
parties on the same day in August, 1918, and asked for a suffrage
plank. Mrs. Miller, Mrs. O'Neil and Mrs. Stix attended the Democratic
convention in Jefferson City; Mrs. Gellhorn and Mrs. Grossman,
assisted by others, looked after the Republican convention in St.
Louis. They were invited to speak and each party put a very good
suffrage plank in its platform.
1919. Work for Presidential suffrage was continued. Extra pressure was
brought to bear on the Senate. Two national organizers, Miss Ames and
Miss Alma Sasse, were sent into various senatorial districts to enlist
the help of influential people and when the time came for a vote it
undoubtedly was favorable pressure from home that kept some of the
Senators in line. When the General Assembly convened Jan. 8, 1919,
Governor Gardner recommended such suffrage legislation as the women
might desire. Through the courtesy of Lieutenant Governor Crossley,
President of the Senate, and S. F. O'Fallon, Speaker of the House, it
was the first bill introduced.
On February 6 the Presidential bill was put on the calendar over the
adverse report of the Election Committee, an action almost without
precedent. On the 11th the Speaker left the chair and delivered a
powerful address urging its passage. Representative Frank Farris also
made a strong speech in its favor and the final vote was 122 ayes, 8
noes. The opposition used every device to prevent it from being
brought up for the final reading in the Senate but finally the time
was set for March 28. On that date two of the Senators favoring it
were absent and their votes were absolutely necessary. Senator David
W. Stark was at his home in Westline and Senator Howard Gray had been
called on important business to Caruthersville. On the 27th Mrs.
Miller, Mrs. O'Neil, Mrs. Haight and Miss Ames, who had been in
Jefferson City for over three months, met for final consultation.
Senator Stark responded to a telephone call and promised to be in his
seat the next morning. It was found it would be impossible for Senator
Gray to arrive on time. They were in despair but a savior was at hand.
Democratic National Committeeman Edward F. Goltra offered to charter a
special train to bring Senator Gray, a Republican, to Jefferson City
in time to cast his vote. This offer was gladly and gratefully
accepted and the Senator left Caruthersville that night. The next
morning all the other Senators were in their seats, the opposition
complacent and confident that the bill could not pass. While Senator
McKnight was reading a telegram from the National Suffrage Convention
in session at St. Louis urging the immediate passage of the
Presidential suffrage bill Senator Gray quietly walked in and took his
seat! The opposition, out-witted and out-generaled, threw up their
hands and the bill was passed by a vote of 21 to 12, some of its
former opponents voting for it. On April 5 in the presence of the
board of the State association it was signed by Governor Gardner.
FOOTNOTES:
[102] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Marie R.
Garesche, a founder and first vice-president of the St. Louis Equal
Suffrage League.
[103] Thirteen men were enrolled this year, Eugene Angert, George
Blackman, R. W. Boysselier, Dr. W. W. Boyd, Mr. Chauvenet, E. M.
Grossman, Charles Haanel, Stephen Hart, Charles Van Dyke Hill, Dr.
John C. Morfit, H. J. Peifer, Judge R. E. Rombauer and Percy Werner.
[104] Because of lack of space it has been impossible to include the
long lists of names prepared of women who worked all over the State.
CHAPTER XXV.
MONTANA.[105]
Before 1900 the National American Woman Suffrage Association, under
the presidency of Miss Susan B. Anthony, helped to organize suffrage
societies in Montana and several conventions were held. In 1899 Dr.
Maria M. Dean was elected president. She was succeeded by Mrs. Clara
B. Tower, whose report to the national suffrage convention of 1903
said:
On May 1, 1902, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, National president,
Miss Gail Laughlin and Miss Laura A. Gregg, organizers, arrived
in Helena and in conjunction with the State officers planned a
campaign to include a meeting in every town of any importance.
Mrs. Catt re-organized the Helena Suffrage Club and remained two
weeks, conducting a large correspondence, addressing all the
women's organizations in the city and a mass meeting. Miss
Laughlin spent these two weeks in Butte, where she spoke to a
number of labor unions and obtained resolutions strongly
endorsing woman suffrage from the Silver Bow Trades and Labor
Assembly, a delegate body representing 10,000 men. Mrs. Catt then
went to Butte and for ten days she and Miss Laughlin delivered
addresses before the principal organizations of the city, among
which were the Woman's Club and the Trades Council. Their visit
closed with a mass meeting at which a large number of names were
secured for membership in the Equal Suffrage Club, which was
organized immediately afterward. The campaign was then placed in
charge of Miss Laughlin, who did the field work, and Miss Gregg,
who arranged the dates from the headquarters in Helena. The
speaking before labor unions was continued through the State and
not a union or delegate body of laboring men failed to endorse
woman suffrage. Miss Laughlin, by invitation, addressed the State
labor convention, representing all the labor unions, and
resolutions strongly endorsing woman suffrage and the submission
of an amendment were passed with only one dissenting voice on a
roll-call vote.
Miss Laughlin spent the summer and fall visiting every town of
importance, organizing more than thirty clubs, and securing
committees to circulate petitions where organization was
impracticable. The State convention was held in Butte in
September in preparation for work in the Legislature during
January and February, 1903, for submission to the voters of a
woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution, which had
been strongly recommended by Governor Toole in his Message. A
considerable sum was raised for press work and Miss Mary E.
O'Neill was appointed superintendent. A resolution asking the
National Association for the services of Miss Laughlin for
legislative work was adopted and she remained.[106]
The bill for full suffrage was introduced in both Houses; public
hearings were granted by the Judiciary Committee of each and the House
took a recess that its members might attend in a body. Miss Laughlin
and others spoke and the measure had strong advocates in Dr. O. M.
Lanstrum, J. M. Kennedy, John Maginness, Colonel James U. Sanders, F.
Augustus Heinze (the copper magnate), Colonel C. B. Nolan, State
Senators Whipple, Myers and Johnson. State officers and members of the
Helena Club assisted in the legislative work, which continued two
months. The vote in the House was 41 ayes, 23 noes, but two-thirds
were necessary. The resolution introduced in the Senate by H. L.
Sherlock was also defeated.
At the session of 1905 the amendment resolution was again introduced
and Mrs. Tower travelled from Boston to be present at the hearing.
Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Mrs. Walter Matheson and Miss O'Neill addressed the
committees but the vote was adverse.
For a number of years little was done except in a desultory way. The
suffrage resolution was presented at almost every session of the
Legislature but there was no intensive work for it. Some of the
political equality clubs lived on, the strongest one in Missoula with
J. Washington McCormick president and Miss Jeannette Rankin
vice-president. In 1911 Dr. J. M. Donahue had introduced the suffrage
resolution in the Legislature but no work had been done for it and
this club sent Miss Rankin to Helena to press for its passage. It
found champions in Colonel J. B. Nolan, W. W. Berry and D. G. O'Shea
and opponents in James E. McNally and Joseph Binnard. Miss Rankin
obtained permission to address the House. The Senate refused to
attend officially but adjourned and was present almost in a body.
House members brought flowers and the room resembled anything but a
legislative hall, as masses of hats hid the legislators and people
were banked in the doorways. Miss Rankin was escorted to the reading
desk by a number of old-time suffragists, Dr. Dean, Dr. Atwater, Mrs.
Sanders, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson and Miss May Murphy. As
Representative Binnard was the strongest opponent he was delegated by
the members to present Miss Rankin with a corsage bouquet of violets.
He made a flowery speech and attempted to turn the meeting into a
facetious affair but when Miss Rankin spoke his purpose was defeated
and she received much applause. The bill was, however, reported out of
the committee without recommendation and neither House took any
action.
At the State Fairs of 1911 and 1912 the suffragists erected attractive
booths, giving out suffrage literature and buttons to all passers-by.
They were in charge of Ida Auerbach, Frieda Fligelman and Grace Rankin
Kinney. In 1912 a State Central Committee was formed with Miss Rankin
as temporary chairman and Miss Auerbach as temporary secretary. Later
Mrs. Grace Smith was made treasurer. The first meeting was called in
the studio of Miss Mary C. Wheeler of Helena. These women attended the
State conventions of the Republican, Democratic and Progressive
parties and succeeded in getting planks in their platforms for a
suffrage amendment to the State constitution. Then all nominees were
circularized and asked to stand by their party platforms. Miss Rankin
went over the State quietly, stopping in every county seat and
searching out women willing to work. She secured the consent of Thomas
Stout to introduce the bill at the next session.
In January, 1913, the women met in Helena and formed a permanent State
organization, electing the following officers: Chairman, Miss Rankin,
Missoula; assistant chairmen, Mrs. Louis P. Sanders, Butte; Mrs. G. M.
Gillmore, Glendive; secretary, Mrs. Harvey Coit, Big Timber;
treasurer, Mrs. Wilbur L. Smith, Helena; finance chairman, Mrs.
Wallace Perham, Glendive; press chairman, Miss Auerbach. The
organization never had any constitution or by-laws. Letters from all
over the State were written to Governor S. V. Stewart and on January
7 the women went in a body to hear his Message, in which he
recommended that Montana women should be enfranchised. With no
discussion the resolution to submit an amendment to the voters passed
the Senate by 26 ayes, two noes--J. E. Edwards and I. A. Leighton--and
was signed by the president, Lieutenant Governor W. W. McDowell, in
open session. In the House the vote was 74 ayes, two noes--Ronald
Higgins and John W. Blair. On January 25 it was signed by the
Governor.
On June 27 the second meeting of the State Central Committee was held
in Livingston, immediately following that of the State Federation of
Women's Clubs. Great progress in interest and organization was
reported from all parts of the State. The only new officers elected
were: Recording secretary, Mrs. John Willis of Glasgow; chairman of
literature, Miss Mary Agnes Cantwell of Hunters' Hot Springs. Chairmen
were appointed in each county and workers were sent into every
precinct. The third meeting of the Central Committee was held in Butte
September 22, 23, just before the State Fair, where it had a booth. It
was decided to open headquarters in Butte Feb. 1, 1914.
The fourth meeting was held in Big Timber February 14 and the fifth in
Lewiston June 6. Miss O'Neill was made assistant chairman and press
chairman; Mrs. Edith Clinch, treasurer; Miss Eloise Knowles chairman
of literature.
Headquarters were opened in Butte in January, 1914. Letters were sent
to granges, labor unions, women's clubs and other organizations asking
them to pass resolutions in favor of the amendment and aid the
campaign as far as they could. Every newspaper in the State received
each week a letter of suffrage news and items from Miss O'Neill and
occasionally some propaganda material. Letters were sent regularly to
the county chairmen and other workers giving instructions and keeping
them in touch with the campaign. Large quantities of literature were
distributed with many leaflets for special occasions. A short time
before election personal letters and a leaflet especially for farmers
were sent to 20,000 voters in the country districts. The
house-to-house canvass of the women in the towns and cities was the
most effective work done. Montana women spoke in every county and
women from outside the State in all but a few of the smaller ones.
In the spring Mr. and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw of New York City stopped
off en route to California and spoke in a number of places. The women
were charmed with her beauty and style and some men who had considered
the movement as only carried on by women were surprised that a man of
Mr. Laidlaw's standing should be at the head of a National Men's
Suffrage League. He organized a Montana branch of it with Wellington
D. Rankin (now Attorney General) as president.
Miss Rankin in her report to the national suffrage convention of
November 12-17, expressed the highest appreciation of the women who
came into Montana, either sent by the National Association or at their
own expense, and campaigned for weeks under the instructions of the
State board. They were headed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national
president, and included Miss Katharine Devereux Blake, Miss Ida Craft
and Miss Rosalie Jones of New York; Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Miss Jane
Thompson, Miss Gratia Erickson and Miss Florence Lord of Chicago; Mrs.
Root of Los Angeles. During May and June Mrs. Cotterill of Seattle,
and during July and August Miss Margaret Hinchey of Boston, gave their
time to labor unions. A number of large demonstrations were held in
various cities. Campaigning in a State of such distances and
geographical formation presented great difficulties.
A precinct organization was perfected wherever possible but to the
far-off places word was simply sent to the women to work to get votes
for the amendment and they did so with splendid results. The usual
program of party campaigning in rural districts was adopted of holding
a rally followed by a dance. Miss Rankin, Miss Fligelman, Miss Grace
Hellmick, Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway, Miss O'Neill, Dr. Dean, Mrs.
Topping and many other volunteer speakers went into every little
mining camp and settlement that could be reached. They spoke from the
steps of the store and the audience, composed entirely of men, would
listen in respectful silence, applaud a little at the close, too shy
to ask questions, but on election day every vote was for suffrage. Old
prospectors back in the mountains when approached and asked for their
votes would say: "Do you ladies really want to vote? Well, if you do,
we'll sure help all we can." Many old-timers said: "What would our
State have been without the women? You bet you can count on us." The
campaigners spoke in moving picture theaters, from wagons and
automobiles and wherever they could obtain an audience however small.
There were no rebuffs but some of the Southerners would say that it
would be a bad thing for the South. All these outlying districts that
could be reached gave a favorable majority. The money for the campaign
was raised in many ways, by donations, food sales, dances,
collections, the sale of suffrage papers on the street, etc. The loss
of the funds collected for the campaign through the closing of the
State bank was a heavy blow and it could not have succeeded without
the help of the National Association and friends in outside States.
The campaign cost about $9,000, of which over half was contributed by
the association and other States.
To the women specifically mentioned the names of the following
especially active in the campaign should be added: Miss Mary Stewart,
Mrs. W. I. Higgins, Mrs. J. F. Kilduff, Mrs. Tyler Thompson, Jean
Bishop, Mrs. Wm. Roza, Mrs. J. W. Scott, Mrs. John Duff, Mrs. Bertha
Rosenberg, Mrs. Mary Tocher, Mrs. J. M. Darroch, Mrs. W. E. Cummings,
Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. A. E. Richardson, Mrs. Frank D. O'Neill, Mrs. J. B.
Ellis, Mrs. M. E. Hughes, Mrs. Delia Peets, Mrs. C. P. Irish, Mrs. J.
R. E. Sievers, Mrs. A. P. Rooney, Mrs. Sarah M. Souders, Mrs.
Sherrill, Mrs. Nathan Lloyd, Mrs. Burt Addams Tower, Mrs. Mary Meigs
Atwater, Mrs. Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Mrs. Charles N. Skillman, Mrs.
Charles S. Haire, Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Mrs. H. W. Child, Miss Susan
Higgins. Among the men the best friends besides those already
mentioned were Miles Romney, Joseph H. Griffin, Lewis J. Duncan, W. W.
McDowell, Lieutenant Governor, and the two U. S. Senators, Thomas J.
Walsh and Henry L. Myers.
At the beginning of the campaign a travelling organizer of the
National Anti-Suffrage Association came to Butte, and, saying that she
acted officially, had an interview with the editors of the _National
Forum_, the organ of the liquor interests. She told them their open
opposition was helping the amendment, urged them to carry it on in
secret and said she would return later and lay before them a plan of
campaign. Afterwards when the Butte papers exposed this scheme the
_National Forum_ described the interview. Before the election the
National Anti-Suffrage Association sent its executive secretary, Miss
Minnie Bronson, and Mrs. J. D. Oliphant of New Jersey to campaign
against the amendment. They succeeded in forming only one society in
the State and that was at Butte, with a branch in the little town of
Chinook. The officers were Mrs. John Noyes, president; Mrs. Theodore
Symons, secretary; Mrs. W. J. Chrystie, press chairman; Mrs. David
Nixon, active worker; Mrs. Oliphant challenged Miss Rankin to a
debate, which was held in the old auditorium in Helena. At the
meeting, which had been packed by the liquor interests, Mrs. Oliphant
was noisily applauded and the confusion was appalling.
Although the speakers travelled to remote districts up to the night
before election in November, the instructions from headquarters were
to have loose ends gathered up by the opening of the State Fair
September 25, at Helena. Headquarters were maintained a week at the
fair and in the city and each day _The Suffrage Daily_ was issued. The
editors were Mrs. L. O. Edmunds, Miss O'Neill, Mrs. M. E. McKay and
Miss Belle Fligelman, all newspaper women. The most picturesque and
educative feature of the whole campaign and the greatest awakener was
the enormous suffrage parade which took place one evening during the
week. Thousands of men and women from all parts of the State marched,
Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was at the head, and next, carrying banners, came
Dr. Dean, the past president, and Miss Rankin, the present State
chairman. A huge American flag was carried by women representing
States having full suffrage; a yellow one for the States now having
campaigns; a large gray banner for the partial suffrage States and a
black banner for the non-suffrage States. Each county and city in the
State had its banner. The Men's League marched and there were as many
men as women in the parade.
During the entire campaign the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, one
of the strongest organizations in the State, conducted a vigorous
fight for the amendment, sending its speakers to every locality. For
many years it had worked for woman suffrage.
At the election Nov. 3, 1914, the amendment received 41,302 ayes;
37,588 noes, a majority of 3,714, and women were enfranchised on equal
terms with men.
The various suffrage societies merged into Good Government Clubs with
the avowed purpose of obtaining political action on many needed
measures. The next year they secured mother's pension and equal
guardianship laws, and others equally important in following years.
The Executive Committee continued in existence and directed the work.
At its meeting in 1916 it was decided to conduct an intensive campaign
for prohibition in 1917; to elect a woman to Congress and a woman
State Superintendent of Schools. Prohibition was carried; Miss
Jeannette Rankin was elected the first Congresswoman in the United
States and Miss May Trumper was elected Superintendent of Schools.
That year an eight-hour-day for women was secured. This record was
continued. Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway and Mrs. Emma A. Ingalls have
served two terms each as State Representatives. All the county
superintendents of schools are women.
After the Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress the societies
met on June 22, 1919, and formed a State branch of the National League
of Women Voters with Mrs. Edwin L. Norris chairman.
RATIFICATION. Governor Samuel V. Stewart called a special session of
the Legislature to meet in August, 1920, and the Federal Suffrage
Amendment was ratified on the 2nd by unanimous vote in the House and
by 38 to one in the Senate--Claude F. Morris of Havre, Hill county.
The resolution was introduced in the House by Mrs. Ingalls.
FOOTNOTES:
[105] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucile Dyas
Topping, formerly Lewis and Clark county superintendent of schools and
prominent in the work of the campaign of 1914, when Montana women
obtained the suffrage.
[106] In the intensive work that followed, Mrs. Tower was assisted by
Dr. Dean, Mrs. Ellen Maria Dean, Mrs. James U. Sanders, Mrs. T. J.
Walsh, Mrs. Bessie Hughes Smith, Mrs. Martha Dunkel, Mrs. Ella Knowles
Haskell, Mrs. Adelaide Staves Reeder, Dr. Bertha Mackal McCleman, Mrs.
C. B. Nolan, Mrs. Donald Bradford, Madame F. Rowena Medini, Miss
Sarepta Sanders, Dr. Mary B. Atwater, Mrs. H. L. Sherlock, Mrs. Hughes
and Miss Mary C. Wheeler.
CHAPTER XXVI.
NEBRASKA.[107]
The History of the movement for woman suffrage in Nebraska from 1900
to 1920 naturally divides itself into three periods. The first period
extends from 1900 to 1912. During those years the organization was
supported by a small but faithful group whose continuous effort at
educating public sentiment prepared the way for the work that
followed. The second period included the years from 1912 to 1915,
during which time a campaign for full suffrage by an amendment to the
State constitution was carried on. The third period from 1915 to 1920
was marked by the passage of a partial suffrage law in 1917, which was
an issue during the preceding two years; an attack on that law through
the initiative and referendum; the successful defense of it by the
State Suffrage Association and the ratification of the Federal
Amendment at a special session in 1919, which marked the end of a long
contest.
Miss Laura Gregg, a Nebraska woman, was put in charge of the State
suffrage headquarters at Omaha in October, 1899, by Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee of the National
American Suffrage Association, and remained four years. During that
time conventions and conferences were held, much field work was done
and the membership was increased to nearly 1,200. At the annual
convention at Blair in October, 1900, Mrs. Catt, now national
president, was present. Mrs. Clara A. Young of Broken Bow was elected
State president, relieving Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward of Chadron, who had
pressing business obligations. Her section of the State, however,
remained one of the suffrage strongholds and she was always one of the
largest contributors. Other officers elected were, vice-president,
Mrs. Amanda J. Marble of Broken Bow; corresponding secretary, Miss
Nelly Taylor of Merna; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida L. Denny of
Lincoln.
In 1901 the State convention was held in Lincoln November 12-14,
welcomed by Mayor T. C. Winnett. A reception was given at the Lindell
Hotel to the fifty-six delegates and Mrs. Catt, who had spent sixteen
days in the State, attending conferences in Omaha and eleven other
places. An address by Governor E. P. Savage, one by Mrs. Catt, and a
debate between Miss Gregg and A. L. Bixby, editor of the _State
Journal_, who took the negative, were the evening attractions. There
was a work conference led by Mrs. Catt and reports were given by the
officers and by State workers, including Mrs. Maria C. Arter of
Lincoln; Mrs. K. W. Sutherland of Blair, Miss Taylor, Mrs. Mary G.
Ward of Tecumseh, Mrs. Jennie Ross of Dakota City, Mrs. Hetty W. Drury
of Pender, with a "question box" conducted by Mrs. Catt. The next
afternoon the speakers in a symposium were Mrs. Anna A. Wells of
Schuyler, J. H. Dundas of the _Auburn Granger_, Mrs. Emma Shuman of
Nebraska City, Mrs. Rosa Modlin of Beaver City, Mrs. C. W. Damon of
Omaha, Mrs. Mary E. Jeffords of Broken Bow, Mrs. Alice Isabel Brayton
of Geneva and Mrs. Belle Sears of Tekamah.
The sum of $1,312 had been expended during the year, including the
cost of headquarters and field work. Pledges to the amount of $1,000
were made for the next year. The large dailies of Omaha and Lincoln
had given much attention to the subject of woman suffrage and over 150
weeklies had published matter furnished by the press departments. Mrs.
Young, Mrs. Marble, Miss Taylor and Mrs. Denny were re-elected; other
officers were: Treasurer, Mrs. Mary E. Dempster, Omaha; first auditor,
Mrs. Hayward, second, Mrs. Sears; press chairman, Mrs. Lucie B. Meriom
of Beaver City.
This convention was a type of those held during the next three or four
years. County conventions were frequent and local clubs were active. A
small printed sheet called the _Headquarters Message_, edited by Miss
Gregg, filled with State suffrage news, club reports, National
recommendations, etc., was sent monthly to the workers. During the
spring of 1902 Miss Gail Laughlin, a national organizer, spent two
weeks organizing new clubs and arousing old ones and Miss Gregg and
Mr. Bixby debated in towns in eastern Nebraska. A series of parlor
meetings in Omaha increased the interest there. Mrs. Marble was
chairman of the Committee on Assemblies and during the summer the
suffrage question was presented at the State Fair, the Epworth
Assembly, Chautauquas, pioneer picnics and other gatherings. The
committee included later Mrs. O. B. Bowers, Tekamah; Mrs. Ellen A.
Miller, Beatrice; Mrs. Ollie King Carriker, Nebraska City; Mrs. Anna
Pickett, Broken Bow. Miss Gregg spent the autumn in field work
throughout the State. The annual convention was held at Tecumseh
December 1-3, with a large attendance. The program included the Mayor,
Governor-elect J. H. Mickey, the Hon. C. W. Beal, Senator O'Neill, and
other prominent citizens. A memorial hour was given to Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and to Nebraska suffragists who had died during the year. It
was resolved to push press work, county organization, new memberships
and work before assemblies.
In 1903 branch headquarters were established at the Lindell Hotel,
Lincoln, for work with the Legislature. The delegates to the national
convention in New Orleans in March were accompanied home by Miss
Laughlin for organizing work. Assisted most of the time by Miss Gregg
she visited thirty-five cities and towns, speaking from one to three
times in each place, gained 403 new members and collected about $200.
She spoke at five Normal Schools during the summer and had
headquarters at the Northwest G. A. R. encampment and several
Chautauquas. The State convention was held at Nebraska City, October
6-8. The program was enriched by the address of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
national vice-president, on The Fate of Republics. Miss Laughlin made
a strong speech and there were many new names on the program. To the
previous plan of work had been added suffrage contests, literature in
libraries and church work; the peace and industrial work of the
National Association had been endorsed and committees formed.
In January, 1904, Miss Gregg was sent by Mrs. Catt to Oklahoma, where
her services as organizer were very much needed. The State
headquarters were transferred to Tecumseh with the secretary, Mrs.
Mary G. Ward, in charge. Mrs. Young edited the _Headquarters Message_
and Mrs. Myrtle W. Marble of Humboldt attended to the publishing and
mailing. A Suffrage Cook Book was prepared and published and became a
source of considerable revenue. Mrs. Lulu S. Halvorsen of Nebraska
City was press chairman. Miss Laughlin spent a month speaking and
organizing. The State convention was held at Geneva November
21-December 1, Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Denver a principal evening
speaker. With the withdrawal of Miss Gregg and the conviction that no
amendment of any kind could be carried under the existing law, the
interest of the local organizations began to decline and the two brave
and faithful women who had carried the heaviest part of the burden
were now finding it too heavy for their strength. Mrs. Young took the
headquarters to her own home in Broken Bow and Mrs. Marble did all
kinds of work at all times if it helped the cause.
Mrs. Young kept the clubs at work during 1905 and a full delegation of
fourteen was sent to the national convention at Portland, Oregon, but
her health began to fail and at the State convention held at Broken
Bow October 10-12 she was compelled to give up the presidency. The
executive board needed her counsel and experience and she accepted the
position of honorary president. Mrs. Marble was made president and the
other officers were re-elected with Miss Mary H. Williams as
historian. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado was the principal
speaker. There were seventeen addresses of welcome from representative
citizens.
Mrs. Marble kept up the work in 1906 as far as it was possible. She
began publishing an annual report of the year's work, a pamphlet of
about 70 pages, containing a roster of the clubs and much useful
information, and continued it during the four years of her presidency.
With Miss Williams she attended the national convention at Baltimore.
The State convention met at Lincoln, October 2, 3, in All Souls'
Church with Dr. Shaw as evening speaker. A memorial meeting was held
for Susan B. Anthony, with the Rev. Newton Mann of Omaha, her former
pastor in Rochester, N. Y., as speaker.
The State convention of 1907 met in Kenesaw October 1, 2. The
legislative work had been to obtain a memorial to Congress asking for
a Federal Suffrage Amendment. More conventions passed woman suffrage
resolutions during the summer than ever before. On October 7 the
beloved leader, Mrs. Young, passed away. In November Miss Gregg was
sent by the National Association to assist Mrs. Marble and remained
until the middle of January, doing office and field work.
In February, 1908, Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston made a visit to the
State and formed College Woman Suffrage Leagues in the State and
Wesleyan Universities and among graduates in Lincoln. Miss Williams
was made chairman of a committee to raise Nebraska's pledge of $300 to
the Anthony Memorial Fund. At the State convention in Lincoln Nov. 5,
6, Mrs. Marble was obliged to decline the presidency and was made
vice-president. The Rev. Mary G. Andrews of Omaha was elected in her
place; but from this time until her death, April 6, 1910, Mrs. Marble
never ceased to do everything in her power to forward the success of
the suffrage movement.
Early in 1909 the petition of the National Association to Congress for
an amendment of the Federal Constitution was begun with Miss Williams
chairman of the committee and 10,386 signatures were secured. Mrs.
Philip Snowden of England lectured in Lincoln during the session of
the Legislature and many of the members heard her. The annual
convention was held in Lincoln November 18, 19. Mrs. Andrews had gone
to Minneapolis and Dr. Inez Philbrick of Lincoln was elected
president. A lecture tour was arranged for Dr. B. O. Aylesworth of
Denver for the autumn of 1909 and again in 1910; Men's Suffrage
Leagues were organized in Omaha and Lincoln and many new clubs formed
of people of influence. The convention was postponed to March, 1911.
The regular convention of 1911 was held in Lincoln November 20-22.
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst was the speaker and the audience filled the
largest assembly room.
The convention of 1912 met in Omaha December 4-6, and it was decided
to go into an active campaign to secure the submission of a
constitutional amendment by petition in 1914. The Initiative and
Referendum Law had been adopted the preceding month, which required
the signature of 15 per cent. of the total vote cast at the last
election, the signers coming from two-fifths of the counties. This
meant 37,752 names from thirty-eight counties. Nebraska has
ninety-three counties and an area of 77,520 square miles. Officers
elected to serve throughout the campaign were: Henrietta I. (Mrs.
Draper) Smith, president; Mrs. Kovanda, vice-president; Miss Williams,
corresponding secretary; Miss Daisy Doane, recording secretary;
Gertrude Law (Mrs. W. E.) Hardy, treasurer; Mrs. Grace M. Wheeler,
first and Elizabeth J. (Mrs. Z. T.) Lindsey, second auditor; committee
chairmen; Mrs. Wheeler, Education; Mrs. A. E. Sheldon, Finance; Mrs.
Hardy, Publicity; Mrs. Edna M. Barkley, Speakers; Mrs. A. H. Dorris,
Press.
Headquarters were opened Jan. 3, 1913, in the Brandeis Theater
Building, Omaha, and maintained through the winter of 1912-13. Mrs.
Draper Smith had at once assumed her duties as president and appointed
Mrs. W. C. Sunderland chairman for the second congressional district,
including Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties. She had asked Mrs.
Lindsey to be chairman of Douglas county in which Omaha is situated,
who soon had ten precincts organized under capable chairmen, and a
little later every ward in Omaha and South Omaha. On February 8 Dr.
Shaw, the national president, arrived in Omaha for a conference with
the workers. On Sunday afternoon she addressed a mass meeting in the
Brandeis Theater at which there was not even standing room. John L.
Kennedy presided. The committee of arrangements included the Rev.
Frederick T. Rouse of the First Congregational Church; Judge Howard
Kennedy, Superintendent of City Schools; E. U. Graff, City Attorney;
John E. Rine, C. C. Belden and the officers of the suffrage
association. A resolution was before the Legislature to submit an
amendment to the voters but it was so evident that it would not be
passed that the work for the initiative petition went on rapidly. The
last of February thirty-six Omaha women and others from over the State
went to Lincoln to see the vote taken in the House. The proposal was
defeated, only one man from Douglas county voting for it.
In the early spring the headquarters were moved to Lincoln and the
petition work for the State was managed from there, with the
exception of that of Omaha. Throughout the year the task was continued
of obtaining the signatures in the various counties, all done by
volunteers. It was necessary at the same time to create public
sentiment and organize clubs in preparation for the campaign for the
submission of the amendment which would follow. In Omaha Mrs.
Sunderland soon turned the district organization over to Mrs. James
Richardson and took the position of city chairman. Meetings were held
with prominent local speakers. On November 5 Chancellor Avery of the
State University spoke for woman suffrage before the State Teachers'
Association in the First Methodist Church. Two days later Dr. Shaw
addressed it in the auditorium. She spoke at noon before the
Commercial Club, a distinction given by it to a woman for the first
time. On Nov. 6, 7, the State convention was held in Lincoln and Mrs.
Clara Bewick Colby, formerly of Beatrice, was made honorary president.
In January, 1914, a Men's Suffrage League was formed in Omaha with E.
H. Geneau, T. E. Brady, Henry Olerichs and James Richardson promoting
it. On February 2 a thorough canvass of the business part of the city
was begun by the women. Mrs. Lindsey thus described it:
With a blizzard raging and the thermometer at 5 degrees below
zero women stood in drug stores and groceries, and visited office
buildings, factories and shops, wherever permission could be
obtained, soliciting signatures for six consecutive days. Mrs. C.
S. Stebbins, nearly seventy years of age, stood at the street car
barns and filled several petitions and Mrs. Isaac Conner, a
suffrage worker since 1868, made a similar record. Mrs. W. P.
Harford and Mrs. George Tilden arranged to have people standing
at the church doors for names at the close of service on Sunday.
Many ministers offered their churches to the committee and spoke
of the matter from their pulpits. Of all the Protestant churches,
only the Episcopal refused the committee's request, Dean James A.
Tancock of Trinity Cathedral and the Rev. T. J. Mackay of All
Saints declining. Petitions were kept open at the _Daily News_
office and other offices and places of business. Fifteen of the
leading drug stores offered space to the women under the
direction of Mrs. E. S. Rood, and it was decided to continue the
intensive campaign until the 12th, when the county chairman had
called a meeting at the city hall to celebrate Lincoln's
birthday, to hear Medill McCormick of Chicago and to announce
results. A large crowd of petition workers, sympathizers and
members of the Men's League was present. While the goal for
Douglas county was 5,000 signatures over 9,000 had passed
through the hands of the county chairmen on their way to the
Secretary of State.
Three days later Mrs. J. W. Crumpacker of Kansas appeared in
Omaha to organize the opposition forces. The anti-suffragists,
led by Mrs. Arthur Crittenden Smith, announced a meeting at
Turpin's Hall on the afternoon of February 23. Mrs. Arthur M.
Dodge, president of the National Association Opposed to Woman
Suffrage, and Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary, both of New York,
addressed the meeting. Forty people were present, including five
reporters and a number of suffragists. Those who joined at that
meeting were Mesdames Edward P. Peck, William Archibald Smith, T.
J. Mackay, E. A. Benson and Misses Ada Alexander, Genevra March
and Minnie Martison. A temporary committee on organization was
appointed consisting of Mesdames Arthur C. Smith, J. C. Cowin,
Herman Kountze, J. W. Crumpacker, E. A. Benson; Misses Wallace,
Riley, Alexander and McGaffney.... The next evening a public
meeting was held at the American Theater, addressed by Mrs. Dodge
and Miss Bronson, who were introduced by John L. Webster.[108]
On March 11 the district chairman, Mrs. Richardson, and county
chairman, Mrs. Lindsey, with a group of workers, sorted, checked and
made into neat parcels the precious sheets of paper, which Mrs. Draper
Smith carried to Lincoln that afternoon. Possibly half a dozen men had
circulated petitions but the bulk of the 11,507 names were obtained in
Omaha by women. On March 14 the completed petition for submitting the
amendment was filed with the Secretary of State in the presence of the
Governor. Although only 37,752 signatures were required it had 50,705
and these represented sixty-three counties instead of the required
thirty-eight. They were accepted without question and the amendment
was submitted to the voters at the general election, Nov. 4, 1914.
From that time until the election strenuous and unceasing efforts were
made to secure votes for the amendment. Many prominent Nebraska men
and women spoke and worked for it and a number were brought into the
State. On July 6 was issued in Omaha the famous Manifesto by the
Nebraska Men's Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, a pamphlet of
nine pages, signed by thirty prominent men, all of Omaha.[109] Early
in July Park Commissioner J. B. Hummel of Omaha refused to grant any
more permits for meetings in the parks and the suffragists arranged a
voiceless automobile parade through all of them when they were filled
with people, the cars decorated with banners and pennants carrying
suffrage sentiments. Later the commissioner spoke for the amendment.
On August 4 the first street meeting was held by "General" Rosalie
Jones of New York, who spoke from the steps of the county court house
at noon and on a corner in the evening. This was followed by street
meetings in an endless number of towns. County fairs and all possible
forms of publicity were utilized. An outstanding feature of the
campaign was the automobile tours, the plan of Mrs. F. M. Hall,
chairman of Lancaster county. They covered 20,000 miles and included
500 places containing one-half of the population. Several of the
longest were made and financed by J. L. Kennedy and James Richardson
of Omaha and W. E. Hardy of Lincoln.
Miss Jane Addams came from Chicago and spoke several times in October.
William Jennings Bryan, who was making a political canvass of the
State, never failed to make an appeal for the amendment and on October
31 gave a rousing suffrage speech in Brandeis Theater, Omaha. Dr. Shaw
ended her tour of the State on the 30th, with an address in the
auditorium.
The anti-suffragists were well financed and active. Their National
Association sent Miss Marjorie Dorman to Omaha the last of September,
who opened headquarters on the first floor of the City National Bank.
Mrs. A. J. George was sent in October. On November 2 there appeared in
the morning papers a double-column appeal to the Catholics to vote
against the amendment because back of it were the Socialists,
feminists, etc. It was signed by Mrs. L. F. Crofoot, wife of the Omaha
attorney for the Northern Pacific R. R.
During the campaign a committee of business men was formed by the
brewing interests, which visited the husbands of various women engaged
in the effort for the amendment. They said "suffrage means
prohibition" and threatened the husbands in a business way unless
their wives retired from the work. This committee watched the papers
and when names of women were given as interested in suffrage, even to
the extent of attending a luncheon for some celebrity, the husbands
promptly were visited. Through this intimidation many women were
forced to withdraw and many men who would have subscribed generously
did not dare give more than $25, as the State law required the
publication of names of all contributing over this sum.
Three days before election an "appeal" to its members was sent by the
German-American Alliance, a large and powerful organization. It was
written in German and began as follows:
We consider the proposed amendment to the constitution granting
the right of suffrage to women as the most important question
which will be decided at the coming election. Our State Alliance
took a most decided stand against woman suffrage at its annual
convention held in Columbus August 25. Our German women do not
want the right to vote, and since our opponents desire the right
of suffrage mainly for the purpose of saddling the yoke of
prohibition on our necks, we should oppose it with all our
might.... We most earnestly urge our friends of German speech and
German descent not to permit business or other considerations to
prevent them from going to the polls and casting their ballots as
above directed.
On November 4 the Omaha suffragists stood all day at the polls handing
slips to the voters calling attention to the amendment on the ballot.
The total State vote on it was 100,842 noes, 90,738 ayes; adverse
majority of 10,104. The result of the splendid campaign in Douglas
county, the stronghold of the opponents of all kinds, was seen in the
small adverse majority of 1,188. Throughout the campaign the Omaha
_Daily News_ valiantly championed the amendment and the _Bee_ and the
_World Herald_ as strongly opposed it. The National American Suffrage
Association contributed $4,000 in cash, the services of two
organizers--Miss Jane Thompson and Miss Elsie Benedict--and paid the
travelling expenses of a number of national speakers.
* * * * *
The State convention of 1914 was held in Omaha in December and it was
decided to organize more thoroughly and to seek the advice of the
National Association as to how and when to try again. The board which
had served throughout the campaign was re-elected. When it had begun
there were not fifty clubs in the State; when it ended there were
nearly 500 and it was desired to hold them together as far as
possible. The opponents had insisted that women did not want the
ballot and it was arranged to have an enrollment under the direction
of Mrs. Wheeler. This was continued until the names of 30,000 women
had been enrolled as desiring the suffrage. The press work was
continued and the never-ending effort to educate the people.
The convention of 1915 was held at Columbus in October, was well
attended, with a good program. Mrs. Edna M. Barkley was elected
president. In October, 1916, the convention was held at Hastings. Mrs.
William Jennings Bryan was guest of honor and gave the opening address
on Sunday evening in the Congregational church. Mrs. Catt, now
national president, was present and remained two days. The association
expected to appeal to the voters again in 1918 for full suffrage and
she thought it was in good condition to do so. Her inspiring presence
and her very able address given to a large evening audience made this
one of most notable conventions. Mrs. Barkley was re-elected
president.[110]
In January, 1917, the National Association was beginning the "drive"
to obtain partial suffrage from the Legislatures and Nebraska was
urged to undertake it. The board agreed to concentrate on a bill which
would be constitutional and would permit women to vote for all
officers not specified in the State constitution and upon all
questions not referred to in it.
The bill was introduced by Senator C. E. Sandell of York county and
Representative J. N. Norton of Polk county. Mrs. Barkley was chairman
of the Legislative Committee and no measure ever had more careful and
persistent "mothering" than she gave this one, watching over it for
months. The bill passed the House the middle of February by the
magnificent vote of 73 to 24 in the presence of an audience of
applauding women that filled the galleries. In the Senate the bill
went to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, which granted a
hearing on February 15. After a luncheon with enthusiastic speeches
the entire body of 250 women, including 65 from Omaha, marched to the
State House, where even the aisles were already crowded with women.
Among the speakers were George W. Howard, the eminent professor of
history in the State University, and a number of prominent Nebraska
men and women. Six "antis" were present and their spokesman was Miss
Bronson of New York. The hearing lasted three hours. The bill was held
two months in the committee and finally was reported out and passed by
a vote of 20 to 13 on April 19. It was signed by Governor Keith
Neville on the 21st and gave women the suffrage for presidential
electors, all municipal and most county officers.[111]
The opponents immediately started an initiative petition to have the
law submitted to the voters and on July 22 it was suspended in
operation by the filing of a petition for a referendum on it by the
Anti-Suffrage Association. Mrs. Barkley with others after inspection
concluded it was not a bona fide petition. Accordingly she summoned
her board to discuss taking the proper legal steps to prove that it
was fraudulent and invalid. There was no money in the treasury with
which to undertake expensive litigation and there were those who
thought it wiser not to attempt it. The courage and determination of
Mrs. Barkley were the deciding factor and it was the same brave and
persistent effort that finally won the long-drawn-out legal battle. A
full account was given by Mrs. Draper Smith in the _Woman Citizen_ of
which the following is a part:
For the larger part of the session in 1917 the Senate had been
under great pressure from the public and the press to pass the
bone dry law that the House had almost unanimously adopted.
Nineteen members of the Senate belonged to the clique led by
representatives of the brewing interests. They fought for weeks
to secure the consent of the House to a bill that would have made
prohibition impossible of enforcement. Into this maelstrom the
limited suffrage law was plunged. Only the most careful
leadership secured its final passage....
On the 21st of July the opponents caused to be filed with the
Secretary of State a petition asking that the law be referred to
the voters at the general election in 1918 for approval or
rejection. This petition contained the signatures of 32,896
persons who claimed to be legal voters of the State and to live
at the places designated as their legal residence.... Tact and
patience were employed to get Secretary of State Pool to the
point where he permitted the suffragists to make a copy. Eighteen
thousand names bore the marks of an Omaha residence. The others
were apparently gathered from two-fifths of the counties and
presumptively represented 5 per cent. of the legal voters, as
required by law. Suspicion that fraud and deception had been
used, both in getting genuine signatures and in padding the
lists, early gave way to positive conviction. When the
investigation was complete it was found that 16,460 of the 32,896
signatures were subject to court challenge and that at least
10,000 of them were the product of fraud, forgery and
misrepresentation. Prominent members of the bar volunteered their
services--T. J. Doyle, C. A. Sorenson, John M. Stewart and H. H.
Wilson of Lincoln, and Elmer E. Thomas and Francis A. Brogan of
Omaha. A petition to enjoin the Secretary of State from placing
the referendum on the election ballot was filed in February,
1918.
The Omaha workers were under the leadership of Mrs. H. C. Sumney,
vice-president of the State association, and Mrs. James
Richardson. They discovered that many of the residence addresses
given were in railroad yards, cornfields or vacant lots. Many
others were of men who had never lived at the addresses given;
many affirmed that they had never signed any such petition;
others that they had been induced to sign by the representation
of the solicitor that it was to submit the question of full
suffrage. The work of running down each of the 18,000 names
consumed days of arduous labor. It was also found that page after
page of the names were written by the same hand. Experts in
handwriting from the various banks in Lincoln spent night after
night poring over the original petitions in the office of the
Secretary of State, picking out and listing the forgeries, which
were found to have been scattered all over the State.
The request of the suffragists to the Secretary of State said
that the circulators had committed perjury in certifying that
these fictitious persons had affixed their names in their
presence; that many of the names written thereon were not placed
there, as the law required, in the presence of the circulator,
but that the petitions had been left in pool halls, soft drink
parlors, cigar stores and barber shops where everybody, including
minors, was invited to sign, the circulator later coming around
and gathering them up. It also said that many of the signatures
were obtained by infants incapable at law of properly circulating
or certifying to the petition sheets and that a number of
circulators named had engaged in a systematic course of fraud and
forgery, thereby making invalid all of the names. Attached were
twenty pages of exhibits in proof of these charges.
The evidence in Omaha was matched by that in fifty-nine other
counties taken by the referee and attorney.
The attorneys enjoined the Secretary of State from putting the
referendum on the ballot. Nineteen suffragists appeared as plaintiffs
in the case as follows: Edna M. Barkley, Gertrude L. Hardy, Katharine
Sumney, Ida Robbins, Grace Richardson, Margaretta Dietrich, Grace M.
Wheeler, Ella Brower, Ellen Ackerman, Henrietta Smith, Inez Philbrick,
Harriet M. Stewart, Mary Smith Hayward, Mamie Claflin, Margaret T.
Sheldon, Alice Howell, Ellen Gere, Eliza Ann Doyle, Katharine McGerr.
As the suit had been brought against the Secretary of State the
Attorney General appeared for him and was joined by the attorneys of
the women's Anti-Suffrage Association. They argued that the plaintiffs
were not legally entitled to sue because they were not electors. The
court upheld their right. The Secretary of State became convinced that
the petition was fraudulent and did not appear in the further
litigation. The suffrage forces were prepared with their evidence and
wished to proceed at once with the case but all the dilatory tactics
possible were used and it was not until the full legal time was about
to expire that the opponents were brought to the point on May 17,
1918. Mrs. Draper Smith's account continued:
Inspection of the original petition showed that of 116 petitions
secured by A. O. Barclay 68 were in the same handwriting.... The
name of one Omaha business man who had died three months previous
to the circulation of the petition was found; another who was
killed two months before, and another who had been dead for three
years. Witness after witness testified that his name on it was
forged.
Several other circulators forged so many names we asked that all
their work be thrown out. The hearing developed that forty
ex-saloon keepers and bartenders had these petitions on the bars
in their soft drink places; 831 names were secured by Dick
Kennedy, a negro who could neither read nor write. He appeared in
court in jail clothes, being under indictment for peddling
"dope," and was unable to identify the petitions certified by
him. Ten boys, ranging in age from 8 to 15, were circulators.
Several men who could not read or write testified that they
supposed their names were being taken for a census. Many thought
the petition was to "bring back beer." One man was told it was to
pave an alley. At one hearing interpreters had to be used for all
but two men. The treasurer of the Anti-Suffrage Association, Mrs.
C. C. George, whose name appears as witness to the signatures of
81 certificates on the back of Barclay's petitions, testified
that she did not remember him. On the back of each petition is a
certificate in which the circulator certifies that each man
signed in his presence and the signature must have two witnesses.
The soft drink men and others testified that although the name of
Mrs. George appeared as witness to their signatures they had
never seen her. She testified that the petitions went through the
hands of her association.
The following question was asked of another "anti," wife of a
rector: "Had you known that co-workers with you were Dick
Kennedy, an illiterate negro; Abie Sirian; Gus Tylee, employee of
Tom Dennison and a detective of doubtful reputation; 40 soft
drink men; Jess Ross, colored porter for Dennison; Jack
Broomfield, a colored sporting man and for twenty years keeper of
the most notorious dive in Omaha, and many others of this
character, would you have worked with them and accepted the kind
of petition they would secure?" She replied: "It would have made
no difference to me. I was working for a cause and would not have
cared who else was working for the same."
The testimony showed that the anti-suffrage association of Omaha,
under the leadership of Mrs. Crofoot, president, had at first
endeavored to employ to take charge of the work of circulating
the petitions the man who had conducted the publicity department
for the brewers in 1916.
The allegations of fraud were proved to the satisfaction of the
District Court. The opponents appealed from its decision, which was
confirmed by the Supreme Court in June, and the women entered into
possession of this large amount of suffrage. By order of the court the
anti-suffragists, together with the State, had to pay the costs of the
long legal battle which ended on January 25, 1919, in a glorious
victory for the suffragists. The costs were approximately $5,000.
RATIFICATION. The State convention of 1917 was held in Omaha in
December and it was omitted in the fall of 1918 on account of the
influenza, and none was held until 1919. The Federal Amendment had
been submitted by Congress on June 4 and a Ratification Committee had
been appointed consisting of Mrs. Barkley, Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Wheeler
to secure an early calling of a special session of the Legislature.
It was arranged for the State convention to meet in Lincoln at the
time Governor Samuel R. McKelvie had called this special session to
ratify the amendment. The convention _en masse_ saw the ratification
of both Houses on August 2 by unanimous vote and had the joy of being
present when it was signed by the Governor, who had been a consistent
friend of the cause. The regular session had memorialized Congress by
joint resolution to submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment and
requested Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock of Nebraska to vote for it. He
voted against it every time it became before the Senate. The other
Senator, George W. Norris, voted in favor each time and was always a
helpful friend of woman suffrage.
The last State convention met in Omaha June 13-15, 1920, with 104
delegates in attendance. With Mrs. Charles H. Dietrich, who had been
elected president the preceding year, in the chair, the association
was merged into the Nebraska League of Women Voters and Mrs. Dietrich
was made chairman.
On Saturday, Aug. 28, 1920, at noon, whistles were sounded and bells
were rung for five minutes in Omaha and South Omaha to celebrate the
proclamation by the Secretary of State at Washington that the woman
suffrage amendment was now a part of the constitution of the United
States and the struggle was over.
In December, 1919, there assembled in Lincoln a convention to rewrite
Nebraska's constitution, to be submitted to the electors Sept. 21,
1920. This convention put a clause in the new constitution giving full
suffrage to women. Using the power delegated to it by the Legislature
it provided that women should vote on the constitution and that the
suffrage amendment should go into effect as soon as the adoption of
the constitution was announced by the Governor. The rest of it was to
wait until Jan. 1, 1921. This was done in order that women might vote
at the general election in November, 1920. Before the constitution
went to the voters the Federal Amendment was proclaimed and women were
fully enfranchised. With women voting the constitution received 65,483
ayes, 15,416 noes.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Grace M.
Wheeler, historian of the State Woman Suffrage Association, and Miss
Mary H. Williams, member of the State Board from 1905.
[108] A State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was formed, whose
Executive Committee consisted of Mesdames Edward Porter Peck,
chairman; Henry W. Yates, John C. Cowin, J. W. Griffith, W. H. Koenig,
L. F. Crofoot, Gerrit Fort, John L. Webster, Helen Arion Lewis, Arthur
Crittenden Smith, T. J. Mackay, F. N. Conner; Miss Janet M. Wallace,
with Mrs. William Archibald Smith, secretary, and Mrs. Frank J. Noel
treasurer; Mrs. S. H. Burnham of Lincoln, Mrs. J. D. Whitmore and Mrs.
Fred W. Ashton of Grand Island, Mrs. A. D. Sears, Mrs. Charles Dodge
and Miss Maud May of Fremont, with Mrs. Crumpacker as special
representative of the National Association in the headquarters at 536
Bee Building.
[109] This Manifesto will be found in the Appendix.
[110] Besides those mentioned the following served on the official
board: Miss Lincola S. Groat, Mrs. Alice I. Brayton, Mrs. Stearns,
Mrs. Myrtle W. Marble, Dr. Emma Warner Demaree, Mrs. Ida Ensign, Mrs.
Rosa Modlin, Mrs. F. B. Donisthorpe, Mrs. Mary P. Jay, Mrs. Theresa J.
Dunn, Mrs. Margaret J. Carns, Mrs. Julia N. Cox, Mrs. Ada Shafer, Mrs.
Frank Harrison, Mrs. E. L. Burke, Miss Ida Bobbins, Mrs. M. Bruegger,
Mrs. E. S. Rood, Mrs. Lydia Pope, Mrs. Jessie Dietz, Mrs. J. H.
Corrick, Mrs. Halleck F. Rose, Mrs. H. C. Sumney, Mrs. Dietrich, Mrs.
Ellen Ackerman, Mrs. Ella I. Brower, Miss May Gund, Mrs. E. F. Bell,
Miss Edith Tobitt, Mrs. Kate Chapin House.
[111] In March under the auspices of the National Association suffrage
schools were held in Omaha and Lincoln. The instructors were Mrs.
Nettie R. Shuler, chairman of organization, Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its
recording secretary, and Mrs. T. T. Cotnam and the subjects taught
were Suffrage History and Argument, Organization, Publicity and Press,
Money Raising and Parliamentary Law. Of the nineteen schools held by
the National Association in various States none was larger. By request
night schools were opened with a crowded attendance at all sessions.
CHAPTER XXVII.
NEVADA.[112]
Towards the close of the last century, through the efforts of Miss
Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president and
vice-president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, a
Nevada association had been formed with Mrs. Frances A. Williamson
president and later Mrs. Elda A. Orr was elected. Mrs. Mary A. Boyd
was an officer. It held three or four successful conventions and had
bills before the Legislature but no record exists of any activities
after 1899.
In November, 1909, Mrs. Clarence Mackay, who had organized an Equal
Franchise Society in New York City, of which she was president, wrote
to Miss Jeanne Elizabeth Wier, professor of history in the University
of Nevada, asking if a branch society could not be organized in that
State. Later Professor Wier conferred with Mrs. Mackay in New York. In
the autumn of 1910 an agreement to assist in such an organization was
signed by a large number of prominent men and women in Reno and
finally in January, 1911, Professor Wier issued a call for a meeting
to be held in her home to form a society. Mrs. O. H. Mack, president
of the Federation of Women's Clubs, sent an invitation to each club to
be represented at this meeting. It was soon evident that it would be
too large for a private house and on January 24 a conference was held
in the law office of Counsellor C. R. Reeves to arrange for a Saturday
evening mass meeting. There were present Mr. Reeves, who was made
temporary chairman; Professor Wier, Mrs. Mack, Mrs. Henry
Stanislawsky, Professor Romanzo Adams, Judge William P. Seeds,
Assemblyman Alceus F. Price, J. A. Buchanan, Mrs. Frank Page, Mrs.
Frank R. Nicholas, who was made secretary, and J. Holman Buck, who was
elected permanent chairman. A telegram of greeting was read from Mrs.
Mackay.
A general meeting for organization was held the evening of February 4
in Odd Fellows' Hall, which was far too small for the audience. The
name State Equal Franchise Society was adopted. Mrs. Stanislawsky was
elected president; Colonel Reeves, Mr. Price, Mrs. Mack and Miss
Felice Cohn, vice-presidents; Mrs. Nicholas, Mrs. Grace E. Bridges and
Mrs. Alice Chism, recording and corresponding secretary and treasurer.
A membership of 177 was reported. The board of twenty-one directors
included most of those who have been named and in addition Dr. J. E.
Stubbs, president of the university; Mrs. A. B. McKinley, Dr. Morris
Pritchard, W. D. Trout, Mrs. Nettie P. Hershiser, Mrs. George
Armstrong, Mrs. Florence H. Church, Mrs. G. Taylor, Mrs. Frank
Stickney.[113] Plans were made for a legislative lobby. A report of
the organization was sent to Mrs. Mackay, who consented that her name
should be used as honorary president but took no further interest in
it or in the amendment campaign which soon followed and made no
contribution.
Between the above meetings Assemblymen Arnold and Byrne of Esmeralda
county had introduced a joint resolution on January 30 to submit to
the voters an amendment to the State constitution to give full
suffrage to women. It was referred to the Committee on Elections,
which on February 7 reported it unfavorably. Assemblyman J. A. Denton
of Lincoln county secured a hearing before the Committee of the Whole
on February 20 and a large lobby from the society was present. Mrs.
Stanislawsky and Miss Cohn addressed the committee, emphasizing the
fact that each of the political parties had declared in its State
platform for this referendum and all the women asked was to have the
question sent to the voters. The resolution was put on file but at the
bottom and every attempt to advance it failed but on March 6 it
appeared in regular order. Speaker pro tem. Booth wanted it
indefinitely postponed but was overruled. After numerous parliamentary
tactics it was at length passed by 31 ayes, 13 noes, four absent and
the Speaker not voting. The resolution was first read in the Senate on
March 7 and referred to the Committee on Education. Three days later
it was reported without recommendation. It came before the Senate
March 13 and after considerable "fencing" it passed by 16 ayes, 2
noes, one absent. Mrs. Stanislawsky, Mrs. Mack, Professor Wier, Mrs.
Chism, Miss Cohn and Mrs. Nicholas had worked strenuously in the two
Houses.
The constitution requires that a resolution for an amendment must pass
two successive Legislatures and the new association saw the task
before it of getting the approval of another session in 1913. It
received national and international attention about this time through
a banner six feet high and four wide, presented by Mrs. Arthur Hodges
of New York, with the words, Nevada, Votes for Women, brought out in
sage brush green letters on a field of vivid orange. This was shipped
to New York and carried by Miss Anne Martin of Reno in a big parade in
that city and then taken to London and carried by her and Miss Vida
Milholland of New York at the head of the American group in the great
procession of the Social and Political Union.
Headquarters were opened in the Cheney Building in Reno, Mrs. Hodges
assuming the rent, where visitors were made welcome and literature
given out. A series of lectures until November were arranged, the
first one in the Congregational church, where Mrs. Stanislawsky gave
an address to a crowded meeting. Later she moved to California and in
February, 1912, Mrs. Mack called a meeting and Miss Anne Martin was
unanimously elected president. Mrs. Bridges, Mrs. Chism and Mrs. Mack
were re-elected. The other members of the board chosen were:
Vice-presidents, Mrs. F. O. Norton, Mrs. J. E. Church, Mrs. Jennie
Logan, Mrs. Charles Gulling, Mrs. J. E. Bray, Miss B. M. Wilson;
recording secretary, Mrs. Burroughs Edsall. An active executive
committee was appointed and plans were made for a vigorous campaign.
Mrs. Hodges continued to pay the rent of headquarters and a
substantial bank account was built up by dues, subscriptions and
collections at meetings.
Miss Martin attended the national suffrage convention at Philadelphia
in November, where she told of the need of funds to further the
campaign and secured many pledges and donations. Dr. Shaw, the
president, promised $1,000 from the association after the amendment
was submitted. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont and Mrs. Joseph Fels had
become honorary presidents and the former gave $100; the latter made
her contribution of $500 later. The Massachusetts association, through
Mrs. Maud Wood Park, $100; the National Association, $100 in cash and
$100 in literature; the _Woman's Journal_ $45. California and Arizona
gave funds and literature. A pamphlet entitled Woman Under Nevada
Laws, by Miss B. M. Wilson, an attorney, had been published in a
special edition of 20,000 and proved effective in rousing the women to
a sense of their rights and wrongs.
The rapid organization had its effect on legislators and politicians.
The resolution for submitting an amendment was presented in both
Houses in 1913 and reported favorably by the Judiciary Committees. It
passed in the House on January 24 by 49 ayes, 3 noes, one absent; in
the Senate on January 30 by 19 ayes, 3 noes. On March 3 it was signed
by the Governor.
The educational work was done through the press, the platform and
entertainments. Speakers of national note were secured, among them Dr.
Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, of New York; Dr. Charles F. Aked, of San Francisco; Miss Jane
Addams of Chicago, and Miss Mabel Vernon of Washington. The meetings
were attended by about three men to one woman. Mr. Laidlaw assisted in
organizing a Men's Suffrage League, among whose members were Supreme
Court Justice Frank Norcross, Dr. Stubbs, Superintendent of Public
Instruction John Edwards Bray, S. W. Belford, Charles Gulling, A. A.
Hibbard, Professor J. E. Church, Captain Applewhite, the Rev. Mr.
Adams, the Rev. Mr. Sheldon, George Taylor and John Wright.
At the annual meeting Feb. 25, 1913, it was announced that there were
nearly 1,000 paid up members, with most of the counties organized and
many town societies. "Nevada, the black spot on the map! To make it
white, give women the suffrage," was the constant slogan. Miss Martin,
Mrs. Church, Mrs. Bray, Miss Wilson and Mrs. Bridges were re-elected.
Other members chosen were: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Hugh Brown, Mrs.
Alexander Orr, Mrs. George West, Mrs. Lyman D. Clark, Jr., Mrs. E. E.
Caine, Mrs. Harry Warren; recording secretary, Mrs. J. B. Menardi;
treasurer, Mrs. Mabel Redman; auditors, Mrs. P. B. Kennedy, Mrs. W. T.
Jenkins.
In the little span of days that lay between the election of the State
Executive Committee in 1912 and the legislative session of 1913 the
sixteen counties were organized, each under a chairman. Mrs. M. S.
Bonnifield as chairman of Humboldt county, with her helpers, Mrs. A.
W. Card, Mrs. Mark Walser of Lovelock and Dr. Nellie Hascall of
Fallon, led their branches into the mining fields. It is not easy to
realize the difficulties under which these women labored. Mrs. H. C.
Taylor, chairman of Churchill county, had to drive many miles from her
ranch to attend every meeting. Some of the chairmen were Mrs. A. J.
McCarty, Mineral county; Mrs. Rudolph Zadow, Eureka; Mrs. Sadie D.
Hurst, Washoe; Mrs. Bray, Ormsby; Mrs. F. P. Langdon, Storey; Mrs.
Caine, Elko; Mrs. Minnie Comins MacDonald, White Pine.
Mrs. Church, Miss Mary Henry, Mrs. Hurst, Mrs. Belford, and Mrs. Maud
Gassoway were an active force in organizing societies at Sparks, Verdi
and Wadsworth in Washoe county, the largest in the State. Mrs. W. H.
Bray organized study classes in Sparks and gave prizes for the best
suffrage essays. Mrs. Hurst addressed large street crowds in Reno
every Saturday night. An important feature of the campaign was the
complete circularization of the voters with suffrage literature by the
county organizations and from State headquarters by Mrs. Bessie
Eichelberger, State treasurer for two years, assisted by Miss
Alexandrine La Tourette of the State University; Mrs. Belford, Mrs. P.
L. Flannigan, Mrs. Alf. Doten, Miss Minnie Flannigan, Mrs. Charles E.
Bosnell and Mrs. John Franzman. Mrs. Hood, the second vice-president,
and chairman of civics in the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was
the leading factor in getting its endorsement at its meeting in Reno,
Oct. 30, 1913.
Nevada's population of only 80,000 is scattered over an area of
110,000 square miles, a territory larger than the whole of New
England. Of these, 40,000 are men over twenty-one years of age, of
whom only 20,000 remained in the State long enough to vote at the last
general election--an average of one voter to every five square miles.
Nevada has the smallest urban and the most scattered rural population
in the United States. Reaching and winning this vote was done mostly
by press work and literature. The new voters on the registration lists
were circularized. The personal contact with the voter was
accomplished by street meetings in the cities and towns; in the rural
communities by train, automobile, stage and even on horseback.
All the political parties but the Republican endorsed the amendment in
their platforms and it was supported by labor unions representing
6,000 members. Prestige and assistance were given by an Advisory Board
consisting of U. S. Senators Francis G. Newlands and Key Pittman,
Congressman E. E. Roberts, Governor Tasker H. Oddie, Lieutenant
Governor Gilbert C. Ross, President Stubbs, Bishop Robinson and many
professional and business men. There was fierce opposition from some
newspapers, including the Reno _Evening Gazette_, the leading
Republican paper of the State, but active support from the _State
Journal_, owned and edited by George Darius Kilborn, formerly of New
York, who was always in favor of woman suffrage. The _Western Nevada
Miner_, owned and edited by J. Holman Buck, gave much assistance in
that part of the State.
In canvassing and speaking tours over the State Miss Martin travelled
over 3,000 miles and talked personally to nearly every one of the
20,000 voters. There are 240 election precincts and over 180 were
organized with a woman leader. On Nov. 3, 1914, every county was
carried for the amendment but four, each of these a county with one of
the largest and oldest towns in the State. The vote in Washoe county
was 1,449 for, 2,047 against; in Reno, the county seat, 938 for, 1,587
against. Ormsby county with Carson City gave an adverse majority of
only 141; Storey county with Virginia City of only 31. The total vote
was 10,936 ayes, 7,257 noes--the amendment carried by 3,679. The cost
of the whole three years' campaign was only a little more than $7,000.
At the annual meeting of the Washoe county Equal Franchise Society
after the election it was evident that, having won suffrage, women
recognized their new and enlarged responsibilities and were anxious to
do something for the public welfare and their own development. A mass
meeting was held in the Y. W. C. A. building and the Woman Citizens'
Club was organized with a charter membership of 80. Mrs. Hurst was
elected president. Other officers were: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Belford,
Mrs. C. H. Burke, Mrs. Hood; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mack;
recording secretary, Mrs. Bessie Mouffe; financial secretary, Mrs.
Harold Duncan; treasurer, Mrs. Eichelberger; auditor, Mrs. Katherine
Flett; librarian, Mrs. F. C. MacDiarmid. This club succeeded in
getting a year as a required residence for those from other States
seeking divorce and later another Legislature proposed to repeal it
and restore the six months. Mrs. George F. Nixon, wife of the former
U. S. Senator, was made legislative chairman and headed the women of
Reno who went almost _en masse_ to Carson City to protest but the
pressure on the other side was too strong and the old law was
restored.
In August, 1918, The Woman Citizens' Club endorsed Mrs. Sadie D. Hurst
of Reno for the Assembly, in recognition of what she had done for
suffrage and for the club. She won at the primaries and also at the
polls in November and was the first woman member. The submission of
the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment to the Legislatures by Congress
seemed near and at the request of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the
national president, a Ratification Committee was formed in December.
Helen T. (Mrs. S. W.) Belford was acting chairman with Mesdames
Walser, Hood, McKenzie, Mack, Church, Boyd, Bray, Franzman, Fannie B.
Patrick and Emma Vanderlith members. At the request of this committee
a resolution was presented to the Legislature by Mrs. Hurst on Jan.
22, 1919, asking this body to memorialize Congress in favor of the
amendment. It passed the Assembly January 23 with but one dissenting
vote; the Senate January 29 unanimously and the Nevada U. S. Senators
were requested to present and actively support it.
In March the committee elected Mrs. Patrick delegate to the national
suffrage convention in St. Louis and in April it met to hear her
report and details of the proposed League of Women Voters. The
following July a meeting was held to listen to Mrs. Minnie S.
Cunningham of Texas and Mrs. Ben Hooper of Wisconsin, who were touring
certain States under the auspices of the National Association, to
consult the Governors on the question of special sessions for the
ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been submitted in
June. Mrs. Patrick and Mrs. Belford accompanied them to Carson City
and had an interview with Governor Emmet D. Boyle. In September the
committee considered the offer of a conference of officers and
chairmen of the National League of Women Voters to be held in Reno. It
was arranged for November 20-21, with Mrs. McKenzie chairman of
program, Mrs. Walser of finance, Mrs. Hurst of halls and Mrs. Belford
of publicity.
The conference met in the Century Club House. Mrs Catt, Miss Jessie R.
Haver, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield and Miss
Marjorie Shuler, national chairman of publicity, were the guests of
honor. A luncheon at the Riverside Hotel was attended by about 70 men
and women. An evening meeting was held in the Rialto Theater with Mrs.
Patrick presiding. Governor Boyle introduced Mrs. Catt, who gave a
rousing speech, Wake up America, and the others were heard at this and
other times on the various departments of the league's work. At the
last session a State League of Women Voters was organized and later
Mrs. Belford was elected chairman.
RATIFICATION. Governor Boyle issued a call for the Legislature to meet
in special session Feb. 7, 1920, for the express purpose of acting on
the Federal Amendment, and in his Message when it convened he said:
"While no certainty exists that the favorable action of Nevada will in
1920 assure to the women of the United States the same voting
privileges which our own women enjoy by virtue of our State law, it
does appear certain that without our favorable action national
suffrage may be delayed for such a time as to withhold the right to
vote in a presidential election from millions of the women of
America."
To Mrs. Hurst, the one woman member, was given the honor of
introducing the resolution to ratify in the House. On her motion the
rules were suspended, the resolution was read the second time by title
and referred to the Committee on Federal Relations. A recess of ten
minutes was taken and when the Assembly reconvened a message from the
Senate was received stating that the resolution had passed
unanimously. The House committee recommended it and Mrs. Hurst moved
that it be placed on third reading and final passage. After this had
been done she thanked the Assembly for the honor accorded her and
closed a brief but eloquent speech by saying: "There is no necessity
of asking you to ratify, for I am proud of the men of the West and of
Nevada." As the vote was about to be taken W. O. Ferguson of Eureka
county announced that he would vote against the ratification; that he
was opposed to having the people of this State telling the women of
the Union whether or not they should vote and that he came to Carson
City especially to vote against the resolution. At this stage Speaker
Fitzgerald stated that twenty-seven Legislatures had already ratified
the amendment but so far as he was aware no woman had presided over
one taking such action and he had great pleasure in being able to
request Mrs. Hurst to take charge of proceedings during roll call.
Twenty-five members answered in favor of ratification, and one, Mr.
Ferguson, against it.
Mrs. Hurst declared the resolution carried. At the suggestion of
Assemblyman Sanai an opportunity was given to the women to address the
legislators. Those speaking were Mrs. Patrick, chairman, and Mrs.
Belford, secretary of the Ratification Committee; Mrs. Church,
president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, and Mrs.
Eichelberger, chairman of its suffrage committee; Mrs. Hood, regent of
the State University; Mrs. Maud Edwards, president of the W. C. T. U.,
and Mrs. L. D. Gassoway. All expressed their appreciation of the
special session, to which most of the members had paid their own
expenses. Governor and Mrs. Boyle invited the legislators and the
Ratification Committee to the Mansion for luncheon. And thus was
closed the Nevada chapter on woman suffrage.
A STORY OF THE NEVADA SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN.[114]
In February, 1912, Miss Anne Martin of Reno, who had spent the years
1909-11 in England, during which she worked for suffrage under Mrs.
Pankhurst, was elected president of the State Equal Franchise Society.
Miss Martin, a native of Nevada, was a graduate of the State
University; had the degrees of A.B. and A.M. from Leland Stanford
University and had been professor of history in the former. She had
studied abroad and travelled widely but her whole interest had now
centered in woman suffrage. Miss B. M. Wilson of Goldfield was elected
vice-president and Mrs. Grace Bridges of Reno, secretary. Mrs.
Stanislawsky had removed to California and the organization, with the
long wait between Legislatures and no definite work, had but a small
membership, no county organizations and no funds. It was obvious to
Miss Martin and her associates that, judging by the experience of
other States, the legislative vote of 1911 must be regarded as merely
complimentary and the real battle must be fought in 1913. Miss Martin
therefore began the campaign by organizing the State in 1912. She paid
her own expenses on speaking trips to every county for this purpose,
also on journeys to California, to the Mississippi Valley Suffrage
Conference at St. Louis in April and to the National Suffrage
Convention in Philadelphia in November. Here she enlisted the interest
and financial support of national and State leaders and an advisory
board of influential women outside of Nevada was formed.
In February, 1913, her report made to the State suffrage convention in
Reno showed that the Equal Franchise Society had been developed in one
year into a State-wide body, with practically every county organized
and a large number of auxiliary town societies, and with nearly one
thousand paid-up members. There was a bank balance of several hundred
dollars, from collections at meetings, monthly pledges of members and
gifts from Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Joseph Fels, Mrs. Oliver H. P.
Belmont, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Mrs. George Day (Conn.), and
Connecticut and Massachusetts suffrage associations and other eastern
supporters, and from suffrage leagues of California, Oregon, Arizona
and Colorado. Reports also showed that a press bureau had been
organized at State headquarters (principally Miss Martin and Mrs.
Bridges) by which Nevada's forty-five newspapers, chiefly rural
weeklies, were supplied regularly with a special suffrage news
service; that every editor, all public libraries and railroad men's
reading rooms, more than one hundred school districts and three
hundred leading men and women throughout the State received the
_Woman's Journal_ (Boston) every week, which always contained Nevada
suffrage news; that every voter on the county registration lists had
been circularized with suffrage literature.
An advisory council of the State's most prominent men had been formed.
Every legislative candidate had been asked to vote for the suffrage
amendment, if elected, and, as a result of the favorable public
opinion created by the new State organization, more than the necessary
number had pledged themselves in writing, so the day after the
election in November it was known that there was a safe majority in
the coming Legislature if all pledges were kept. The Legislative
Committee of the Equal Franchise Society was on duty and within the
first two weeks of the session, in January, 1913, the amendment was
passed by both Houses and approved by Governor Oddie.
The problem before the State convention at Reno in February was how to
educate the voters and overcome the active opposition of the liquor
and other vested interests, which were determined to continue Nevada
"wide-open" by "keeping out the women." The convention re-elected Miss
Martin and left in her hands the supervision of building up a majority
for the amendment at the election in November, 1914. During 1913 she
had kept the State organization actively at work by trips through the
northern and southern counties and by securing the help of suffrage
speakers from other States. Miss Wilson, the vice-president and also
president of the Esmeralda County League, with headquarters at
Goldfield, was in general charge of the southern counties, which had a
very large miners' vote. In November Miss Martin had gone as delegate
to the National Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, and there, in
addition to promises of an organizer and money from Dr. Shaw, the
national president, she secured from Miss Alice Paul, chairman of the
Congressional Union, the services of Miss Mabel Vernon, perhaps its
most capable organizer. She also obtained pledges of $1,000 from
Senator Newlands; $1,000 from Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw of Boston through
Mrs. Maud Wood Park; $1,000 from the National American Woman Suffrage
Association; $500 from Mrs. Fels, $300 from Miss Eileen Canfield;
also $250 from Mrs. W. O'H. Martin of Reno and many smaller sums from
individuals and organizations.
With the assurance of an adequate fund, amounting to over $7,000 in
all, the final "drive" for suffrage for Nevada women was begun after
the State convention. Miss Vernon arrived, as promised, in April and
at once made a trip around the State to strengthen the county and
local organizations. At State headquarters in Reno Miss Martin kept in
touch with the work in every section of the State, wrote suffrage
leaflets and planned the final campaign. Its concrete object was to
secure the endorsement of labor unions, women's clubs and political
parties; to rouse as many women as possible to active work and to have
at least one in charge of every voting precinct; to reach every voter
in the State with literature and by a personal message through a
house-to-house canvass, and to appeal to both men and women everywhere
through press work and public meetings addressed by the best speakers
in the country.
The 20,000 voters were scattered over the enormous area of 110,000
square miles. There was only one large town, Reno, with about 15,000
inhabitants, and three or four others with a population of a few
thousands each; the rest of the people lived far apart in families or
small groups, in mining camps on distant mountains and on remote
ranches in the valleys. Nothing could prevent a heavy adverse vote in
Reno and other towns where the saloons, with their annexes of gambling
rooms, dance halls and "big business" generally, were powerful, so
everything depended on reducing their unfavorable majority by building
up the largest possible majorities in the mining camps and rural
districts. "Every vote counts" was the slogan.
In July, 1914, Miss Martin and Miss Vernon started out on their final
canvass of the State, "prospecting for votes" in the mines, going
underground in the vast mountains by tunnel, ladder or in buckets
lowered by windlass to talk to the miners who were "on shift" and
could not attend the street or hall meetings. To reach less than 100
voters at Austin, the county seat of Lauder county, required a two
days' journey over the desert, and many places were a several days'
trip away from a railroad. By automobile, wagon, on horseback,
climbing up to mining camps on foot, the canvassers went; making a
house-to-house canvass of ranches many miles apart; travelling 150
miles over the desert all day to speak to the "camp," which was always
assembled on the street in front of the largest and best lighted
saloon, on their arrival at dusk. Many were the courtesies they
received from shirt-sleeved miners and cowboys. They were also greatly
assisted by the suffrage association's local chairmen, who would
hastily secure substitutes to cook for their "hay crews" and drive
miles to arrange meetings. They always tried to reach a settlement or
hospitable ranch house for the night. Where this was not possible they
slept on blankets in hayfields or on the ground in the heart of the
desert itself. The trip covered 3,000 miles.
Meanwhile at State headquarters in Reno leaflets that had been
carefully written as appeals to "give Nevada women a square deal" were
addressed to voters' lists as they registered for the approaching
election, under the direction of the society's treasurer, Mrs. Bessie
Eichelberger.
A State labor conference representing 6,000 members endorsed the
amendment and every labor union that took a vote on it. The official
endorsements of the Democratic, Progressive and Socialist parties were
obtained. Individual Republicans supported it but the party refused
its approval and the leading Republican newspaper, the Reno _Evening
Gazette_, under the orders of George Wingfield, multi-millionaire,
with other newspapers he controlled, bitterly fought the amendment to
the last. Only one or two newspapers, notably the _Nevada State
Journal_, actively supported it but many published campaign news. Reno
papers contained over 200 columns of suffrage matter. Fremont Older,
editor of the San Francisco _Bulletin_, gave to State headquarters the
valuable services and paid the expenses of Miss Bessie Beatty, a
member of its staff, to direct the State-wide press campaign of news
and advertisements planned for September and October. With the
assistance of President Stubbs and in spite of the opposition of
Regent Charles B. Henderson, a College Equal Suffrage League was
formed at the State University, under the leadership of Miss Clara
Smith, and a suffrage essay contest was promoted in the schools of
the State. Through Judge William P. Seeds' and Miss Martin's efforts a
Men's Suffrage League was formed, to counteract the so-called Business
Men's League, organized to fight the amendment.
A state-wide Anti-Suffrage Society was organized during the last
months, led by Mrs. Jewett Adams and Mrs. Paris Ellis of Carson, Mrs.
Frank M. Lee of Reno and Mrs. John Henderson of Elko. Miss Minnie
Bronson of New York and Mrs. J. D. Oliphant of New Jersey, sent by the
National Anti-Suffrage Association, toured the State under their
auspices. In contrast with the hardships of travel to remote places
endured by the loyal workers for suffrage and the economic problems
always to be solved, the speakers for the "antis" only visited the
large towns, were provided with every obtainable luxury and the
meetings well advertised and arranged.
The organizer promised by the National Suffrage Association, Mrs.
Laura Gregg Cannon, arrived in September and was sent at once to
organize more thoroughly the southern counties, as success depended on
an overwhelming vote from the miners and ranchers there. Miss Margaret
A. Foley of Boston also came, as arranged by Miss Martin, for constant
speaking through the northern and southern counties during the last
two months. Miss Jane Addams gave a priceless four days to a whirlwind
tour. The Overland Limited was stopped for her to speak at Elko and
Winnemucca. She ended her trip at Reno, where she addressed an
overflow mass meeting at the Majestic Theater just two weeks before
election day. A large public dinner was given in her honor at the
Riverside Hotel by the State Franchise Society. Dr. Shaw, tireless
crusader and incomparable speaker, travelled swiftly through the State
by train and automobile during the eight days she gave in October,
which were filled with receptions and crowded meetings. Mrs. Martin
gave a reception in her home in Reno, whose hospitality was extended
throughout the campaign to those who came from outside the State to
help it. Dr. Shaw's strenuous itinerary included meetings at Battle
Mountain, Winnemucca, Lovelocks, Reno, Washoe, Carson City, Virginia
City, Tonopah, Goldfield, Las Vegas and Caliente. She made many
hundreds of votes for the amendment.
Other notable outside speakers and workers, whose interest was aroused
by Miss Martin and who gave their services during the nearly three
years' sustained effort, were Miss Annie Kenney of London, Mr. and
Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Miss Ida Craft and "General" Rosalie Jones of
New York; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. William Kent,
Dr. Charles F. Aked, J. Stitt Wilson, Miss Gail Laughlin, Dr. Mary
Sperry, Mrs. Sara Bard Field, Miss Maud Younger, Miss Charlotte Anita
Whitney, Mrs. Alice Park, Mrs. Eleanor Stewart, Mrs. Mary Ringrose of
California. The last named did valuable work among the Catholics. Miss
Mary Bulkley and Mrs. Alice Day Jackson, a granddaughter of Isabella
Beecher Hooker, whom Miss Martin had interested on her visit to
Connecticut, came at their own expense and for three weeks canvassed
Reno, Carson City, Virginia City and other places. Miss Vernon's work
in organization and her many strong speeches on the streets of Reno
and in meetings throughout the State were an important factor in
winning votes. While many splendid Nevada women worked with enthusiasm
and great efficiency in every county, yet without Miss Martin's
leadership in organizing them and direction of the campaign during the
years 1912-13-14, and without the money she gave and raised, woman
suffrage in Nevada would probably have been delayed for several years.
She personally contributed in her travelling expenses and other ways
over $2,000. Aside from this sum the entire three years' campaign was
made at a cost of $7,000.
Out of the 240 precincts in the State every one that had ten votes in
it was canvassed and open air or hall meetings held before election.
More than 180 were organized, each with a woman leader, who, with her
committee, "picketed the polls" every hour during election day,
handing out the final appeal to give women a square deal by voting for
the amendment. The suffrage map showing Nevada as the last "black
spot" in the West was printed in every newspaper and on every leaflet,
put up in public places and on large banners hung in the streets.
The amendment received the largest proportionate vote for woman
suffrage on record. Reno and Washoe county, as had been anticipated,
went against it by a majority that was brought down to 600. Of the
remaining fifteen counties, three others, the oldest in the
State--Ormsby, Storey and Eureka--also defeated the amendment, but the
favorable majorities of the other northern counties and the staunch
support of the miners in the south won the victory. Esmeralda, a
mining county and one of the largest in population, gave a majority
for the amendment in every precinct. Out of 18,193 votes cast on it,
it had a majority in favor of 3,679, and Nevada gave its leverage on
Congress for the Federal Amendment.
* * * * *
At the annual convention of the State Equal Franchise Society in Reno
in February, 1915, the Nevada Woman's Civic League was formed as its
successor. It continued an affiliated member of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, pledged to support the Federal Amendment.
Its object was to meet a general demand of the newly enfranchised
women for information about the wise use of the ballot.
FOOTNOTES:
[112] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. O. H. Mack,
vice-president of the State Equal Franchise Society.
[113] Charter members besides those already mentioned were Mrs. J. E.
Stubbs, J. D. Layman, C. A. Jacobson, Mrs. Jennie Blanche Taylor, Mrs.
Julia F. Bender, J. E. Church, Miss Laura de Laguna, Grant Miller,
Miss Kate Bardenwerper, Mrs. W. H. Hood, Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Boyd, Mrs.
George McKenzie, Mrs. May Gill.
[114] The History is indebted for this sketch to Miss B. M. Wilson,
vice-president of the State Equal Franchise Society during the
campaign, 1912-1914.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.[115]
There has been a woman suffrage association in New Hampshire since
1868 with some of the State's most eminent men and women among its
members. In 1900 it took on new life when the New England Association,
with headquarters in Boston, sent Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden to speak and
organize. In 1901 Miss Mary N. Chase of Andover spent a month forming
societies and a conference was held at Manchester in December,
addressed by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association, and Henry B. and Miss Alice Stone
Blackwell, editors of the _Woman's Journal_.
In 1902 the National Board engaged Miss Chase as organizer for a
month. A State Suffrage Association was formed with seven auxiliary
clubs and the following officers were elected: President, Miss Chase,
honorary president, Mrs. Armenia S. White, Concord; honorary
vice-presidents, ex-U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair, U. S. Senator Jacob
H. Gallinger; vice-president, Miss Elizabeth S. Hunt, Manchester;
secretary, Miss Mary E. Quimby, Concord; treasurer, the Rev. Angelo
Hall, Andover; auditors, Miss Caroline R. Wendell, Dover; Sherman E.
Burroughs (afterwards member of Congress), Manchester.
A convention met in Concord December 2 to revise the State
constitution and on the 4th Captain Arthur Thompson of Warner offered
an amendment which struck out the word "male" from the suffrage
clause. A hearing on it was granted on the 9th and Mrs. Catt and Mr.
and Miss Blackwell addressed the convention. After long discussion by
the delegates it was voted on the 11th, by 145 to 92 that this
amendment should be submitted to the voters with the revised
constitution in March, 1903. The State suffrage convention was held in
December at the time the hearing took place. The officers of the
State association did a great deal of work before the constitutional
convention met to influence its action. Miss Chase spoke 103 times
before the local Granges, an important factor in State politics. Miss
Quimby circularized the delegates, prepared a leaflet of opinions from
prominent citizens and aided in securing a petition of 2,582.
In January, 1903, Mrs. Catt came and took charge of the campaign,
remaining until the vote was taken in March. Others from outside who
gave their services without pay, speaking throughout the State, were
Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president of the National Association; Mrs.
J. Ellen Foster, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, Mrs. Mary D. Fiske, Mrs.
Priscilla D. Hackstaff, Mrs. Maud Wood Park and Mrs. Mary E. Craigie.
The National Association contributed $3,255 to the campaign and
various States sent generous donations. Among the New Hampshire
speakers were Captain Arthur Thompson, the Rev. Charles W. Casson
(Unitarian) of Milford; the Hon. Oliver E. Branch of Manchester; the
Hon. Clarence E. Carr of Andover. Miss Chase continued her work among
the Granges, addressing thirty-seven. Miss Quimby circularized 87,000
voters. Mrs. White gave the headquarters in Concord. Seventy-five
ministers preached sermons in favor of the amendment.
So much interest was aroused that the opponents wrote for Dr. Lyman
Abbott of New York to come to Concord. Among the signers of the letter
were former Governor Nahum Batchelder of Andover; Judge Edgar Aldrich
of the district court of Littleton; Winston Churchill of Cornish;
Irving W. Drew of Lancaster and George H. Moses of Concord.[116] On
March 4 Representatives' Hall was packed to hear addresses against the
amendment by Miss Emily P. Bissell of Delaware; Mrs. A. J. George of
Brookline, Mass.; Judge David Cross of Manchester and Dr. Abbott. The
Concord _Monitor_ of that date in a leading editorial said: "Through a
maudlin sense of false sentiment the constitutional convention sent
this question to the people ... and the people will deal with it as it
deserves." On March 5 came the speeches of the suffragists.
Representatives' Hall was even more crowded than before and scores
were turned away. The Hon. James O. Lyford of Concord presided and the
speakers were Mrs. Catt, Mr. Branch, one of the ablest lawyers in the
State, and Henry H. Metcalf of Concord, founder and editor of the
_Granite Monthly_. The amendment was submitted to the voters March 10
with the constitution. The votes in favor were 14,162; against,
21,788, lost by 7,626.
During the year the membership of the association more than doubled.
The annual meeting was held in the Unitarian Church, Milford, November
18, 19. In 1904 the National Association engaged Miss Chase to do
three months' organization work and the membership increased 137 per
cent. The annual meeting was held in the Christian Church at Franklin
November 14, 15, with addresses by the Rev. Nancy W. Paine Smith
(Universalist) of Newfields and other State speakers. On Oct. 30, 31,
1905, the State convention was held at Claremont with Dr. Shaw as the
principal speaker. The most important work of the year had been the
effort to secure a Municipal suffrage bill. Mrs. Mary I. Wood of
Portsmouth, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, had
been the chief speaker at the hearing.
In 1906 the convention was held at Concord, October 30, 31, with
addresses by Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Wood, vice-president, and Mrs. Fannie J.
Fernald of Old Orchard, president of the Maine Suffrage Association.
Mrs. White, now 89 years old, gave reminiscences of the early days of
the suffrage movement. Among the clergymen taking part were the
Reverends Edwin W. Bishop (Congregationalist); John Vannevar, D.D.
(Universalist); Daniel C. Roberts, D.D. (Episcopalian); L. H.
Buckshorn (Unitarian); E. C. Strout (Methodist); John B. Wilson
(Baptist), all of Concord; and the Rev. Olive M. Kimball
(Universalist) of Marlboro.
In 1907 the convention was held in Manchester October 25 with Dr.
Shaw, national president, as the inspiring speaker. The State
Federation of Labor had unanimously endorsed woman suffrage. On
January 2 at Washington, D. C., had occurred the death of Mrs. Henry
W. Blair of Plymouth and Manchester, whose husband, U. S. Senator
Henry W. Blair, had secured the first vote in the Senate on the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Both were lifelong friends of the cause.
In 1908 prizes were offered in the State Granges for the best essays
in favor of Woman Suffrage and excellent ones were sent in. A lecture
bureau had been organized and eighteen men and women were speaking at
public meetings. On October 23 Mrs. Mary Hutchinson Page of Boston
addressed a meeting at the home of Agnes M. (Mrs. Barton P.) Jenks,
president of the Concord society. The State convention was held in
Portsmouth November 11, 12, where Dr. Shaw as usual made the principal
address and Miss Aina Johanssen, a visitor from Finland, gave an
interesting account of woman suffrage there.
By 1909 there was considerable advance in favorable sentiment and
people of influence were seeing the justice of the cause. Governor
Henry B. Quinby and his wife gave their support. The Rev. Henry G.
Ives (Unitarian) of Andover and his wife were strong advocates.
Intensive work had been done in the 275 Granges, their State lecturer
sending out instructions to discuss woman suffrage at April meetings.
Fifty-four Grange essays were submitted for the prizes by the State
association. Resolutions in favor of woman suffrage were passed by the
State Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Universalist State
Convention. The annual convention was held in Manchester November 11,
addressed by Mrs. Fernald and the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Unitarian),
Sudbury, Mass.
In February, 1910, Miss Ethel M. Arnold of England lectured for the
Concord society in the Parish House (Episcopalian). The annual meeting
was held in the Free Baptist Church at Franklin November 15, 16. Among
the speakers was the Rev. Florence Kollock Crooker (Universalist) of
Roslindale, Mass. Miss Chase had given addresses in thirty-one towns
and cities and organized nine new committees.
In 1911 an attractive booth at the Rochester Agricultural fair, made
possible by Miss Martha S. Kimball of Portsmouth, drew crowds and
10,000 leaflets were distributed and hundreds of buttons and pennants
sold. The Free Baptist convention passed a resolution favoring
suffrage. Mrs. Jenks attended the congress of the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance at Stockholm, Sweden, as delegate. At a meeting of
the Concord society where the special guest was the Woman's Club,
addresses were made by Judge Charles R. Corning, Mrs. Winston
Churchill and Mrs. Jenks. The noted English suffragist, Miss Sylvia
Pankhurst, spoke there on March 30. In 1912 the convention was held in
Portsmouth December 4, 5 in the chapel of the old North Congregational
Church. The Rev. Lucius Thayer, pastor since 1890, and his wife were
strong suffragists. Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston made the principal
address. Miss Chase after having held the presidency ten years
declined re-election and was succeeded by Miss Kimball, who was
re-elected for the next seven years.[117]
In 1913 a brilliant suffrage banquet, the first of its kind, was given
at the Eagle Hotel, Concord, on February 28, attended by notables from
all parts of the State. Mrs. Wood was toast mistress. Among the
speakers were Governor Samuel D. Felker, Mrs. Josiah N. Woodward,
president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, and William J.
Britton, Speaker of the House. On May 9 a debate was held in the
Woman's Club of Newport, between Miss Frances M. Abbott of Concord,
press agent of the State association, and Mrs. Albertus T. Dudley of
Exeter, president of the State Society Opposed to Woman Suffrage. The
large audience voted in favor of woman suffrage. The convention was
held at Concord, December 10, 11, with addresses by Mrs. Katherine
Houghton Hepburn, president of the Connecticut association; Witter
Bynner of Cornish, the poet and playwright, and Senator Helen Ring
Robinson of Colorado. Miss Kimball subscribed $600, the largest
individual contribution yet received. Mrs. Jenks gave a report of the
meeting of the International Suffrage Alliance at Budapest, which she
attended. This year the charters of Manchester and Nashua were changed
by the Legislature to give School suffrage to women.
In 1914 the convention was held in the Y. M. C. A. Hall, Manchester,
November 11, 12, with able State speakers. Major Frank Knox, head of
the Manchester _Union_, always strong for suffrage, presided in the
evening. Ten county chairmen were appointed. The association
cooperated with that of Vermont in a booth at the State fair at White
River Junction.
In 1915 State headquarters in charge of Miss Abbott were opened in
Concord and continued five months during the legislative session.
Public meetings were addressed by Mrs. Marion Booth Kelley and Mrs.
Park of Boston; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago, member of the
National Congressional Committee; Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston of
Bangor and U. S. Senator Hollis of New Hampshire. Miss Jeannette
Rankin of Montana made a few addresses. A large illuminated "suffrage
map" was framed and put in the State House and other public places.
Quantities of suffrage literature were sent out, including 400
suffrage valentines and tickets for the suffrage film Your Girl and
Mine to the legislators. At the 150th anniversary celebration of the
naming of Concord on June 8 an elaborate suffrage float and several
decorated motor cars filled with suffragists, two of college women in
caps and gowns, were in the procession. Many members marched in the
parade in Boston October 6. Through Miss Kimball's generosity Mrs.
Mary I. Post of California was sent for six months' work in the New
Jersey campaign. Later she took charge of headquarters in Manchester
and in Concord. The State convention was held at Nashua December 2, 3.
Among the speakers were Miss Zona Gale, the novelist; U. S. Senator
Moses E. Clapp of Minnesota, and John R. McLane, son of former
Governor McLane of New Hampshire.
On May 7, 1916, Mrs. Armenia S. White passed away at the age of 98. To
her more than to any one person was the suffrage cause in New
Hampshire indebted. With her husband, Nathaniel White, she had been
from the first identified with the unpopular reforms, anti-slavery,
temperance and equal suffrage. More men and women of national
prominence had been entertained under their roof than in any other
home in the State. A successful conference was held in Manchester
February 28, addressed by Mrs. Catt, president again of the National
Association, and Mrs. Susan Walker Fitzgerald of Massachusetts. The
State convention was held at Concord November 9, 10, with Dr. Effie
McCollum Jones of Iowa as the chief speaker.
In February, 1917, ten newspapers issued special suffrage editions
with plate matter furnished by the National Association and 3,000
extra copies were mailed, besides thousands of suffrage speeches and
circulars. In March and April 371 Protestant, 81 Catholic and four
Jewish clergymen were circularized. The services of Mrs. Post were
given to Maine for two weeks' and to New York for six weeks' campaign
work. Money also was sent to the Maine campaign. The State convention
was held at Portsmouth, November 8, 9, with addresses by Mrs. Park,
Mrs. Post, Mrs. Wood, Congressman Burroughs and Huntley L. Spaulding
of Rochester, Government Food Administrator.
In 1918 as chairmen of committees, the State officers were almost
submerged in war work, as were the other members of the association,
but although no State convention was held they did not cease their
suffrage duties. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, national recording secretary,
addressed a number of the leagues, urging them to keep alive their
interest and be ready for the next step, which would be the
ratification of the Federal Amendment. On August 17 occurred the death
of U. S. Senator Jacob H. Gallinger. A staunch friend of woman
suffrage for fifty years, much of the time vice-president of the State
association, it seemed the irony of fate that death intervened when
his vote and influence as Republican leader would have carried the
Federal Suffrage Amendment without delay. Senator Hollis and
Representatives Mason and Burroughs were in favor of it.
Irving W. Drew of Lancaster, an avowed "anti," was appointed by
Governor Henry W. Keyes as Senator until the fall election. It was
said that he was urged to appoint an opponent by Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge when he came to Concord to deliver Senator Gallinger's funeral
address. The situation was tense at the November election. Senator
Hollis (Democrat) declined to stand for another term and Governor
Keyes (Republican) was elected in his place. The two candidates for
Senator Gallinger's unexpired term were George H. Moses (Republican)
and John B. Jameson (Democrat). Mr. Moses was known as an
uncompromising opponent while Mr. Jameson was a sincere suffragist.
The prospects were good for Mr. Jameson's election when President
Wilson issued an appeal for the election of a Democratic Congress,
which had the effect of stiffening the Republican ranks and Mr. Moses
was elected by a small majority. After his election the National
Association sent a representative to interview him. He told her that
he was not interested in the question but that if the Legislature
should instruct him by resolution to vote for the Federal Amendment he
would do so. It would not sit for some time and therefore Mrs. Anna
Tillinghast of Boston, Miss Eva S. Potter and Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore
of New York were sent by the National Association, and in cooperation
with the State association, secured a petition from more than
two-thirds of the Legislature, which numbered 426 members, asking
Senator Moses to vote for the amendment. When it was presented he said
that he must insist on a resolution.
When the Legislature convened in 1919 Senator Moses made a trip to
Concord, took a room in a hotel and made it his office, where he was
visited by members of the Legislature. It was current opinion that he
was using his influence against a resolution and the results bore out
the conclusion. The resolution was introduced in the House January 8
by Robert M. Wright of Sanbornton and on the 9th in Committee of the
Whole it granted a hearing. The galleries were crowded with people
from all parts of the State and many women were invited to sit with
the legislators. The speakers urging the resolution were: Mrs. Catt,
Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Winfield L. Shaw of Manchester, also Miss Doris
Stevens representing the National Woman's Party. Those opposing it
were Mrs. Albertus T. Dudley of Exeter, president of the State
Anti-Suffrage Association; James R. Jackson of Littleton; Mrs. John
Balch of Milton, Mass., and Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y.,
representing the National Anti-Suffrage Association. The resolution
was carried by 210 to 135 votes.
It was now most important to win the Senate. The twenty-four members
were again interviewed by the suffragists and seventeen declared their
intention to vote for the resolution. On January 14 it was introduced
by Senator John J. Donahue of Manchester and six Senators voted for
it, fifteen against it!
It was generally believed and freely charged that Senator Moses,
astounded at the vote in the House, had used all the influence he
possessed to prevent the Senate from concurring. It was publicly
stated that Senator Lodge and other Republican U. S. Senators urged
the members not to vote for the resolution. When the vote was to be
taken three men, Merrill Shurtleff of Lancaster, alleged to be the
personal representative of U. S. Senator John W. Weeks of
Massachusetts, and the best lobbyist in the State, assisted by Burns
P. Hodgman, clerk of the District Court, and John Brown of Governor
Bartlett's Council, appeared to confer with the legislators. At this
time U. S. Senators Dillingham of Vermont and Wadsworth of New York
published a letter in the papers of the State protesting against the
action of the Republican National Committee in favor of the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. Nothing was left undone to secure an adverse vote
in the New Hampshire Senate. Mrs. Catt issued to the press a detailed
record of each State Senator, showing that 11 of the 15 who voted
against the resolution had signed the petition to Senator Moses asking
him to vote for the Federal Amendment. The adverse vote stood 12
Republicans, 3 Democrats; the Republican president of the Senate not
voting.
Senator Moses returned to Washington and voted against the Federal
Suffrage Amendment every time it came before the Senate; in February,
1919, when it lacked only one vote, he disregarded an urgent appeal
from Theodore Roosevelt made a few days before his death.
* * * * *
In March, 1919, the National Association sent one of its best
organizers, Miss Edna Wright, to interest the leagues in ratification
and the State Association retained her for the remainder of the year.
Invitations for a Citizenship School at Durham, July 8-12, were sent
out by the association and President Hetzel of the State College, the
first time in history that a State College had cooperated with women
in such an undertaking. The school was organized by Miss Wright and
presided over by Mrs. Wood, with the publicity and press conference in
charge of Miss Marjorie Shuler, sent by the National Association.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment had been submitted by
Congress to the Legislatures in June and the vital question now was
ratification. A mass meeting was held in Manchester at which Governor
Bartlett announced that he was willing to call a special session to
ratify. Realizing from past experience that the association could have
little influence with it, the board appointed Huntley N. Spaulding, a
prominent citizen, chairman of a Men's Committee for Ratification, and
he called to his aid Dwight Hall, chairman of the State Republican
Committee, and Alexander Murchie, chairman of the State Democratic
Committee. The Governor can not call a session without the consent of
his Council, which consists of five men. It met on August 13 and the
Governor arranged to have a hearing for the women. Mrs. Olive Rand
Clarke, Mrs. Winfield Shaw of Manchester, Mrs. Charles Bancroft of
Concord and Mrs. Vida Chase Webb of Lisbon made short speeches. After
the hearing the Council voted to call a special session for September
9.
Mr. Hall and Mr. Murchie immediately got in touch with the members of
the Legislature belonging to their respective parties. Under the
direction of Mr. Spaulding a remarkable publicity campaign was
inaugurated and the leading men of the State, many of whom had been
extremely opposed to woman suffrage, gave interviews in favor of
ratification. The Manchester _Union_ devoted its front pages to these
interviews for three weeks. Marked copies were sent not only to
members of the Legislature but to the 750 committeemen of each of the
parties. James O. Lyford, dean of the Republicans, put his political
knowledge at the disposal of the committee. Miss Betsy Jewett Edwards
came from the National Woman's Republican Committee and did splendid
work among the Republicans, who made up a large majority of both
Houses. Miss Kimball, State president, gave devoted service and much
financial assistance. Miss Wright had entire charge of the office
work, publicity, organization, etc.
The special session met on September 9 and the Governor sent a strong
message calling for ratification. The House voted on the opening day,
212 ayes to 143 noes. The real test was in the Senate, which on
September 10 gave forty minutes to outside speakers. Mrs. Mary I. Wood
spoke for the suffragists and Mrs. F. S. Streeter of Concord, Miss
Charlotte Rowe and two Senators for the opponents. The Senate
ratified by 14 to 10 and Governor Bartlett signed the bill without
delay.
The last meeting of the State Association, its work accomplished, took
place in Manchester, November 21, 22, 1919. Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler,
national corresponding secretary, described the aims of the League of
Women Voters, and, after discussion, it was decided to merge the
association into a State League. Miss Kimball was elected chairman.
The National Association had contributed to New Hampshire during the
last year about $3,000.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 1905. A bill for Municipal suffrage was introduced
in the House by William F. Whitcher of Haverhill, a hearing granted
and it was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7 to 2
but got no farther.
1907. The bill was introduced by Mr. Whitcher but the House Judiciary
Committee reported against it 8 to 7. An attempt to have the minority
report substituted was defeated February 20 by a vote for indefinite
postponement of 224 to 77.
1909. The chairman of the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Barton P. Jenks,
conducted an energetic campaign for the bill and a hearing was held
before the Judiciary Committee, which reported 8 to 7 against it, and
in the House on the question of substituting the minority report the
vote was 86 ayes; 115 noes.
1911. Bills for Municipal suffrage were introduced by Mr. Whitcher and
George S. Sibley of Manchester. The large committee room was crowded
for the hearing. The speakers were Mrs. Jenks, the Rev. John Vannevar,
Mrs. Wood and Miss Chase, the latter presenting a petition of 1,100
names headed by Governor and Mrs. Quinby and Clarence E. Carr, recent
candidate for Governor. The committee reported the bill favorably but
on January 26 the House voted to postpone indefinitely by 160 to 121.
1913. The association had two bills, one for Municipal and one for
Presidential and County suffrage. The latter, introduced by Raymond B.
Stevens of Landaff, Congressman-elect, had a hearing February 19, at
which one of the chief affirmative speakers was Dean Walter T. Sumner
of Chicago, later Bishop of Oregon, who was in town for the Conference
of Charities and Corrections. The Judiciary Committee reported the
bill favorably but six out of fifteen members signed an adverse
report. The debate in the House on March 18 was particularly acrid.
Among the speakers in favor were Levin J. Chase of Concord and Edward
C. Bean of Belmont, later Secretary of State. The saloon element as
usual was prominent in the opposition. The roll call showed 98 ayes;
239 noes.
1915. The bill for Municipal suffrage was unfavorably reported by the
Committee on Revision of Statutes. On March 17 when the vote to
substitute the minority report was taken the State House was crowded
with eager throngs from all parts of the State. Mr. Chase, Benjamin W.
Couch and James O. Lyford spoke in favor. Dr. Thomas Manley Dillingham
of Roxbury represented the "antis." The vote was 121 ayes; 230 noes. A
bill for Presidential suffrage had previously been killed in
committee.
1917. Bills for Presidential and for County and Municipal suffrage
were introduced into both Houses. The former was favorably reported by
Joseph P. Perley, Daniel J. Daley and Clarence M. Collins of the
Senate Committee with a minority report by Obe G. Morrison and Michael
H. Shea, which was substituted February 7 by a vote of 16 to 7. The
favorable report of eight of the fifteen members of the House
Committee was submitted by John G. Winant, afterward vice-rector of
St. Paul's School, Concord. The struggle came on March 7 when it was
debated for several hours with galleries crowded and finally defeated
by 205 to 152. On March 16 the bill for Municipal suffrage was
defeated without debate or roll call.
FOOTNOTES:
[115] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Frances M.
Abbott, treasurer of the State College Equal Suffrage League, writer
and genealogist.
[116] Mr. Drew and Mr. Moses as U. S. Senators in 1918 were able to
defeat the passage of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, which lacked
just two votes. Mr. Churchill afterwards became an earnest advocate of
woman suffrage.
[117] It has been impossible to obtain a complete list of those who
have served as officers but the following is a partial list of those
not mentioned elsewhere. Vice-presidents: Mrs. Ella H. J. Hill,
Concord; Mrs. Frank Knox, Manchester; secretaries: the Rev. Olive M.
Kimball, Marlboro; Mrs. Henry F. Hollis, Concord; Dr. Alice Harvie,
Concord; Mrs. Edna L. Johnston, Manchester; Mrs. Arthur F. Wheat,
Manchester; treasurers: Henry H. Metcalf, Harry E. Barnard, Frank
Cressy, Miss Harriet L. Huntress, all of Concord; auditors: Mrs.
Charles P. Bancroft, Concord; the Rev. H. G. Ives, Andover; members
National Executive Committee: Mrs. Ida E. Everett and Dr. Sarah J.
Barney, Franklin; Witter Bynner, Cornish; Mrs. Churchill.
CHAPTER XXIX.
NEW JERSEY. PART I.[118]
The first women in the United States to vote were those of New Jersey,
whose State constitution of 1776 conferred the franchise on "all
inhabitants worth $250." In 1790 the election law confirmed women's
right to the suffrage and in 1807 the Legislature illegally deprived
them of it. In 1867 Lucy Stone, then a resident of New Jersey,
organized a State society, one of the first in the country, which
lapsed after her removal to Massachusetts a few years later. In 1890 a
new State association was organized, which held annual meetings and
was active thereafter, although interest diminished after women lost
their School suffrage in 1897. [See New Jersey chapter Volume IV.]
Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, a daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, was
president from 1893 until 1900, when she declined re-election. Mrs.
Minola Graham Sexton of Orange was elected president at the annual
meeting in Moorestown in November. At that time there were but five
local societies, which she soon increased to fifteen. With her during
the five years of her presidency were the following officers:
Vice-presidents, Mrs. Susan W. Lippincott of Cinnaminson; Catherine B.
Lippincott, Hartford; corresponding secretaries, Dr. Mary D. Hussey
and Mrs. Bertha L. Fearey, East Orange, Mrs. Fanny B. Downs, Orange;
recording secretaries, Miss Jennie H. Morris, Moorestown, Miss Helen
Lippincott, Riverton; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery, South Orange;
auditors, Mrs. Mary C. Bassett and Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, East
Orange; Mrs. Anna R. Powell and Mrs. Louise M. Riley, Plainfield. Mrs.
Riley had started the first woman's club in the State in Orange in
1872.
The Orange Political Study Club was the first suffrage club to join
the State Federation in 1901, which invited other clubs to hear Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Suffrage
Association, give one of her convincing lectures. Mrs. Cornelia C.
Hussey of East Orange held a meeting in her park to hear the reports
of the four delegates who attended the national convention at
Minneapolis. Dr. Hussey gave out suffrage leaflets to the farmers on
their "salt water day" at Sea Girt and to the Congress of Mothers at
Trenton. Mrs. Eliza Dutton Hutchinson, press superintendent, got some
of the plate matter from the National Association for the first time
into four newspapers. Letters were sent to 400 progressive women
telling them how the ballot would aid them in all good work and
inviting them to join the association and many did so. The annual
meeting was held in Newark and Mrs. Howe Hall was elected honorary
president.
In July, 1902, Mrs. Sexton in cooperation with the National
Association, held the first of the seashore meetings that were
continued every summer as long as she was president. They were held
for two days in the Tabernacle at Ocean Grove and welcomed by Bishop
Fitzgerald and Dr. A. E. Ballard, heads of the Camp Meeting
Association. The speakers were Mrs. Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
vice-president of the National Association, Miss Kate Gordon, its
corresponding secretary, and Miss Mary Garrett Hay, a national
organizer. The Mayor and two editors became advocates of the cause. At
the Friends' conference at Asbury Park in September a day was devoted
to political equality and Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman,
president of the New York State Association, spoke. The annual meeting
was held at Orange and a board of directors was elected: the Rev.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Elizabeth; Mrs. Katherine H. Browning,
West Orange; Mrs. Phebe C. Wright, Sea Girt; Mrs. Joanna Hartshorn,
Short Hills; Miss Susan W. Lippincott and Mrs. Elizabeth Vail, East
Orange. Memorials were read for Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mrs.
Cornelia C. Hussey and Mrs. Sexton told of the $10,000 Mrs. Hussey had
left the National Association and of her constant generosity to the
suffrage work in New Jersey for many years. Mrs. Howe Hall and Henry
B. Blackwell gave addresses. Women's clubs were urged to devote a
meeting to the discussion of woman suffrage and the Woman's Club of
Orange, the largest in the State, heard Mrs. Catt and the Outlook Club
of Montclair heard Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Mrs. Florence
Fenwick Miller of England addressed a number of leagues. Miss Susan B.
Anthony was heard early in May at the Political Study Club of Orange.
In 1903 large audiences again attended the two-day suffrage rally
under the auspices of the Camp Meeting at Ocean Grove. Dr. Shaw, Mrs.
Hall, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Lucretia L.
Blankenburg of Philadelphia were the speakers and the interest
resulted in the starting of several leagues along the coast. With the
help of the National Association Miss Mills was engaged for a month,
during which she formed ten new leagues, speaking twenty-four times in
nineteen places. The leagues studied local government and found that
women paid about one-third of the taxes. Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Ellis
Meredith of Denver, Mrs. Stanton Blatch of New York and Miss Alice
Stone Blackwell of Boston were heard by different leagues. The
convention this year was held for the first time in Trenton.
In 1904 a special effort was made to bring the question of woman
suffrage before other organizations and Mrs. Sexton spoke to the
Federation of Women's Clubs, the Conference of Charities and
Corrections and the State W. C. T. U.; Dr. Hussey spoke before the
convention of the Epworth League and the subject was presented to the
State Grange. At the Ocean Grove meeting Mrs. Emma Bourne brought
greetings from the State's 8,000 white ribboners. Mrs. Sexton and Miss
Mills spoke at seaside meetings and five new leagues were formed. The
State convention was held in the public library in Jersey City and
welcomed by Dr. Medina F. DeHart, president of the Political Study
Club; Miss Cornelia F. Bradford, head worker of Whittier House; Mrs.
Spencer Wiart, president of the Woman's Club and Mrs. Andrew J.
Newberry, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs.
At the Ocean Grove meeting in 1905 resolutions were adopted in memory
of Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. The State convention was held in Orange.
Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, a niece of Lucy Stone, was elected president
and the other officers were re-elected. In 1906 Miss Anthony passed
away and many leagues held memorial meetings. The Woman's Club of
Orange joined the suffrage association in holding one addressed by Dr.
Shaw, preceding the State convention held there in Union Hall in
November. Henry B. Blackwell traced the history of woman suffrage in
New Jersey from 1776 and made a plea for the Presidential franchise
for women, for which a committee was appointed. Resolutions thanking
the American Federation of Labor for its stand on woman suffrage and
expressing sympathy with the imprisoned "suffragettes" in England were
passed.
In 1907 little suffrage work was done by the association owing to the
absence of the president from the State. The leagues worked along many
lines, for police matrons; for "school cities"; studied the lives of
the pioneers and the constitution and laws of the State and held
public meetings with good speakers. The annual convention met in the
public library in Newark and it was voted to petition Congress for a
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Dr. DeHart was elected president and the
other new officers were Mrs. Ella A. Kilborn and Miss Mary D.
Campbell, secretaries. Miss Mary Willits and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley were
the only other officers who had been added in the past seven years.
In 1908 at the State convention in Bayonne Mrs. Clara S. Laddey of
Arlington was elected president and Miss Emma L. Richards of Newark
recording secretary. Dr. Hussey was made chairman of the Committee on
Literature and Petitions and the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell was appointed to
write to President Roosevelt in behalf of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, as requested by the National Association. Public lectures
by Dr. Shaw, Miss Janet Richards of Washington and others were
arranged for Newark. Dr. Emily Blackwell, of the New York Infirmary
for Women, was made honorary president.
Mrs. Laddey visited all the leagues and spoke before many societies,
including the large German Club at Hoboken. With Dr. Hussey she
attended the State convention of the Federation of Labor and obtained
its endorsement of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. She put new life
into the association and was re-elected at the State convention in
1909 at Newark. Over fifty delegates were present and it was reported
that 5,000 names were on the petition to Congress which the
Socialists, Granges, W. C. T. U.'s and Trade Unions had helped secure,
and they had given an opportunity for much educational work.
Committees on legislation and organization were formed. Mrs. Sexton
was elected honorary president; Mrs. Elizabeth T. Bartlett of
Arlington was made historian and Mrs. Mary L. Colvin of East Orange,
corresponding secretary. Resolutions were adopted in memory of Henry
B. Blackwell and William Lloyd Garrison. Professor Francis Squire
Potter, corresponding secretary of the National Association, delivered
a very able address.
In the fall of 1909 two young women in East Orange, Dr. Emma O. Gantz
and Miss Martha Klatschken, started the Progressive Woman Suffrage
Society and held the first open air meetings in the State. The first
one took place on a Saturday night at the corner of Main and Day
streets in Orange, the speakers Mrs. J. Borrman Wells of England, Miss
Klatschken and Miss Helen Murphy of New York. The next was in Newark.
The crowds were always respectful, listened and asked questions. Much
literature was given out. A Political Equality League of Self
Supporting Women, a branch of the one in New York organized by Mrs.
Stanton Blatch, was formed by Mrs. Mina Van Winkle, later called
Women's Political Union.
At the January board meeting in 1910 Mrs. Ulilla L. Decker was made
chairman of organization and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds of the press
committee. Mrs. Laddey reported having received an invitation to bring
greetings to a meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stevens at
Castle Point, Hoboken, to form a New Jersey branch of the Equal
Franchise League which Mrs. Clarence Mackay had organized in New York.
At an adjourned meeting on February 3 Mrs. Decker reported having
consulted Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Mary Garrett Hay and others in New
York and also in New Jersey about the proposed new league. Mrs. Laddey
urged harmony among all workers and she, Dr. Hussey, Miss Emma L.
Richards and others attended the meeting at Castle Point. The Equal
Franchise Society of New Jersey was formed there with Mrs. Thomas S.
Henry of Jersey City president; Mrs. Caroline B. Alexander, Hoboken,
Mrs. Everett Colby, West Orange, Mrs. George Harvey, Deal, and Miss
Alice Lakey, Cranford, vice-presidents; Mrs. Harry Campton, Newark,
corresponding secretary; Miss Richards, Newark, recording secretary;
Mrs. Charles Campbell, Hoboken, treasurer.
The delegation of the State association to the national convention in
Washington in April rode in the procession to the Capitol and
presented a petition to Congress for a Federal Amendment containing
over 9,000 signatures from New Jersey. At the great parade held in New
York on the last Saturday in May it was represented by its president
and seven members. Its first experience with street speaking was in
Military Park in June with Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff of Brooklyn as
the speaker and a respectful audience. Open air meetings were also
held in Asbury Park at which Mrs. Laddey and Mrs. Emma Fisk spoke.
Miss Richards took charge of a booth at the Olympic Park Fair,
assisted by Mrs. Campton. Charles C. Mason was thanked for reviewing
the laws of the State relating to women compiled by Miss Laddey. Lucy
Stone's birthday was celebrated August 13 in six places in memory of
her pioneer work in the State. Mrs. Laddey organized leagues in
Montclair and Asbury Park and spoke at seven public meetings. Money
was contributed to the South Dakota, Washington and Oklahoma campaigns
and to the national treasury. Congressmen were questioned as to their
stand on woman suffrage. Dr. Shaw was heard at the Conference of
Governors at Spring Lake.
The convention of 1910 was held in Plainfield welcomed by Mrs. C. R.
Riley, the local president. The Rev. Mrs. Blackwell paid a tribute to
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who had passed away, and after resolutions by
Mrs. Colvin the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was sung. Mrs. Decker
presented a flag to the association in honor of Mrs. Sexton, the
former president. Mrs. Kinsley gave a greeting from the Equal
Franchise Society. How it Works in Wyoming was told by Mrs. May
Preston Slosson, Ph.D., and Dr. Edwin A. Slosson. In the evening Mayor
Charles J. Fisk welcomed the convention. Professor Earl Barnes, who
had resided two years in England, gave an address on The Englishwoman.
Champlain Lord Riley of Plainfield announced the organization in
Newark on March 23 of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage with Dr.
William L. Saunders of Plainfield, president; Merton C. Leonard,
Arlington, vice-president; Dr. Edward S. Krans, Plainfield, secretary;
Edward F. Feickert, Dunellen, treasurer and 17 members.[119]
Mrs. Laddey was re-elected. Four new committees were appointed on
Church Work, Mrs. Bartlett, chairman; Industrial Problems relating to
Women and Children, Miss Bessie Pope; Endorsement by Organizations,
Mrs. Laddey; Education, Mrs. Riley. Public meetings were held in the
various cities; prizes for school essays were awarded and a year book
published. With the Equal Franchise Society the association had a
hearing before the State Senate Committee on Education, Joseph S.
Frelinghuysen, chairman in behalf of a School suffrage bill. Mrs.
Laddey, Mrs. George T. Vickers, Mrs. Philip McKim Garrison, Mrs.
Frederick Merck, and Mrs. Kinsley appeared for the suffragists. The
committee approved it but the Legislature rejected it.
In January, 1911, a luncheon was given by the association in Newark to
Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds, who had returned from work in the victorious
campaign in the State of Washington. At a board meeting it was decided
that some plan must be adopted for enrolling non-dues-paying members
similar to that of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York. This name was
taken for New Jersey and an Enrollment Committee was formed with Mrs.
Lillian F. Feickert of Dunellen chairman, to organize by political
districts. Over a hundred New Jersey women marched in the second New
York parade on May 4. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony was placed
in libraries. The three associations agreed to unite in work for a
suffrage measure in the Legislature and Dr. Luella Morrow, Miss
Laddey, Miss Grace Selden and Mrs. Howe Hall were appointed to have
charge of it. Mrs. Bartlett secured the favorable opinions of twelve
New Jersey clergymen and had them printed for circulation. The Equal
Justice League of young women was started in Bayonne with eighty
members, Miss Dorothy Frooks, president. At this time the State
association had fourteen branches and about 500 members.
The convention of 1911 was held in Willard Hall, Passaic, in November.
All rose to greet the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell when she
entered. Mayor George N. Seger in his welcome said that all women who
paid taxes should vote and with the ballot women could help many
needed reforms. A hundred copies of the New York _American_ with an
editorial on woman suffrage in New Jersey sent by Arthur Brisbane were
distributed.
It was voted to ask Governor Woodrow Wilson, as a Presidential
candidate, if he favored woman suffrage. Mrs. Rheta Childe Dorr of the
editorial staff of _Hampton's Magazine_ appealed for legislation in
behalf of working girls. Miss Emma McCoy, president of the New
Brunswick Teachers' Association, made a plea for equal pay for women
teachers. Addresses were given by Robert Elder, assistant district
attorney of Kings county, N. Y.; Mrs. Raymond Brown of New York, Miss
Melinda Scott of Newark, treasurer of the National Women's Trade Union
League, and Judge William H. Wood of New York. Dr. Hussey told of
10,000 leaflets distributed.
Mrs. Feickert described the successful house-to-house canvass in
Jersey City by Miss Pope and herself, by which the membership had
increased to 1,400. Mrs. Decker announced the opening of the first
State headquarters the next week in Newark with a volunteer committee
in charge, Mrs. George G. Scott, chairman. Mrs. Vernona H. Henry of
Newark was elected recording secretary and no other change was made in
the board, most of whom had served over ten years. With the
cooperation of all the societies the meeting at the auditorium in
Newark addressed by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England was a great
success.
This record of details, much condensed, represents the seed-sowing in
the first decade of the century in preparation for the harvest which
came at the end of the second decade.
NEW JERSEY. PART II.[120]
In December, 1911, a Joint Legislative Committee, representing the
four woman suffrage organizations in New Jersey was formed with Mrs.
George T. Vickers as chairman, and in January, 1912, a resolution for
a submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the State
constitution was first introduced in the Legislature at the request of
this committee.
On Oct. 25, 1912, a parade was given in Newark under the auspices of
the State Suffrage Association with all four organizations represented
among the marchers, who numbered about 1,000 men and women. This was
followed by a well-attended mass meeting at Proctor's Theater,
arranged by the Women's Political Union, at which Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association, was the
principal speaker.
The twenty-second annual convention of the association was held in
Trenton in November, when the following officers were elected:
President, Mrs. E. F. Feickert; first vice-president, Mrs. F. H.
Colvin; second, Miss Elinor Gebhardt; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Charles P. Titus; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles P. Eaton;
treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery; auditor, Miss Bessie Pope.
Twenty-five local branches were reported with a total membership of
2,200.
In December the Legislative Committee was re-organized on the basis of
equal representation for each of the four organizations. Mrs. Everett
Colby was elected chairman and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds was engaged as
legislative secretary, who resigned in six months to become field
organizer for the Women's Political Union. This committee continued to
function until 1917, when the Women's Political Union, the Equal
Franchise Society and the Men's League having disbanded and their
branches having joined the State association the political work was
taken over by its Legislative Committee. In 1914 Mrs. Philip McKim
Garrison succeeded Mrs. Colby and she was succeeded by Mrs. Robert S.
Huse in 1916. Among those who served actively were Miss Bessie Pope,
who gave valuable and continuous service to the completion of
suffrage work in 1920; Champlain Lord Riley, William L. Saunders,
Everett Colby, Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs R. T.
Newton, Miss Belle Tiffany, Mrs. Colvin, Mrs. James Billington and
Mrs. Feickert.
In June, 1913, the Women's Political Union held its first State
conference, at which the following officers were elected: President,
Mrs. Van Winkle; vice-presidents, Miss Julia S. Hurlbut, Mrs. E. T.
Lukens, Mrs. H. R. Reed, Mrs. W. H. Gardner, Miss Edna C. Wyckoff,
Mrs. R. T. Newton, Miss Louise Antrim, Mrs. Carl Vail, Miss Louise
Connolly; recording secretary, Miss Sara Crowell; executive secretary,
Mrs. Reynolds; financial secretary, Mrs. Amelia Moorfield; treasurer,
Mrs. Stewart Hartshorne. This was the only state-wide conference held
until after the referendum election in 1915 and these officers
continued to serve. The Equal Franchise Society's president, Mrs.
Vickers, served from 1911 until it disbanded in 1915. Other active
members were Mrs. H. Otto Wittpen and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley.
On March 25, 1913, the State association held a jubilee mass meeting
in Newark to celebrate submission of a State suffrage amendment by the
Legislature. This spring it held a large and successful school for
suffrage workers in Newark and the expenses of two volunteer
organizers were paid for several months, Mrs. U. L. Decker and Miss
Dille Hastings. In August its representatives took part in the
demonstration at Washington, arranged by the National Congressional
Committee, when petitions were presented to the Senate asking for the
immediate submission of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Champlain Lord
Riley, Mrs. Colvin, Miss Helen Lippincott, Miss Edith Abbott and Mrs.
Feickert. The New Jersey petitions of several thousand names were
unwillingly presented by Senator James E. Martine, who made a speech
against woman suffrage at the same time.
At the annual convention held in Newark in November reports showed
that the membership had more than doubled during the year, there being
now 44 local branches with over 6,000 members. Three changes took
place in the board, Miss Lippincott, elected second vice-president;
Mrs. Edward Olmsted, treasurer and Mrs. Arthur Hunter, auditor. Just
after this convention a delegation of 58 from the association and 17
from the Political Union went to Washington at the request of the
National Congressional Committee to interview President Wilson in
behalf of favorable action on the Federal Amendment by the House of
Representatives. The committee could not arrange for a special
interview but finally saw him by going to the White House at the hour
set aside for the reception of the general public and made their
request. The President was cordial and said that he was giving the
matter careful consideration and hoped soon to take a decided stand
which he thought the suffragists would find satisfactory. The speakers
were its chairman, Mrs. Feickert, Mrs. Van Winkle and Miss Melinda
Scott, who represented the organized working women of New Jersey.
In April, 1914, the State headquarters were transferred to Plainfield,
the home of the president, who took charge of them. Board meetings
were held in different sections of the State each month, followed by
open conferences for suffragists from the nearby towns. Each of these
was attended by from 50 to 250 and resulted in greatly increased
activity in the branches. During the summer a number of county
automobile tours were made, a "flying squadron" of decorated cars
going from town to town, holding meetings and distributing literature.
These tours were well worked up and advertised and very successful. A
great deal of the work connected with them was done by Miss Florence
Halsey, a volunteer field organizer.
During July a week of suffrage meetings was held in Asbury Park, the
auditorium there given free on condition that there should be debates
and not merely presentations of suffrage. Over a hundred columns of
publicity were secured for them in the New Jersey papers and during
the week the hotels of Asbury Park and nearby resorts were canvassed
and thousands of leaflets and circulars given out. This year over
300,000 pieces of literature were distributed by the State association
and the Political Union. A weekly press service was established by the
association and news bulletins and special stories were sent regularly
to over one hundred papers. The local branches of the association
increased to 96 and of the Political Union to 15, with a membership of
22,000 and 4,000 respectively. At the annual convention of the
association held in Camden in November the new officers elected were,
second vice-president, Mrs. Robert P. Finley; corresponding secretary,
Mrs. Bayard Naylor; recording secretary, Mrs. L. H. Cummings. All
attention and action were centered on the approaching campaign.
The resolution to submit the amendment had passed two Legislatures and
was to go to the voters at a special election Oct. 19, 1915. A
Cooperative Committee was formed of three from the State association
and the Women's Political Union each and one each from the Equal
Franchise Society and the Men's League. A Committee of One Hundred was
also organized to raise money for the campaign, Mrs. Colby chairman.
It obtained $9,000 which were used for the expenses of the Press
Committee, that had its office at the National Suffrage headquarters
in New York, for news bulletins every day, plate matter, interviews,
stories, advertising cards and posters in the trolley cars and the
stations of the Hudson Tunnels system; illuminated signs and street
banners in New Jersey cities and a half-page advertisement in all the
papers of the State at the end of the campaign. The executive
secretary was Mrs. Flora Gapen Charters. The total amount of money
raised and spent by the State and local organizations was
approximately $80,000, obtained by dues and pledges, by collections at
mass meetings, special luncheons and very largely by personal
contributions from men and women.
The State association increased to 200 branches in twenty-four cities.
The Political Union maintained a large headquarters in Newark. Over
3,000,000 pieces of literature and 400,000 buttons were distributed.
The association circularized all the women's organizations of the
State, the fraternal organizations, clergymen, grange officers,
lawyers, office-holders and other special groups. Speakers were sent
to grange picnics and county fairs. Street meetings took place
regularly in all the principal cities and towns and automobile tours
over the State. Over 4,000 outdoor and 500 indoor meetings were held.
Four paid and thirty volunteer organizers were kept in the field for
eight months.
The association arranged a conference of the leaders of the four
campaign States, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey,
which was held in East Orange in connection with the celebration on
August 13 of the birthday of its founder, Lucy Stone. There was a
pilgrimage of suffragists from almost every county, and, after
exercises at her old home and the unveiling by her daughter, Alice
Stone Blackwell, of a tablet placed in front of the house, there was
an automobile parade through the nearby towns, winding up with a mass
meeting in the park in East Orange, where Dr. Shaw and ex-Governor
John Franklin Fort were the principal speakers.
The Women's Political Union conducted a "handing on the torch"
demonstration which was quite effective. The New York Union supplied a
large torch of bronze, which Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, representing New
York, took with her on a tugboat half way across the Hudson River,
where she was met by a New Jersey tug bearing Mrs. Van Winkle, to whom
the torch was delivered. It was sent about the State to twenty or more
towns where the Union had branches and its arrival was made the
occasion for an outdoor reception and mass meeting.
The Women's Anti-Suffrage Association was also busy. It paid the
salaries and expenses of two New Jersey speakers, Mrs. O. D. Oliphant
of Trenton and John A. Matthews of Newark, an ex-Assemblyman, and
brought in a number of outside speakers. It never claimed to have more
than fifteen local branches and 18,000 members. Among the more
prominent were the president, Mrs. E. Yarde Breese of Plainfield; Mrs.
Thomas J. Preston, Mrs. Garrett A. Hobart, Mrs. Carroll P. Bassett,
Miss Anna Dayton, Robert C. Maxwell, Miss Clara A. Vezin, Mrs.
Hamilton F. Kean, Mrs. Alexander F. Jamieson, Mrs. Charles W.
MacQuoid, Mrs. Thomas B. Adams, Miss Anne McIlvaine and Mrs. Sherman
B. Joost.
James R. Nugent of Newark, prominent as the champion of the "wets" and
the "antis," paid the salary of Edward J. Handley, an ex-newspaperman
of Newark, and gave him a suite of offices in the Wise building with
several clerks. His "publicity" kept the amendment on the front pages
of the papers and the suffragists were always able to refute and
disprove his statements. The intensive campaign carried on among the
editors for the past two or three years bore fruit and 80 per cent. of
the newspapers by actual canvass favored the amendment, and frequently
when the front page carried a story against suffrage it was
contradicted on the editorial page. Among editors who were
particularly strong friends were James Kerney and John E. Sines of the
Trenton _Evening Times_; Joseph A. Dear and Julius Grunow of the
Jersey City _Journal_; John L. Matthews of the Paterson _Press
Guardian_; George M. Hart of the Passaic _Daily News_; the Boyds of
the New Brunswick _Home News_; J. L. Clevenger of the Perth Amboy
_Evening News_; William H. Fischer of the New Jersey _Courier_; George
W. Swift of the Elizabeth _Daily Journal_ and E. A. Bristor of the
Passaic _Herald_.
Three weeks before the election President Wilson announced himself in
favor of the amendment, and he and his private secretary, Joseph P.
Tumulty, made a special trip to New Jersey to vote for it. This had a
marked effect over the country.
The Legislative Committee having secured a bill allowing women to
watch at the polls, watchers' schools were held in every important
city under the direction of Mrs. Colvin, with the result that at the
election 1,657 of the 1,891 polling places in the State were supplied
with trained women watchers.
On election day Nugent and his lieutenants worked all day at the
Newark polling places and the suffragists were positive that hundreds
of voters were imported from New York and other places, which was
possible because men could vote on the amendment without having
previously registered. Nugent is reported to have said: "We knew we
had the amendment beaten when the election was put on registration
day." This was done against the protests of the suffragists. Men voted
on it at the same time they registered and in the police canvass made
before the general election, the names of several thousand illegally
registered were taken off the books in Essex and Hudson counties, all
of whom had a chance to vote on the amendment. All day in all the
cities the women watchers saw little groups of men taken into saloons
opposite the polling places by persons avowedly working to defeat it,
instructed how to vote on it, marshalled to the polling place and
after voting taken back to the saloon to be paid.
Finding at the last moment that no provision was made by the State to
pay for sending in returns from special elections, the State
association arranged with the Associated Press to obtain its own
returns and a wire was run into the suffrage headquarters in Jersey
City. By midnight complete returns were in from 70 per cent. of the
State, due to the splendid cooperation of the county and local
suffrage chairmen, who knew only one day in advance that this work
would be required of them. A manager of the Associated Press said that
they had never handled an election where the returns came in faster or
more accurately and few where they came in as well.
The election resulted in a vote of 317,672, a very large one
considering that the Presidential vote in 1912 had been only 459,000.
The vote in favor of the suffrage amendment was 133,281, or 42 per
cent. of the whole; against, 184,391, defeated by 51,110. Ocean county
was the only one carried but 126 cities and towns were carried and a
number of counties gave from 46 to 49 per cent. in favor.
Two weeks after their defeat several hundred New Jersey suffragists
went to New York and Philadelphia to march in the suffrage parades,
taking the biggest and best band in the State and carrying at the head
of their division a runner twenty feet long reading: New
Jersey--Delayed but not Defeated.
The State convention of 1915 was postponed until January, 1916, when
it was held in Elizabeth. There were then 215 local branches with a
membership of over 50,000. No discouragement was visible but a program
of educational work and intensive organization was adopted, money was
pledged for the salaries of three field organizers and it was decided
to have a bill for Presidential suffrage introduced in the
Legislature. Mrs. Ward D. Kerlin, second vice-president, was the only
new officer elected. A new constitution was adopted putting the
association on a non-dues-paying basis, providing for an annual budget
and re-organization of the State by congressional districts.
In June New Jersey was represented at the National Republican
convention in Chicago by Mrs. Feickert, Miss Esther G. Ogden, Mrs. E.
G. Blaisdell, Miss A. E. Cameron and Mrs. Joseph Marvel. All of the
New Jersey delegates were interviewed and twelve of the twenty-eight
promised to support a suffrage plank in the platform.
In July the Women's Political Union disbanded and its local branches
joined the State association. The national suffrage convention held
at Atlantic City in September gave a great impetus to the State work.
The annual convention met in Jersey City in November, where it was
decided to conduct a strenuous campaign during 1917 for Presidential
suffrage and for the Federal Amendment and to employ four field
organizers. The new officers elected were Mrs. John J. White, Miss
Lulu H. Marvel, Mrs. J. Thompson Baker, vice-presidents; Miss Anita
Still, auditor. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Dr. Mary D.
Hussey were added to the list of honorary presidents.
A bill for Presidential suffrage was introduced in the Legislature in
February, 1917, and everything was going finely when war was declared.
The suffrage association was the first women's organization in the
State to offer its services to the Governor and was publicly thanked
by him for its patriotic stand. At his request it conducted a canvass
of women nurses, doctors and clerical workers and received letters of
thanks from him and the Adjutant General for this very successful
piece of work. It cooperated in the organization of a Woman's Division
of the State Council of National Defense and its president, Mrs.
Feickert, was vice-chairman of the Council. The association purchased
and operated a Soldiers' Club House and canteen in the town of
Wrightstown, near which Camp Dix was located. It was opened in
November, 1917, and was kept open until June, 1919, by volunteer
workers. Over $30,000 were raised for it, one-fifth of this amount
being contributed by Mrs. White. More than 250,000 men were
entertained there. Officers and members of the association responded
to all demands of the war.
The annual convention was held in the Capitol at Trenton in November.
Reports showed that only thirty of the hundreds of local branches had
dropped suffrage work because of their war activities, and the spirit
was one of determination that the battle for real democracy in the
United States should be kept up just as actively as the war against
autocracy abroad. Mrs. Wells P. Eagleton was elected a vice-president,
Mrs. E. G. Blaisdell a secretary and Mrs. F. W. Veghte an auditor. The
State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs was accepted as an
affiliated organization and its president, the Rev. Florence Randolph,
was made a member of the State Board. The convention voted to make
its special work for the year the collecting of a monster petition of
women, to be so worded that it could be used in Congressional work for
the Federal Amendment and with the Legislature for ratification.
In the summer of 1918 U. S. Senator William Hughes, who was pledged to
vote for the Federal Amendment, died and the candidate for the office
was David Baird, a strong anti-suffragist. As only one more vote in
the Senate was needed to pass the amendment the National Association
asked the New Jersey association to do its best to defeat him. An
active campaign was carried on for two months but he was too powerful
a party leader, though he ran 9,000 votes behind the rest of the
ticket. He voted against the amendment every time it came before the
Senate.
Because of the Baird campaign and the general unsettled feeling around
the time of the signing of the armistice the annual convention was
postponed to May, 1919, when it was held in Atlantic City. The
ratification petitions collected the preceding year had over 80,000
names of women not previously enrolled as suffragists. Mrs. H. N.
Simmons, vice-president, and Mrs. F. T. Kellers, auditor, were the
only new officers elected. It was voted that the other State
organizations of women should be asked to join in the campaign for
ratification of the Federal Amendment by the Legislature. The
committee was organized in July, 1918, with the following
organizations represented: Woman Suffrage Association, Federation of
Women's Clubs, Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, Public Health Nursing, Teachers' Association;
chairman, Mrs. Feickert; secretary, Mrs. James Simister; treasurer,
Mrs. Olmsted. A Finance Committee was appointed--Mrs. Seymour L.
Cromwell, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Hunter--which raised over $10,000. The
principal contributors were Mrs. Cromwell, Mrs. Colby, Judge and Mrs.
John J. White, Mrs. Wittpenn, Mrs. Hartshorne, Mrs. Lewis S. Thompson
and Mrs. Robert Stevens.
A very active primary and general election campaign was made in 1919
for the election of men pledged to vote for ratification, in which
110,000 personal letters were sent out, all kinds of organizations
were circularized and about 1,000,000 pieces of literature were
distributed. A State ratification mass meeting at Asbury Park in
August opened the campaign and local meetings were held in every
county. A Governor and a majority in both Houses were elected who were
pledged to ratification.
A Men's Council for Ratification was organized in December with
Everett Colby as chairman, Governor Edward I. Edwards and U. S.
Senators Joseph S. Frelinghuysen and Walter E. Edge as honorary
chairmen and 54 of the most prominent Democrats and Republicans in the
State as vice-chairmen. This was not an active organization but the
fact that the leaders of their parties allowed their names to be used
had considerable influence upon many legislators. In January, 1920,
campaign headquarters were opened in Trenton near the State House in
charge of Miss Julia Wernig, field organizer of the association, where
a great deal of literature was given out and other work done.
On January 27 in Crescent Temple, Trenton, the Ratification Committee
staged the most spectacular suffrage mass meeting ever held in New
Jersey. Its special purpose was to present to the Governor, the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House the huge suffrage
petition containing almost 140,000 names of women, arranged by
counties and towns. The hall was beautifully decorated with American
flags and suffrage banners and a fine band played at intervals. The
speakers were Governor Edwards, President of the Senate Clarence E.
Case, Speaker of the Assembly W. Irving Glover and Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Catt, president of the National Suffrage Association. The twenty-one
county chairmen and representatives of the women's organizations
composing the committee were seated on the platform and at the proper
time each came forward with her petitions and was presented to the
Governor and the legislative officials by Mrs. Feickert, who presided.
About 1,200 women and most of the Legislature were present and there
was much enthusiasm.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress
June 4, 1919. The resolution for ratification was the first measure
introduced when the Legislature convened in 1920, by Senator William
B. MacKay, Jr., of Bergen county and Assemblyman Henry G. Hershfield
of Passaic county. A public hearing was held February 2 with Mrs.
Feickert chairman. The principal suffrage speakers were U. S. Senator
Selden Spencer of Missouri, Mrs. Robert S. Huse, Mrs. Harriman N.
Simons and the Rev. Florence Randolph. Each of five others
representing various women's organizations spoke for two minutes. That
day the Senate ratified by 18 ayes, 2 noes, two men voting in favor
who had been pledged against it.
The opposition then concentrated its efforts upon the Assembly, where
various tricks were played which in the end were unsuccessful. U. S.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer had written to each of the
Democratic members urging his support. The evening that ratification
was to be voted on, February 9, the chamber was jammed and it was
evident that the opposition intended to "filibuster" all night rather
than allow the resolution to pass. One motion after another was made
by the leader of the opposition, Assemblyman Hugh Barrett of Essex,
Nugent's special representative, and after a hot fight and much
talking they were defeated. Mr. Nugent was outside in the corridor
constantly sending in messages to his delegation and it was understood
that he was offering anything the Assemblymen might ask for their
votes against ratification. The women suffragists were present in
force helping their friends to maintain their determination to vote on
the resolution that night. It was a stormy session, the "filibuster"
going on steadily from 8 p. m. Finally the opposition gave up the
fight and at ten minutes to 1 o'clock in the morning the Assembly
passed the resolution by 34 ayes, 24 noes. The gallery was still
filled with women, who were most enthusiastic.
The resolution was signed promptly by the President of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House and the Governor sent it to Washington by a
special messenger. The suffragists felt especially indebted to
Senators William N. Runyon, C. D. White and Arthur Whitney and to
Assemblymen William A. Blair, Emmor Roberts, Henry G. Hershfield and
William George for their work in party caucuses as well as on the
floor. Governor Edwards and Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City (the
Democratic leader of the State) were responsible for the solid vote of
all the Democrats except those under the control of Nugent. U. S.
Senators Frelinghuysen and Edge and Attorney General McCran also
rendered most valuable assistance.
The State Suffrage Association celebrated the successful termination
of its over fifty years of continuous effort by a Victory Convention
held in Newark on April 23, 24. Leading features were a Victory
banquet with prominent men of both political parties as speakers, and
a Pioneers' luncheon, at which Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. Florence Howe
Hall, Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton, Mrs. Clara S. Laddey and other early
workers spoke. Before the close of the convention the State League of
Women Voters was organized to carry on the work for good government
and better conditions through the use of the power which had been
secured for them by the older association. Mrs. John R. Schermerhorn
was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 1912. The first resolution for the submission of a
woman suffrage amendment to the voters was introduced in February by
Senator William C. Gebhardt in the Senate and Assemblyman A. R.
McAllister in the House. A public hearing was held on March 12 at
which Mrs. Vickers presided and the speakers for the suffrage side
were Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Henry Villard, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
Mrs. Clara S. Laddey, George T. Vickers and Linton Satterthwaite. Miss
Anna Dayton presided for the "antis" and Mrs. E. N. Loomis was their
principal speaker. The vote in the Senate was 18 noes, 3
ayes--Senators Gebhardt of Hunterdon county, J. Warren Davis of Salem
and G. W. F. Gaunt of Gloucester. In the Assembly the resolution was
finally forced out of an unfavorable committee but was tabled by a
vote of 31 ayes, 19 noes.
1913. In January the resolution was introduced by Senator J. Warren
Davis and Assemblyman Charles M. Egan. A hearing was held February 18
at which Mrs. Everett Colby presided and the speakers were Dr. Anna
Howard Shaw, president of the National American Suffrage Association;
U. S. Senator Shafroth of Colorado, Everett Colby, George La Monte and
Cornelius Ford, president of the State Federation of Labor. The
resolution passed the Senate by 14 ayes, 5 noes, and the Assembly by
45 ayes, 5 noes. A few weeks later it was discovered that the word
"or" appeared in the printed resolution instead of "and," making it
necessary to have a new one introduced, which went through by the same
vote.
The New Jersey law in regard to constitutional amendments provides
that after being submitted by one Legislature they must be advertised
in every county for three months prior to the next election, acted
upon favorably by the succeeding Legislature and then voted on at a
special election, the date of which it decides. After the passage of
the referendum resolution in 1913 the Legislative Committee took up
with the Secretary of State the matter of advertising and were assured
that it would be attended to and they could go home and "forget it,"
which they trustingly did. When no advertisements appeared members of
the committee hurried to Trenton and learned that Governor James F.
Fielder was responsible. His excuse was that his secretary had mislaid
the resolution and forgotten to remind him of it.
1914. The resolution was introduced in January by Senator Charles M.
Egan and Assemblyman Joseph M. Branegan, both of Hudson county. It
passed the Senate by 15 ayes, 3 noes, and the Assembly by 49 ayes, 4
noes.
1915. The advertising was properly done for this year and the
resolution came up for second passage in January, introduced by
Senator Blanchard H. White and Assemblyman Robert Peacock, both of
Burlington county. A hearing was held January 25, Mrs. Philip McKim
Garrison chairman and speakers Dr. Shaw, E. G. C. Bleakley, city
counsel of Camden; Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Feickert. The Senate passed
the resolution by 17 ayes, 4 noes, and the Assembly by unanimous vote.
1916. A bill for Presidential suffrage for women was introduced by
Senator Charles O'Connor Hennessy of Bergen county and was lost by a
vote of 10 noes, 3 ayes--Senators Hennessy, Austen Colgate of Essex
county and Carlton B. Pierce of Union county. No effort was made to
press the bill in the Assembly.
1917. Another bill for Presidential suffrage was introduced by Senator
Edmund B. Osborne of Essex county and Assemblyman Roy M. Robinson of
Bergen. In both Houses the presiding officers were strongly opposed to
woman suffrage and put the bill into unfavorable committees, who
refused to report it for action. A hearing was held with Mrs. Robert
S. Huse chairman and Mrs. Antoinette Funk the chief speaker. Finally
by using what is known as the "rule of fifteen," in the Assembly its
friends got the bill out of committee on March 15 but with an
unfavorable report. Majority leader Oliphant moved that the House
concur and Speaker Edward Schoen of Essex county ruled that the motion
was carried. Many members demanded a roll call but the Speaker paid no
attention to them. Pandemonium reigned, members shouting and banging
their desks until finally he declared a recess and fled to his private
room.
1918. It was hoped that the Federal Amendment would be submitted in
the spring and it was decided not to complicate ratification by
introducing a Presidential suffrage bill. In February a bill providing
that the Legislature should not act on the ratification of Federal
Amendments until after they had been referred to the voters was
introduced by Assemblyman Arthur N. Pierson of Union county. It was
designed especially to prevent action on the Prohibition Amendment but
would also apply to the one for woman suffrage. The Legislative
Committee went at once to Trenton, where the Anti-Saloon workers were
already busy. Sufficient force was brought to keep the bill in
committee for three weeks, at the end of which time 46 votes were
pledged against it and it was killed in committee at the request of
its introducer. In 1919 a similar bill was introduced by Assemblyman
David Young of Morris county but the suffragists made so strong a
demonstration against it that it was killed in committee.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Mary D. Hussey,
a founder of the State Woman Suffrage Association in 1890 and
continuously an officer for the next twenty years.
[119] Afterwards Mr. Riley became president and Arthur B. Jones,
secretary. Among the League's prominent members were the Hon. Everett
Colby, Governor John Franklin Fort, J. A. H. Hopkins, Jesse Lynch
Williams, Charles O'Connor Hennessy, the Hon. John W. Westcott, the
Rev. Dr. Arthur E. Ballard, the Rev. Edgar S. Weirs, Colonel George
Harvey, the Hon. Edmond B. Osbourne, the Hon. Ernest R. Ackerman,
Emerson P. Harris, Richard Stevens, the Hon. James C. Connally and
Mayor Victor Mavalag of Elizabeth. They passed resolutions
"reaffirming their sympathy with the great world movement for woman
suffrage"; "heartily approved" of the Federal Amendment; pledged their
"untiring support" of the State referendum; spoke at legislative
hearings; raised money; addressed meetings; appointed a State
committee of 63 members which met monthly; appointed a committee with
George M. Strobell, chairman, that marched in the parade in Newark,
Oct. 25, 1913; held a mass meeting in Elizabeth at which Mayor George
L. LaMonte and Mrs. Forbes-Robertson Hale spoke, and helped in many
ways.
[120] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lillian F.
Feickert, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association 1912-1920.
CHAPTER XXX.
NEW MEXICO.[121]
As the railroads were few and automobiles almost unknown in New Mexico
in the first decade of the present century, and as the distances were
great and cities and towns widely separated, there was no attempt to
organize for woman suffrage. In 1910 the Women's Clubs were called in
convention at Las Cruces through the efforts of Mrs. George W.
Frenger, secretary of the General Federation, and Mrs. Philip North
Moore, then its president, was in attendance. A State Federation was
formed with Mrs. S. P. Johnson of Palomas Springs, president; Mrs. Sam
J. Nixon of Portales secretary, and several department chairmen were
named, Mrs. W. E. Lindsey being chosen for the Legislative Department.
This department through its bold stand for woman suffrage and better
laws for women and children easily became the foremost factor in the
federation. At each yearly convention one evening was given to the
discussion of the benefits which women would receive from the
suffrage. Almost before it was realized suffrage had become popular
with both men and women. The delegates carried the messages from the
State conventions to their own clubs; suffrage discussions became the
regular program for one meeting each year in almost every club and
generally made converts of those taking the opposition. Women began
searching the statutes and questioning their attorneys and husbands in
regard to laws. Their interest became such that no Legislature during
the federation's existence has proposed any law derogatory to the
rights of women and children, but when attention has been called to
unfair laws, some of them have been replaced by better ones.
Under direction of the executive board of the federation this
department sent out questionnaires to all of the State candidates for
office in 1916 as to whether they would work for placing women on the
State boards and use their influence to bring the Federal Amendment to
a successful vote in the United States Senate and House. Their members
were also interrogated as to whether they would work and vote for it.
Therefore the Legislative Department of the Federated Clubs really did
the work that any suffrage organization would do and had the backing
of the women of the State in general. Suffrage was unanimously
endorsed in the convention of the federation at Silver City in 1914.
It is to the credit of the work of the Federated Clubs in the State
that its members of Congress, with one exception, have needed no
lobbying from suffrage forces in Washington. Senator Andrieus A.
Jones, as chairman of the Suffrage Committee, made the submission of
the amendment possible in the present Congress by his systematic and
forceful course in the last one.
Mrs. Lindsey remained chairman of this department six years. In 1913
she was appointed State chairman for the National American Woman
Suffrage Association by its president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw. In 1914
the suffragists had a "float" in the parade at the State fair in
Albuquerque. In May, 1916, the National Association under the
presidency of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, sent one of its organizers,
Miss Lola Walker of Pittsburgh, for ten days to look over the
situation and she visited Albuquerque, Santa Fé, Portales and Las
Vegas. In the last place she spoke before the Woman's Club with about
eighty present and at the close of her talk a vote was taken which
stood unanimous for suffrage. At Portales a society was formed and a
large evening reception was held to which both men and women were
invited. Miss Walker gave a very interesting résumé of woman suffrage
which aroused much interest. An appeal was sent to the National
Association to return her for a fall campaign to organize the State as
an auxiliary. She went to Maine, however, and Miss Gertrude Watkins of
Little Rock was sent to New Mexico in January, 1917. She visited the
eastern and central parts of the State organizing leagues in most of
the towns. In Santa Fé one was formed of about thirty members with
Mrs. Paul A. F. Walter president; Mrs. R. W. Twitchell secretary, and
Mrs. Ellen J. Palen treasurer.
The Congressional Union also sent an organizer into the State in 1916,
Mrs. Thompson, who spent some time in Santa Fé, Albuquerque and Las
Vegas. The Santa Fé women were sufficiently aroused to hold a street
parade and march to the home of U. S. Senator Catron, an opponent,
where they gathered on the lawn and made speeches to convince the aged
Senator of the wishes of the women as to his conduct in the Senate.
Mrs. Joshua Reynolds was made State chairman of the Congressional
Union and afterwards Mrs. Nina Otero Warren, and Mrs. A. A. Kellan was
legislative chairman, all of Albuquerque. Miss Mabel Vernon came from
Washington to hold meetings that year and Miss Anne Martin in 1917,
and active work was done.
Washington E. Lindsey was Governor in 1917-18, and in November, 1918,
all the suffrage forces in Albuquerque and Santa Fé were invited by
Mrs. Lindsey to meet at the Executive Mansion and form a committee to
work for suffrage at the coming session of the Legislature. This
meeting elected the following officers: Mrs. R. P. Barnes chairman;
Mrs. A. B. Stroup secretary; Mrs. Warren legislative chairman; Mrs.
John W. Wilson party platform chairman; Mrs. Walter congressional
chairman. This committee did good work for suffrage in both the
regular and special sessions.
In December, 1919, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and her party of speakers
for the ratification of the Federal Amendment came to Albuquerque for
the last of several western State conferences. It was arranged by Mrs.
Barnes and was carried out with great success. Mrs. Catt spoke at a
large luncheon held in the Y. M. C. A. building, which many of the
Judges, newspaper representatives and other prominent men and women
attended. On account of the great distances few except from
Albuquerque and Santa Fé were present but Mrs. Catt's appeal was
carried from one end of the State to the other through the public
press and created an atmosphere of hope. This was changed to rejoicing
as word came that Governor Octaviano A. Larrazolo would call a special
session of the Legislature for the ratification.
RATIFICATION. When the time came the Legislature had adjourned and
would not meet again until 1921, so a special session would be
necessary if it ratified before the presidential election. The
opponents concentrated their forces to prevent it and were successful
until 1920 but finally were obliged to yield and Governor Larrazolo
called the special session for February 16. When it met there was a
determined effort by one member, Dan Padillo of Albuquerque, to have a
referendum to the voters of the State. All the city was up in
arms--men's organizations, the Y. W. C. A., the W. C. T. U., the
Woman's Committee, the Woman's Party, individual men and women--until
at last he declared that he would vote for the immediate ratification.
The vote in the Senate February 18 was 17 ayes, 8 Republicans, 9
Democrats; 5 noes, all Republicans--Gallegos, Mirabel, Lucero
(Emiliano), Salazar and Sanchez. The vote in the House February 19 was
36 ayes, 23 Republicans, 13 Democrats; 10 noes, 8 Republicans, 2
Democrats.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. Beginning with 1915 the Federation of Women's
Clubs was able to secure some legislation favorable to women and
children. In 1916 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, through its
president, Mrs. Harriet L. Henderson, had a Prohibition Amendment
endorsed by the State Republican platform which the Legislature
submitted to the electors in November, 1917. Both parties, all women's
organizations and everybody of influence from the Governor down worked
with zeal for its passage. Miss Anna A. Gordon, national president of
the W. C. T. U., came to the State in October and was a guest at the
convention of the Federated Clubs in Gallup, which voted unanimously
to give all the time until the election to work for its success, and
parades and much individual effort followed. Women went to the polls
with their lists of voters, checking them off as they came and then
going for those who had not voted. It was carried by 20,000 majority,
the largest percentage vote ever given by any State for prohibition.
As the State constitution rendered it impossible to carry an amendment
for woman suffrage the women made no attempt to have the Legislature
submit one, but in 1917 some of the Representatives brought an
amendment resolution before the House, which promptly killed it. As
the State conventions of both political parties this year had declared
in favor of woman suffrage, the committee appointed at the meeting in
the Governor's mansion asked for the Presidential and Municipal
franchise, which the Legislature had power to grant without a
referendum to the voters. They made a spirited campaign with all the
assistance that Governor Lindsey could give and the suffrage societies
throughout the State poured in letters upon the legislators. The vote
in the Senate was 9 ayes, 14 noes. Before it was taken in the House a
conference was held in the office of the Governor at the Capitol
attended by the following workers for the bill: Senator Isaac Barth,
National Committeeman; Charles A. Spiess, Holm O. Bursum, Supreme
Justice Clarence J. Roberts, Charles Springer, Mrs. Kellam, Mrs.
Walter, Mrs. Hughey, chairman of the State suffrage legislative
committee; Mrs. Kate Hall, president of the Santa Fé branch of the
Congressional Union; Mrs. N. B. Laughlin and Mrs. Lindsey.
The leaders of the two political parties admitted that they could not
control their legislators and tried to hold the Spanish-Americans
responsible. The House voted on the bill March 7, after a loud,
disorderly and acrimonious debate, 26 noes, 21 ayes. The Speaker
afterwards explained his affirmative vote by saying that he thought it
was to submit the question to the electors! Of the 29 Republican
members 10 voted for the bill; of the 18 Democratic members, 11 voted
for it.
SUFFRAGE. The convention to prepare a constitution for statehood,
which met in 1910, was the battle ground for School suffrage for
women. The question was very seriously debated in the Elective
Franchise Committee, which many times voted it down only to renew it
upon appeal to do so. Mrs. S. F. Culberson, then county school
superintendent in Roosevelt county, argued the matter before the
committee, and its chairman, Nestor Montoya, cast the deciding vote
for it to come before the convention. Both Democrats and Republicans
rallied to its support but José D. Sena, Clerk of the Supreme Court, a
member of the convention, strenuously opposed it and finally carried
it back to be caucused upon by the Republican majority. After a stormy
caucus it was returned to the convention and passed. The president of
the convention, Charles A. Spiess, spoke urgently in Committee of the
Whole to save women's eligibility to the county superintendency from
being eliminated. The clause gave women the right to vote for school
trustees, on the issuing of bonds and in the local administration of
public schools but not for county or State superintendents. It
provided that "if a majority of the qualified voters of any school
district shall, not less than thirty days before any school election,
present a petition to the county commissioners against woman suffrage
in that district it shall be suspended and only renewed by a petition
of the majority!"
No effort could obtain any larger extension of the franchise to women
but the new State constitution gave universal suffrage to men and
carefully protected the right to vote of those who could not speak,
read or write either the English or Spanish language. It then provided
that the suffrage clause could only be amended by having the amendment
submitted by a vote of three-fourths of each House of the Legislature.
In order to be carried, it must have a three-fourths majority of the
highest number voting at a State election and a two-thirds majority of
the highest number voting in every county. This was expressly designed
to prevent woman suffrage and it destroyed all possibility of it until
conferred by a Federal Amendment.
Among the women who worked for woman suffrage in addition to those
mentioned in the chapter were Mesdames Margaret Cartright, S. F.
Culberson, George W. Carr, Josie Lockard, J. R. Kinyon, H. F. LaBelle,
N. J. Strumquist, Margaret Medler, William J. Barker, Lansing Bloom,
C. E. Mason, R. P. Donahoe, Ruth Skeen, John W. Wilson, S. C. Nutter,
Catherine Patterson, Minnie Byrd, Howard Huey, Alfred Grunsfeld, Edgar
L. Hewett, I. H. Elliot and I. H. Rapp.
As all women were fully enfranchised by the Federal Amendment a State
branch of the National League of Women Voters was formed with Mrs.
Gerald Cassidy as chairman.
FOOTNOTES:
[121] The History is indebted for this chapter to Deane H. (Mrs.
Washington E.) Lindsey, State chairman of the National Woman Suffrage
Association.
CHAPTER XXXI.
NEW YORK.[122]
New York was the cradle of the movement for woman suffrage not only in
this State but in the world, for here in 1848 was held the first
Women's Rights Convention in all history. Except during the Civil War
there was no year after 1850 when one or more such conventions did not
take place until 1920, when all the women of the United States were
enfranchised by an amendment to the National Constitution. This State
was the home of the two great leaders for half a century--Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The first appeal ever made to a
Legislature for woman suffrage was made by these two women in 1854 and
there was never a year afterwards when this appeal was not made by the
women of New York except during the Civil War. The State Woman
Suffrage Association was organized in 1869 and its work never ceased.
Notwithstanding this record no suffrage for women had ever been
obtained in this State, except a fragment of a School franchise for
those in villages and country districts, up to 1901, when this chapter
begins.
The cause had gradually gained in strength, however, and a factor
which had strong influence was the splendid cooperation of many other
organizations. The president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
often spoke at the suffrage conventions and legislative hearings and
the superintendent of franchise, Dr. Lavinia R. Davis, sent out
thousands of suffrage leaflets and appeals to the women of the local
unions every year. The State Grange, with its membership approaching
100,000, passed favorable resolutions many times and gave the
president and vice-president of the suffrage association, who were
members, opportunities to speak at its meetings. The State Federation
of Labor granted the vice-president time for an address at its
convention in Troy as early as 1908 and thereafter endorsed the
suffrage bills and sent speakers to the hearings on them. Women from
labor unions spoke at conventions of the State Suffrage Association,
which had a Committee on Industrial Work. The Western New York
Federation of Women's Clubs, under the leadership of Mrs. Nettie
Rogers Shuler of Buffalo, its president, was the first federation to
admit suffrage clubs and a suffrage resolution was passed at its
convention in 1909, at which time it had 35,000 members.
The annual conventions of the State association always were held in
October. The thirty-third in the long series met at Oswego in the
Presbyterian Church in 1901 and was welcomed by Mayor A. M. Hall.
Addresses were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association; Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, its vice-president-at-large; Alice Stone Blackwell, its
recording secretary; Harriet May Mills and Julie R. Jenney of
Syracuse. A memorial service was held for one of the pioneers,
Charlotte A. Cleveland of Wyoming county, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf,
former State president, and Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, vice-president,
offering testimonials of her ability and helpfulness. She left the
association a legacy of $2,000, the first it ever had received. Mrs.
Mariana W. Chapman, president since 1896, was re-elected.
The convention of 1902 was held in Buffalo at the Church of the
Messiah. The wife of the Mayor, Erastus Knight, represented him in
giving a welcome from the city. Owing to the illness of Mrs. Chapman,
Mrs. Crossett presided. She was elected president, after having served
four years as vice-president. Miss Mills was chosen for that office
and they served for the next eight years.
[Illustration: THE SUSAN B. ANTHONY MEMORIAL BUILDING
At Rochester (N. Y.) University.]
In 1903 the convention was held in the Presbyterial Church at
Hornellsville welcomed by Mayor C. F. Nelson and the Rev. Charles
Petty, pastor of the church. Mrs. Crossett responded and gave her
annual address, which showed much activity during the year. Miss
Mills, chairman of the State organization committee, said that she had
arranged for fifty-five meetings. Dr. Shaw had spoken in thirty
different counties, the president or vice-president accompanying her
and organizing clubs at many places. The chairmen of the standing
committees--Organization, Press, Legislative, Industries, Work Among
Children, Enrollment, School Suffrage--and also the county presidents
reported effective work. The addresses of Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw and
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, were highly appreciated
by large audiences. During the summer of 1903, as in many others, Miss
Anthony and Dr. Shaw attracted large gatherings at the Chautauqua and
Lily Dale Assemblies.
The convention of 1904 met at Auburn. Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne,
daughter of Martha Wright and niece of Lucretia Mott, two of those who
had called the first Woman's Rights Convention, entertained the
officers and many chairmen in the annex of the hotel, a stenographer,
typewriter and every convenience being placed at their disposal. In
her own home she had as guests Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw, Mrs. William
Lloyd Garrison (her sister), Emily Howland, Mrs. William C. Gannett,
Lucy E. Anthony and others. One evening her spacious house was thrown
open for the people of the city to meet the noted suffragists. The
convention was held in Music Hall, a gift of Mrs. Osborne to the city,
and her son, Thomas Mott Osborne, welcomed it as Mayor.
The old Political Equality Club of Rochester, of which Miss Mary S.
Anthony was president for many years, invited the convention for 1905.
To go to the home city of the Anthony sisters was indeed a pleasure.
They opened their house one afternoon for all who desired to take a
cup of tea with them. It was crowded and many expressed themselves as
feeling that they were on a sacred spot. A large number went to the
third story to see the rooms where Mrs. Ida Husted Harper spent
several years with Miss Anthony writing her biography and Volume IV of
the History of Woman Suffrage. A reception was given at Powers Hotel
attended by over 600 people. During the meetings Miss Anthony
introduced a number of women who had attended the first Woman's Rights
Convention, which adjourned from Seneca Falls to Rochester, Mary
Hallowell, Sarah Willis, Mary S. Anthony and Maria Wilder Depuy.
The convention was held in the Universalist Church. Mayor James G.
Cutler, who welcomed the delegates, spoke very highly of his "esteemed
fellow citizen, Susan B. Anthony" and presented her with a large
bouquet of American Beauty roses. Mrs. Crossett in her annual address
compared the convention held at Rochester in 1890, when there were but
seven local clubs in the State, with this one representing 100 local
and 31 county clubs. Elnora M. Babcock, press chairman, reported 500
papers in the State using articles favorable to woman suffrage.
The convention for 1906 met at Syracuse in the (Samuel J.) May
Memorial Church. Miss Anthony had passed away the preceding March.
Over the entrance door of the church was a large banner with the last
words of the beloved leader, "Failure is Impossible." The afternoon
meeting closed with tributes of reverence and appreciation by Mrs.
Osborne, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Marie Jenney Howe, Mrs. Crossett, Miss
Mills and Dr. Shaw. Large audiences gathered for the evening meetings,
among the speakers being Mrs. Florence Kelley, Mrs. Henry Villard and
Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery. Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Avery spoke in the
University Chapel to the students.
The convention of 1907, which met in Geneva, received a warm welcome;
stores displayed the suffrage colors in their windows and many
citizens hung flags over their doorways. The gracious presence of Mrs.
Elizabeth Smith Miller and her daughter Anne, president of the Geneva
Political Equality Club, the largest in the State, made the convention
especially memorable. The delegates were invited to Lochland, the
Miller home on the lake, one afternoon where a memorial service was
held on the big porch, the place of many suffrage meetings, in memory
of Mary S. Anthony, who had died the preceding February. Affectionate
tributes were paid.[123] The convention was welcomed by Mayor Arthur
P. Rose, City Attorney W. Smith O'Brien, Miss Miller and Mrs.
Charlotte A. Baldridge, county president. Speakers were President
Langdon C. Stewardson of Hobart College and Professors F. P. Nash and
Nathaniel Schmidt of Cornell University.
The 40th State convention was held in 1908 in Buffalo, whose suffrage
club invited the National American Association to hold its convention
there the same week, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first
Woman's Rights Convention. For eight years Mrs. Richard Williams,
president of the club, had carried on the work in this city and had
built up an excellent organization. Mrs. George Howard Lewis and Mrs.
Dexter P. Rumsey were valuable members. Mrs. Lewis gave $10,000 to Dr.
Shaw for suffrage work. The State convention, which met two days
before the National, voted to have headquarters at Albany during the
legislative session. It also voted to continue the State headquarters
in Syracuse. Dr. Shaw had presented the suffrage question at the State
Federation of Women's Clubs; Miss Mills had addressed the World's
Temperance Congress; members had spoken before the resolution
committees of the political State conventions and before many
different organizations, institutions, etc. On May 26, 27, Mrs.
Stanton Blatch had arranged a meeting in Seneca Falls to commemorate
the 60th Anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention, called by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and that noble band of women in 1848. Addresses
were made by their descendants and a number of the pioneer suffragists
and a bronze tablet was placed on the Wesleyan Methodist Church, where
the convention was held.
This year Mrs. Clarence Mackay became interested in the work for woman
suffrage and organized in New York an Equal Franchise League of which
she was president, with headquarters in the Metropolitan Tower. She
opened her house for lectures, interested a great many prominent and
influential people and also arranged a course of public lectures in
one of the theaters, which attracted large audiences. The papers gave
columns of space to her efforts and the movement received a great
impetus.
It had always been Miss Anthony's strong desire to have headquarters
in this large center from which news of all kinds was sent to the four
quarters of the globe. She realized the vast numbers of people who
could be reached and the great prestige which would be given to the
movement but even with her wonderful ability for getting money she
never could secure anywhere near enough to carry out this plan in the
city where everything must be done on a large scale to be successful.
The longed-for opportunity did not come in her lifetime but in 1909
Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont decided to take an active part in the work
for woman suffrage and inquired of the leaders what was the most
important thing to be done. They answered quickly: "Establish State
headquarters in New York City and also bring the National headquarters
here." With the executive ability for which she was noted Mrs. Belmont
at once rented the entire floor of a big new office building at 505
Fifth Avenue, corner of 42nd Street, and invited both associations to
take headquarters there for two years. They did so and the movement
received a strong impulse not only in New York but in the country at
large. The State association paid no rent and the national press
bureau was maintained by Mrs. Belmont.
While in New York City women of the highest character and ability had
sponsored the suffrage work it had not attracted the women who could
give it financial support. When Mrs. Mackay and Mrs. Belmont
identified themselves with it, opened their homes for lectures and
interested their friends public attention was aroused. The meetings
given in August by Mrs. Belmont at Marble House, Newport, which never
before had been opened to the public, received an immense amount of
space in the New York papers and those outside. The big headquarters
soon were thronged with women; magazines, syndicates and the daily
press had articles and pictures; mass meetings and parades followed
and thousands of women entered the suffrage ranks. At the end of two
years the State association was sufficiently well financed to maintain
its headquarters, which remained in New York until its work was
finished. Mrs. Belmont never lost her interest in the cause and
continued to make large contributions. In a few years Mrs. Mackay
turned her attention to other matters but her society was continued
under the presidency of Mrs. Howard Mansfield. In 1909, under the
direction of Mrs. Catt, its chairman, the Inter-Urban Council of
twenty societies became the Woman Suffrage Party and organization
along the lines of the political parties was begun.
The delegates came to the State convention at Troy in 1909 with high
hopes that with headquarters established in New York City the suffrage
work could be promoted as never before. It was held in the Y. M. C. A.
building and greeted by representatives of the Emma Willard
Association, City Federation of Women's Clubs, Daughters of the
American Revolution and Teachers' Association. Mayor E. P. Mann
extended an official welcome. Among the speakers was Professor Frances
Squire Potter, national corresponding secretary. Mrs. William M. Ivins
gave her impression of the suffrage movement in England and Miss
Carolyn Crossett spoke on the meeting of the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance in London, which she attended with Dr. Shaw. Not
since the constitutional convention in 1894 had so much work been
reported. The State president or vice-president had attended meetings
in 41 counties. All-day meetings were held in all the cities on the
Hudson River with excellent speakers, including Dr. Shaw. The
president, vice-president and corresponding secretary, Miss Alice
Williams, remained at Albany for three months, speaking and working in
the towns in the eastern part of the State. Three large
Self-Supporting Women's Suffrage Leagues joined the association.
In 1910 both the State association and the Woman Suffrage Party wrote
Chairman Timothy Woodruff of the Republican and Chairman John A. Dix
of the Democratic State Committees requesting a hearing at the
conventions. They were politely referred to the Resolutions
Committees. They went to the Republican convention at Saratoga
Springs, carrying their literature and the printed resolution which
they wished the committee to put in the platform: "We believe that the
question of woman suffrage has reached such a degree of importance
that the Legislature should submit an amendment for it to the voters
of the State." The committee allowed ten minutes; Mrs. Crossett
presided and presented Mrs. Mary Wood, national organizer of the
Republican women; Miss Mary Garrett Hay, a leader of the New York
Woman Suffrage Party and other able speakers but no attention was paid
to their request. This program was repeated at the Democratic
convention in Rochester with the same result, and this had been the
experience for years. At this time candidates all over the State were
being interviewed and women went to many county and city political
conventions asking for endorsement of equal suffrage, seldom with
success, although the politicians admitted that the time for acting
was not far off.
The convention met at Niagara Falls in October, 1910, in the
auditorium of the Shredded Wheat Biscuit Company, and was welcomed by
Mayor Peter Porter. Mrs. Crossett responded and gave her annual
address, which, she said, would be her last as president. Her home was
in Warsaw in the western part of the State and when headquarters in
New York City were given to the association she promised to make that
her home for one year but could not do so longer. Over 1,000 persons
had registered at the headquarters, she said, but these probably were
not over one-third of those who called. Most of them came for speakers
or help in some way; others came to volunteer assistance. Meetings had
been held in nearly every unorganized county and there were 37 county
societies. There were 155 clubs in the association, which had begun to
make the assembly district the unit in the State, as Mrs. Catt had
done in New York City. These clubs had held 695 public and 1,614 local
meetings. The State board had arranged for 241 public meetings making
2,550. The association had now a membership of 58,000.
Mrs. Belmont, who had rooms on the same floor with the State and
national associations, had formed eight clubs and given some of them
headquarters. The city had headquarters and altogether there were ten.
A Men's League had been organized. A Cooperative Service Club of over
100 business women was formed and met evenings at the State
headquarters. The association sponsored the work of securing names to
the National petition to Congress and they were tabulated at
headquarters. Greater New York women secured 24,114 names and there
were 72,086 signers in the State. A lecture bureau was established;
Miss Carolyn Crossett went over the State arranging meetings; Miss
Mills spoke in 28 counties. Dr. B. O. Aylesworth of Colorado
University was spending the summer in New York and gave over twenty
lectures for the association before clubs and public meetings. It
seemed as if every woman's club in New York City asked for speakers
and many of note were supplied. The association had published
thousands of pieces of literature and used thousands prepared by the
National.
It was in this flourishing condition that the State association passed
from the hands of Mrs. Crossett into those of her successor, Miss
Harriet May Mills, who had served with her as vice-president
throughout the preceding eight years. The other officers during this
period were Mrs. Shuler, Mary T. Sanford, Ada M. Hall, Ida A. Craft,
Isabel Howland, Alice Williams, Anna E. Merritt, Georgiana Potter,
Nicolas Shaw Fraser, Mrs. Ivins, Eliza Wright Osborne, Mariana W.
Chapman and Mrs. Villard. The lack of space prevents naming the
hundreds of women who gave unceasing service through these years when
faith and courage were required and there were no victories as a
reward. In all the cities of the State the local women arranged
courses of lectures with prominent speakers and kept suffrage
continually before the people through the press and in other ways. By
this quiet, persistent work of comparatively few women the foundation
was laid for the majorities in the many "up-State" counties when the
amendment came to a vote.
1910-1913.[124]
At the annual convention of the State Association held in Niagara
Falls, Oct. 18-21, 1910, the following officers were chosen:
President, Miss Mills; vice-president, Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore,
Yonkers; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Roxana B. Burrows, Andover;
recording secretary, Mrs. Nicolas Shaw Fraser, Geneseo; treasurer,
Mrs. Ivins, New York; auditors, Mrs. Osborne, Auburn, Mrs. Villard,
New York. During the three following years there were but few
changes.[125]
The convention of 1911 met in Ithaca; that of 1912 in Utica and that
of 1913 in Binghamton. This period was one of great activity, leading
to the submission of an amendment to the State constitution by the
Legislature in January, 1913, the object of the association for over
forty years. Its paying membership had steadily increased from 5,252
in October, 1910 to 8,139 in October, 1913, with over 50,000 enrolled
members in addition. New York was thus enabled to continue its record
of having the largest delegation each year in the national convention.
The receipts from membership were respectively $8,182, $11,836 and
$14,230, the gains in membership and money amounting to about 60 per
cent. The enrolled membership was finally adopted in place of the paid
individual membership through suffrage clubs. For fourteen years the
association maintained the _News Letter_, edited for ten years by Miss
Mills and afterwards by Mrs. Minnie Reynolds and Miss Cora E. Morlan
successively.
One part of the work which helped build up the association was the
great campaigns through the summers of 1911-12, covering the eastern,
northern and western counties and Long Island. Over 200 of these
open-air rallies were held and thousands of enrolled members as well
as new clubs and workers were secured. At the large Delhi meeting,
held as an exception in the opera house, Mrs. Henry White Cannon came
into the ranks, formed a strong organization and continued to be one
of the valued leaders. Mrs. Gertrude Nelson Andrews for two years
conducted classes in public speaking and knowledge of suffrage
principles at the New York headquarters. She also went out into the
State, rousing the women to the need of training themselves and others
to speak for the cause and prepared a valuable book for her students.
In 1911 the State headquarters were moved into a beautiful old mansion
at 180 Madison Avenue, just south of 34th Street in the heart of the
shopping district, where they remained during 1912-13. Through the
generosity of Mrs. Frances Lang, of whom they were leased, a
comparatively low rent was paid. The new quarters were opened with a
brilliant house-warming and in February a big State bazar and fair
were held to raise funds. The preceding year the association
celebrated Miss Anthony's birthday with a bazar in the roof garden of
the Hotel Astor, with articles contributed from all parts of the State
and several thousand dollars were realized. Never was this anniversary
on February 15 allowed to pass without a special observance. In 1913
it was celebrated by a reception at the Hotel Astor with speeches by
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Ida Husted
Harper, Miss Anthony's biographer, and others. A bust of the great
leader was unveiled by the sculptor, Mrs. Adelaide Johnson.
Contributions of $2,500 were made.
In May the State association united with all the suffrage societies of
New York (except the Women's Political Union, Mrs. Harriot Stanton
Blatch, president, which did not wish to take part), in a meeting and
pageant at the Metropolitan Opera House arranged by Mrs. Mansfield.
Former President Theodore Roosevelt and Dr. Shaw made notable
addresses to an enthusiastic audience which crowded the vast
amphitheater and the great prima donna, Madame Nordica, a strong
advocate of woman suffrage, sang magnificently. The pageant was
beautiful and was accompanied by an orchestra composed entirely of
women led by David Mannes. The association cooperated in a number of
big parades during these years, representatives coming from societies
throughout the State and from neighboring States. On the last Saturday
in May, 1910, there was a night procession down Fifth Avenue with Mrs.
James Lees Laidlaw as the efficient chairman of arrangements. One on
the first Saturday in May, 1911, will ever be remembered, all the
thousands of women dressed in white, headed by Mrs. C. O. Mailloux and
Miss Carolyn Fleming carrying the flag of the State association, white
satin with a heavy gold fringe and a golden wreath of laurel in the
center with the name and date of organization. The fund for it was
collected by Mrs. Ivins, the State treasurer, who gave so generously
of her money, time, thought and effort to strengthen the association
through the years of her service. At the head of the great parade the
first Saturday in May, 1912, marched the handsome and stately Mrs.
Herbert Carpenter, carrying the Stars and Stripes. Miss Portia Willis
as grand marshal, robed in white and mounted on a white horse, made a
picture never to be forgotten. These two led several processions. The
pioneers rode in handsomely decorated carriages. In these processions
tens of thousands of women were in line and they marched with many
bands from Washington Square to Central Park, a distance of several
miles. Delegates from Men's Suffrage Leagues walked with them. Half a
million people lined the streets, orderly and respectful.
In 1912 representatives of the association attended the State
conventions of all the parties and extended hearings were granted by
the Resolutions Committees. Their treatment was in great contrast to
that of earlier days when they could scarcely obtain five or ten
minutes before a committee. This year every party declared for woman
suffrage in its platform. It was a gratification to sit in the great
convention hall at Saratoga and hear the Hon. Horace White of
Syracuse, who throughout his long years in the State Senate had
constantly opposed the amendment, report in his capacity as chairman
of the Resolutions Committee that the Republican party favored a
speedy referendum on woman suffrage. Many dramatic features of
propaganda characterized these years, which marked the awakening of
the women of the entire State and brought into the ranks many
wide-awake, independent young women, who wanted to use aggressive and
spectacular methods, and these the older workers did not discourage.
Those that attracted the most attention were the suffrage "hikes," in
which Miss Rosalie Jones, a girl of wealth and position, was the
leading spirit. She sent a picturesque account of these "hikes," which
has had to be condensed for lack of space.
The idea originated with Rosalie Gardiner Jones, who began by
making a tour of Long Island, her summer home, in a little cart
drawn by one horse and decorated with suffrage flags and banners,
stopping at every village and town, giving out literature and
talking to the crowds that gathered. "If you once win the hearts
of the rural people you have them forever. That is why I decided
to organize a pilgrimage from New York City to Albany before the
opening of the legislative session, when it was hoped a woman
suffrage amendment would be submitted to the voters," she said.
Miss Jones recruited a small army of brave and devoted members,
of which she was the "General" and Miss Ida Craft of Brooklyn the
"Colonel" and the three others who walked every step to the end
of the journey were Miss Lavinia Dock--"little Doc Dock"--a
trained nurse, department editor of the _American Journal of
Nursing_ and author of The History of Nursing; Miss Sybil Wilbur
of Boston, biographer of Mary Baker Eddy, and Miss Katharine
Stiles of Brooklyn. They carried a message to Governor William
Sulzer expressing the earnest hope that his administration might
be distinguished by the speedy passage of the woman suffrage
amendment, signed by the presidents of the various New York
suffrage organizations, engraved on parchment and hand illumined
by Miss Jones. The "hike" began Monday morning, Dec. 16, 1912,
from the 242nd street subway station, where about 500 had
gathered, and about 200, including the newspaper correspondents,
started to walk.
From New York City to Albany there was left a trail of propaganda
among the many thousands of people who stopped at the cross roads
and villages to listen to the first word which had ever reached
them concerning woman suffrage, and many joined in and marched
for a few miles. The newspapers far and wide were filled with
pictures and stories. The march continued for thirteen days,
through sun and rain and snow over a distance of 170 miles,
including detours for special propaganda, and five pilgrims
walked into Albany at 4 p. m., December 28. Whistles blew, bells
rang, motor cars clanged their gongs, traffic paused, windows
were thrown up, stores and shops were deserted while Albany gazed
upon them, and large numbers escorted them to the steps of the
Capitol where they lifted their cry "Votes for Women." They were
received at the Executive Mansion on the 31st and "General
Rosalie" gave the message in behalf of the suffragists of New
York State. The newly-elected Governor answered: "All my life I
have believed in the right of women to exercise the franchise
with men as a matter of justice. I will do what I can to advance
their political rights and have already incorporated in my
Message advice to the legislators to pass the suffrage measure."
The "hike" had resulted in such tremendous advertising of woman
suffrage that another on a larger scale to Washington was
planned. "General" Jones and "Colonel" Craft were reinforced by
"little Corporal" Martha Klatschken of New York and a large
group, who were joined by others along the route. The "army" was
mustered in at the Hudson Terminal, New York, at 9 a. m. on
Lincoln's birthday, Feb. 12, 1913, and the start was made a
little later at Newark, N. J. Each marcher wore a picturesque
long brown woolen cape. The little yellow wagon with the good
horse "Meg," driven by Miss Elizabeth Freeman, was joined at
Philadelphia by Miss Marguerite Geist, with a little cart and
donkey, and she helped distribute the suffrage buttons, flags and
leaflets.
Thousands of people were gathered at Newark to see the start of
this "army of the Hudson," which now was known as the "army of
the Potomac," and hundreds marched with them the first day. After
this about a hundred fell in at each town and marched to the next
one. Alphonse Major and Edward Van Wyck were the advance agents
who arranged for the meetings and the stopping places for the
night. They were constantly attended by the press correspondents,
at one time forty-five of them with their cameras, besides the
magazine writers. The Mayors of the places along the route would
send delegations to meet them and escort them to the town hall,
where the speech-making would begin. At Wilmington, Del., the
city council declared a half-holiday; the Mayor and officials met
them at the edge of town and escorted them to the town hall,
which was crowded, and they were obliged also to hold street
meetings for hours. They reached Philadelphia at 7 o'clock Sunday
evening, where the streets had been packed for hours awaiting
them, and it was only by holding street corner meetings on the
way that they could get to the hotel.
The Princeton University students had been roaming around all the
afternoon waiting for them, as there were a number of young
college boys and girls with them, and the speakers held the crowd
of boys for several hours. The next day a delegation of students
walked with them for miles. At all of the other university towns
they were received with the same enthusiasm. At the University of
Pennsylvania they were detained hours for speeches in the
grounds. At Baltimore they were received by Cardinal Gibbons in
his mansion, an extraordinary courtesy, as they were not
Catholics.
The "hikers" reached Hyattsville, four miles from Washington, the
evening of February 27 and spent the night there. The next
morning, escorted by a delegation of suffragists from the city,
they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue. The streets had been
thronged for several hours with a cosmopolitan crowd, from the
highest to the lowest. At the headquarters of the Congressional
Committee of the National American Suffrage Association, across
from the Treasury building, "General" Jones was presented with
flowers and disbanded her army. Fourteen had walked the entire
distance from New York--295 miles with some detours--and two had
walked from Philadelphia.[126]
A message to President Taft, similar to the one which had been
sent by the New York officers to Governor Sulzer, had been
entrusted by the board of the National Suffrage Association to
the pilgrims, who expected to march in a body to the White House
to deliver it. Before they reached Washington they were notified
that the board itself would present it to the incoming President
Wilson at a later date. Miss Florence Allen, the well known Ohio
lawyer, who had been marching for several days, returned to New
York, to try to obtain the recall of this decision but was
unsuccessful. Afterwards the board informed "General" Jones that
they would go together to the White House but all had separated,
the psychological moment had passed and the message was never
presented.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The legislature of New York meets annually and
from 1854 to 1917 a woman suffrage measure was presented only to be
rejected, with two exceptions. The first was in 1880, when the
Legislature undertook to give women the right to vote at school
meetings, but the law was ineffective and this great privilege was
confined to women in villages and country districts. The charters of
a number of third class cities granted School suffrage to women and
some of them included the right to vote on special appropriations for
those who paid taxes. This was the situation at the beginning of the
century.[127]
1901. When Theodore Roosevelt was Governor he advised the suffragists
to drop the effort for a constitutional amendment awhile and work for
something the Legislature could grant without a referendum to the
voters. For five years, therefore, they tried to get some form of
partial suffrage that could be obtained without amending the
constitution. The total result was a law in 1901 giving to taxpaying
women in the towns and villages a vote on propositions to raise money
by special tax assessment, which was signed by Governor Benjamin F.
Odell. Miss Susan B. Anthony considered this of little value but it
covered about 1,800 places and when she saw the interest aroused in
the women by even this small concession she came to think that it was
worth while. In 1910 a legislative enactment increased this privilege
to a vote on the issuing of bonds.
During the legislative sessions of 1902-3-4-5 the effort was
concentrated on a bill to give a vote on special taxation to taxpaying
women in all third class cities--those having less than 50,000
inhabitants. Mrs. Mary H. Loines of Brooklyn was chairman of the
committee, as she had been since 1898. The special champions of the
bill were Senators Leslie B. Humphrey, H. S. Ambler, John Raines;
Representatives Otto Kelsey, George H. Smith, Louis C. Bedell, E. W.
Ham. Among the strongest opponents were Senators Edgar Truman
Brackett, George A. Davis, Thomas F. Grady and Nevada M. Stranahan.
Governors Odell and Frank M. Higgins recommended it and Speaker
Frederick S. Nixon urged it. Committee hearings were granted at every
session and among its advocates were Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
national president, Mrs. Crossett and Miss Harriet May Mills, State
president and vice-president; Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, Mrs.
Margaret Chanler Aldrich, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie and Miss Anne Fitzhugh
Miller. Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge, president of the Anti-Suffrage
Association, and Mrs. George Phillips, secretary, spoke in opposition.
During these four years neither House voted on the bill and it was
seldom reported by the committees.
In 1906 after consulting with Miss Anthony, the State leaders decided
to return to the original effort for the submission to the voters of
an amendment to the State constitution, which was presented by Senator
Henry W. Hill of Buffalo and Representative E. C. Dowling of Brooklyn.
Mrs. Henry Villard, Mrs. John K. Howe and Mrs. Helen Z. M. Rodgers
were among the suffrage speakers and Mrs. Winslow W. Crannell was
added to the "antis." No committee reports were made. The taxpayers'
bill was also presented in 1906 and 1907 with no results of six years'
work.
Thenceforth the resolution for the constitutional amendment was
introduced every year, in 1908 by Senator Percy Hooker of LeRoy. The
club women had now become interested and the legislators were deluged
with letters and literature. Miss Mary Garrett Hay, Miss Helen Varick
Boswell and Mrs. Harry Hastings headed the large delegation from New
York City for the hearing. Mrs. Crossett informed the Judiciary
Committee that during the past year woman suffrage had been officially
endorsed by the New York City Federation of Labor with 250,000
members; State Grange with 75,000; New York City Federation of Women's
Clubs with 35,000; Woman's Christian Temperance Union with 30,000 and
many other organizations. F. A. Byrne spoke for the City Central Labor
Union. Mrs. Francis M. Scott represented the Anti-Suffrage
Association. Morris Hilquit and Mrs. Meta Stern spoke independently
for the Socialists, making a strong appeal for the amendment. The
Senate took no action and Speaker James W. Wadsworth, Jr., was able to
defeat any consideration by the Lower House. During the following
summer mass meetings were held in every city on the Hudson River
addressed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, now president of the National
Suffrage Association, and other noted speakers and a vast amount of
work was done in the State.
In the Legislature of 1909 Senator Hill and Representative Frederick
R. Toombs introduced the resolution. At the hearing the Assembly
Chamber was filled to overflowing. Mrs. Villard, chairman of the
Legislative Committee, presided.[128] People stood four hours
listening to the speeches and returned to a suffrage mass meeting at
night. Mrs. William Force Scott and Miss Margaret Doane Gardner spoke
for the "antis." Mrs. Crossett asked of the committee: "Does it mean
nothing to you that 40,000 women in this State are organized to secure
the franchise; that a few years ago 600,000 people signed the petition
for woman suffrage to the constitutional convention; that associations
formed for other purposes representing hundreds of thousands of
members have endorsed it?" Mrs. Graham, president of the State W. C.
T. U.; Mrs. John Winters Brannan and Mrs. Pearce Bailey, representing
the Equal Franchise Society; Miss Mills, speaking for the State
League; Leonora O'Reilly, presenting the resolution of the Women's
Trade Union League of New York for the amendment; Mrs. Dexter F.
Rumsey, speaking for Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, president of the
Western New York Federation of Women's Clubs; Mrs. Lillie Devereux
Blake, a pioneer suffragist, president of the Legislative League; Mrs.
Florence Kelley, executive secretary of the Consumers' League; Mrs.
George Howard Lewis of Buffalo, a well known philanthropist; Mrs. Maud
Nathan, president of the New York Consumers' League; Mrs. Rodgers and
Mrs. Gabrielle Mulliner, lawyers--all urged the legislators to submit
the question to the voters. Dr. Shaw held the audience spellbound
until 6 o'clock. John Spargo, the well known socialist, spoke
independently with much power, demanding the vote especially for
working women. The use of the Assembly Chamber was granted for an
evening suffrage meeting which attracted a large audience. The
Legislature took no action.[129]
Members of the large legislative committee met weekly during the
session of 1910 at the State headquarters in New York to assist in
promoting the work. All the workers as usual contributed their
services. Mrs. Crossett and Miss Mills remained in Albany. A notable
meeting was held there at Harmanus-Bleecker Hall, with excellent
speakers. The boxes were filled with prominent women, who had invited
many of the State officials as guests; seats were sent to all the
members of the Legislature, most of whom were present, and the house
with a capacity of 2,000 was crowded. Mrs. Clarence Mackay defrayed
most of the expenses. On January 22 Governor Charles E. Hughes granted
a hearing to George Foster Peabody, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mrs. Ella
H. Boole, Mrs. Villard, Mrs. Crossett, Mrs. Frederick R. Hazard and
Miss Anne F. Miller, who urged him to recommend the submission of an
amendment. He seemed much impressed by the statements made but they
had no effect. The hearing on March 9 broke all records. The Assembly
Chamber was filled to the utmost and surging crowds outside tried to
get in. Members of both Houses stood for hours listening to the
speeches. Jesse R. Phillips, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary
Committee, presided. The suffrage speakers were headed by the eminent
lawyer, Samuel Untermeyer. The anti-suffragists had a long list,
including Mrs. Henry M. Stimson, wife of a New York Baptist minister,
and Mrs. William P. Northrup of Buffalo. Both Judiciary Committees
refused to let the resolution come before the two Houses, admitting
that it would be carried if they did.
The most thorough preparation was made for the session of 1911 by all
the suffrage societies. The Assembly committee refused to report and
on May 10 Representative Spielberg, who had charge, moved to request
it to do so. The vote was 38 in favor to 90 against his motion. On
May 15 the Senate Judiciary Committee by 6 to 2 reported in favor but
not until July 12 was the vote taken in the Senate and the measure was
lost by a vote of 14 ayes, 17 noes.
In 1912 a remarkable hearing was held in a crowded Assembly Chamber.
Senator Stillwell, a member of the Judiciary Committee, again
introduced the amendment resolution and its chairman, Senator Bayne,
was a staunch friend but after the committee had reported it favorably
the Senate could not be moved. In the Assembly, on the final day of
the session, for the first time since 1895 and the second time on
record, the resolution was adopted. Just as it was about to be taken
to the Senate for action, Representative Cuvellier of New York blocked
further progress by moving to reconsider the vote and lay the
resolution on the table. This was carried by a vote of 69 to 6 and
doubtless had been prearranged.
By 1913 the sentiment in favor of letting the voters pass on the
question had become too strong to be resisted. Mrs. Katharine Gavit of
Albany, representing the Cooperative Legislative Committee, had charge
of the resolution. On January 6, the opening day, a delegation from
all the suffrage societies sat in the Senate Chamber and heard it
introduced by Senator Wagner, the Democratic floor leader, who said
that, while not personally in favor of it he was willing to sponsor it
because his party had endorsed it in their platform, and it was
favorably reported. In the Assembly it was promptly introduced by A.
J. Levy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The form of the proposed
amendment had been changed from that of all preceding years, which had
intended simply to take the word "male" from the suffrage clause of
the constitution. As alien women could secure citizenship through
marriage and would thus immediately become voters it provided that
they must first live in the country five years. The Senate struck out
this naturalization clause; in the Assembly the Democratic members
wanted it, the Republicans objected to it. On January 20 the Assembly
passed the measure without it. The Senate put back the clause and
passed it January 23 by 40 ayes, two noes--McCue and Frawley of New
York--and returned it to the Assembly, which passed it four days later
by 128 ayes, 5 noes. The resolution had still to pass another
Legislature two years later but this was the beginning of the end for
which two generations of women had worked and waited.
[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating to women and children
during the first twenty years of the century was prepared for this
chapter by Miss Kathryn H. Starbuck, attorney and counsellor at law in
Saratoga Springs. It comprises about 3,600 words and includes laws
relating to property, marriage, guardianship, domestic relations, etc.
Much regret is felt that the exigencies of space compel the omission
of the laws in all the State chapters. Miss Starbuck gave also
valuable information on office holding and occupations, which had to
be omitted for the same reason.]
NEW YORK CITY CAMPAIGNS.[130]
The story of the growth of the woman suffrage movement in Greater New
York is one of the most interesting chapters in the history of this
cause, for while it advanced slowly for many years, it rose in 1915
and 1917 to a height never attained elsewhere and culminated in two
campaigns that in number of adherents and comprehensive work were
never equaled.
The Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association was formed May 13, 1869, and
the New York City Society in 1870. From this time various
organizations came into permanent existence until in 1903 there were
fifteen devoted to suffrage propaganda. In Manhattan (New York City)
and Brooklyn these were bound together by county organizations but in
order to unite all the suffragists in cooperative work the Interurban
Woman Suffrage Council was formed in 1903 at the Brooklyn home of a
pioneer, Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff, with the President of the Kings
County Political Equality League, Mrs. Martha Williams, presiding. The
Interurban began with a roster of five which gradually increased to
twenty affiliated societies, with an associate membership besides of
150 women. Under the able leadership of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
chairman, it established headquarters in the Martha Washington Hotel,
New York City, Feb. 15, 1907, with a secretary, Miss Fannie Chafin,
in charge, and maintained committees on organization, literature,
legislative work, press and lectures; formed clubs, held mass meetings
and systematically distributed literature. The Council was the first
suffrage organization in New York City to interview Assemblymen and
Senators on woman suffrage and it called the first representative
convention held in the big metropolis.
The Woman Suffrage Party of Greater New York was launched by this
Council at Carnegie Hall, October 29, 1909, modelled after that of the
two dominant political parties. Its first convention with 804
delegates and 200 alternates constituted the largest delegate suffrage
body ever assembled in New York State. The new party announced that it
would have a leader for each of the 63 assembly districts of the city
and a captain for each of the 2,127 election districts, these and
their assistant officers to be supervised by a borough chairman and
other officers in each borough, the entire force to be directed by a
city chairman assisted by city officers and a board of directors. Mrs.
Catt, with whom the idea of the Party originated, and her co-workers
believed that by reaching into every election district to influence
its voters, they would bring suffrage close to the people and
eventually influence parties and legislators through public opinion.
The population of Greater New York was 4,700,000 and the new party had
a task of colossal proportions. It had to appeal to native Americans
of all classes and conditions and to thousands of foreign born. It
sent its forces to local political conventions; held mass meetings;
issued thousands of leaflets in many languages; conducted street
meetings, parades, plays, lectures, suffrage schools; gave
entertainments and teas; sent appeals to churches and all kinds of
organizations and to individual leaders; brought pressure on
legislators through their constituents and obtained wide publicity in
newspapers and magazines. It succeeded in all its efforts and
increased its membership from 20,000 in 1910 to over 500,000 in 1917.
In 1915, at the beginning of the great campaign for a suffrage
amendment to the State constitution, which had been submitted by the
Legislature, the State was divided into twelve campaign districts.
Greater New York was made the first and under the leadership of Miss
Mary Garrett Hay, who since 1912 had served as chairman, the City
Woman Suffrage Party plunged into strenuous work, holding conventions,
sending out organizers, raising $50,000 as a campaign fund, setting a
specific task for each month of 1915 up to Election Day, and forming
its own committees with chairmen as follows: Industrial, Miss Leonora
O'Reilly; The Woman Voter, Mrs. Thomas B. Wells; Speakers' Bureau,
Mrs. Mabel Russell; Congressional, Mrs. Lillian Griffin; the French,
Mrs. Anna Ross Weeks; the German, Miss Catherine Dreier; the Press,
Mrs. Oreola Williams Haskell; Ways and Means, Mrs. John B. McCutcheon.
The City Party began the intensive work of the campaign in January,
1915, when a swift pace was set for the succeeding months by having 60
district conventions, 170 canvassing suppers, four mass meetings, 27
canvassing conferences and a convention in Carnegie Hall. It was
decided to canvass all of the 661,164 registered voters and hundreds
of women spent long hours toiling up and down tenement stairs, going
from shop to shop, visiting innumerable factories, calling at hundreds
of city and suburban homes, covering the rural districts, the big
department stores and the immense office buildings with their
thousands of occupants. It was estimated that 60 per cent of the
enrolled voters received these personal appeals. The membership of the
party was increased by 60,535 women secured as members by canvassers.
The following is a brief summing up of the activities of the ten
months' campaign.[131]
Voters canvassed (60 per cent of those enrolled) 396,698
Women canvassed 60,535
Voters circularized 826,796
Party membership increased from 151,688 to 212,223
Watchers and pickets furnished for the polls 3,151
Numbers of leaflets printed and distributed 2,883,264
Money expended from the City treasury $25,579
Number of outdoor meetings 5,225
Number of indoor meetings (district) 660
Number of mass meetings 93
Political meetings addressed by Congressmen,
Assemblymen and Constitutional Convention
delegates 25
Total number of meetings 6,003
Night speaking in theaters 60
Theater Week (Miner's and Keith's) 2
Speeches and suffrage slides in movie theaters 150
Concerts (indoor, 10, outdoor, 3) 13
Suffrage booths in bazaars 6
Number of Headquarters (Borough 4, Districts, 20) 24
Campaign vans (drawn by horses 6, decorated autos 6,
district autos 4), vehicles in constant use 16
Papers served regularly with news (English and foreign) 80
Suffrage editions of papers prepared 2
Special articles on suffrage 150
Sermons preached by request just before election 64
A _Weekly News Bulletin_ (for papers and workers) and the _Woman
Voter_ (a weekly magazine) issued; many unique features like
stories, verses, etc.; hundreds of ministers circularized and
speakers sent to address congregations; the endorsements of all
city officials and of many prominent people and big organizations
secured.
In order to accomplish the work indicated by this table a large number
of expert canvassers, speakers, executives and clerical workers were
required. Mrs. Catt as State Campaign chairman was a great driving
force and an inspiration that never failed, and Miss Hay in directing
the party forces and raising the money showed remarkable ability.
Associated with her were capable officials--Mrs. Margaret Chandler
Aldrich, Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Martha Wentworth Suffren, Mrs. Robert
McGregor, Mrs. Cornelia K. Hood, Mrs. Marie Jenney Howe, Mrs. Joseph
Fitch, Mrs. A. J. Newbury, and the tireless borough chairmen, Mrs.
James Lees Laidlaw, Manhattan; Mrs. H. Edward Dreier, Brooklyn; Mrs.
Henrietta Speke Seeley, Bronx; Mrs. Alfred J. Eno, Queens, and Mrs.
William G. Willcox, Richmond.
The spectacular activities of the campaign caught and held public
attention. Various classes of men were complimented by giving them
"suffrage days." The appeal to the firemen took the form of an
automobile demonstration, open air speaking along the line of march of
their annual parade and a ten dollar gold piece given to one of their
number who made a daring rescue of a yellow-sashed dummy--a suffrage
lady. A circular letter was sent to 800 firemen requesting their help
for all suffragists. "Barbers' Day" produced ten columns of copy in
leading New York dailies. Letters were sent in advance to 400 barbers
informing them that on a certain day the suffragists would call upon
them. The visits were made in autos decorated with barbers' poles and
laden with maps and posters to hang up in the shops and then open air
meetings were held out in front. Street cleaners on the day of the
"White Wings" parade were given souvenirs of tiny brooms and suffrage
leaflets and addressed from automobiles. A whole week was given to the
street car men who numbered 240,000. Suffrage speeches were given at
the car barns and leaflets and a "car barn" poster distributed.
Forty-five banks and trust companies were treated to a "raid" made by
suffrage depositors, who gave out literature and held open meetings
afterward. Brokers were reached through two days in Wall Street where
the suffragists entered in triumphal style, flags flying, bugles
playing. Speeches were made, souvenirs distributed and a luncheon held
in a "suffrage" restaurant. The second day hundreds of colored
balloons were sent up to typify "the suffragists' hopes ascending."
Workers in the subway excavations were visited with Irish banners and
shamrock fliers; Turkish, Armenian, French, German and Italian
restaurants were canvassed as were the laborers on the docks, in
vessels and in public markets.
A conspicuous occasion was the Night of the Interurban Council Fires,
when on high bluffs in the different boroughs huge bonfires were
lighted, fireworks and balloons sent up, while music, speeches and
transparencies emphasized the fact that woman's evolution from the
campfire of the savage into a new era was commemorated. Twenty-eight
parades were a feature of the open air demonstrations. There were
besides numbers of torchlight rallies; street dances on the lower East
Side; Irish, Syrian, Italian and Polish block parties; outdoor
concerts, among them a big one in Madison Square, where a full
orchestra played, opera singers sang and eminent orators spoke; open
air religious services with the moral and religious aspects of
suffrage discussed; a fête held in beautiful Dyckman Glen; flying
squadrons of speakers whirling in autos from the Battery to the Bronx;
an "interstate meet" on the streets where suffragists of
Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York participated. Ninety original
features arranged on a big scale with many minor ones brought great
publicity to the cause and the suffragists ended their campaign
valiantly with sixty speakers talking continuously in Columbus Circle
for twenty-six hours.
On the night of November 2, election day, officers, leaders, workers,
members of the Party and many prominent men and women gathered at City
headquarters in East 34th Street to receive the returns, Mrs. Catt and
Miss Hay at either end of a long table. At first optimism prevailed as
the early returns seemed to indicate victory but as adverse reports
came in by the hundreds all hopes were destroyed. The fighting spirits
of the leaders then rose high. Speeches were made by Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, Mrs. Catt, Miss Hay, Dr. Katherine Bement Davis, Mrs. Laidlaw
and others, and, though many workers wept openly, the gathering took
on the character of an embattled host ready for the next conflict.
After midnight many of the women joined a group from the State
headquarters and in a public square held an outdoor rally which they
called the beginning of the new campaign.
The vote was as follows:
For Against Lost by
Manhattan Borough 88,886 117,610 28,724
Brooklyn Borough 87,402 121,679 34,277
Bronx Borough 34,307 40,991 6,684
Richmond Borough 6,108 7,469 1,361
Queens Borough 21,395 33,104 11,709
Total opposed, 320,853; in favor, 238,098; adverse majority, 82,755.
Two days after the election the City Party united with the National
Association in a mass meeting at Cooper Union, where speeches were
made and $100,000 pledged for a new campaign fund. The spirit of the
members was shown in the words of a leader who wrote: "We know that we
have gained over half a million voters in the State, that we have many
new workers, have learned valuable lessons and with the knowledge
obtained and undiminished courage we are again in the field of
action." In December and January the usual district and borough
conventions for the election of officers and then the city convention
were held. At the latter the resolution adopted showed a change from
the oldtime pleading: "We demand the re-submission of the woman
suffrage amendment in 1917. We insist that the Judiciary Committee
shall present a favorable report without delay and that the bill shall
come to an early vote." Much legislative work was necessary to obtain
re-submission, for which the City Party worked incessantly until the
amendment was re-submitted by the Legislatures of 1916 and 1917 and
preparations were again made for a great campaign.
* * * * *
The campaign of 1915 had been one of the highways, and of spectacular
display. That of 1917 was of the byways, of quiet, intensive work
reaching every group of citizens. The campaign was launched at a
meeting in Aeolian Hall, March 29, where the addresses of Mrs. Catt
and Miss Hay aroused true campaign fervor, the former saying: "Some
foreign countries have given the franchise to women for their war
work; we ask it that our women may feel they have been recognized as
assets of the nation before it calls on them for war work."
The suffragists offered their services to the Government, even before
it declared war; the State Party to the Governor, the City Party to
the Mayor. The later said in a resolution adopted February 5: "We
place at the disposal of the Mayor of this city for any service he may
require our full organization of over 200,000 women, thoroughly
organized and trained and with headquarters in every borough." The
mass of the members stood solidly behind this offer. A War Service
Committee was appointed with Mrs. F. Louis Slade as its chairman and
it accomplished work that was not exceeded, if indeed equalled, in any
city of the United States. Nine other committees were also appointed.
The leading features of the campaign of 1917 were the war work and the
enrolling of women. In 1916 when Mrs. Catt started a canvass to obtain
a million signatures of women to a petition to answer the argument,
"Women do not want to vote," the City Party took as its share the
securing of 514,555 in Greater New York. This accomplished, the
signatures mounted on big placards were placed on exhibition at Party
headquarters, now in East 38th Street, and a little ceremony was
arranged during which Mayor John Purroy Mitchel and other prominent
men made commendatory speeches. Debarred from outdoor meetings during
the summer of 1916 on account of an epidemic and during the summer of
1917 because of war conditions, the following was nevertheless
accomplished:
Meetings 2,085
Leaflets distributed 5,196,884
Money expended $151,438
Canvassed and enrolled women 514,555
Women secured to watch at polls 5,000
Campaign headquarters maintained 40
Newspapers (English and foreign) served daily 153
Suffrage editions and pages edited 10
Special suffrage articles 200
Other suffrage articles and interviews 400
Posters placed in shop windows 2,000
Maintained Letter Writing Committee to send letters to the press;
issued Weekly News Bulletin; printed suffrage news in papers in
ten languages; circularized all churches and business men in 75
per cent of the 2,060 election districts; conducted hundreds of
watchers' schools; exhibited suffrage movies in hundreds of
clubs, churches and settlements; had series of suppers and
conferences for working-women; held captains' rally at the
Waldorf-Astoria and a patriotic rally at Carnegie Hall; gave a
series of suffrage study courses; raised funds at sacrifice
sales, entertainments, lectures, etc.; sent speakers to hundreds
of Labor Union meetings; held four pre-election mass meetings and
as a wind-up to the campaign staged eight hours of continuous
speaking by 40 men and women at Columbus Circle.
The Party leaders had to meet attacks and misrepresentations from the
Anti-Suffrage Association, whose national and State headquarters were
in New York City. The Party had also to combat the actions of the
"militant" suffragists, whose headquarters were in Washington and
whose picketing of the White House and attacks on President Wilson and
other public men displeased many people who did not discriminate
between the large constructive branch of the suffrage movement and the
small radical branch. The Party leaders had often publicly to
repudiate the "militant" tactics. In the parade of Oct. 28, 1917, the
Party exhibited placards which read: "We are opposed to Picketing the
White House. We stand by the Country and the President."
During the campaign, Miss Hay had associated with her on the executive
board, Mrs. Slade, Mrs. Aldrich, Mrs. George Notman, Miss Annie
Doughty, Mrs. F. Robertson-Jones, Mrs. Wells, Miss Adaline W.
Sterling, Mrs. Herbert Lee Pratt, Mrs. Charles E. Simonson, Dr.
Katherine B. Davis, Miss Eliza McDonald, Mrs. Alice P. Hutchins, Mrs.
Louis Welzmiller. Borough chairmen who assisted were Mrs. John
Humphrey Watkins, Manhattan; Mrs. Dreier, Brooklyn; Mrs. Daniel
Appleton Palmer, Bronx; Mrs. David B. Rodger, Queens; Mrs. Wilcox,
Richmond.
On the evening of November 6, election day, the City Party
headquarters were crowded with people waiting for the returns. Mrs.
Catt, Miss Hay, Mrs. Laidlaw and other leaders were present. Mr.
Laidlaw and Judge Wadhams were "keeping the count." Walter Damrosch
and other prominent men came in. From the beginning the returns were
encouraging and as the evening wore on and victory was assured, the
room rang with cheers and applause and there were many jubilant
speeches.
The election brought a great surprise, for the big city, whose adverse
vote suffragists had always predicted would have to be outbalanced by
upstate districts, won the victory, the latter not helping but
actually pulling down its splendid majority. The final vote in Greater
New York read:
_Majority_
_Yes_ _No_ _in Favor_
New York County 129,412 89,124 40,288
Kings (Brooklyn) 129,601 92,315 37,286
Bronx 52,660 36,346 16,314
Richmond 7,868 5,224 2,644
Queens 34,125 26,794 7,331
------- ------- -------
Total 353,666 249,803 103,863
Upstate districts, 349,463 ayes; 350,973 noes, lost by 1,510.
Majority in the State as a whole, 102,353.
Immediately opponents made the charge that suffrage won in the City
because of the pro-German, pacifist and Socialist vote. An analysis
showed that in many districts where the Germans and Socialists
predominated there was not as great a suffrage majority as in
Republican or Democratic districts; that some of the conservative
residential sections were more favorable than radical districts and
that the soldiers in the field had voted for suffrage in the ratio of
two to one.
Those who were best informed attributed the victory to many causes--to
the support of voters in all the parties; to the help of the labor
unions; to recognition of women's war work; to the example set by
European countries in enfranchising their women; to the endorsement of
prominent men and strong organizations. Most of all, however, it was
due to the originality, the dauntless energy, the thorough
organization methods and the ceaseless campaigning of the suffrage
workers, who in winning the great Empire State not only secured the
vote for New York women but made the big commonwealth an important
asset in the final struggle for the Federal Suffrage Amendment.
THE TWO STATE CAMPAIGNS.[132]
At the 45th convention of the State Woman Suffrage Association held in
Binghamton Oct. 14-17, 1913, Miss Harriet May Mills declined to stand
for re-election to the presidency. The following officers were
elected: President, Mrs. Raymond Brown, New York City; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. Henry W. Cannon, Delhi; recording secretary, Mrs.
Nicolas Shaw Fraser, Geneseo; treasurer, Mrs. Edward M. Childs, New
York City; directors; Miss Mills, Syracuse; Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore,
Yonkers; Mrs. Helen Probst Abbott, Rochester; Mrs. Dexter P. Rumsey,
Buffalo; Mrs. George W. Topliff, Binghamton; Mrs. Luther Mott, Oswego;
Mrs. Chanler Aldrich, Tarrytown.
This convention had before it work of the gravest importance. The
submission of a woman suffrage amendment had passed one Legislature
and it was almost certain that it would pass a second and be voted on
at the fall election of 1915. New York was recognized as an immensely
difficult State to win. It contained great areas of sparsely settled
country and also many large cities. It had a foreign born population
of 2,500,000 in a total of 9,000,000. The political "machines" of both
Republican and Democratic parties were well intrenched and there was
no doubt that the powerful influence of both would be used to the
utmost against a woman suffrage amendment. Party leaders might allow
it to go through the Legislature because confident of their ability to
defeat it at the polls. The vital problem for the suffragists was how
to organize and unite all the friendly forces.
While the State Suffrage Association was the one which was organized
most extensively there were other important societies. For some years
the Women's Political Union, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch president,
had carried on an effective campaign. The Woman Suffrage Party, a
large group, existed principally in New York City, organized by
assembly districts. The Men's League for Woman Suffrage comprised a
considerable number of influential men, now under the presidency of
James Lees Laidlaw. The College Equal Suffrage League, Mrs. Charles L.
Tiffany, president, was an active body of young women. The Equal
Franchise Society, organized originally among the society women of New
York City by Mrs. Clarence Mackay had Mrs. Howard Mansfield as
president and had helped make the movement "fashionable." This was the
case with Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont's Political Equality League.
On April 15, 1913, Miss Mills had invited representatives of these
organizations to a conference at the State headquarters in New York to
consider concerted action at which Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was urged
to become chairman of a State Campaign Committee composed of their
presidents. Before accepting, Mrs. Catt, in order to learn conditions
in the State, sent out a questionnaire to county presidents and
assembly district leaders asking their opinion as to the prospect of
success. Of the forty-two who answered twelve believed that their
counties might be carried for the amendment if enough work was done;
sixteen thought it doubtful, no matter how much work was done, and
fourteen were certain they could not be carried under any conditions.
Not a single county believed it could organize or finance its own
work. In spite of the discouraging situation, Mrs. Catt on her return
in the autumn from the meeting in Budapest of the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance, of which she was president, accepted the
chairmanship on the condition that $20,000 should be raised for the
work. The Empire State Committee organized November 11 was composed of
Mrs. Raymond Brown, representing the State Association; Miss Mary
Garrett Hay, the Woman Suffrage Party of New York City; Mrs.
Mansfield, the Equal Franchise Society; Mrs. Tiffany, the College
League and Mr. Laidlaw, the Men's League, with the following chairmen:
Miss Rose Young, Press; Mrs. Warner M. Leeds, Finance; Mrs. Norman
deR. Whitehouse, Publicity; Mrs. John W. Alexander, Art; Mrs.
Mansfield, Literature.[133]
For convenience of work the State was divided into twelve campaign
districts, whose chairmen were, 1st, Miss Hay, New York City; 2nd,
Mrs. Brown, Bellport, Long Island; 3rd, Miss Leila Stott, Albany; 4th,
Mrs. Frank Paddock, Malone; 5th, Mrs. L. O. McDaniel, succeeded by
Miss Mills, Syracuse; 6th, Mrs. Helen B. Owens, Ithaca; 7th, Mrs.
Alice C. Clement, Rochester; 8th, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, Buffalo;
9th, Mrs. Carl Osterheld, Yonkers; 10th, Mrs. Gordon Norrie,
Staatsburg; 11th, Miss Evanetta Hare, succeeded by Mrs. George Notman,
Keene Valley; 12th, Miss Lucy C. Watson, Utica. Under all of these
chairmen came the 150 assembly district leaders and under these the
5,524 election district captains. From the first it was realized that
organization was the keynote to success and that to be effective it
must extend into every polling precinct of the State. Mrs. Catt had no
superior in organizing ability. The plan followed the lines of the
political parties and was already in use by the Woman Suffrage Party
of New York City, which she had founded.
In January, 1914, Campaign District Conferences and Schools of Method
were held, followed by a convention and mass meetings in every county.
During the year twenty-eight paid organizers were constantly at work.
Mrs. Catt herself visited fifty of the up-state counties. The annual
State convention October 12-16, was preceded by a state-wide motor car
pilgrimage. On every highway was a procession of cars stopping along
the route for street meetings and converging in Rochester for the
convention. There was little change in officers. Three vice-presidents
were added, Mrs. Alfred E. Lewis of Geneva, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs.
Notman. Mrs. Cannon was succeeded as corresponding secretary by Miss
Marion May of New York. Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. Shuler were added to the
board of directors. A comprehensive program of work for 1914-15, laid
out by Mrs. Catt, gave a definite task for each month and included
raising a $150,000 campaign fund, each district being assigned a
proportion; school for suffrage workers, special suffrage edition of a
newspaper in every county, automobile campaign, work at county fairs
and a house to house canvass to enroll the names of women who wanted
the suffrage. Mrs. Catt's plan also included parades in all the large
cities and schools in every county to train watchers for the polls.
As was expected the resolution for the suffrage amendment was passed
by the Legislature of 1915, the vote to be taken on the day of the
regular election, November 2. Forty paid organizers were kept in the
field and a convention was held again in each county. By autumn each
of the 150 assembly districts was organized and in addition there were
565 clubs and 183 campaign committees. About 2,500 women held official
positions, serving without pay. It was estimated that about 200,000
women worked in some capacity in this campaign. Twelve thousand New
York City public school teachers formed a branch under Katharine
Devereux Blake as chairman. Each paid fifty cents dues and many gave
their summer vacation to work for the amendment.
The Equal Franchise Society, in charge of the literature, printed
7,230,000 leaflets, requiring twenty tons of paper; 657,200 booklets,
one full set sent to every political leader in the State; 592,000
Congressional hearings and individual speeches were mailed to voters;
149,533 posters were put up and 1,000,000 suffrage buttons were used;
200,000 cards of matches with "Vote Yes on the Suffrage Amendment" on
the back were distributed and 35,000 fans carrying the suffrage map.
The value of street speaking had long since been learned. A woman
speaking from an automobile or a soap box or steps, while she might
begin by addressing a few children would usually draw a crowd of men
of the kind who could never be gotten inside a hall, and these men
were voters. The effect of these outdoor meetings was soon seen all
over the State in the rapidly changing sentiment of the man in the
street. During the six months preceding the election 10,325 meetings
were recorded besides the countless ones not reported. Mass meetings
were held in 124 different cities, sixteen in New York, with U. S.
Senators and Representatives and other prominent speakers. The week
before election in New York, Buffalo, Rochester and other large cities
Marathon speeches were made continuously throughout the twenty-four
hours, with listening crowds even during the small hours of the night.
Suffrage speeches were given in moving picture shows and vaudeville
theaters and a suffrage motion picture play was produced. Flying
squadrons of trained workers would go into a city, make a canvass,
hold street meetings, attract public attention and stimulate newspaper
activity.
A remarkable piece of work was done by a Press and Publicity Council
of one hundred women in New York City organized by Mrs. Whitehouse.
They established personal acquaintance with the editors and owners of
the fifteen daily papers; answered the anti-suffrage letters
published; communicated with the editors of 683 trade journals, 21
religious papers, 126 foreign language papers and many others--893 in
all--and offered them exclusive articles; they suggested special
features for magazines and planned suffrage covers; they secured space
for a suffrage calendar in every daily paper. This council placed
suffrage slides in moving picture houses and suffrage posters in the
lobbies of theaters; and had a page advertisement of suffrage in every
theater program. Comedians were asked to make references to suffrage
in their plays and jokes were collected for them and appropriate lines
suggested.
A sub-committee of writers was organized which assembled material for
special suffrage editions of papers, wrote suffrage articles and made
suggestions for stories. The Art Committee illustrated the special
editions and made cartoons. They held an exhibit of suffrage posters
with prizes and raised money through an exhibition and sale of the
work of women painters and sculptors. A new suffrage game was invented
and installed at Coney Island. They supplied the posters for $70,000
worth of advertising space on billboards and street cars which was
contributed by the owners during the final weeks of the campaign. They
organized and managed the suffrage banner parade, the largest which
had yet taken place.
Among the other publicity "stunts" of the council were suffrage
baseball games, a Fourth of July celebration at the Statue of Liberty
and Telephone and Telegraph Day, when the wires carried suffrage
messages to politicians, judges, editors, clergymen, governors,
mayors, etc., all of these "stunts" receiving a large amount of
newspaper publicity. The most effective was the One Day Strike, to
answer the argument used by the "antis" that "woman's place was in the
home" by asking all women to stay at home for only one day. The
suggestion was never intended to be carried out and did not go further
than a letter sent by Mrs. Whitehouse to the presidents of women's
clubs and some other organizations, asking them to come to a meeting
to consider the plan, copies of which were sent to the newspapers. The
effect was extraordinary. Department stores, telephone company
managers, employers of all kinds of women's labor, hospitals and
schools, protested loudly against the crippling of public service, the
loss of profits and the disruption of business which would result from
even one day's absence of women from their public places. Editorial
writers devoted columns to denouncing the proposal. Suffrage leaders
were bitterly criticized for even suggesting such a public calamity.
The favorite argument of the "antis" was answered for all time.
At the very end of the campaign the anti-suffragists began to
advertise extensively in the subway and on the elevated roads in New
York City but the firm that controlled this space refused to accept
any advertising from the suffragists. Woman's wit, however, was equal
to the emergency. For the three days preceding the election one
hundred women gave their time to riding on elevated and subway trains
holding up large placards on which were printed answers to the "anti"
advertisements. The public understood and treated the women with much
courtesy.
It is difficult to give even the barest outline of the work of the
Press Bureau, at first under the management of Mrs. Haryot Holt Dey
and later of Miss Rose Young, with a volunteer force of 214 press
chairmen over the State. There were 2,136 publications in the State,
211 dailies, 1,117 weeklies, 628 monthlies, and 180 foreign
publications printed in twenty-five languages. To the weeklies a
bulletin from the central bureau went regularly; 3,036 shipments were
made of pages of plate matter. The American Press Association and the
Western Newspaper Union for many weeks sent out columns of suffrage
news with their regular service for the patent inside page used by
country papers. The bureau furnished material for debates and answered
attacks against suffrage. The support given by the newspapers was of
great value. Of the fifteen dailies of New York City ten were
pro-suffrage, while the rural press was overwhelmingly in favor. Most
of the papers of the larger cities up-state were opposed, although
there were notable exceptions.
There were several high water marks. On Nov. 6, 1914, just a year
before the election, at a mass meeting which packed Carnegie Hall,
$115,000 were pledged, the largest sum ever raised at a suffrage
meeting, a visible proof of the great increase in favorable sentiment
since the campaign had begun a year ago, when the $20,000 which Mrs.
Catt wanted as the original guarantee seemed almost impossible of
attainment. In May, 1915, a luncheon attended by 1,400 people pledged
$50,000. On October 23, ten days before election, there occurred in
New York City the largest parade ever organized in the United States
for suffrage, called the "banner parade" because of the multitude of
flags and banners which characterized it, only those for suffrage
being permitted. There were 33,783 women who marched up Fifth Avenue,
past a crowd of spectators which was record-breaking, taking from 2
o'clock in the afternoon until long after dark. The rear was brought
up by scores of motor cars gaily decorated with Chinese lanterns and
after darkness fell the avenue was a solid mass of moving colored
lights. There seemed no end to the women who were determined to win
the vote and a multitude of men seemed to be ready to grant it.
On Nov. 2, 1915, the vote took place. Every preparation had been made
and every precaution taken, as far as the strength of the organization
would permit, to secure a fair election and an honest count. A law had
been obtained which permitted women to act as watchers at any election
on woman suffrage, which proved an important safeguard. Wherever
possible, watchers were provided for the polling places all over the
State. The result of the election was: For the suffrage amendment,
553,348; against, 748,332; adverse majority 194,984.
The disappointment was almost crushing. Although the task of
persuading the huge cosmopolitan population of New York State to grant
equality to women had been recognized as being almost superhuman, the
work done had been so colossal that it would have been impossible not
to hope for success. Mrs. Catt had planned and seen carried out a
masterly campaign never before approached anywhere in the history of
suffrage. The devotion and self-sacrifice of thousands of women were
beyond praise but there were not enough of them. If every county and
every town had raised its proportion of the funds and done its share
of the work, the amendment might have been carried, but this first
campaign laid the foundation for the victory that the next one would
bring.
This was the largest vote ever polled for suffrage at any
election--553,348 out of a vote of 1,300,880, being 42-1/2 per cent.
The vote in the State outside of New York City was 427,479 noes,
315,250 ayes, opposing majority, 112,229; in this city 320,853 noes,
238,098 ayes, opposing majority 82,755; total opposed, 194,984. The
amendment received a larger favorable vote than the Republican party
polled at the Presidential election of 1912, which was 455,428. In
1914 this party swept the State and it could have carried the suffrage
amendment in 1915.
SECOND NEW YORK CAMPAIGN.
With 42-1/2 per cent. of the vote cast in November, 1915, in favor of
the woman suffrage amendment the leaders were eager to start a new
campaign at once and take advantage of the momentum already gained.
Two nights after election the campaign was started at a mass meeting
in Cooper Union, New York City, where $100,000 were pledged amid
boundless enthusiasm. The reorganization of the State took place
immediately, at the annual convention held in this city, November
30-December 2, and all the societies that had cooperated in the Empire
State Campaign Committee became consolidated under the name of the
State Woman Suffrage Party, into which the old State association was
merged. The demand was so overwhelming that Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
who had led the two years' fight so magnificently, should continue to
be leader, that she was obliged to accept the chairmanship.
The other officers elected were Mrs. Norman deR. Whitehouse, Mrs.
James Lees Laidlaw, Mrs. Henry W. Cannon, first, second and third
vice-chairmen; Mrs. Michael M. Van Beuren and Miss Alice Morgan
Wright, secretaries; Mrs. Ogden Mills Reid, treasurer; Mrs. Raymond
Brown, Mrs. Dexter P. Rumsey, Miss Harriet May Mills and Mrs. Arthur
L. Livermore, directors. A few weeks later the convention of the
National Association called Mrs. Catt even more insistently to accept
its presidency and Mrs. Whitehouse became chairman and therefore the
leader of the new campaign. Mrs. Catt headed the list of directors;
Mrs. Laidlaw was made chairman of legislative work and Mrs. Brown of
organization.
The next State convention was held in Albany, Nov. 16-23, 1916, and
the same officers were elected except that Mrs. Charles Noel Edge
succeeded Mrs. Van Beuren as secretary. The chairmen of the twelve
campaign districts were continued with the following changes: Second,
Mrs. Frederick Edey, Bellport; fourth, Mrs. Robert D. Ford, Canton;
fifth, Mrs. William F. Canough, Syracuse; sixth, Miss Lillian Huffcut,
Binghamton; eighth, Mrs. Frank J. Tone, Niagara Falls; ninth, Mrs.
Frank A. Vanderlip, Scarborough.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The determination to enter immediately into
another campaign met with much opposition, even from many suffragists.
The Legislature had submitted the amendment in 1915 confident that it
would be overwhelmingly defeated but the ability and persistence of
the women and the big vote secured made the opponents afraid to take
another chance. That it was finally forced through both Houses was
due, first, to the brilliant legislative work of Mrs. Whitehouse and
Mrs. Laidlaw, assisted by Mrs. Helen Leavitt, chairman of legislative
work for the Albany district; second, to the extraordinary support
given by the organizations throughout the State, through delegations,
mass meetings, letters and telegrams, 6,000 from the 9th district
alone. The Men's League gave invaluable help.
The resolution was introduced in both branches on Jan. 10, 1916. The
fight centered in the Senate and had as determined opponents Senator
Elon F. Brown, floor leader of the Republicans, and Senator Walters,
Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The Democratic
minority gave it a lukewarm support. Every subterfuge was directed
against it. Finally it was reported out of the Assembly Judiciary
Committee February 15 by a vote of 11 to one and then there was a
standstill. The Senate Judiciary Committee constantly postponed
action. At last 500 women came to the Capitol on March 14 to urge
immediate action and the resolution was adopted in the Assembly that
day by 109 ayes to 30 noes.
The Senate Committee had promised that it would report that same day,
and at 2 p. m. it went into executive session and the suffrage leaders
camped outside the door. That evening a suffrage ball was to take
place in Madison Square Garden, New York City, which they were to
open, and the last train that would reach there in time left Albany at
6 o'clock. The Committee knew this but hour after hour went by without
word from it. After time for the train a friendly Senator appeared and
announced that it had adjourned sometime before without taking action
and had gone out the back way in order to escape from the waiting
watchers! Taking the next train and arriving in New York at 10 o'clock
at night the suffragists drove direct to Madison Square Garden. As
they approached it they saw great throngs outside storming the doors,
which had been closed by the police as it was dangerously crowded.
They succeeded in getting in and were greeted by cheers as they led
the grand march, which had been awaiting their arrival. At midnight
Mrs. Whitehouse and Mrs. Laidlaw took the sleeper back to Albany and
were on hand at the opening of the session the next morning. Such
undaunted spirit caught the public imagination and the newspapers did
it full justice, with big headlines and columns of copy, but still the
bill did not pass.
The final pressure which put the amendment through was a clever bit of
strategy due to Mrs. Whitehouse. In answer to her appeal editorials
appeared in newspapers throughout the State saying that no group of
men in Albany had the right to strangle the amendment or refuse the
voters the privilege of passing on it. On March 22 the Senate
Committee reported the resolution by 11 ayes, one no. On April 10 it
passed the Senate by 33 ayes, 10 noes.
In 1917 the amendment was passed again to go to the voters at the
regular election November 6. The State Woman Suffrage Party
strengthened its organization with the goal of a captain for every
polling precinct, each with a committee of ten women to look after
the individual voters. Larger cities had a chairman and board of
officers combined with the assembly and election district
organization. In Buffalo, Mrs. Thew Wright headed a capable board; in
Rochester one was led by Mrs. Alice Clement, later by Mrs. Henry G.
Danforth; in Syracuse by Mrs. Mary Hyde Andrews; in Utica by Miss Lucy
C. Watson. By the end of the campaign, in addition to volunteers, 88
trained organizers were at work in the 57 counties outside of Greater
New York. The National Suffrage Association contributed four of its
best workers and paid their salaries. Connecticut, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and some of the southern
and western States sent valuable workers.
Early in 1917 the entire organization was well developed and suffrage
work was at its height when it was suddenly stopped short by the
entrance of the United States into the World War. At once everything
else became of secondary importance. The Suffrage Party, like all
organizations of women, was eager to serve the country and seized the
first opportunity, which came with the order from Governor Charles S.
Whitman for a military census of all the men and women of the State
over 21 years of age. Entire responsibility for organizing and
carrying on this work in several counties was given to the party. From
April to August the suffrage campaign was almost entirely suspended
while its leaders took a prominent part in war activities. It was only
about three months before election that the suffrage issue again
became dominant. The amendment must come before the voters at the
November election. With the United States engaged in a World War for
democracy it seemed impossible to allow democracy to be defeated at
home, and therefore it was decided that the suffrage campaign must be
carried on.
In spite of some opposition Mrs. Whitehouse called a State conference
at Saratoga the end of August. Besides the distraction caused by the
war other difficulties had arisen. The White House at Washington had
been "picketed" by the National Woman's Party and the President burned
in effigy as a protest because the Federal Suffrage Amendment had not
been submitted by Congress. The press was filled with the story and
the public was indignant. Because the country was at war and the
President burdened with heavy responsibilities, reproaches of
disloyalty and pro-Germanism were hurled at suffragists in general.
The officers of the National Association had repeatedly condemned the
"militancy" and repudiated all responsibility for it but to the public
generally all suffragists looked alike and people did not at first
recognize the difference between the small group of "pickets" and the
great suffrage organization of almost countless numbers. New York
workers were very resentful because a direct appeal to suspend the
"picketing" until after the election was refused by the leaders of the
Woman's Party. The Saratoga conference adopted a resolution of
disapproval.
At a mass meeting in New York soon afterwards Governor Whitman, Mayor
Mitchel and other prominent men spoke most encouragingly, but on
September 10 a suffrage amendment was defeated in Maine by a vote of
two to one and this had a disastrous effect on the New York situation.
It discouraged the workers and many newspapers which had been
friendly, anticipating a similar defeat in New York, became hostile in
tone; also because of the pressure of war news, the papers were almost
closed to suffrage matter. Mass meetings which formerly were crowded
were now so poorly attended that many had to be abandoned.
In order to help the chances of the amendment President Wilson on
October 25 received a delegation of one hundred of the most prominent
women of the Party, headed by Mrs. Whitehouse. He expressed his
appreciation of the war work of women and his thorough belief that
they should have the suffrage, praising the New York campaign and
saying: "I am very glad to add my voice to those which are urging the
people of your State to set a great example by voting for woman
suffrage. It would be a pleasure if I might utter that advice in their
presence, but, as I am bound too close to my duties here to make that
possible, I am glad to ask you to convey that message to them...."
This address was published far and wide and had a marked effect on the
voters. Later the President wrote Mrs. Catt that he hoped no voter in
New York would be influenced by anything the so-called "pickets" had
done in Washington. The suffrage meetings were soon again crowded. On
October 27 the final parade took place in New York City. The
signatures of 1,014,000 women citizens of the State, of voting age,
asking for suffrage had been obtained. Those from up-State were pasted
on huge cardboards and carried in the parade by delegations from the
various counties. Those from the city were placed in 62 huge ballot
boxes, one for each assembly district, with the number of them on the
outside, and carried by the "captains" of the districts and their
helpers.
The largest registration of men voters in the State was 1,942,000;
there were nearly 100,000 more men than women of voting age and many
more men than women were naturalized, therefore it was evident that
1,014,000 signatures represented a good majority of women eligible to
vote. This enormous piece of work was done almost entirely by
volunteers. For many months women in every county went from door to
door, preaching suffrage, asking wives to talk to their husbands about
it and leaving literature. The effect of this personal education was
undoubtedly great and the petition influenced public opinion.
The propaganda carried on by the Educational section under Mrs. Howard
Mansfield was enormous, including training schools, travelling
libraries and 8,000 sets of correspondence courses sent out. Women
were trained in watchers' schools for work at the polls and 15,000
leaflets of instructions were furnished. Over 11,000,000 pieces of
literature, 7 million posters and nearly 200,000 suffrage novelties
were used, in addition to the 5,000,000 pieces used in New York City.
The Industrial Section, under Miss Mary E. Dreier, president of the
Women's Trade Union League, made effective appeals to organized labor.
A series of letters setting forth the conditions under which women
work and their relation to the vote were distributed at factory doors
as men left for home during the last fifteen weeks of the campaign.
Organizers and speakers from their own ranks, men and women, spoke at
trade union meetings, in factories and on the street. The State
Federation of Labor endorsed the work and the Women's Trade Union
League gave constant help. The Church Section, under Miss Adella
Potter, was very successful in its appeal with specially prepared
literature and the churches were an active force.
Every registered voter was circularized at least once and many twice.
Special letters and literature were prepared for picked groups of men,
198,538 letters in all, and speakers were sent to the military camps
where this was permitted. The Speakers' Bureau, conducted by Mrs.
Victor Morawetz, had 150 speakers on its lists and a record of 2,015
speakers placed in the State. Besides these more than 7,000 meetings
were arranged independently. In New York City 58 speakers held 2,085
meetings, a total of 11,100. Senators and Representatives from the
equal suffrage States were to speak in the closing days of the
campaign but the war held Congress constantly in session and most of
the other prominent men who had promised to speak were prevented by
service for the Government.
The Publicity Section, under Mrs. John Blair, advertised the amendment
in every way that human ingenuity could devise. Huge street banners
exhorting men to vote for suffrage hung across the most crowded
streets in New York and in all the large cities. Every kind of
advertising medium was used, billboards, street cars, subway and
elevated cars and stations, railroad cars and stations; large electric
signs and painted illuminated signs flashed weeks before election, the
slogan most often used being, "1,014,000 Women ask you to Vote for
Woman Suffrage November 6."
For the last two weeks a great campaign of newspaper advertising was
carried on. There appeared almost daily in 728 morning and evening
papers, including many in foreign languages, pages of suffrage
argument, and as a result the news columns began to be filled again
with suffrage. The Press Bureau, Miss Rose Young, director, assisted
by local press chairmen, continued as in the first campaign but with
an increased output, news bulletins, editorial matter, special
articles, material for special editions, photographs, newspaper cuts,
statements from one hundred leading New York City and State men
headed, Why I am for Woman Suffrage, etc. About 20,000 columns of free
plate material were provided for the newspapers.
It would be impossible to give the total cost of the campaign with
accuracy. As far as possible each district supported its own work. The
central State treasury spent $413,353; New York City, $151,504; the
counties outside of the city $127,296; a total of $692,153, besides
the large amount spent locally. The raising of the central State funds
was the work of the treasurer, Mrs. Ogden Mills Reid, assisted by Mrs.
Whitehouse. A budget was prepared to which a group of prominent men,
including several bankers, gave their endorsement, and, armed with
their letter and helped by them in making appointments, Mrs. Reid and
Mrs. Whitehouse called on one man and woman after another of a
carefully selected list, solicited contributions, and many large
amounts were given by persons who had not before been brought in touch
with suffrage work. New York City led with $183,387; Yonkers came next
with $41,748 and Buffalo with $30,163.
The supreme test of the organization came on election day. It was
hoped to cover every polling space with women watchers and probably
about 80 per cent. of the total number of election districts of the
State were so covered. A total of 6,330 women served, many being on
duty from 5 a. m. till midnight.
On election night all over the State suffrage headquarters were open
and victory seemed in the air. Bulletin boards in New York City showed
the amendment winning in every borough and wires from up-State gave
encouraging reports. The State headquarters, an entire floor of the
large office building at 303 Fifth Avenue, New York, and the city
headquarters were thronged with happy crowds. Before midnight it
seemed certain that the four years of continuous campaign had resulted
in final victory for New York State, the stronghold of opposition, the
key to a Federal Suffrage Amendment because of its large
representation and power in Congress. When the complete returns came
in it was found that suffrage had lost up-State by 1,510 votes and
that it was New York City which carried the amendment by its majority
of 103,863, which reduced by 1,510 left a total majority of 102,353.
There were some evidences of fraud but the change of sentiment in
favor of suffrage was State-wide, and every county showed a gain. The
cities gave a better vote than the rural communities. The greatest
overturn was in Buffalo which changed an adverse majority of 10,822 in
1915 to a favorable one of 4,560 in 1917! The saloons of this city
displayed placards, "Vote No on Woman Suffrage," some putting them on
the outside of the building. Albany, in spite of the fight against the
amendment made by the Barnes "machine," although lost, registered a
gain of nearly fifty per cent. Rochester, which was lost, was
dominated by George W. Aldrich, the Republican leader, and Monroe and
adjoining counties were also influenced by their newspapers, which
nearly all were anti-suffrage. In Livingston county, the home of
Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., and his wife, who was president of
the National Anti-Suffrage Association, his influence was so strong
and his financial hold on the county so powerful that even men who
were in sympathy with woman suffrage were afraid to vote for it. This
influence materially reduced the favorable vote in adjoining counties.
There were several bitter local "wet" and "dry" fights that were very
bad for the suffrage vote.
The Republican Governor, Charles S. Whitman, spoke for the amendment.
Herbert Parsons, the Republican National Committeeman for New York,
and many individual Republicans gave valuable help but the "machine"
all over the State did everything possible to defeat the amendment. A
week before election, when their object was clearly apparent, the
chairman of the Republican State Committee was requested by the women
to write an official letter to its members reminding them of the
endorsement given by the Republican party at its State convention. He
refused to write it except as an individual and not as State chairman.
In Rochester an anti-suffrage poster was kept on display in Republican
headquarters. Among prominent members of the party who used their
influence in opposition were Elihu Root, Henry L. Stimson and George
Wickersham.
The two great figures of the suffrage movement, Mrs. Catt and Dr.
Shaw, gave royally to the campaign. Even after Mrs. Catt became
president of the National Association, she remained on the State Board
of Directors and was a constant help and inspiration. Dr. Shaw
contributed many weeks of speech making to the first campaign and
almost as many to the second, although her time in 1917 was much
occupied as chairman of the Woman's Division of the National Council
of Defense. It would be impossible to give the names of the thousands
of women who rendered devoted service during these campaigns and it
would be equally impossible to mention the names of the men who
helped. Behind many a woman who worked there was a man aiding and
sustaining her with money and personal sacrifice. "Suffrage husbands"
became a title of distinction.
Mrs. Whitehouse said in reviewing the causes of the failure of the
first campaign, "We worked like amateurs." Such a charge could not be
brought in the second, for the suffragists became an army of seasoned
veterans, quick to understand and to obey orders, giving suffrage
precedence over everything else except patriotic work. The amendment
as adopted gave complete suffrage to women on the same terms as
exercised by men and provided that "a citizen by marriage shall have
been an inhabitant of the United States for five years." This simply
required the same term of residence for wives as for unmarried women
and all men.
* * * * *
From 1910 to 1917 the Men's League for Woman Suffrage was an
influential factor in the movement in New York. It was believed to be
the first of the kind and the idea was said to have originated with
Max Eastman, a young professor in Columbia University, but in a sketch
of the league by him in _The Trend_ in 1913 he said that in 1909, when
he went to consult Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the New York
_Evening Post_, he found that Mr. Villard had received a letter from
Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association, asking him to organize such a league; that he
had conferred with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and they had "agreed to share
the ignominy" if some one would undertake the organizing. This was
done by Mr. Eastman, who, armed with letters of introduction by Mr.
Villard, succeeded in getting the names of twelve men of civic
influence. Using these names he sent out several thousand letters to
such men over the State and finally obtained twenty-five members. In
November, 1910, the first meeting was held at the New York City Club
and officers were elected. By good fortune George Foster Peabody was
one of the earliest members, a Georgian by birth and one of New
York's prominent bankers and financiers. He consented to serve as
president and with this prestige many members were secured. "The
league owed its pecuniary life to him," said Mr. Eastman, "and a great
part of its early standing before the public."
After the first year the league was equally fortunate in having James
Lees Laidlaw, another New York banker and man of affairs, take the
presidency. He retained it for the next six years, and when the
National Men's League was formed he consented to serve also as its
president until the contest for woman suffrage was finished, giving
active and constant assistance. Mr. Eastman was secretary of the New
York League for a year or more, assisted by Ward Melville, and was
succeeded by Robert Cameron Beadle, general manager of the U. S.
Stoker Corporation. He gave valuable and continuous service to the
league until just before the campaign of 1917, when the pressure of
business required his time and he became vice-president and George
Creel ably filled the office of secretary during that strenuous
period.
In 1910 the league took part in the first big suffrage parade and no
act of men during the whole history of woman suffrage required more
courage than that of the 87 who marched up Fifth Avenue on that
occasion, jeered by the crowds that lined the sidewalks. It was a body
of representative citizens, led by Mr. Peabody, Mr. Laidlaw and Mr.
Villard. The league became a large organization, enrolling among its
members such men as Governor Charles S. Whitman, Mayor John Purroy
Mitchel, Frank A. Vanderlip, Colonel George Harvey, William M. Ivins,
Dr. Simon Flexner, Professor John Dewey, Hamilton Holt, William Dean
Howells, John Mitchell, Charles Sprague Smith, Samuel Untermeyer,
Herbert Parsons, President Schurman of Cornell University, President
McCracken of Vassar College and many Judges, public officials and
others of note. In the suffrage parade of 1912 the league four abreast
extended five blocks along Fifth Avenue. Under its auspices mass
meetings were held, district rallies, public dinners with 600 guests,
balls and theatrical performances, and campaign activities of various
kinds were carried on. Men's leagues were formed in many States. The
_Woman Voter_ of October, 1912, published in New York City, issued a
special league number, with sketches, pictures, etc.
The Women's Political Union, which under the name of the Equality
League of Self-Supporting Women was formed in New York City in the
autumn of 1906 by Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, was an active force for
many years. Its object was to bring to suffrage the strength of women
engaged in wage-earning occupations and under its aegis trade-union
women first pleaded their cause before a legislative committee on Feb.
6, 1907. That spring the league held two suffrage mass meetings, the
first for many years in Cooper Union, and the following year Carnegie
Hall was for the first time invaded by woman suffrage with a meeting
in honor of Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the English
"militant" suffragists.
The league sent over 300 women to Albany by special train on Feb. 19,
1908, to a hearing on a woman suffrage amendment. The same year it
started open air meetings throughout the State. On election day in
1909 the Union distributed literature at the polls and five members
tested the right of women to act as watchers. It made the innovation
of interviewing candidates and pledging them to vote, if elected, for
the submission of a suffrage amendment to the electors.
In 1910 the Union organized in New York the first suffrage foot parade
of 400 women, and other larger ones afterwards. In September it began
a vigorous campaign against Artemus Ward, Republican candidate for
re-election to the Assembly in a banner Republican district in New
York City, because of his hostility to the suffrage amendment.
Pedestrians could not go a block in the district without hearing a
soap box orator trying to defeat him. The night before election
eighty-six out-door meetings were held. Although it could not defeat
him his former majority of 2,276 was reduced to 190. In 1911 it
engineered campaigns against Cuvillier in Manhattan and Carrew in
Brooklyn for the same reason, distributing over 100,000 pieces of
literature in opposing the latter, who had an adverse majority of over
2,000.
In 1911 the Union took 400 women to Albany and in 1912 the largest
suffrage delegation which had ever gone there. They practically
compelled consideration of the suffrage resolution and after its
defeat campaigned against the enemies, ending the political careers
of some of them. Before election day the files of the Union contained
signed pledges from every candidate for the Legislature in 45 of the
51 Senate districts and in 85 of the 150 Assembly districts. On Jan.
23, 1913, the Senate voted 40 to 2 for the amendment and on the 27th
the Assembly concurred with but five adverse votes. On May 3, the
Union organized a parade of victory in New York City.
During the great campaign of 1915 the Union was constantly evolving
new features to draw attention to the amendment. It closed its
activities with a luncheon of a thousand covers at the Hotel Astor
just before election day in honor of the 100th anniversary of the
birth of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After the defeat it amalgamated with
the Congressional Union, abandoned State work and centered its efforts
on an amendment to the Federal Constitution. Throughout its existence
Mrs. Blatch was president, Elizabeth Ellsworth Cook, vice-president,
Marcia Townsend, treasurer, Eunice Dana Brannan, chairman of finance,
Nora Stanton Blatch, editor of the _Women's Political World_, the
organ of the society; Caroline Lexow, field secretary and Alberta Hill
and Florence Maule Cooley, executive secretaries. [Information
furnished by Mrs. Blatch.]
* * * * *
An important feature of the campaign in New York City and in other
parts of the State was the work of the St. Catherine Welfare
Association of Catholic women, organized by Miss Sara McPike,
executive secretary of the advertising department of a large
corporation, and Miss Winifred Sullivan, a lawyer. Its object was
better social and economic conditions for women and children and the
extension of the suffrage to women as a means to this end. Its leaders
and prominent members worked with the State and city suffrage
associations also but through their own they could carry the message
into the different sodalities and fraternal organizations of the
church and to its summer schools and conventions. Bishops and priests
were interviewed and a number of the latter were persuaded to speak at
the meetings held in twenty-six prominent parish school halls in New
York City. Ten meetings were held in Brooklyn and others in
surrounding towns.
Leaflets of opinions favorable to woman suffrage by the Catholic
clergy were prepared and widely circulated among priests, educators
and laymen. Space was secured in the Catholic press. Letters without
number were written. A delegation was received by Cardinal Gibbons in
Baltimore to explain the desire of its members for the vote. Many of
the clergy looked with favor on their work, which encouraged Catholic
women to take part in it, and 500 marched under the banner of the
association in the last suffrage parade in New York in October, 1917.
Miss McPike devoted every hour of her time outside of business hours
and gave $800 to the work of the association. Mrs. Mary C. Brown was a
generous contributor. Among the countless members who helped
unceasingly by writing, speaking and in many other ways were Elizabeth
Jordan, Janet Richards, Mrs. William A. Prendergast, Countess Mackin,
Mrs. Schuyler Warren, Sara H. Fahey, Mrs. William H. Yorke, Anne Sands
O'Shea, Catharine G. Hogan, Helen Haines, Aimee Hutchinson, Mary C.
Larkin, May H. Morey, Frances Gallogly, Annie Nolan, Rose and Fanny
Flannelly. The activities of the association were extended into
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other States.
* * * * *
The success of the suffrage amendment did not mean the disbanding of
the organization. At the 49th State convention, held in New York City,
Nov. 20-22, 1917, Mrs. Whitehouse was re-elected chairman, Mrs.
Laidlaw vice-chairman, and most of the old officers were retained. It
was decided to make the Federal Suffrage Amendment the chief object
and in order to work more effectively the State was organized by
Congressional districts, with the Assembly district organization
retained. Early in 1918 Mrs. Whitehouse, because of her remarkable
work in the suffrage campaign, was selected by the Government's
Committee on Public Information to go to Switzerland. Mrs. Laidlaw was
elected chairman at the convention and the name of the State Woman
Suffrage Party was changed to the State League of Women Voters. Even
before the war was ended an enormous work was begun throughout the
State, under Mrs. Laidlaw, toward the political training of the more
than a million women who had been enfranchised. This was continued
under Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, who was elected chairman of the State
League of Women Voters, officially formed April 8, 1919.
The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress June 4, 1919.
Senator William M. Calder voted in favor, Senator Wadsworth continuing
his opposition to the end. Of the Representatives, 35 voted in favor;
five were absent; three, Riordan of New York, Dunn of Rochester and
Sanders of Stafford, voted no.
RATIFICATION. The ratification of this amendment by the State
Legislatures became the pressing question and as most of them had
adjourned for two years it would be necessary to have this done by
special sessions if women were to vote in the November election of
1920. That of New York would meet in January, 1920, so there was no
need of haste, but Mrs. Catt at once took up the matter with Governor
Alfred E. Smith, pointing out the excellent effect on other States if
New York should have a special session for this purpose. Without
hesitation he issued the call on June 10, with a strong appeal for
ratification. The Legislature met on June 16 and immediately the
Assembly ratified by unanimous vote of 137. The resolution went at
once to the Senate, where Henry M. Sage made a speech against it and
asked to be excused from voting. It was then passed by unanimous vote,
the Legislature being in session less than a day.
FOOTNOTES:
[122] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs.
Ella Hawley Crossett, president of the State Woman Suffrage
Association, 1902-1910.
[123] Mary Anthony left to Mrs. Crossett, Miss Mills and Isabel
Howland $1,000 to be used for State work as they thought best. The
interest for three years was given as prize money for the best essays
in the colleges of the State. When the headquarters were opened in New
York City some of the money helped to furnish them and the rest was
put in the State work the following year.
[124] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Miss
Harriet May Mills, vice-president of the State Woman Suffrage
Association, 1902-1910; president, 1910-1913.
[125] In 1911 Mrs. Livermore was succeeded by Mrs. William L. Colt,
who later resigned on account of illness and Mrs. Marie Jenney Howe
was unanimously elected. After the death of Mrs. Osborne, Mrs. Rumsey
of Buffalo was appointed second auditor. Mrs. Katharine Gavit of
Albany succeeded Mrs. Burrows and served to 1913. Mrs. Ivins resigned
in the winter of 1913 and Mrs. Maud Ingersoll Probasco of New York was
chosen for the remainder of the year.
[126] From New York: Misses Jones, Craft, Klatschken, Constance Leupp,
Phoebe Hawn, Minerva Crowell, Amalie Doetsch, Elizabeth Aldrich, Mrs.
George Wend and her son, Milton Wend, Mrs. George Boldt, Master Norman
Spreer, Ernest Stevens and A. C. Lemmon. From Philadelphia: Miss
Virginia Patache and Mrs. George Williams.
[127] Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, president of the State Suffrage
Association, sent a complete résumé of the legislative action from
1900 to 1913, comprising many thousand words, but the exigencies of
space compelled condensation to the bare details.
[128] The Legislative Committee was composed of Mrs. George Howard
Lewis, Miss Miller, Mrs. L. Cuyler, Mrs. Villard, Mrs. Harry S.
Hastings, Mrs. Craigie, Mrs. Rodgers, Miss Jenney. A Cooperating
Committee representing the entire State was of great assistance. Among
its members were Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Blatch, Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Shuler,
each president of a large organization of women; the Rev. Josiah
Strong, president American Institute of Social Science; Oswald
Garrison Villard, proprietor of the New York Evening Post; Dr.
Stewardson, president Hobart College; Professor Schmidt, of Cornell
University; Colonel A. S. Bacon, treasurer of the American Sabbath
Union; Edwin Markham, William G. Van Plank, Dr. John D. Peters, D.D.;
Florence Kelley, Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, Caroline Lexow, president
College Women's League; Mrs. Osborne and others.
[129] Among those added to the Cooperating Suffrage Committee during
this and the preceding year were Mrs. Belmont, president of the
Political Equality Suffrage Association; Mrs. Mackay, president of the
Equal Franchise Society; Jessie Ashley, president of the College Equal
Suffrage League; Mary E. Dreier, president of the Women's Trade Union
League; Anna Mercy, president of the East Side Equal Rights League;
Ella A. Boole, president State W. C. T. U.; George Foster Peabody,
president, and Max Eastman, secretary of the Men's League for Woman
Suffrage; Ida Husted Harper, chairman National Press Bureau; Mrs.
William C. Story, president State Federation of Women's Clubs; Lucy P.
Allen, president of the Washington county and Lucy P. Watson,
president of the Utica Political Equality Clubs; Mrs. William C.
Gannett, president of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Association; Alice
Lewisohn, noted for her social work in New York, Dr. Charles F. Aked,
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and William M. Ivins.
[130] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs.
Oreola Williams Haskell, former president of the Kings County
Political Equality League; head of the Press Bureau of the New York
City Woman Suffrage Party through the two campaigns, 1915-1917, and of
the League of Women Voters from its beginning until the present time.
[131] Extended space is given to the two New York campaigns because
they were the largest ever made and were used as a model by a number
of States in later years.--ED.
[132] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Mrs.
Raymond Brown, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.
[133] Before the committee was fully organized Mrs. Blatch and the
Women's Political Union withdrew to carry on its work independently
and Mrs. Belmont with her Political Equality League also ceased
cooperation.
CHAPTER XXXII.
NORTH CAROLINA.[134]
Previous to 1913 interest in woman suffrage in North Carolina was
still dormant and no attempt had been made at organization. This year,
without any outside pressure, a handful of awakening women met on July
10 at the home of Dr. Isaac M. Taylor of Morgantown to arrange for
gathering into a club those in sympathy with the woman suffrage
movement. Those present were Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Hosfeldt, Mrs. Hughson,
Miss Allen, Miss Riddell, Miss Julia Erwin and Miss Kate Pearsall, who
was elected secretary. Mrs. Hosfeldt was chosen for president and Miss
Mamie Collett for vice-president. Mrs. Hughson, Mrs. Taylor and Miss
Erwin were appointed to formulate the purposes of the society which it
was agreed to call the Morgantown Equal Suffrage Association.
At the next meeting in Miss Erwin's home July 14 Miss Coffey acted as
recording secretary and the organization was completed. Societies were
formed in Greenville and Charlotte and through the efforts of Miss
Susanne Bynum and Miss Anna Forbes Liddell of Charlotte a meeting was
called in that city in November to form a State Association. The
following officers were chosen: President, Mrs. Archibald Henderson,
Chapel Hill; vice presidents, Mrs. Eugene Reilley, Charlotte; Miss
Gertrude Weil, Goldsboro; Mrs. Malcolm Platt, Asheville; corresponding
secretary, Miss Bynum; recording secretary, Miss Liddell; treasurer,
Mrs. David Stern, Greensboro. Mrs. Lila Meade Valentine, president of
the Virginia Equal Suffrage League, was the principal speaker. A
charter was subsequently obtained for the Equal Suffrage League of
North Carolina, Inc., the charter members numbering about 200 men and
women, representing every class and section in the State. The League
became auxiliary to the National Association. At this time, when it
was far from popular to stand for this cause, Judge Walter Clark,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Gen. Julian S. Carr, Archibald
Henderson, Wade Harris and E. K. Graham acted as Advisory Committee
and gave freely of their time and money to help the new league.
The first annual State convention was held in Charlotte, Nov. 9-10,
1914, Mrs. Henderson presiding. During this first year Mrs. Medill
McCormick, chairman of the Congressional Committee of the National
Association, was of the greatest assistance in many ways. She sent an
organizer, Miss Lavinia Engle, who, with Mrs. Henderson, distributed
literature throughout the State and organized a number of branches.
The State League recorded itself as opposed to "militancy" in any form
and as desiring "to gain the vote by appeal to reason and fair play."
The Charlotte _Observer_ carried a four-page suffrage section
advertising the convention. Keener interest throughout the State,
together with the existence of fourteen leagues, represented the net
result of this first year's work. The officers were re-elected except
that Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh was made recording secretary and
Miss Mary Shuford of Hickory corresponding secretary. Delegates
appointed to the national convention at Nashville, Tenn., were: Misses
Bynum, Liddell and Mary Henderson.
The second annual convention met at the Battery Park Hotel, Asheville,
Oct. 29, 1915. Mrs. Nellie Nugent Somerville of Mississippi, a
vice-president of the National Association, gave an address. During
the year Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky, also a national
vice-president, spoke several times in the State. Mrs. Henderson had
sent a vigorous protest in the name of the league to Miss Alice Paul,
chairman of the Congressional Union, against her coming into North
Carolina to organize branches, saying that its policy was
diametrically opposed to that of the State Suffrage League, whose
arduous work of the past year would be undone. The outstanding feature
of the year's work was the special hearing in the Legislature on the
Act to Amend the Constitution so as to Give Woman Suffrage. In
November, 1914, the legislators had been polled on the suffrage
question, A few did not answer; fifteen were flatly opposed; twelve
were in favor; the majority declared themselves open to argument. At
the hearing held in the hall of the House with a large audience
present Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Association,
was the chief speaker. Others included Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Reilley,
Mrs. Adelaide Goodno, president of the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union; Mrs. Al Fairbrother and Mrs. Thomas W. Lingle. Miss Henderson,
Legislative Committee chairman, presided. The measure was defeated.
The committee recommended that future efforts be concentrated on
Presidential and Municipal suffrage bills. Mrs. Charlotte Malcolm of
Asheville was elected president.[135]
There was no convention in 1916 but two were held in 1917. The first
met in the auditorium of the Carnegie Library, Greensboro, Jan. 12,
13. Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, first vice-president of the National
Association, was the principal speaker, addressing a mass meeting of
representative people in the Opera House. Mrs. J. S. Cunningham was
elected president. During 1916 Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama
made addresses in the State and Miss Gertrude Watkins and Miss Stokes,
national organizers, assisted in forming clubs.
The second convention for 1917 met in the Wayne county Court House,
Goldsboro, Oct. 30, 31, Mrs. Cunningham presiding and speaking.
Colonel Joseph E. Robinson and J. F. Barrett made addresses. The
principal speaker was Mrs. Jacobs, then auditor of the National
Association. A fine collection of suffrage literature was presented
from Chief Justice Clark. During the year Mrs. Miller had spoken
several times in the State and delivered the commencement address at
the North Carolina College for Women. Mrs. Jerman cautioned the
various leagues against affiliation with the Congressional Union, now
called the Woman's Party, whose representatives were then at work in
the State. Mrs. Cunningham was re-elected president.
At the annual convention in the Woman's Club Building, Raleigh, Jan.
10, 1919, Miss Gertrude Weil was elected president and Mrs. Josephus
Daniels honorary president. The chief speaker was the Hon. William
Jennings Bryan, who addressed in the city auditorium an immense
gathering of all classes. The past year had been a busy one. On April
9, 1918, the State Republican convention included a suffrage plank in
its platform. On the 10th representative suffragists appeared at the
Democratic State convention urging one but the plea fell upon dull
ears and unresponsive hearts. The latter part of May the State
Federation of Women's Clubs with 8,000 members endorsed equal suffrage
with but two dissenting votes. In June the State Trained Nurses
Association unanimously endorsed it. During September petitions signed
by hundreds of college students and letters and telegrams representing
hundreds of individuals were dispatched to U. S. Senators Simmons and
Overman in Washington urging them to vote for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. On the petition from one college the names represented 107
cities and towns in the State. The one from the State Normal College
carried the signatures of 576 out of the 650 women students. The
petition of citizens from Raleigh bore the names of two daughters of
Senator Simmons. The Senators were not moved. In all that memorable
struggle only one North Carolina Representative, Zebulon Weaver, a
Democrat of Asheville, voted "aye." Edwin C. Webb of Cleveland county,
as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was a powerful foe.
Attempts were made to form suffrage leagues in different women's
colleges, where the students were eager to be organized, but in no
case would the trustees permit it. In November the State League
telegraphed President Wilson urging the appointment of Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, national president, on the Peace Commission. In December
the Farmers' Union, representing 17,000 farmers, endorsed equal
suffrage. During the year the cause was advanced by the addresses of
Dr. Shaw and Miss Jeannette Rankin, the first woman Representative in
Congress. At this time the State League carried on its letterhead an
Advisory Committee of Men such as never had been formed in any other
State. The list of ninety-six names included Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels, Mr. Bryan, Chief Justice Clark, the most eminent
members of the legal, medical and clerical professions, public
officials and business men.
The annual convention met in the O. Henry Hotel, Greensboro, Jan. 27,
28, 1920, Miss Weil presiding. A brilliant banquet was attended by a
large number of representative men and women. The honorary president,
Mrs. Daniels, made a brief speech and Miss Marjorie Shuler, national
director of publicity, was a speaker. Mrs. Raymond Brown,
vice-president of the National Association, and Miss Shuler addressed
the convention and the public meeting in the evening, over which Mrs.
Daniels presided. Twenty-four leagues were reported, largely the fruit
of the organization work done during the year by Mrs. Mary O. Cowper
of Durham, who had the assistance of Miss Mary E. Pidgeon, a national
organizer. During the year a series of related suffrage papers were
prepared by members of the Greensboro league and distributed by the
State league among the different branches. Miss Weil was continued as
president. Reports of all committees and of the work in general
throughout the State, were so encouraging that Miss Shuler frequently
voiced the common feeling, "North Carolina will ratify."
Among the North Carolina women who have made addresses for suffrage in
the State are: Dr. Delia Dixon-Carroll, Miss Louise Alexander, Miss
Clara B. Byrd, Mrs. Cunningham, Miss Harriet Elliott, Mrs.
Fairbrother, Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Jerman, Mrs. Lingle, Mrs. T. D.
Jones, Mrs. Platt, Miss Weil.
When the State Equal Suffrage League was organized in 1913 many of the
newspapers refused to carry stories about it or assist in advertising
it in any way. Gradually, however, they have been won over almost
without exception, not only to the publishing of news but many of the
most influential papers contained during 1920 convincing editorials in
behalf of equal suffrage, so that the women who are working for it
regard the newspapers as among their strongest allies. Special mention
should be made of the vigorous support of ratification of the Federal
Suffrage Amendment by the Raleigh _News and Observer_, the Greensboro
_Daily News_ and the Charlotte _Observer_.
The workers are greatly indebted to Chief Justice Clark, who for years
has been an unfailing champion of equal suffrage and real democracy.
Deep indebtedness is acknowledged to Dr. Shaw, who a number of times
came to speak and whose memory is held in deep affection by North
Carolina suffragists. Her last visit was made when she gave the
commencement address at the College for Women at Greensboro in May,
1919, wearing the medal for distinguished service given by Secretary
of War Baker the preceding day. A few years ago a beautiful residence
for the women students was erected on the college grounds. She had
spoken several times to the students, who were devoted to her, and
after her death on July 2 the alumnæ officially requested that the
residence be named the Anna Howard Shaw building, which was done.[136]
On Oct. 7, 1920, after the Federal Amendment had been proclaimed, the
State League held its last meeting and was merged into the League of
Women Voters, with Miss Gertrude Weil chairman. Mrs. Maud Wood Park,
chairman of the National League, addressed a large and appreciative
audience.
RATIFICATION. The Legislature of 1919 had instructed Governor Thomas
W. Bickett to call a special session in 1920 to consider matters
connected with taxation and it was understood that the ratification of
the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment would be considered at that time.
By March, 1920, it had been ratified by 35 States and it was evident
that North Carolina might be the one to give the final affirmative
vote. This did not seem impossible, as the most prominent men in the
State were favorable, including the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker
of the House, several members of Congress, the Secretary of State and
other officials; the presidents of most of the colleges and of various
organizations; Judges, Mayors and many others. The Republican State
convention in March seated two women delegates for the first time and
put a woman on the ticket for State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Mrs. Mary Settle Sharpe of the North Carolina College for
Women, who was on two State Republican Committees. The Democrats at
their State convention, April 8, seated about forty women delegates.
Before the convention U. S. Senator Simmons, always a strong opponent
of woman suffrage, announced himself in favor of ratification on the
ground of political expediency. Governor Bickett issued a similar
statement and A. W. McLean, member of the Democratic National
Committee, declared publicly for it. Clyde Hoey, member of Congress,
temporary chairman of the convention, made the key-note speech in
regard to State issues, in which he said: "I hope to see our General
Assembly at its special session ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment.
There is no one thing you can do here that will be worth so much to
the party in the nation as to recommend to the Legislature the
ratification of this amendment." It was supposed that U. S. Senator
Overman would fall in line but in his speech he said: "I have been and
still am opposed to woman suffrage. It is fundamental with me, deep
and inborn ... but I recognize the fact that it seems inevitable."
The plank in the platform, as it came from the committee, recommended
that the amendment should not be ratified but a State amendment should
be submitted to the voters. A minority report called for the
submission to the convention of the question whether the platform
should contain a plank for ratification. A second minority report was
offered to eliminate all reference to woman suffrage. Never in the
history of the party was there such a fight over the platform. Colonel
A. D. Watts and Cameron Morrison led the opposition to ratification;
W. P. Glidewell and John D. Bellamy the affirmative. Finally F. P.
Hobgood, Jr., one of the earliest champions of woman suffrage, after a
fiery speech, presented the following substitute for all the reports:
"This convention recommends to the Democratic members of the General
Assembly that at the approaching special session they vote in favor of
the ratification of the proposed 19th Amendment to the Federal
Constitution." This was carried by a vote of 585 to 428. Mrs. John S.
Cunningham, former president of the State Equal Suffrage League, was
elected by a large majority as honorary delegate to the Democratic
National convention and Miss Mary O. Graham as delegate. She had
already been made a member of the National Committee.
The attention of the country was focussed on North Carolina. In the
early summer President Wilson telegraphed to Governor Bickett: "I need
not point out to you the critical importance of the action of your
great State in the matter of the suffrage amendment." The Governor
replied in part: "I hope the Tennessee Legislature will meet and
ratify the amendment and thus make immediate action by North Carolina
unnecessary. We have neither the time nor the money and such action on
the part of Tennessee would save this State the feeling of bitterness
that would surely be engendered by debate on the subject that would
come up in the Legislature. I have said all I intend to say on the
subject of ratification. While I will take my medicine I will never
swear that it tastes good, for it doesn't."
Just before the assembling of the Legislature suffrage headquarters
were opened in Raleigh with Miss Gertrude Weil, president of the State
Equal Suffrage League, and Mrs. Palmer Jerman, chairman of its
legislative committee, in charge. Miss Engle and Miss Pidgeon,
national organizers, were also members of the headquarters group. Miss
Martha Haywood did invaluable work as publicity chairman. A booth with
literature, posters, etc., was established in the Yarborough Hotel.
Among the prominent men who during the struggle for ratification
strongly urged it were: Secretary Daniels, Gen. Julian S. Carr; Col.
Wade Harris, editor of the Charlotte _Observer_; J. W. Bailey,
collector of Internal Revenue; Clyde R. Hoey, member of Congress; Max
O. Gardner, Lieutenant Governor; J. C. Pritchard, Judge of the U. S.
Circuit Court of Appeals; Dennis G. Brummitt, Speaker of the House;
ex-Governor Locke Craig, A. W. McAlister and many others. Senator
Simmons, who was asked to come to Raleigh to assist in the fight,
refused to do so but issued another statement that, although he had
always been opposed to suffrage and his position was unchanged, he
realized that its coming was inevitable and believed that it would
help the Democratic party to ratify. Later, in response to a request
from the Raleigh _News and Observer_, he stressed the point that,
since the rest of the country was practically unanimous for
ratification, he feared sectional antagonism might be aroused if North
Carolina did not ratify. Mr. Bryan sent a message urging
ratification. Mrs. Daniels came to Raleigh to assist personally in the
struggle to ratify.
On August 10 the session convened. The outlook was encouraging but the
enemies had been busy and the very next day a "round robin" signed by
63 members of the House was sent to the General Assembly of Tennessee,
where a bitter fight on ratification was in progress, which said: "We,
the undersigned, members of the House of Representatives of the
General Assembly of North Carolina, constituting the majority of said
body, send greetings and assure you that we will not ratify the Susan
B. Anthony amendment interfering with the sovereignty of Tennessee and
other States of the Union. We most respectfully request that this
measure be not forced upon the people of North Carolina."
On August 13 the Governor, accompanied by Mrs. Bickett, Mrs. Daniels
and Mrs. Jerman, appeared in person before the joint assembly in the
hall of the House of Representatives, where the gallery was crowded
with women, and began his address by saying: "From reports in the
public press it seems that sentiment in the General Assembly is
decidedly against the ratification of the amendment. With this
sentiment I am in deepest sympathy and for the gentlemen who entertain
it I cherish the profoundest respect but this does not lessen my
obligation to lay before you a photographic copy of my mind on this
important subject. It is well known that I have never been impressed
with the wisdom of or the necessity for woman suffrage in North
Carolina." After a long speech setting forth the arguments in
opposition and quoting poetry he said: "But in the words of Grover
Cleveland, a condition not a theory confronts us. Woman suffrage is at
hand. It is an absolute moral certainty that inside of six months some
State will open the door and women will enter the political forum. No
great movement in all history has ever gone so near the top and then
failed to go over. The very most this General Assembly can do is to
delay for six months a movement it is powerless to defeat. I am
profoundly convinced that it would be the part of wisdom and grace to
accept the inevitable and ratify the amendment."
On the same day Senator Scales introduced the resolution to ratify,
which was referred to the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
Within a quarter of an hour the committee reported favorably by 7 to
1--Senator Cloud. This prompt action was said to be not a tribute to
Governor Bickett but to Lieutenant Governor Gardner. It was introduced
into the House by minority leader H. S. Williams (Republican) and
referred to the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
Senator Scales, floor leader in the Senate for ratification, and
Senator Lindsay Warren, floor leader for the opposition, agreed that
the resolution to ratify should come up for discussion August 17. So
great was the excitement that by order of the Senate the gallery space
was divided, the east wing being assigned to the ratificationists, the
west wing to the rejectionists. An impassioned debate continued about
five hours, Senator Carr opening for ratification, followed by
Senators Sisk, Long of Halifax, Lovell and Glidewell, with Scales
closing. The opposition was led by Senator Warren, followed by
Senators Beddingfield, Thompson and Conner. When agreement to vote was
reached and the prospect for ratification was favorable, Senator
Warren suddenly interposed a resolution to defer action until the
regular meeting of the Legislature in 1921. Senator Scales had no
intimation that this move would be made until it was too late to
prevent it and the vote stood 25 ayes, 23 noes. Blame for the defeat
was placed to a large extent upon Senator Stacy. Had he remained true,
there would have been a tie and the Lieutenant Governor would have
voted in favor.
Meanwhile it was generally understood that Representative W. W. Neal
had been sent to Tennessee for a conference with the opponents in the
Legislature there to arrange for the defeat of ratification by the
House in each State. Speaker Seth Walker of the Tennessee House
telegraphed Speaker Brummitt: "Have the amendment defeated
overwhelmingly in the Lower House. We are proud of our mother State of
North Carolina. God grant that she stand true to her glorious
tradition and history." All kinds of canards were in circulation and
Governor James M. Cox, Democratic candidate for President, had to send
a personal telegram denying that he was opposed to the ratification.
A Rejection League of Women had been formed with Miss Mary Hilliard
Hinton as chairman, which was very active.
August 16 a resolution to reject was introduced in the House by
Representative Grier. After the unexpected action of the Senate
interest abated in the House. The question was taken up on the 19th
and the resolution to ratify was considered first. Representative
Everett led the ratification forces with Representative Gold and
others giving strong support. Representatives Crisp and Dawson led the
opponents. The vote stood 41 ayes, 71 noes. The rejection resolution
was laid on the table.
In her report on ratification Mrs. Jerman made the significant
statement that, although individual men in both parties had stood true
to their pledges as loyal supporters, yet both parties had repudiated
their State platforms, and, therefore, the women were free so far as
any feeling of allegiance to either for what it may have done for
suffrage was concerned.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1897. The first bill for woman suffrage was
introduced by Senator James L. Hyatt, Republican, of Yancey county.
Referred to Committee on Insane Asylums.
1913. Municipal suffrage bill introduced by David M. Clark of Pitt
county. Tabled. Walter Murphy, Speaker of the House, left his chair to
talk against it.
1915. Constitutional woman suffrage amendment introduced by Senator F.
P. Hobgood, Jr., of Guilford county. Senate vote: 11 for, 37 against.
Introduced in the House by Gallatin Roberts of Buncombe county; 39
for, 68 against.
1917. Bill for Presidential electors, county and city officers,
introduced by Senator H. B. Stevens of Buncombe county; vote, 20 for,
24 against.
State amendment resolution, introduced by G. Ellis Gardner of Yancey
county, an anti-suffragist, was tabled, as desired.
FOOTNOTES:
[134] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Clara Booth
Byrd, a member of the faculty of the North Carolina College for Women.
[135] Those besides the presidents who held office during the
subsequent years were: Vice-presidents: Mrs. Lingle, Mrs. Jerman, Mrs.
Taylor, Mrs. Fairbrother, Mrs. C. A. Shore, Miss Weil, Miss Julia
Alexander; corresponding secretaries: Miss Susan Frances Hunter, Miss
Elizabeth Hedrick, Miss Eugenia Clark; recording secretaries: Mrs.
Lalyce D. Buford, Miss Margaret Berry, Miss Exum Clements; treasurers:
Miss Lida Rodman, Mrs. E. J. Parrish, Mrs. Julius W. Cone.
[136] In this college women are at the head of the departments of
mathematics, Latin, chemistry, political science and home economics.
The situation is similar in all colleges for women. The State
University and some others are co-educational.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
NORTH DAKOTA.[137]
The Equal Suffrage Association of North Dakota held its annual
convention at Devil's Lake July 17, 1901, where it was a prominent
feature of the Chautauqua Assembly. The auditorium was hung with huge
banners reading, "Equality at the Ballot Box," "Taxation Without
Representation is Tyranny," etc. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton addressed a
large audience on The Status of Woman Suffrage in our Country.
Officers elected were, Mrs. Flora B. Naylor, president; Mrs. Janette
Hill Knox, vice-president; Mrs. Mazie Stevens, treasurer; Mrs.
Katharine F. King, recording secretary.
From 1901 to 1912 there are no records of an active suffrage
organization but individuals and small groups of women in different
parts of the State kept alive the suffrage spirit. On Feb. 4, 1912,
twenty-four men and women were invited to meet Miss Sylvia Pankhurst
of England at the home of Mrs. Mary Darrow Weible in Fargo. After an
informal discussion the Votes for Women League of Fargo was organized
with Mrs. Clara L. Darrow president. A strong league was organized in
Grand Forks by Mrs. R. M. Pollock. On June 13, at the call of the
Fargo League, an earnest group of men and women from different parts
of the State met at the Public Library and formed a State Votes for
Women League. Officers: President, Mrs. Darrow; vice-president at
large, Mrs. M. L. Ayers, Dickinson; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Alice Nelson Page, Grand Forks; recording secretary, Mrs. Kate Selby
Wilder, Fargo; treasurer, Mrs. Helen de Lendrecie, Fargo; Committee on
Permanent Organization, Mrs. Ayers, Mrs. James Collins, Mrs. W. J.
Holbrook, N. C. McDonald, W. L. Stockwell; Resolutions, Mrs. Page,
Mrs. Wilder, Mrs. W. F. Cushing; Constitution, Miss Candis Nelson,
Mr. McDonald; Promotion, Mrs. C. F. Amidon. Steps were taken to
affiliate with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and it
was decided to introduce a resolution for the submission of a State
suffrage amendment to the voters at the next session of the
Legislature. Mrs. de Lendrecie gave headquarters in the de Lendrecie
Building at Fargo.
The first convention was held at the Civic Center, Fargo, Oct. 18,
1913. The Promotions Committee reported the circularization of the
entire press and the legislators and a number of towns organized. A
woman suffrage bill had been passed by the Legislature and would be
submitted to the voters on Nov. 4, 1914. With the following State
officers the campaign was launched: Mrs. Darrow, president; Mrs.
Weible, vice-president; Mrs. Emma S. Pierce, treasurer; Mrs. Francis
S. Bolley, congressional chairman; Mrs. Elizabeth Darrow O'Neil,
campaign manager.
A plan to divide the State into its judicial districts with district,
county and township chairmen was only partially carried out. One
hundred leagues were formed with approximately 2,000 members. Wherever
there was an efficient worker she was given a free hand to get the
votes in her locality in the most effective way. From four to six
organizers were in the field continually; seven speakers, including
Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, its president, were sent by the National
Association and five were furnished by the State. Chautauquas, fairs,
theaters and all kinds of meetings were everywhere utilized and there
were automobile speaking tours to outlying districts; plate matter was
furnished to the press and political party members were circularized.
A fund of $6,000 was raised, $3,000 of which came from the National
Association and other outside sources.
It was a hard and hopeless campaign because of an impossible
requirement. When the framers of the constitution for statehood in
1889 refused to include woman suffrage a provision was put in the
constitution whereby the Legislature at any time could submit a bill
for it at the next general election. If approved by a majority of
voters "voting upon the question" it became a Law. How, when or where
the words "voting at the election" were substituted for "voting upon
the question" no one seemed to know but they got into the
constitution. They meant that the suffrage referendum must poll a
majority of all the votes cast at the election and not just on the
measure itself. If the ballot was not marked at all it was counted in
the negative. The official returns gave the affirmative vote on
suffrage 40,209; blanks and noes together 49,348, making a total of
89,557, or 251 more votes than were cast for Governor, who polled the
largest number. It was generally conceded that if the unmarked ballots
had not been counted against the measure it would have been carried.
The entire western part of the State went for suffrage. The chief
opponents were the German Russians in Emmons and surrounding counties
and a handful of anti-suffragists who came from outside the State.
The same Legislature that sent this bill to the electors also
submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution, which
would be more secure than a law. This resolution had to pass two
Legislatures but it required only a majority at the polls of the votes
actually cast on the question. The suffragists felt sure that the
Legislature of 1915 would pass for the second time this resolution for
an amendment but it refused to do so. They soon sustained a great loss
in the death of Mrs. Darrow, the much loved president, on April 23,
1915. She had sacrificed her life in her ceaseless work for woman
suffrage. Her husband, Dr. E. M. Darrow, a pioneer physician, two
daughters and three sons ardently supported her efforts.
On account of the campaign the convention of 1914 had been postponed.
It was held at Valley City in June, 1915, and Mrs. Grace Clendening of
Wimbledon was elected president. Undaunted the suffragists made plans
to hold together the converts won during the campaign. The
organization had been of mushroom growth and they now had to
strengthen it.
The annual convention was held at Minot Oct. 10, 1915, and Mrs.
Clendening was re-elected. Extensive educational work was done the
following year, at Chautauquas by holding "suffrage days," and through
booths maintained at the Fargo and Grand Forks fairs, with a wide
distribution of literature. The Votes for Women League and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union opposed Governor Hanna and Lieutenant
Governor Fraine at the June primaries because they were responsible
for the unfair treatment of the suffrage resolution in the Legislature
and both were defeated.
The annual convention was held Oct. 13, 1916, at Valley City, the
National Association sending as a representative its first
vice-president, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Missouri. It was planned
to organize the State on the lines of its three Congressional
districts, which made a smaller executive board and facilitated its
meetings. The following officers were elected: President, Mrs.
Clendening; treasurer and press chairman, Mrs. Pierce; national and
first congressional district chairman, Mrs. O'Neil; educational and
second district chairman, Mrs. Charles Rathman; third district
chairman, Mrs. Emma Murray; legislative chairman, Mrs. Weible;
publicity chairman, Miss Aldyth Ward. An active campaign was started
to influence legislators for a Presidential and Municipal suffrage
bill and a constitutional amendment. The National Association sent two
organizers to tour the State, arouse interest and raise money. In
February, 1917, one-fifth of the newspapers of the State, representing
four-fifths of the counties, published suffrage editions, and in May a
60-page suffrage edition of a Labor magazine was edited and 5,000
copies distributed. In April the headquarters were largely used for
war work.
The annual convention was held at Bismarck Sept. 25-26, 1917. The
Presidential and Municipal suffrage bills having passed both Houses
and become law the convention decided to concentrate on the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. An emergency executive committee of Fargo women
was elected to cooperate from the State headquarters without delay in
carrying out instructions from the National Association. The following
resolution was adopted: "The North Dakota Votes for Women League,
reaffirming its steadfast loyalty and support to our President and our
Government, will continue to carry on the patriotic work assigned us
by the Government through our National Association, and will redouble
our efforts to gain enfranchisement for the women of the United States
in order that we may do more effective war work." Mrs. Clendening, who
was State president from 1915 to 1920, was now also vice-president of
the State Committee of the Woman's Division of the National Council of
Defense.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. From the time the convention for statehood failed
to put equal suffrage into the constitution the Women's Christian
Temperance Union kept up the agitation for it. In every Legislature a
suffrage bill was introduced and its president, Mrs. Elizabeth Preston
Anderson, attended each session. Although working separately, Mrs.
Anderson and the suffrage legislative committees were always in
perfect harmony. In 1911 the Union had a resolution introduced to
submit a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. Mrs.
Darrow and Mrs. de Lendrecie of the State Suffrage League lobbied for
it. It was lost in the Senate by 23 to 25 votes; referred to the
Committee on Woman Suffrage in the House, which recommended indefinite
postponement and the report was accepted by 54 ayes, 42 noes.
1913. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Darrow, Mrs. Fannie
D. Quain, Mrs. Ella C. Boise and Miss Ward. Two suffrage measures
drawn up by Senator R. M. Pollock passed both Houses. The resolution
for an amendment to the State constitution, which would have to pass
two consecutive Legislatures before submission to the voters, received
in the Senate 31 ayes, 19 noes; in the House 79 ayes, 29 noes; 5
absent. A legislative bill, which would go to the voters at the next
election, received in the Senate, 27 ayes, 22 noes; 1 absent; in the
House, 104 ayes; 1 no. Another bill introduced at this same session,
providing that the question be submitted to a vote of the women, was
passed in the Senate by 41 to 9 and indefinitely postponed in the
House.
1915. Legislative Committee Mrs. Darrow, Mrs. Quain and Mrs. Weible.
It is a significant fact that of the nearly 800 bills introduced every
one had honest treatment, passed or failed to pass on roll call or was
indefinitely postponed by vote, except the one which vitally affected
the women. The concurrent resolution for a woman suffrage amendment,
which had passed the Legislature of 1913 and had to be ratified by
that of 1915, was passed in the Senate on February 13 by 31 ayes, 15
noes, more than two to one, and the so-called "clincher" applied to it
which prevented its reconsideration by less than a two-thirds vote.
The House had appeared more favorable than the Senate and it seemed
certain that it would pass that body. On February 18, five days after
the measure had passed the Senate, Senator Jacobson moved that it be
recalled from the House, where it had had its first and second
readings and been referred to the Committee on Elections. This motion
was carried by 26 to 22. The opponents at once gathered their forces.
Judge N. C. Young of Fargo, attorney for the Northern Pacific Railway,
and Mrs. Young, president of the State Anti-Suffrage Association,
arrived immediately and began lobbying, Judge Young even appearing on
the floor of the Senate chamber.[138] The German vote was promised to
ambitious politicians and a desired change of the county seat was
offered. The Senate not having the necessary two-thirds to kill the
resolution refused by a majority vote to take action upon it. It
should then have gone automatically back to the House but the
president of the Senate, Lieutenant Governor Fraine, withheld it until
the Legislature adjourned. The chief opponents during these years were
the old Republican "stand-patters," who controlled the political
"machine," and Judge Young was one of the most prominent. Success came
with its overthrow.
1917. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Clendening and Mrs.
Weible. On January 14 Senator Oscar Lindstrom introduced a
Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill, written by Senator Pollock
at Mrs. Anderson's request. It was modelled on the Illinois bill and
beginning with July 1 it entitled women to vote for Presidential
electors, county surveyors and constables and for all officers of
cities, villages and towns excepting police magistrates and city
justices of the peace. A concurrent resolution providing for an
amendment to the State constitution to give full suffrage to women was
also introduced. Both were passed on January 16 by the same vote, 37
ayes, 11 noes in the Senate; 89 ayes, 19 noes in the House, and were
the first measures signed by Governor Lynn J. Frazier, on the 23rd.
This Legislature and also the one of 1919 adopted a resolution calling
upon Congress to submit the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment. Four of
the five North Dakota members were then in favor of it and in 1918 the
hesitating Senator made the delegation unanimous.
The State Referendum Association and the Anti-Suffrage Association
made an attempt to secure a petition for a referendum to the voters of
the Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill, but although less than
11,000 names were required only a few thousand were filed with the
Secretary of State and there was considerable difficulty in securing
those. Affidavits were sent to the Suffrage Association proving that
many names were obtained by fraud.
1919. The Legislature passed the concurrent resolution providing for
an amendment to the constitution giving women full suffrage, which had
gone through that of 1917. The vote in the Senate was 43 ayes, 1 no,
with 5 absent; in the House 98 ayes, no negative, with 15 absent. It
was to be voted on Nov. 2, 1920. Before that date the Federal
Amendment had been submitted by Congress and ratified by thirty-seven
Legislatures.
RATIFICATION. The Legislature met in special session Dec. 2, 1919, and
ratified by the following vote: Senate, 41 ayes, 4 noes with 3 absent;
House 102 ayes, 6 noes. Nevertheless the vote on the State amendment
had to be taken on Nov. 2, 1920, and it stood: Ayes, 129,628; noes,
68,569. Thousands of women voted at this election.
On April 1, 1920, the State Votes for Women League met and was
re-organized as the League of Women Voters, with Mrs. Kate S. Wilder
of Fargo chairman.
FOOTNOTES:
[137] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emma S. Pierce,
vice-president of the State Votes for Women League.
[138] A field worker for a philanthropic organization, who had a room
in a hotel in Bismarck, the capital, next to one occupied by the
representative of the liquor interests, heard him send a long distance
telephone message to Mrs. Young for her and the Judge to come on the
first train, as they were needed. She heard another one say: "If the
d----n women get the ballot there will be no chance of re-submitting
the prohibition amendment."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
OHIO.[139]
The history of woman suffrage in Ohio is a long one, for the second
woman's rights convention ever held took place at Salem, in April,
1850, and the work never entirely ceased. Looking back over it since
1900, when the Ohio chapter for Volume IV ended, one is conscious of
the wonderful spirit manifested in the State association. Other States
did more spectacular work and had larger organizations but none
finished its tasks with a stronger spirit of loyalty and love for the
work and the workers.
The State Woman Suffrage Association was organized in 1885 and held
annual conventions for the next thirty-five years, at which capable
officers were elected who were consecrated to their duties. From 1899
to 1920 Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton was president, with the exception of
the three years 1908-1911, when the office was filled by Mrs. Pauline
Steinem of Toledo. During the first twenty years of the present
century but one year, that of 1911, passed without a State
convention.[140] For over twenty years the State headquarters were in
Warren, the home of Mrs. Upton.
On May 4, 5, 1920, the final convention of the Woman Suffrage
Association was held in Columbus and with its work finished the State
League of Women Voters was organized, with Miss Amy G. Maher as
chairman.
The devotion, the efficiency, the self-sacrifice of the suffrage
workers in Ohio will never be known. Their strength lay in their
cooperation. To give their names and their work would fill all the
space allowed for this chapter but one exception should in justice be
made. Elizabeth J. Hauser from her childhood days until the Federal
Amendment was ratified gave her life to woman's enfranchisement.
Painstaking, fearless, unselfish and able, she labored cheerfully, not
caring for praise or credit for the things she accomplished. A good
executive, organizer, legislative worker, speaker and writer, she was
a power in the counsels of the suffragists. To her more than to any
other woman do Ohio women owe a debt of gratitude.[141]
From the first gathering of Ohio suffragists in 1850 until Tennessee
spoke the last word in 1920, few years passed when some suffrage
measure was not asked for and few Legislatures went out of existence
without having considered some legislation referring to women. In 1894
a law gave them the right to vote for members of the boards of
education. In 1904 and 1905, the Legislature was asked to submit to
the voters an amendment to the State constitution giving full suffrage
to women but the resolution was not reported out of the committees. In
1908 it was reported but no vote was taken. In 1910 it was defeated on
the floor. This was the experience for years.
Periodically attempts had been made to revise the State constitution
of 1851 without success but the Legislature of 1910 provided for
submitting to the voters the question of calling a convention, which
was carried in the fall of that year. The convention was to be
non-partisan. The suffragists interviewed the delegates on putting
woman suffrage in the new constitution and the poll was complete when
the convention opened. The moment the president was chosen, the
suffrage leaders asked for a friendly committee and from that time to
the very last moment they were at work. The proposition for a woman
suffrage clause was introduced Jan. 22, 1912; a pro-hearing was held
February 8; an anti-hearing followed by a public meeting was had
February 14 and the following day it was favorably reported out of
committee by a vote of 20 to 1.
Interests, vicious and commercial, fought the suffrage amendment from
every possible angle but on March 7 the convention adopted it by a
vote of 76 to 34. If accepted by the voters it would eliminate the
words "white male" from Section 1, Article V, of the present
constitution. The enemies secured the submission of a separate
amendment eliminating the word "white." This was done to alienate the
negro vote from the suffrage amendment and the negroes were told that
it was a shame they should be "tied to the women's apron strings."
The new constitution was made by adding amendments to the old one and
the suffrage amendment went in with the rest. William B. Kirkpatrick,
chairman of the Equal Suffrage Committee of the convention, more than
any one was responsible for the acceptance of the amendment. Through
the whole convention he fought for it, sacrificing many things near
his heart--they could wait, this was the chance for woman suffrage.
The amendment was numbered "23" and at that time this number was
considered unlucky. The most illiterate could remember to vote against
that "23." The constitution was ready on May 31 and the special
election was set for Sept. 3, 1912. Three months of vigorous campaign
for the amendment followed. The German-American Alliance and the
Personal Liberty League, two associations representing the brewers'
interests, fought it in the field as they had done in the convention.
It was estimated that the suffragists spent $40,000 and it was learned
that the liquor forces first appropriated $500,000 and later added
$120,000 to defeat the suffrage amendment. The chief work of the
suffragists was done in the cities, although women spoke at picnics,
county fairs, family reunions, circuses, beaches, institutes, labor
meetings, at country stores, school houses and cross roads. More than
fifty workers came into Ohio from all directions to assist, the larger
number from the eastern States. They received no financial recompense
and gave splendid service. In August an impressive suffrage parade of
5,000 took place in Columbus.
The president of the German-American Alliance at a meeting in
Youngstown boasted openly that it defeated the amendment. It
advertised everywhere, by posters and in street cars, and had no
voluntary workers. It was evident that huge sums were being spent. The
amendment was lost by a majority of 87,455--ayes, 249,420; noes,
336,875. Only 24 out of 88 counties were carried and but one
Congressional district, the Eighteenth.
There was never any state-wide anti-suffrage association of women but
only small groups in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. Most
of them were rich, well situated, not familiar with organized reform
work and not knowing the viciousness of their associates. The real foe
was the associated liquor men, calling themselves at first the
Personal Liberty League, later the Home Rule Association, appearing
under different names in different campaigns and they had in their
employ a few women who were connected with the Anti-Suffrage
Association. The amendment was lost in 1912 because of the activity of
the liquor interests and the indifference of the so-called good
people. More men voted on this question, pro and con, than had ever
voted on woman suffrage before in any State.
The amendment eliminating the word "white," left over from ante bellum
days, also was defeated and the new constitution retained a clause
which had been nullified by the 15th Amendment to the National
Constitution forty years before! The initiative and referendum
amendment was carried. The State Suffrage Association, therefore,
early in 1913, decided to circulate a petition initiating a woman
suffrage amendment to the constitution, as there was no hope that the
Legislature would submit one. It required the signatures of ten per
cent. of the voters at the last election, in this instance 130,000
names. It was drawn by an Ohio member of Congress, received at State
headquarters April 15, submitted to the Attorney General and held many
weeks. When returned, instructions were carefully followed. On
September 15 the first petition heads were received from the printer.
It was a new law and lawyers and laymen were uncertain about it. The
question of the validity of the petitions if circulated by women was
raised and a ruling was asked for. The Secretary of State decided that
women could circulate them and the Attorney General agreed. It was
feared by some that the petition head was faulty because it did not
contain a repeal clause and after three weeks of anxious waiting the
opinion was given that this was not necessary. Then arose another
point, that the names of the committee standing for the petition must
be on it. This constant objecting and obstructing led the suffrage
leaders, upon advice of their attorney, to withdraw the petition and
await the action of the special session of the Legislature. It passed
the initiative and referendum safeguarding measure, which the Governor
signed Feb. 17, 1914, and all uncertainties seemed over.
Determined to have a perfect copy for the petition head the
suffragists had it prepared by the State Legislative Reference
Department and the Secretary of State orally approved it. At the
headquarters it was noticed that the words, "Be it resolved by the
people of Ohio," which the constitution specifically provided must be
on petition heads and which had been on the first one, had been
omitted. They asked the Secretary of State whether this jeopardized
the petition and it was his opinion that it did, although he had
approved it. The Attorney General finally gave it official sanction
and the first petitions were put out in March, 1914, after one year's
continuous effort to get them into circulation. Who but women fighting
for their freedom could ever have had the courage to keep on? They had
no money to pay circulators and all was volunteer work. Over 2,000
women circulated these petitions. To have more than 130,000 men write
their names and addresses on a petition and the circulator see them do
it and swear that she did was no light task but it was accomplished.
On July 30 petitions bearing 131,271 names were filed with the
Secretary of State. A petition was secured in every county, although
the law requires them from a majority only, and each was presented by
a worker from that county. The sight of scores of men and women with
arms laden with petitions marching up to the State House to deposit
them brought tears to the eyes of some of the onlookers.
The campaign opened in Toledo, April 14, 15, was hectic. Everything
possible was done to bring the amendment to the attention of the
voters. Cleveland suffragists put on a beautiful pageant, A Dream of
Freedom. A pilgrimage was made to the Friends' Meeting House in Salem
where the suffrage convention of 1850 was held and the resolutions of
those pioneers were re-adopted by a large, enthusiastic audience.
Women followed party speakers, taking their audiences before and after
the political meeting. State conventions of all sorts were appealed to
and many gave endorsement, those of the Republicans and the Democrats
refusing. Groups of workers would visit a county, separate and canvass
all the towns and then keep up their courage by returning to the
county seat at night and comparing notes. Street meetings and noon
meetings for working people were held. Everything which had been tried
out in any campaign was done.
From the beginning of 1913 to the election in November, 1914, there
was constant work done for the amendment. The total number of votes
cast on it was 853,685; against, 518,295; for 335,390; lost by 182,905
votes. There were gains in every county but only 14 were carried,
where there had been 24 in 1912.
That the liquor interests and the anti-suffragists worked together was
clearly established. The Saturday preceding the election the president
of the State Suffrage association saw in her own city of Warren a man
distributing literature from door to door and accompanied by a witness
she followed him and picked up several packages in different parts of
the city. They contained two leaflets, one giving information on how
to vote on the Home Rule or "wet" amendment, the other giving
instructions how to vote against the suffrage amendment. The latter
had a facsimile ballot marked against it and was signed by five women.
The _Liberal Advocate_ of Oct. 21, 1914, (official organ of the liquor
interests), published at Columbus, had a picture and a write-up of
Mrs. A. J. George of Brookline, a speaker from the Massachusetts
Anti-Suffrage Association, with a headline saying that she would be
present at a luncheon of anti-suffragists on the 27th in that city and
also speak elsewhere in the State.
After the defeats of 1912 and 1914 the suffragists abandoned the idea
of carrying an amendment. The revised constitution provided for "home
rule" for cities, which allowed them to adopt their own charters
instead of going to the Legislature. Suffragists believed that these
charters could provide for woman suffrage in municipal affairs. In
1916 East Cleveland decided to frame a charter and they saw a chance
to make a test. This campaign was the work of the Woman Suffrage Party
of Greater Cleveland. On June 6 a city charter was submitted to the
voters and adopted including woman suffrage. A suit was brought to
test its constitutionality and it was argued in the Supreme Court, one
of the lawyers being a woman, Miss Florence E. Allen.[142] By
agreement between the court and election officials women voted at the
regular municipal election in November. The court upheld its validity
April 3, 1917, and the constitutionality of Municipal woman suffrage
in charter cities was established.
In the fall of 1917 the women of Lakewood, a city adjoining Cleveland
on the west, gave municipal suffrage to its women by charter after a
vigorous campaign. Columbus undertook to put this in its charter and a
bitter campaign took place. It was the house to house canvass and the
courageous work of the Columbus women and State suffrage officers
which brought the victory when it was voted on at the election in
August, 1917. Sandusky was not successful.
A partial poll of the Legislature on the subject of Presidential
suffrage for women in 1915 had shown that it would be futile to
attempt it but after endorsements of woman suffrage by the national
party conventions in 1916 it was determined to try.
The Legislature of 1917 was Democratic and Representative James A.
Reynolds (Cleveland) met the State suffrage workers upon their arrival
in Columbus for the opening of the session and informed them that he
was going to sponsor their bill. On January 16 Representative Pratt,
Republican, of Ashtabula and Mr. Reynolds, Democrat, each introduced a
measure for Presidential suffrage. By agreement the Reynolds bill was
chosen and he fought the battle for it against great odds. He was the
one anti-prohibitionist who worked for it, considering it his duty and
his privilege, and, because of his standing and because his party was
in power, he was the only one perhaps who could have carried it
through. He stood by the suffragists until Tennessee had ratified and
the contest was over.
On Jan. 30, 1917, the bill to give women a vote for Presidential
electors was reported favorably from the House Committee on Elections,
and on February 1 it passed the House by 72 ayes, 50 noes, fifty-five
per cent. of the Democratic members voting for it and sixty-nine per
cent of the Republicans. In the Senate the leader of the "wets"
introduced a resolution for the submission of a full suffrage
amendment in the hope of sidetracking the Reynolds bill but the latter
reached the Senate February 2, before the Holden bill could be
considered. The suffragists, wishing to expedite matters, did not ask
for a hearing but the "antis" did and at Mr. Reynolds' request the
former were present. At this hearing the women leaders of the "antis"
and the liquor men occupied seats together on the floor of the Senate.
The next morning the bill was reported favorably from the Federal
Relations Committee and passed on February 14, by 19 ayes, 17 noes.
Immediately the leader of the opposition changed his vote to yes in
order to move a reconsideration. This he was not permitted to do
because a friend of the measure forced the reconsideration the next
day, and as this was lost by a vote of 24 to 10, the bill itself went
on record as having received the vote of the "wet" leader and having
passed by 20 to 16. Governor James M. Cox signed it Feb. 21.
Very soon the opponents opened headquarters in Columbus and circulated
petitions to have the Presidential suffrage bill referred to the
voters for repeal. The story of these petitions is a disgraceful one.
Four-fifths of the signatures were gathered in saloons, the petitions
kept on the back and front bars. Hundreds of names were certified to
by men who declared they saw them signed, an impossibility unless they
stood by the bar eighteen hours each day for some weeks and watched
every signature. Some petitions, according to the dates they bore,
were circulated by the same men in different counties on the same day.
Some of them had whole pages of signatures written in the same hand
and some had names only, no addresses. The suffragists copied some of
these petitions after they were filed in Columbus and although the
time was short brought suit to prove them fraudulent in six counties.
In four the court ordered all but a few names thrown out. In Scioto
all the names were rejected and in Cuyahoga county (Cleveland), 7,000
names were thrown out. The petitions in Franklin county (Columbus),
Lucas (Toledo) and Montgomery (Dayton) were unquestionably fraudulent
but the election boards were hostile to woman suffrage and powerful
with the courts and refused to bring cases. When suffrage leaders
attempted to intervene the courts declared they had no jurisdiction.
The suffragists were on duty in Columbus from January to
October,--long, weary, exciting months. It was clearly proved in the
cases brought that the petitions were fraudulently circulated, signed,
attested and certified. In the course of an attempt to bring a case
against Franklin county a ruling of the Common Pleas Court was that
the Secretary of State should be restrained from counting the
signatures from seventeen counties because the Board of Elections had
not properly certified them. The Secretary of State telegraphed these
boards and they certified again, although there is no constitutional
or statutory provision for recertification. Nevertheless when these
corrected certifications were made the Judge dissolved the injunction
and 17,000 names were restored to the petition. U. S. Senator Warren
G. Harding in a Decoration Day speech at Columbus declared himself
decidedly opposed to accepting this referendum.
Cases were brought to the Supreme Court via the Court of Appeals, one
a general suit demanding that petitions from certain counties be
rejected because they were fraudulent and insufficient, the other to
mandamus the Secretary of State to give the suffragists a hearing to
prove their charges. The first was dismissed, the Supreme Court saying
it had no jurisdiction over a case which had not been finished in the
court from which the appeal had been taken. They returned to the Court
of Appeals and tried one case on the constitutionality of the law of
1915, which gives the Board of Elections and Common Pleas Judges the
right to examine the petitions and pass upon their validity, instead
of the Secretary of State. The court decided to give no decision as
election was so near at hand.
The law made no provision to meet the expenses of petition suits and
the suffragists had to bear the cost, no small undertaking. The
election boards which were dominated by politicians who had been
notorious for their opposition to suffrage, interposed every possible
obstacle to the attempt of the suffragists to uncover fraud. In some
counties it was impossible to bring cases. Women were absorbed in war
work and thousands of them bitterly resented the fact that at such a
time their right to vote should be questioned. The referendum was
submitted with the proposal so worded on the ballot that it was
extremely difficult to know whether to vote yes or no.
At the election in November, 1917, the majority voted in favor of
taking away from women the Presidential suffrage. The vote for
retaining it was 422,262; against, 568,382; the law repealed by a
majority of 146,120. More votes were polled in 1917 than in 1914. The
law was upheld in 15 counties, in 11 of which suffrage had then
carried three times.
Ohio suffragists now turned their attention entirely towards national
work. It was apparent that while the liquor interests continued their
fight, women with a few thousand dollars, working for principle, could
never overcome men with hundreds of thousands of dollars working for
their own political and financial interests. Intensive organized
congressional work was carried on henceforth for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. When the vote on it was taken in the House of
Representatives Jan. 10, 1918, eight of Ohio's twenty-two Congressmen
voted for it. Three years before, Jan. 12, 1915, only five had voted
in favor. In the U. S. Senate, Oct. 1, 1918, Senator Atlee Pomerene
voted No; Senator Warren G. Harding paired in favor. On Feb. 10, 1919,
Senator Harding voted Yes; Senator Pomerene No.
The Legislature in 1919, Republican by a large majority in both
Houses, endorsed the Federal Amendment by a vote of 23 to 10 in the
Senate, 79 to 31 in the House. When the vote was taken in the National
House of Representatives, May 21, 1919, only two Ohio members voted
No, one a Democrat, Warren Gard of Hamilton, one a Republican, A. E.
B. Stephens of Cincinnati. When the final vote was taken in the Senate
June 4, 1919, Senator Harding voted Yes, Senator Pomerene, No.
RATIFICATION. The Legislature was so eager to ratify that it had only
recessed instead of adjourning so that it could come together for that
purpose whenever the amendment was submitted. Representative Reynolds
had again introduced a Presidential suffrage measure, and C. H. Fouts
of Morgan county, to carry out the Republican platform, had presented
a full suffrage proposal. Both were held back until the fate of the
National Amendment should be known. The legislators assembled to
ratify on June 16 and the House vote was 76 ayes, 6 noes. In order
that the women might be sure of a vote at the next election the
Presidential suffrage bill was immediately passed by a vote of 75
ayes, 5 noes. The House was in an uproar, cheering, laughing and
talking. Then a committee came to the suffrage leaders who were now on
the floor, always heretofore in the gallery, and escorted them to the
Senate through the legislative passage way which had always before
been closed to them. The Senate ratified by a vote of 27 ayes, 3 noes.
The Presidential bill was read, debated and passed by the Senate late
that night by 27 ayes, 3 noes.
Never was there a finer example of cooperation than in this
ratification of the Federal Amendment. The adoption of the joint
resolution was moved by the Republican floor leader and seconded by
the Democratic floor leader. The same spirit characterized the passage
of the Presidential suffrage bill. Mr. Reynolds, fearing some
prejudice might attach to it if it bore his name, as he was a minority
party member, proposed to the Republican leaders that the name of
Speaker Kimball be substituted. The Speaker replied: "No, you deserve
to have it go through with your name attached." Mr. Reynolds then
asked that the name of Mr. Fouts be added because he had introduced a
full suffrage measure, and it became the Reynolds-Fouts Bill. Miss
Hauser, editor of the _Bulletin_, official organ of the State Suffrage
Association, said in it: "We had just witnessed a perfect exhibition
of team work and a demonstration of loyalty to a cause and to each
other by members of opposing political parties that was heart warming.
We had finished the suffrage fight in Ohio as Mrs. Upton had always
wanted to finish it, with love, good will and harmony in our own
ranks, and, so far as we were able to judge, with nothing but good
will from the men with whom we had worked since the present stage of
the contest was inaugurated in 1912."
The suffragists believed the fight was over, not so the opponents.
They at once secured referendum petitions on both ratification and
Presidential suffrage. In 1918 the Home Rule Association (the liquor
interests) had initiated and carried at the November election an
amendment to the State constitution providing that Federal amendments
must be approved by the voters before the ratification of the
Legislature was effective. This was designed primarily to secure a
reversal of prohibition in Ohio but also to prevent ratification of
the suffrage amendment.[143]
In collecting their petitions the same old tactics were employed. The
personnel of the workers was largely the same, with the addition of a
State Senator from Cincinnati as general manager. The money to finance
the campaign came principally from that city and this time members of
the women's Anti-Suffrage Association were contributors. The saloons
were now closed and pious instructions were given not to have the
petitions circulated by saloon keepers or bar tenders. Nevertheless
nearly 600 of them were circulated by men who had been connected with
the saloon business, some of them now conducting soft drink
establishments, and the signatures were plainly of the most illiterate
elements.
The State Suffrage Association persuaded the National American
Association to attack the constitutionality of this referendum in the
courts and suit was accordingly brought. Eventually it was sustained
by the Supreme Court of Ohio and was carried to the U. S. Supreme
Court by George Hawk, a young lawyer of Cincinnati. It rendered a
decision that the power to ratify a Federal Amendment rested in the
Legislature and could not be passed on by the voters.
The Legislature in an adjourned session in 1920 gave women Primary
suffrage in an amendment to the Presidential bill, but the final
ratification of the Federal Amendment in August made all partial
measures unnecessary, as it completely enfranchised women.[144] Thus
after a struggle of seventy years those of Ohio received the suffrage
at last from the national government, but they were deeply
appreciative and grateful to those heroic men of the State who fought
their battles through the years.
FOOTNOTES:
[139] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet Taylor
Upton, treasurer of the National Woman Suffrage Association 1893-1910;
president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association 1899-1908 and
1911-1920.
[140] These conventions were held in the following order: Athens,
Springfield, Cleveland, Sandusky, London, Youngstown, Toledo, Warren,
Columbus, Elyria, Lima, Columbus, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland,
Lima, Dayton, Columbus (last three years).
[141] The executive officers who finished the work of the State
Association were as follows: Honorary president, Mrs. Frances M.
Casement, Painesville; president, Mrs. Upton, Warren; first, second
and third vice-presidents, Zara du Pont, Cleveland; Dora Sandoe
Bachman, Columbus; Mrs. J. C. Wallace, Cincinnati; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. Kent Hughes, Lima; recording secretary, Margaret J.
Brandenburg, Oxford; treasurer, Zell Hart Deming, Warren; member of
the National Executive Committee, Mrs. O. F. Davisson, Dayton.
Chairmen: Organization Committee, Elizabeth J. Hauser, Girard;
Finance, Miss Annie McCully, Dayton; Industrial, Rose Moriarty,
Cleveland; Enrollment, Mrs. C. H. Simonds, Conneaut; member Executive
Committee at Large, Mrs. Malcolm McBride, Cleveland.
[142] Miss Allen was counsel in all court cases of the Ohio
suffragists from 1916 to 1920. In 1920 she was elected Judge in the
Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga county (Cleveland), the first woman in
the United States to fill such an office.
[143] Several years before the "wets," this time under the name of the
Stability League, had initiated an amendment, which, if it had been
carried, would have prohibited the submission of the same amendment
oftener than once in six years. Thus the suffragists in 1916, 1917 and
1918 were in the courts for months each year.
[144] In the presidential campaign of 1920 Mrs. Upton was appointed
vice-chairman of the Republican National Executive Committee, the
highest political position ever held by a woman, and she had charge of
the activities of women during that campaign. Her last work for woman
suffrage was during the strenuous effort to obtain the 36th and final
ratification of the Federal Amendment from the Tennessee Legislature
in the summer of 1920, when she went to Nashville at the request of
the National Republican Committee.--Ed.
CHAPTER XXXV.
OKLAHOMA.[145]
From the time Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement in 1889
efforts were made to obtain the franchise for women, first by the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and in 1895 the National American
Woman Suffrage Association sent organizers and an auxiliary was
formed. It held annual conventions and bills were presented to the
Legislature but when one had been grossly betrayed in the Senate after
passing the House in 1899 no further effort was made for a number of
years.[146] Finally in answer to requests sent to the National
Association, an organizer, Miss Laura Gregg of Kansas, was sent to the
Territory in March, 1904. She was cordially received and spent the
next eight months in speaking and organizing suffrage clubs. In
December Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, joined her for
a two-weeks' series of conferences in the large places, in each of
which a society was formed.
A convention of Oklahoma and Indian Territory delegates was called for
December 15-16 in Oklahoma City. Dr. Shaw presided at the first
session and delivered an address to a large audience. Over sixty
members were added to the city club and from this time it was the most
active in the State. Statehood was being agitated and a letter was
read from Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the National
Association, which said: "No stone should be left unturned to secure
suffrage for the women while Oklahoma is yet a Territory, for if it
comes into the Union without this in its constitution it will take a
long time and a great deal of hard work to convert over one-half of
the men to vote for it."
Letters expressing a strong desire for the franchise were read from
women in different parts of the Territories. The Twin Territorial
Association was organized and a resolution was adopted calling for
statehood and saying: "Said statehood shall never enact any law
restricting the right of suffrage on account of sex, race, color or
previous condition of servitude." Prominent at this convention were
Mrs. Kate H. Biggers, Mrs. Julia Woodworth, Mrs. Anna Laskey and Mrs.
Jence C. Feuquay. The officers elected were: president, Mrs. Biggers,
Indian Territory; first vice-president, Mrs. Woodworth; second, Mrs.
Anna M. Bennett; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Laskey; recording
secretary, Mrs. Louisa Boylan McLoud; treasurer, Miss Margaret Rees;
auditors, Mrs. Rebecca Forney and Mrs. Mary B. Green, all of Oklahoma
Territory, and Mrs. Mary C. Harvey of Indian Territory.
The second annual convention was held Oct. 26-28, 1905, at Chickasha,
Indian Territory. Mrs. Biggers, Mrs. Woodworth, Miss Rees and Mrs.
Green were re-elected. New officers were, Mrs. Minnie Keith Bailey,
Mrs. Cleo Ikard Harris, Mrs. Ida Wood Norvell, Mrs. Jessie Livingston
Parks and Mrs. Hattie Sherman. Vigorous protest had been made by women
throughout the Territories against the bill for statehood which had
been presented to Congress, classifying women in the suffrage section
with illiterates, minors, felons, insane and feeble-minded. The matter
was also taken up by the National Association. [See Chapter V, Volume
V.] Later when bills in the Territorial Legislature for a
constitutional convention repeated this clause a conference was held
with the officers of the W. C. T. U. and hundreds of letters of
protest were sent.
As a constitutional convention seemed near at hand Dr. Frances Woods
of South Dakota was sent by the National Association to organize in
Indian Territory. With the help of Mrs. Woodworth she secured hearings
before women's clubs and W. C. T. U.'s, addressed State Labor and
Press Associations and was invited to speak to a Farmers' Institute
300 miles away with her expenses paid. Miss Gregg continued the
organizing in Oklahoma, addressing an audience of 6,000 at the Grand
Army of the Republic encampment and speaking to teachers' institutes,
business colleges, country school house meetings and women's clubs.
One issue of the _Messenger_, the U. C. T. U. organ, was devoted to
woman suffrage. The membership increased; over 75 papers used suffrage
articles and much literature donated by the National Association was
circulated. The Oklahoma City Club, Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens,
president, was especially active in having the women register for the
school elections, in which they could vote for trustees, in order to
defeat the school book trust, and 600 did so.
In May Dr. Woods spoke at the annual meeting of the Woman's Relief
Corps in Oklahoma City and a resolution was passed favoring woman
suffrage. The Grand Army of the Republic, in session at the same time,
gave her a place on an evening program at the Opera House, where she
addressed a large, enthusiastic audience. Mrs. Biggers attended the
annual meeting of the Twin Territories Labor Union, which unanimously
adopted a resolution for woman suffrage. In Tulsa on Labor Day the
"float" of the suffragists in the big procession won the prize. At
Chickasha during the agricultural fair the tent of the suffrage club
had the best location on the grounds. Dr. Woods and Mrs. Biggers went
to Muskogee to see Robert L. Owen, a prominent lawyer, and enlist his
strong influence in favor of a woman suffrage clause in the new
constitution. He cordially promised his influence, service and
financial assistance and he made his first great suffrage speech in
Oklahoma City before the convention took place. Dr. Woods left the
last of May and the National Association sent Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of
Pennsylvania in October, 1906, to establish headquarters. When the
constitutional convention opened in Guthrie they were transferred
there, with Mrs. Biggers and Mrs. Boyer in charge. Miss Laura Clay of
Kentucky, a national officer, went to their assistance at her own
expense and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado did some very
effective speaking. In February, 1907, a hearing was granted by the
Suffrage Committee of the convention. Later Mr. Owen, former Governor
Alva Adams of Colorado and Miss Clay addressed the entire convention.
Mr. Owen engaged the Opera House for a mass meeting to influence the
delegates and paid for printing handsomely the Memorial which the
State Suffrage Association presented to the convention.
Mrs. Boyer said. "The woman suffrage measure caused the most heated
debate of the convention. It had been arranged by the political
manipulators to apply gag rule and shut off debate as soon as the
opposition had exploited itself but on a motion to discuss the
suffrage resolution the vote stood 41 noes, 42 ayes, and the delegates
favoring it managed to secure the floor and hold it." Peter Hanraty,
the principal representative of the labor organizations, which were
practically solid for a woman suffrage clause in the constitution, led
the debate in its favor. A number of prominent men spoke strongly for
it. Some of the opposing speeches were very coarse. On the final vote
it was lost by 50 nays to 37 ayes. Notwithstanding all that had been
done and said the suffrage clause in the new constitution read: "The
qualified electors shall be male citizens of the State and male
persons of Indian descent, who are over 21 years of age....
Specifically excepted are felons, paupers, lunatics and idiots."
The headquarters were returned to Oklahoma City with Mrs. Boyer and
Mrs. Biggers still in charge and Miss Gregg continued her field work,
as the suffragists desired to help some of their friends who were
candidates. Among them at the election in October, 1907, Bird S.
McGuire was elected member of Congress, Mr. Hanraty mine inspector,
Charles L. Daugherty labor commissioner, Jesse L. Dunn and M. J. Kane
Justices of the Supreme Court and fourteen to the Legislature. Charles
W. Haskell, who had been among the bitterest of the opponents in the
convention, was elected Governor. When the first Legislature met in
December, Mr. Owen was unanimously elected U. S. Senator and never
thereafter failed to render assistance to both State and national
suffrage for women. Unsolicited Perry A. Ballard introduced a bill in
the House at the first session giving the Presidential franchise to
women but it never came out of committee.
The suffrage work done in 1908 was principally through the society in
Oklahoma City. The State Federation of Labor at its annual convention
endorsed woman suffrage and pledged its support to candidates for the
Legislature who would submit the question to the voters. The
Socialists also gave unqualified support. There was no official
recognition by Democrats or Republicans but a considerable per cent.
of their legislative candidates declared themselves in favor of this
action.
State suffrage headquarters were opened in Guthrie in January, 1909,
and Mrs. Boyer took charge. Members from clubs over the State came to
assist in lobbying for the amendment and pledges were secured from a
majority in both Houses. Miss Kate M. Gordon of New Orleans,
corresponding secretary of the National Association, came to make the
principal argument at the Senate hearing. One was granted also before
the Committee of the Whole. Mrs. N. M. Carter presided and strong
appeals were made by Mrs. Boyer, Mrs. M. A. Morrison, Mrs. Feuquay and
Mrs. Bailey. A petition of 8,000 names was presented, which had been
quickly collected, but it was treated with discourtesy, one member
tearing up the sheets from his district and throwing them into the
waste basket. The Speaker jestingly referred it to the Committee on
Geological Survey. The attendance was so great the hearing had to be
adjourned to a larger room. Through every possible device and even
conspiracy the measure was lost in the Senate, Governor Haskell using
his influence against it.
It was already evident that the amendment could be submitted only
through the Initiative and Referendum. This was a new and not well
understood law, there was little money in the treasury and the women
were tired and discouraged, saying, as Mrs. Woodworth expressed it:
"It's of no use, for the whisky ring and the grafters will beat us
every time." Nevertheless an undaunted few decided to begin the
immense work of securing the initiative petition. Mrs. Biggers was
continued as president and Dr. Ruth A. Gay agreed to act as chairman
of finance and conduct the petition work from her office in Oklahoma
City, with the cooperation of Mrs. Stephens, who went personally into
the counties. The National Association again sent Mrs. Boyer, who used
her own room for headquarters in order to save money. She said in
writing of the summer's campaign:
The women circulated the petition and obtained nearly 38,600
signatures of voters--more than the necessary number. The State
was new; there were few trolleys in cities and still fewer
interurbans to make the rural communities accessible; the
railroads had infrequent and uncertain schedules. That petition
was a marvel in attainment and a monument of sacrifice. The
headquarters work has never been surpassed in devotion of local
suffragists. Do you know of any other State where the entire
campaign was carried on by but two paid workers--a manager and a
stenographer? Mrs. Stephens went into the field and Mrs. Biggers
remained with the office work and spent her money freely. Dr. Gay
sacrificed time from her practice and pressed her father and
mother into service so that literature might be addressed to the
voters. Mrs. Woodworth, Mrs. Feuquay, Mrs. Burt, Mrs. Mattie
Flick, Mrs. Dunham and her daughter Junia and Miss Mary Barber
worked day and night in the office or the field.
Altogether $900 were raised. To this amount Miss Clay contributed
$300; Henry B. and Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.) $400 and also lent
money. Most of the women worked gratuitously and paid their own
expenses. Oklahoma City was canvassed without cost. When the petition
was ready for filing a representative committee of women carried it to
Guthrie and Secretary of State Cross complimented its excellent
arrangement. So quietly had it been secured that the "machine"
politicians were astounded and dismayed when it was presented and
plans were at once made to attack its validity. Senator Roddie was
chosen to protest it on the ground that 5,000 of the signatures were
fraudulent but he offered no proof of the charge. Three eminent
lawyers, Judge J. B. A. Robertson, Democratic candidate for Governor;
Judge T. L. Brown, a Republican, and P. J. Nagel, a Socialist, gave
their services to the suffragists. The first argued for the justice of
submitting the amendment; the second defended the legality of the
petition and the third demanded recognition of the 38,586 voters who
had signed it. Secretary of State Cross announced a recess until 2 p.
m. At that hour he declared that the petition was "in due form of law
and amply sufficient in all things and that the question thereby
proposed should be certified to the Governor to the end that the same
may be submitted to the electors of the State as is provided by law."
Senator Roddie then appealed to the Supreme Court, which in June,
1910, sustained the petition.
Believing that the petition would be upheld the suffragists had opened
headquarters in the Lee Huckins Hotel in Oklahoma City February 1.
There was hope of a special election for the amendment, in which case
it could be carried by a majority of those voting on it. If it went to
the regular election it would require a majority of the highest
number of votes cast. It finally went over to the general election.
There was no money for salaries and very little for expenses. Mrs.
Boyer conducted a very efficient publicity service and was obliged to
fill many appointments as a speaker, besides having all the office
work in charge, making it necessary for her to toil far into the
nights. Mrs. Biggers carried on the work during Mrs. Boyer's absences.
Often there was no money for postage and Dr. Gay would go out and beg
a few dollars from some friend of the cause.
It being a State campaign year there were many opportunities for work
at picnics and tent meetings arranged for the candidates. The
Democrats were the dominant party and principal opposers. Among their
candidates were few avowed friends or active helpers and some were
openly and bitterly opposed. Women who had never made a public speech
had to meet their eloquence and sophistry. Mrs. Stephens and Miss Mary
Barber were sent into the most hostile part of the State and worked
through the heat and dust of almost the entire summer. They spoke from
boxes and wagons; in little dark school houses with only one smoky
kerosene lamp, making it impossible to read their notes or see the
audience; before large, unsympathetic crowds at open air meetings. It
was an experience that tested endurance and loyalty almost to the
breaking point.
The Socialists were always helpful but they were intensely disliked
and sometimes their friendship only made the way more difficult. The
labor unions were unusually helpful and never antagonistic. Toward the
last of the campaign the secretary of the State Federation of Labor,
J. Luther Langston, with Miss Gordon made a two-weeks' speaking tour
through the State. The vote was taken Nov. 8, 1910, and was announced
as ayes, 88,808; noes, 128,928; lost by 40,120. While the
disappointment was intense yet as an education this campaign could not
be overestimated.[147]
There was still a desire to keep the organization alive and be ready
for the next opportunity. In 1911 Mrs. Biggers declined to stand again
for the presidency, after serving seven years, and Dr. Ruth A. Gay,
with a full board, was elected at the annual convention, Mrs. Biggers
taking the office of treasurer. At the State meeting of 1912 Mrs.
Mattie Flick, Miss Jessie Nourse and Mrs. Mattie Cloud were added to
the board. Dr. Gay held the presidency until 1913, when Mrs. Cora B.
Gotchy was elected. The State association became a member of the
Southern Women's Conference. No further effort was made with the
Legislature but the Republican party put a woman suffrage plank in its
State platform and the Progressive party took steps toward another
initiative petition, Mrs. Gotchy assisting, but it did not meet with
support. Mrs. Feuquay was selected for president in 1914 and helped a
resolution for an amendment introduced in the Legislature by the
Socialist Representatives McLemore and Pritchett, which did not come
out of committee.
In 1915 Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens was elected president. The
vice-president, Miss Mary Crangle, in the northeastern part of the
State, and the recording secretary, Mrs. Frances A. Agnew, in the
southwestern part, did active personal work to keep up the interest.
The Democratic Secretary of State, J. L. Lyon, made strenuous
individual effort to start an initiative petition, which was not
successful. Suffrage resolutions were introduced by legislators
independently in the session of 1915 and the special session of 1916.
Luther Harrison and Charles F. Barrett, now Adjutant General, were
helpful friends in the Legislature. Mrs. Stephens was continued as
president through 1916 and 1917.[148] In 1916 the resolution for a
suffrage amendment passed the House by a vote of 62 to 15 but was
adversely reported by the Senate Committee.
Since 1910 Mrs. Woodworth had kept the question of woman suffrage
continually before the State Federation of Women's Clubs and in all
organizations of women there was an increasing interest in
legislation, especially for the benefit of women and children, and
they were seeing the necessity of the ballot as a means of attaining
it. Meanwhile most of the States west of the Mississippi River had
enfranchised their women and for months before the Legislature
convened in 1917 letters and telegrams came in announcing that former
foes had become friends, many of them offering to help the cause.
Woman suffrage was the first subject discussed when the Legislature
convened. The resolution to submit an amendment was championed in the
Senate by Senators Fred Tucker of Ardmore, John Golobie of Guthrie,
Walter Ferguson of Cherokee and many others. In the House among the
most earnest supporters were Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C.
Hodges of Okmulgee. The vote in the Senate February 2 was unanimous
and in the House March 17 was 75 ayes, 12 noes.
Women over the State watched anxiously the action of the Legislature
and many were in attendance. Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Frank Mulkey of
Oklahoma City and Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton were especially active but
the chief credit belongs to Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, legislative
representative of the Federation of Women's Clubs, with wide
experience in legislative procedure. Mrs. Woodworth and Mrs. Lucas had
acted as committee for the State suffrage association, which now
merged with the campaign committee.
The campaign was made particularly difficult by the fact that Governor
Robert L. Williams, Attorney General S. P. Freeling and the chairman
of the State Election Board, W. C. McAlester, all Democrats, were
avowed and active anti-suffragists, notwithstanding the party had
declared in State convention in favor of the amendment. Encouraged by
eastern women an Anti-Suffrage Committee was formed with Mrs. T. H.
Sturgeon chairman and Miss Maybelle Stuard press chairman and speaker,
both of Oklahoma City. Other women prominent in the movement were Miss
Edith Johnson, of the _Daily Oklahoman_ and Miss Alice Robertson of
Muskogee, who were very active in the distribution of the usual
"anti" literature, attempting to link the suffragists with Germans and
with the negro vote. Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y.,
representing the National Anti-Suffrage Association, remained in
Oklahoma during most of the campaign but their work was scattered and
ineffectual.
The election took place Nov. 8, 1918, and the amendment received a
majority of 25,428 of the votes cast on it. It had a majority of 9,791
of the highest number of votes cast at the election, a record that
never had been equalled in any State. After the National League of
Women Voters was organized at the convention of the National American
Suffrage Association in March, 1919, a State League was formed in
Oklahoma with Mrs. Phil Brown of Muskogee chairman.
* * * * *
Report of Mrs. Shuler to the Board of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association on the Oklahoma Campaign.
Against the advice of the National Board with conditions adverse
as they were in Oklahoma the legislative committee of the State
Federation of Women's Clubs and some members of the State
suffrage board secured the submission of an amendment to the
voters in 1917 and appealed for help to the National Association.
It found that the Oklahoma association was not organized as in
other States with the club as the unit but was composed of
individual memberships and was not an auxiliary of the National
Association, not having paid dues for several years. After
obtaining the submission there seemed to be a desire on the part
of the women to waive all responsibility for the campaign, but
they said that if the National Association considered the winning
of it a necessity to its program, it should assume the entire
financial responsibility.
On Jan. 19, 1918, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding
secretary and chairman of campaigns and surveys; Mrs. T. T.
Cotnam of Arkansas and Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Kansas,
directors of the National American Association, reached Oklahoma
City. Several conferences were held with the State board none of
whose members could give all their time to the campaign, although
two would work for salary and expenses. It was evident that a
Campaign Committee must be formed and new groups interested, to
which the board agreed. Forty-five women met at the Lee Huckins
Hotel on January 21, adopted a plan for work and agreed to raise
a budget of $25,000, Mrs. Shuler stating that no financial
assistance from the National Association could be given until the
Board had taken action on her "survey" of conditions. Mrs. John
Threadgill was elected chairman of the campaign committee with a
salary of $100 a month and Mrs. Julia Woodworth, the former State
secretary, was made executive secretary at a salary of $15 a
week. Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, chairman of finance, agreed to raise
the $25,000 necessary for the campaign with the understanding
that she was to have personally 10 per cent. of the money raised.
She raised a little over $2,000 and resigned April 1.
An organization of young women was formed in Oklahoma City and
State and city headquarters were opened in the Terminal Arcade.
Two organizers, Miss Josephine Miller who remained one week and
Miss Gertrude Watkins who remained three weeks, were sent by the
National Association. Miss Lola Walker came January 30, Miss
Margaret Thompson, a volunteer, and Miss Edna Annette Beveridge
in February, all remaining through the campaign.
Mrs. Shuler left April 6 for South Dakota and Michigan, both in
amendment campaigns. While in Oklahoma she had visited
twenty-seven counties out of the seventy-seven and organization
had been effected in thirty-two county seats; also the passage
obtained of a resolution by the Democratic and Republican State
Committees not only endorsing but promising to work for the
amendment. A Campaign Committee had been formed with
representatives from seventeen organizations of men and women
representing different groups with widely diversified interests.
Ten State vice-chairmen had been selected from different sections
and eleven chairmen of active committees. Headquarters had been
opened in Tulsa and Muskogee and others promised in the larger
cities. A canvass had been made of forty-six newspapers showing
only five to be absolutely opposed. The State had been divided
into ten districts and it was hoped that each might have the
services later of an experienced national worker.
On April 17, 18, a meeting of the Executive Council of the
National Association was held in Indianapolis. The Board took
action on Oklahoma, agreeing to give organizers, press work and
literature to the amount of $13,650, provided the State would put
two more trained organizers in the field immediately and raise
the rest of the "budget," about $11,000. Mrs. Threadgill
attending this meeting and agreed to the plan.
On May 1 Miss Marjorie Shuler was sent by the National
Association to take entire charge of press and political work,
and, to quote from Miss Katherine Pierce's report, "to her
effective work with the newspapers of the State was due in a
great measure the success of the campaign." Three hundred were
supplied with weekly bulletins and two-and-a-half pages of plate,
and the last week 126,000 copies of a suffrage supplement sent
from national headquarters in New York were circulated through
the newspapers. As a unit the suffrage organization was used for
the 3rd and 4th Liberty Loans, and a statewide Unconditional
Surrender Club, in which nearly 100,000 members were enrolled,
was organized by Miss Shuler. In the face of these activities the
men paid little heed to the charges of pacifism and lack of
patriotism made against the suffragists by paid "anti" speakers
sent in from outside the State.
May 1 found the Campaign Committee without funds and a meeting
held in Oklahoma City early in the month passed the following
resolution: "On account of the unusual conditions prevailing at
this time which have caused the Oklahoma State Campaign Committee
to find itself unable to meet the expenses of the campaign, said
committee does hereby dissolve and stands ready to cooperate in
any way possible in any plans that may be evolved by the National
Board, hoping for its continued aid and support and expressing
warmest thanks and most earnest appreciation of the generous aid
and assistance already given." This resolution was unanimously
carried, the committee dissolved and Mrs. Clarence Henley was
made chairman, Mrs. Frank Haskell, vice chairman, Mrs. A..
Crockett, secretary, Mrs. Blanche Hawley, treasurer, and Mrs. C.
B. Ames, chairman of finance of a new one. As the State had not
put in the two trained organizers, the National Board sent Mrs.
Mary K. Maule in April and Misses Alice Curtis and Doris Long in
June.
One of the requirements by the National Association if financial
assistance were given was that States in campaign should secure
signatures of women on petitions. At the meeting in January
officers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union agreed to take
entire charge of this work but later decided that it might injure
the chances for national prohibition. Its president, however,
Mrs. Abbie Hillerman of Sapulpa, served as an advisory member of
the Campaign Committee and with other members rendered valuable
assistance. Under the direction of Miss Curtis 58,687 signatures
were obtained.
In the meantime the Oklahoma City organization, which had for
officers a group of young women, was dissolved and their
headquarters given up. Money was needed to maintain State
headquarters, which were an absolute necessity. In June Mrs.
Henley, the chairman, sent a financial plan to all county
chairmen, asking for a certain sum from each county based on
population, wealth, etc. Some county chairmen resigned, which was
a discouragement to Mrs. Henley and to the national workers.
Early in July Mrs. Henley telegraphed her resignation to the
National Board, stating that the campaign must go by default
unless it would assume all financial obligation. Mrs. Catt, the
national president, wrote urging her not to resign and stating
that the National Association would pay salary and expenses of
all national organizers then in the field and would send other
workers as needed, providing Oklahoma would finance its State
headquarters and speakers' bureau and meet the pledge made in
April to pay salary and expenses of two workers. Mrs. Henley
remained chairman; Mary Parke London and Sally Fanny Gleaton were
sent by the board in July; Alma Sasse in August and Isabella
Sanders as headquarters secretary on September 1. Mrs. Shuler
returned from New York and took over the campaign for the final
two months, with headquarters in Oklahoma City.
All of the prominent suffragists in the State were doing war
work.... There was a depleted treasury. The Campaign Committee
was not able to pay for any workers in the field. Money was
needed for rent, postage, telegrams, stenographers' salaries,
etc. It became necessary for Mrs. Shuler and the organizers, in
addition to the detailed work of the campaign, to assume the
financial burden as well. Mrs. Shuler gave her personal check for
rent for August, September and October and with the national
assistants in the field and by personal appeals raised $2,433.
From January 21 to November 5, 1918, there came into the State
Campaign Committee's treasury $4,993 and of this amount $2,559
were spent from January to June for salaries of Mrs. Threadgill,
the chairman; Mrs. Woodworth, the secretary, and headquarters
expenses. These funds were checked out on warrants signed by them
and the checks signed by Mrs. Hawley, treasurer. From June to
November $2,433 were raised and checked out on warrants signed by
Mrs. Henley and checks signed by Mrs. Hawley for headquarters
expenses--not a penny going for salary or expenses of any
national worker. The sum of $79.92 remaining in the treasury at
the end was turned over to the Ratification Committee.
The Tulsa suffragists opened headquarters, engaged an executive
secretary and financed their own campaign. They also very
generously paid nearly $500 for the suffrage supplement
distributed through the State. There were other counties no doubt
where money was spent locally, but no record was sent to
headquarters. The National Association expended nearly $20,000 in
Oklahoma, the largest sum it had ever put into a State Campaign.
By September 1 it was paying salaries and expenses of eleven
national workers.[149]
When the epidemic regulations forbade meetings of more than
twelve persons, the suffragists resorted to all manner of devices
for voiceless speech and 150,000 fliers with the wording of the
amendment, directions how to vote and the warning that a "silent
vote" was a vote against it were distributed by hand and through
the mail. Other circularization, posting of towns at a specified
date and newspaper publicity were pushed. Much political help was
secured. Both Republican and Democratic State conventions passed
suffrage resolutions and preceding the Democratic nearly every
county convention passed such a resolution.
No work which the women did in the campaign was more effective
than their election day appeal. Nearly every polling place had
women watchers within and women scouts without. Whenever one
party in any place denied women the privilege of watching, they
secured appointments as regular watchers for the other party. An
amendment to the constitution of Oklahoma has to poll a majority
of the highest number of votes cast in the general election. The
"silent vote" is the term applied to the votes cast in the
election but not on the amendment and which are counted against
it. The task of arousing every man to such a degree of interest
that he would remember to mark his ballot on the suffrage
amendment seemed a hopeless task. Those who know the usual
inattention given to any constitutional amendment by the rank and
file of voters can estimate how difficult it was to get a
_majority of the ballots correctly marked_.
Early in September it was learned that the Elections Board,
claiming that the Secretary of State had failed to supply the
official wording of the amendment ninety days before election,
did not intend to print the suffrage amendment. Through the
efforts of Judge W. H. Ledbetter of Oklahoma City, who donated
his services, this obstacle was overcome, and then further to
increase the difficulties, the board decided to print the
suffrage amendment on a separate ballot. In October it was found
that soldiers had voted in seven camps but suffrage ballots had
not been furnished them and thus hundreds were prevented from
voting on the amendment, yet all of these were counted as voting
in the negative! The attempt to hold back the returns and to get
a new ruling on the meaning of the so-called "silent vote" are
matters of history.
On Friday after election it became apparent to the State
Elections Board that the suffrage majority was piling up and
there was every evidence that the amendment had won. On Saturday
it was reported that a member of the State Elections Board in
Oklahoma City had called up some chairmen of county elections
boards, asking that they open the sealed returns and send a
second report counting from the "stubs," which would include the
mutilated and spoiled ballots, so as to increase further the
number of the "silent votes." At that time the suffrage
headquarters had received returns from 63 out of 77 counties,
showing a majority of 21,000 of the votes cast on the amendment,
about 10,000 over the "silent vote." The publication of these
attested returns prevented any further attempt to get them from
"stub" books. When all other resources failed, the
anti-suffragists filed a protest against certification by the
State Elections Board.
There were really two campaigns in Oklahoma--one to win the
ballot and the other to hold it. Mrs. Shuler remained in the
State until November 14. On that day the _Oklahoman_ printed the
statement by Governor Williams that on the face of the returns so
far suffrage had won.
Miss Beveridge, who had charge of one of the most difficult
sections of the State and had carried it, remained in Oklahoma
until December 3, when Governor Williams finally called for the
suffrage returns and without certification by the Elections
Board, proclaimed it carried. The vote stood 106,909 ayes, 81,481
noes, a majority of 25,428 votes on the amendment and of 9,791
over the total vote cast at the election. This latter requirement
had always been counted on to defeat any measure that the party
"bosses" did not want carried and the politicians now asked, "But
where was the 'silent vote'?" The answer came when a map of the
State was shown almost obliterated with tiny red stars and they
were told, "Every star represents a suffrage committee working
since last January." Organization had reduced the "silent vote"
to five per cent. and won the suffrage for the women of Oklahoma.
[End of Mrs. Shuler's report.]
RATIFICATION. With the successful closing of the campaign the county
chairmen answered the call of Mrs. Shuler to meet in Oklahoma City and
formed a Ratification Committee to carry on the work of ratifying the
Federal Suffrage Amendment when it should be submitted to the
Legislatures. This committee was composed of Miss Katherine Pierce of
Oklahoma City, chairman; Mrs. A. P. Crockett of the same city,
treasurer, and Miss Aloysius Larch-Miller of Shawnee, secretary, with
representative women from the State at large as follows: Mrs. Frank
Haskell, Tulsa; Mrs. E. E. McPherron, Durant; Mrs. Walter Ferguson,
Cherokee; Mrs. Robert J. Ray, Lawton; Mrs. Hardee Russell, Paul's
Valley. The county chairmen for the campaign were retained.
No active work was done until after the Conference of Governors in
Salt Lake City in the summer of 1919, when the amendment had been
submitted. At this conference the new Governor, J. B. A. Robertson,
gave as a reason for not calling a special session to ratify, the
great expense and the fear of untimely legislation but he consented to
call one if these could be avoided. In September Miss Larch-Miller,
assisted by Miss Marjorie Shuler, sent by the National Association,
asked the legislators to sign a pledge that they would attend a
special session, serve without pay, consider no other legislation and
vote for ratification. Pledges were signed by a majority of both
Houses and presented to the Governor who made no answer. Several weeks
later he addressed the State Federation of Women's Clubs and again
offered the same excuses.
In January, 1920, the Democratic Central Committee called county
conventions of women to select delegates to a State convention of
women to be held prior to the regular State convention. Many of these
county conventions passed a resolution requesting the Governor to call
a special session and it was also adopted at the State convention of
about 1,500 women. A number of the regular county conventions of men
and women passed it. Miss Larch-Miller attended the convention of her
county, although she had been confined to her room for several days
with influenza. She spoke strongly for the resolution and was opposed
by the Attorney General, S. P. Freeling, one of the ablest orators in
the State, but her enthusiasm and eloquence carried the day and it was
adopted. The exertion proved too much for her frail body and the next
night pneumonia developed and she gave her young life as the supreme
sacrifice for the cause she loved.
The Democratic State convention met at Muskogee February 5 and Senator
Robert L. Owen's candidacy for President of the United States had
developed to such an extent that he was its dominating figure. He
insisted on a special session to ratify the amendment. Governor
Robertson stated to the convention that because of its interest in
Senator Owen's candidacy he would call the session and he did so for
February 23. President Wilson sent the following telegram on the 25th
to the Speaker of the House: "May I not take the liberty of expressing
my earnest hope that Oklahoma will join the other suffrage States in
ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment, thus demonstrating anew its
sense of justice and retaining its place as a leader in democracy?"
Mrs. Rufus M. Gibbs and Mrs. Mabel G. Millard, presidents of the
Maryland and Iowa Anti-Suffrage Associations, sent urgent telegrams to
defeat ratification, which were read to both Houses. Attorney General
Freeling made a strong State's rights argument against it but the
resolution was finally passed on February 27 by a vote of 84 to 12 in
the House and the next day in the Senate by 25 to 13. Senators Fred
Tucker of Ardmore and J. Elmer Thomas of Lawton sponsored it in the
Senate and Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C. Hodges of Okmulgee in
the House. Governor Robertson signed it February 28. Attorney General
Freeling immediately started a petition to refer this action to the
voters. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court that there could be no
referendum of Federal Amendments ended this final effort.
The Ratification Committee, with a feeling of gratitude to the
National Suffrage Association for the generous assistance that had
been given to Oklahoma affiliated the State with this body and it was
represented at the next national convention by a delegation of eight.
In 1920 Mrs. Lamar Looney was elected to the State Senate; Miss Bessie
McColque to the House and Miss Alice Robertson to the Lower House of
Congress.
FOOTNOTES:
[145] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Adelia C.
Stephens, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, and Miss
Katherine Pierce, chairman of the Ratification Committee.
[146] History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 888.
[147] The following testimonial was gratefully offered: Mrs. Ida
Porter Boyer by her tact and never failing kindness not only won the
love of the suffragists of Oklahoma but the respect and confidence of
all others who knew her. By her tireless energy and unselfishness she
did a work which contributed very largely to the final success that
came later. Signed, Kate H. Biggers, president State Suffrage
Association; Jence C. Feuquay, first vice-president; Adelia C.
Stephens, corresponding secretary; Ruth A. Gay, chairman finance
committee.
[148] Other State officers through the years were Mrs. N. M. Carter,
Mrs. Julia Dunham, Dr. Edith Barber, Elizabeth Redfield, Mrs. J. R.
Harris, Mrs. Narcissa Owen, Mrs. A. K. McKellop, Martha Phillips,
Minnie O. Branstetter, Mrs. Roswell Johnson, Lucy G. Struble, Carrie
K. Easterly, Kate Stafford, Dora Delay, Ellen McElroy, Edith Wright,
Mrs. Lee Lennox, Mary Goddard, Mrs. John Threadgill, Blanche H.
Hawley, Mrs. A. S. Heany, Mrs. Clarence Davis, Mrs. Carl Williams,
Mrs. C. L. Daugherty, Mrs. John Leahy, Jessie Livingston Parks, Mrs.
N. McCarty, Louise Boylan.
District presidents and chairmen of committees: Dora Kirkpatrick,
Janet C. Broeck, Elizabeth Burt, Ethel Lewis, Mrs. H. J. Bonnell, Mrs.
O. A. Mitscher, Mrs. C. C. Conlan, Effie M. Ralls, E. Irene Yeoman.
[149] Many ardent suffragists found they could not stand up against
the statewide comment that the women should be doing only war work but
the cooperation in many counties was splendid and there is not space
enough to name those who stood by throughout the struggle. To those
already mentioned should be added Judge and Mrs. D. A. McDougal of
Sapulpa, Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton, Mrs. B. W. Slagle of Shawnee, Mrs.
Hardee Russell of Paul's Valley, Mrs. Lamar Looney of Hollis, Mrs.
Francis Agnew of Altus, Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson of Nowata, Mrs. Annette
B. Ahler of Hennessey, Mrs. Olive Snider of Tulsa. Among the men to be
specially mentioned are James J. McGraw of Ponca City, member of the
National Republican Committee; Tom Wade of Marlow, member of the
National Democratic Committee; George L. Bowman of Kingfisher, Alger
Melton of Chickasha, Colonel E. M. McPherron of Durant and Bird
McGuire of Tulsa.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
OREGON.[150]
The advent of 1901 found the suffrage cause in Oregon almost becalmed
upon a sea of indifference. With an ultra conservative population,
defeats in five previous campaigns, the existence of bitter prejudices
and an utter lack of cooperation among the suffragists themselves, the
outlook was almost hopeless, except for the one outstanding fact that
each failure had carried the women a little nearer their goal. An
inactive State organization had been maintained for years and in
1901-1904 the officers were: President, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway;
vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice Jeffreys; vice-president, Mrs. Ada
Cornish Hertsche; corresponding secretary, Miss Frances Gotshall;
recording secretary, Mrs. W. H. Games; treasurer, Mrs. Henry Waldo
Coe. No regular conventions were held.
Mrs. Duniway, the mother of suffrage in Oregon, always advocated the
"still hunt," preferring to centralize and individualize the effort
through prominent men and women rather than through a large and
general organization. Shortly before her death in 1915, speaking of
her work she said: "Occasionally I would gather a few women together
in a suffrage society but on the whole I did not find my time thus
spent at all profitable. Some traveling lecturer would often come
along and after speaking before the little local band of a dozen
members would receive the contents of the treasury, leaving the
society to ravel out for lack of funds. These experiences led me to
give up organizing suffrage societies, as I had learned that
lecturing, writing serial stories and editorials and correspondence
afforded a more rational means of spreading the light.... The only
time for general, active organization is after a few devoted workers
have succeeded in using the press for getting the movement squarely
before the voters in the shape of a proposed State suffrage
amendment."
This will answer very largely the many criticisms that came from the
National Association and from equal suffrage States over the apathy of
Oregon women from 1900 to 1904. What the result might have been, with
the State and national growth of suffrage sentiment, had there been a
strong, active organization is problematic, but Oregon might have had
the proud distinction of being first instead of last of the Pacific
Coast States to liberate her women politically. In 1905 the following
officers were elected: Honorary president, Mrs. Duniway; president,
Mrs. Coe; vice-president, Dr. Jeffreys Myers; secretary, Dr. Luema G.
Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie C. French; auditors, Dr. Mary Thompson,
Mrs. Martha Dalton and Mrs. Frederick Aggert.
The Legislature had many times submitted the amendment but its
repeated failures had discouraged the most ardent supporters in that
body. The gains in the various campaigns were not sufficient, they
argued, to warrant the expense of resubmission in the near future.
This reason was freely and courageously given from the Chair of the
Senate by one of the staunchest friends suffrage ever had in the
State, the Hon. C. W. Fulton, when he voted "no" on re-submission in
the Legislature of 1899, and the defeat of 1900 intensified this
feeling.
Hope revived when the Initiative and Referendum Act was adopted by the
voters in 1902. The District Judges decided against its
constitutionality and an appeal was carried to the State Supreme Court
by Attorney Ralph Duniway, whose able argument resulted in a reversal
and the establishment of the legality of the new law. This decision
was rendered Dec. 22, 1903, and on Jan. 2, 1904, a suffrage petition
was issued. This required the signatures of 8 per cent. of the legal
voters of the State based on the highest number of votes cast at the
election of 1902, in round numbers 7,200 names, and compelled the
submission of the amendment. In less than three weeks 7,900 had been
obtained but as only half of them had been verified and classified
before the limited time expired the work was of no avail.
During the following two years another force had been contributing
indirectly to the suffrage cause through the preparations for the
National Exposition which was to celebrate in Portland the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. In 1904 the Hon. Jefferson Myers, president of the
Exposition Commission, with his wife, Dr. Annice Jeffreys, attended
the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at
Washington, D. C., and so eloquently presented the claims of Oregon
that its unanimous decision was to hold its next meeting in Portland.
Stimulated by this prospect the Legislature of 1905 yielded to
pressure and submitted the amendment to be voted on in November, 1906.
It was a proud day for Oregon when the national convention was called
to order on June 21, 1905, by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national
president, in the First Congregational Church. The honorary president,
Miss Susan B. Anthony, then 85 years old, favored every session with
her gracious presence. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the vice-president;
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the recording secretary, with her father,
Henry B. Blackwell; Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary, and
Miss Laura Clay, auditor, were present and with Mrs. Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Misses Gail Laughlin, Mary and
Lucy Anthony, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Mrs. Maud Wood Park and other
well known women were heard during the convention. [See Chapter V,
Volume V.]
Very significant of the changing sentiment toward women was the
unveiling of the Sacajawea statue, in the exposition grounds, which
had been arranged for the time when these visitors could assist the
committee in the ceremonies. Miss Anthony in the opening address paid
a glowing tribute to this Indian woman and exhorted the women of
Oregon to lead the way to women's liberty. Dr. Shaw highly
complimented those who had made this recognition of a woman's services
to her country possible and hailed it as the dawning of a new day for
the cause of woman. Brief words along these lines were spoken by Mrs.
Catt and others. The picture will never fade from the memory of those
who saw Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw standing on the platform with the
sun lighting up their silver hair like an aureole and their faces
radiant with hope, as "The Star Spangled Banner" sung by an Indian
boy raised a tumult of applause while the flag floated away revealing
the idealized mother and babe.[151]
The national suffrage convention gave to the cause in Oregon a new
birth. Some of the most prominent men in the State appeared on its
platform and urged another campaign and political leaders in private
conference with its officers assured them that the time was ripe for
success. Encouraged by this assurance and in response to the strong
appeal of the leaders among the women of the State, the National
Association pledged its support. The suffragists for the most part
were now fully convinced that if the amendment was to be carried in
1906 there must be state-wide, systematic organization and in answer
to their request the National Board sent to assist them two of its
best organizers, Miss Mary N. Chase and Miss Gail Laughlin. By the end
of 1905 forty-two clubs had been formed in Portland and committees
outside. Newspapers were giving full reports of meetings and the
Portland _Journal_ was publishing each Sunday articles on suffrage by
Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, editor of the woman's page. At a State convention
held in Portland on November 8 the attendance was so great it was
necessary to adjourn to a larger hall. Mayor Harry Lane welcomed the
convention and took an unequivocal position in favor of woman
suffrage. Statesmanlike addresses were made by Miss Laughlin and Miss
Laura Clay of Kentucky. A special Campaign Committee had been
organized to cooperate with the State and national workers.[152]
The great leader of women, Susan B. Anthony, had passed away in March,
1906, her thoughts on the Oregon campaign to the very last, and,
carrying out her wishes, the following group of women came at once to
assist the women of the State: Dr. Shaw, Miss Clay, Miss Blackwell and
Miss Gordon, national officers; her sister and niece, Miss Mary and
Miss Lucy Anthony; Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania, Miss Laura
Gregg of Kansas, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado. Miss Laughlin
was already there. Added to the able Oregon workers a more efficient
body of women never had charge of a suffrage campaign. Centrally
located headquarters were at once opened in Portland, which soon
became the Mecca for the suffragists from all over the State. The
above trained campaigners submitted a plan to the State board and
committee, which was adopted. Women who had been named as county
chairmen previous to 1905 by Mrs. Duniway were used when possible as a
nucleus for a county organization. Many young women who took a leading
part in later campaigns got their first inspiration.
One large room at headquarters was set aside in which to prepare
literature for mailing and there daily went a stream of Portland
women, often swelled by women from out of the city, who worked
diligently from morning till night and many of them every day. These
noon hours became the social events of the campaign and many business
women acquired the habit of dropping in to help a bit with the work
and to enjoy the delightful companionship of the women they found
there. Mrs. Coe, the State president, was out of the city several
months, returning only a few weeks before the election.
Among the women outside of Portland who put their shoulders to the
wheel were Mrs. Clara Waldo, Marion county; Mrs. Emma Galloway,
Yamhill; Dr. Anna B. Reed, Linn; Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, Wasco; Professor
Helen Crawford, Benton; Mrs. Henry Sangstacken, Coos; Mrs. Imogene
Bath, Washington; Mrs. Rosemary Schenck, Lincoln; Mrs. Minnie
Washburn, Lane, and Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Clackamas.
Miss Clay, Mrs. Bradford and Miss Gregg supervised the work of State
organization, going into large and small places and extending it into
the remotest corners. Mrs. Boyer took up the publicity, in which she
had had long experience. Miss Gordon had charge of parlor meetings in
the cities and larger towns, reaching hundreds who could not have been
induced to attend public rallies. Miss Laughlin appealed powerfully to
the labor and fraternal organizations and conducted a series of
meetings in their halls, at industrial plants and on the streets. Miss
Blackwell, assisted by the Misses Mary and Lucy Anthony, remained at
the headquarters and supervised the sending out of literature. Dr.
Shaw, while keeping her finger on the pulse of all the work, was
speaking to great crowds constantly.
The impetus given the cause by the national convention the previous
summer and the activity of the national workers in the present
campaign aroused the corrupt influences in politics and the upper and
lower classes of anti-suffragists as never before and they jointly
employed Ferdinand Reed, an experienced politician, at a high salary,
as manager of a skilfully organized effort to defeat the amendment.
The Brewers' and Wholesale Liquor Dealers' Association of Oregon sent
out from Portland May 21 to the retail liquor dealers and druggists
the following secret circular, printed on its official paper, headed
with the names of thirteen breweries and nineteen wholesale liquor
houses:
Dear Sir:--Two laws are to be voted on at the election June 4,
which are of vital importance to every liquor merchant in Oregon
without exception. The first is woman suffrage. The second is the
amendment to the local option law. The members of this
association have worked hard for a long time on both these
matters ... but, being few in number, they can not by themselves
pass the local option amendment or defeat woman suffrage. That
part of the work is up to the retailers. We write this letter
earnestly to ask you to help.
It will take 50,000 votes to defeat woman suffrage. It will take
50,000 votes to pass the amendment to the local option law. There
are 2,000 retailers in Oregon. That means that every retailer
must himself bring in 25 votes on election day. Every retailer
can get 25 votes. Besides his employees he has his grocer, his
butcher, his landlord, his laundryman and every person he does
business with. If every man in the business will do this we will
win.
We enclose 25 ballot tickets, showing how these two laws will
appear on the ballot and how to vote. If you will personally take
25 friendly voters to the polls on election day and give each one
a ticket showing how to vote, please mail this postal card back
to us at once. You need not sign the card. Every card has a
number and we will know who sent it in. Let us all pull together
and let us all work. Let us each get 25 votes.
The election took place June 4, 1906, and resulted in an adverse
majority of 10,173 in a vote of about 84,000. Besides the money raised
in Oregon the National Suffrage Association expended on this campaign
$18,075. Of this amount $3,768 were used in the preliminary work of
1905. All of the eastern workers except the organizers contributed
their services and several defrayed their own expenses.
The women decided to go immediately into another campaign. The
Legislative Assembly of 1907 refused to submit the amendment and the
State Association again circulated an initiative petition to have it
submitted. Miss Clay contributed $300 toward the expense of it; Mr.
and Miss Blackwell also contributed liberally and the requisite number
of names was secured. Mrs. Duniway in reporting this campaign said:
"It was more like that of 1900, as only Oregon women took part and no
large meetings were held." There were a few less votes in favor of the
amendment in 1908 than in 1906 and 11,739 more against it.
The State Association filed a petition for another initiative measure
immediately after this defeat. It was quite a different proposition,
however, as it read: "No citizen who is a taxpayer shall be denied the
right to vote on account of sex." Both men and women, many of them the
staunchest suffragists, openly opposed it and it was bitterly fought
by labor and fraternal organizations. No campaign was attempted except
from the State president's office and there was general satisfaction
when it was defeated in 1910 by a majority of 22,600.
A reorganization of the State work in 1906 after the election had
resulted in Mrs. Duniway's again resuming the presidency with the
following board: Vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Elizabeth Lord;
corresponding secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Craig; recording secretary,
Miss Emma Buckman; financial secretary, Mrs. A. Bonham; treasurer,
Mrs. W. E. Potter; auditors, Mrs. Frederick Eggert and Mrs. Martha
Dalton; honorary president, Mrs. Coe. This board practically remained
intact until 1912. In the two disastrous campaigns of 1908 and 1910,
against the protest of many, the "still hunt" method was employed and
no state-wide organization was attempted. With indomitable courage the
board again circulated an initiative petition and had the amendment
for full suffrage put on the 1912 ballot. Although it was unnecessary
for the Legislature to vote for its submission it did so in order to
give it more weight.
The women of the State now grew restive and began to agitate for
organization for the coming campaign. During 1910 and 1911 Washington
and California had enfranchised their women and Oregon remained the
only "black" State on the Pacific Coast. This was a matter of great
humiliation to the women who had worked for suffrage at least a score
of years, as well as to the progressive young women who were beginning
to fill the thinning ranks of the pioneer workers.
In December, 1911, Dr. Shaw, the national president, wrote a very
strong letter to some of the women severely criticizing their apathy
and lack of preparation for this campaign. This was brought to the
attention of the State president, who later wrote: "Although urged
from many sides and by some of the ablest women of the State to begin
a campaign for 1912 in the summer of 1911, I withstood all such
requests." A division of opinion arose among the women of Portland
regarding the wisdom of delay and Dr. Shaw's letter was submitted to
the Woman's Club, an organization which up to this time had taken no
active part in work for suffrage. Now a motion prevailed to enter into
the campaign and authorize the president, Mrs. A. King Wilson, to
appoint a committee for this purpose. The personnel of the committee
was: Mrs. Frederick Eggert, Mrs. William Fear, Mrs. George McMillan,
Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, Mrs. Grace Watt Ross, Mrs. Sarah A. Evans,
chairman; Mrs. William Strandborg, secretary. This committee waited on
the State president and submitted a plan whereby all the various
groups of women which were forming might be co-ordinated and operate
from one headquarters, the committee offering to assume all financial
expense for them. The plan was not approved by her and the committee
and all other groups were compelled to work independently of the State
organization.
The Portland Woman's Club Committee opened headquarters in January,
1912, occupying two rooms in a centrally located office building for
the entire ten months of the campaign. Dr. Shaw, through the
generosity of a friend, contributed $200 a month toward their
maintenance. Mrs. Strandborg, a newspaper woman of large experience,
sent every two weeks a short, spicy letter to 210 papers throughout
the State. Many appreciative notices were given by the press.
Almost simultaneously with the opening of headquarters by this
committee a number of independent societies were formed for
propaganda, which sent out organizers and by summer there were no
counties and but few towns or hamlets without a suffrage society. With
the assistance of Miss Anita Whitney of California and Mrs. Helen Hoy
Greeley of New York the women of Oregon University organized a large
college suffrage club; the State Agricultural College did the same and
these were rapidly emulated by the smaller colleges and schools. The
State Federation of Labor endorsed it and sent organizers into the
field as did many fraternal associations.
The first concerted effort made by the State Association was at Salem
Feb. 16, 1912, in the Hall of Representatives by permission of
Secretary of State Ben Olcott. A large number of suffragists were
present. The speakers were Governor Oswald West; Mrs. Olive English
Enright; Mrs. Greeley and Miss Whitney. Mrs. Duniway became seriously
ill immediately after this meeting and the work of the association
fell upon Mrs. Coe, who courageously assumed the responsibility. In
the secretary, Miss Buckman, she had an able assistant, and also in
Mrs. L. W. Therkelsen, Mrs. H. R. Reynolds, Dr. Marie D. Equi and Dr.
Victoria Hampton, close friends of Mrs. Duniway. On March 8 Mrs. Coe
called a meeting at the headquarters in the Selling Building in
Portland, two rooms having been generously donated by the Hon. Ben
Selling to be jointly used by the State association and the College
League. The State work was definitely launched by the appointment of
the following committees: Finance, Mrs. J. A. Fouilhoux, Mrs. Elliott
Corbet, Dr. Florence Manion; literature, Mrs. Louise Trullinger, Mrs.
A. E. Clark, Miss Emma Wold, Miss Blanche Wren; ways and means, Dr.
Florence Brown Cassiday, Mrs. Caroline Hepburn, Mrs. C. B. Woodruff.
In June the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in San Francisco
and many of the prominent women in attendance arranged to return via
Oregon, the New York special train stopping over for one day. It was
met twelve miles out and escorted to Portland and met at the depot by
a brass band.
In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Taylor Street Methodist
Church with many unable to obtain admittance. Miss Mary Garrett Hay of
New York; Mrs. H. C. Warren of New Jersey; Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of
Kentucky; Miss Helen Varick Boswell and Miss Mary Wood of New York,
and Professor Frances Squire Potter of Minnesota University, were
among the speakers. The last four remained for several days and spoke
at the great Gladstone Chautauqua. One of the most noteworthy
incidents of the campaign was a debate here between Mrs. Breckinridge
and the Rev. Clarence True Wilson, secretary of the Committee of
Temperance and Morals for the Methodist Church. The reverend gentleman
was the white hope of the anti-suffragists. His exalted calling and
his official position as a prohibitionist, camouflaged the relation
between the two extremes of society that were working against the
amendment--the liquor people and a group of society women supplemented
by a group of prominent men. He had sent the challenge to the Woman's
Club Committee and Mrs. Breckinridge took up the gauntlet. Three
thousand people saw him, completely routed, retire from the platform
while Mrs. Breckinridge and "the cause" got a tremendous ovation. Mr.
Wilson and William D. Wheelwright were the only two men who took the
platform against the amendment. The women "antis" were led by Mrs. A.
E. Rockey, Mrs. Ralph Wilber, Mrs. Robert Lewis and the Misses Etta
and May Failing.
The committee maintained a speakers' bureau and sent out thousands of
pieces of literature. Among the first to enter the campaign was a
Men's Equal Suffrage Club, organized and promoted by W. M. Davis, a
prominent attorney of Portland, which soon became an active state-wide
organization. Mr. Davis was the legal adviser of all the women's
organizations.
Mrs. Solomon Hirsch, an early worker and one of the most liberal
financial supporters of the campaign, went directly into the camp of
the enemy and organized a group of society women in the Portland Equal
Suffrage League. No one feature stands out more conspicuously for
results than a "tea" she gave for Sir Forbes-Robertson in her palatial
home, to which she invited about two hundred guests, most of whom were
radical anti-suffragists, but many of them went away converts after
hearing the presentation of the subject by the guest of honor. Mrs.
Hirsch also brought the Rev. Charles A. Aked of San Francisco.
Dr. Coe was the first president of the Portland College League and
when she had to assume the duties of the State president, Miss Emma
Wold filled her place. The largest suffrage meeting up to that time
was under the auspices of this league at Oaks Amusement Park, where
Mrs. Sara Bard Field (Ergott) and C. E. S. Wood, a brilliant orator,
addressed more than 10,000 people. Mrs. A. C. Newill established the
Cooperative Civic League, which did active work with the State
association. Dr. Lovejoy organized Every Body's League late in the
campaign but succeeded in gathering hundreds of unattached men and
women into the ranks of the workers. The Woman's Christian Temperance
Union added its mighty strength and did valiant service under the able
leadership of Mrs. Lucia Faxton Additon, Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden and Mrs.
Ada Wallace Unruh.
On Nov. 5, 1912, the equal suffrage amendment was carried by a
majority of 4,161, not by any one person or by any one organization,
for no individual or single organization could have compassed the work
required to put the State "over the top" with even this meagre
majority in a total vote of 118,369. When the heights were reached,
however, all were ready to lay the laurels at the feet of Abigail
Scott Duniway, Martha A. Dalton, Charlotte M. Cartwright and Dr. Mary
Thompson, the pioneers who had borne the heat and burden of the early
days. Governor West paid Mrs. Duniway the compliment of inviting her
to write the proclamation of woman suffrage and jointly with him to
sign it, and John Coffey, the county clerk, carried the registration
book to her sick room so that she might be the first woman in Oregon
to register.
At the close of this arduous campaign the women folded their hands for
a quiet rest until the cry for help came from other States. It was a
most difficult task to gather up the broken threads of so many
organizations and again rouse them to enthusiasm. Dr. Lovejoy,
however, at the earnest request of Dr. Shaw, sent out a general call
for a conference in March, 1915. At this meeting the State Suffrage
Alliance was formed with Mrs. William Ogburn as first president. Those
who followed her in the office were: Mrs. Thomas Burk, Mrs. Kelley
Rees, Mrs. Elliott Corbett and Mrs. C. B. Simmons. It gave its
assistance to the unenfranchised States and was ready to respond to
any call from the national president.
RATIFICATION. The Alliance was largely instrumental in having a
special session of the Legislature called to ratify the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. This was done by unanimous vote in the House
January 12 and in the Senate January 13, 1920, and Governor Oswald
West affixed his signature on the 14th. The resolution was introduced
in the lower House by Mrs. Alexander Thompson, a member.
On March 6, 1920, at a called meeting the women organized a League of
Women Voters and Mrs. Charles E. Curry was elected chairman.
The Oregon chapter on suffrage was closed on Aug. 28, 1920. At noon of
that day, while nearly 300 women stood at attention around the banquet
table at the Benson Hotel in Portland, every bell and whistle in the
city sounded forth the glad refrain of liberty and righteousness,
universal suffrage for women, proclaimed by Secretary of State
Bainbridge Colby. The Mayor of Portland, George L. Baker, was there to
rejoice with them. Old women who had stood in the battle-front for
years were there to tell of the hard struggles they had passed through
for the franchise and young women were there to promise that they
would keep the faith and honor the inheritance that had come to them.
The jubilee closed with the singing of a Hymn of Thanksgiving written
for this meeting by Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, the only woman living
who had attended the first and last conventions of the National
Suffrage Association--1869-1920.
FOOTNOTES:
[150] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Evans,
president of the State Federation of Clubs ten years; on the Child
Labor Commission eighteen years and market inspector for Portland
sixteen years.
[151] Sacajawea was a young Indian woman who accompanied her husband
on the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River to the
Pacific Coast, the only woman in the party. She had been a captive
from an Idaho tribe of the Shoshones and was the only person who could
speak the language of the Indians that would be met on the way or who
had ever been over the route to be traveled. With her baby in her arms
she was the unerring guide through the almost impenetrable mountain
passes and on several occasions saved not only the equipment and
documents but the lives of the party. In recognition of this service
the women of Oregon formed the Sacajawea Association, with the
following officers: Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, president; Mrs. C. M.
Cartwright, first vice-president; Mrs. M. A. Dalton, second; Mrs. J.
B. Montgomery, third; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, secretary; Mrs. A. H.
Breyman, treasurer. This association secured subscriptions and erected
a beautiful bronze statue on the exposition grounds, which later was
transferred to a prominent place in the city park.
[152] Campaign Committee: Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe, chairman, president of
the Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. Duniway, honorary president; Dr.
Annice Jeffreys Myers, its vice-president and auditor of the National
Association; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, president State Federation of
Women's Clubs; Mrs. Lucia F. Additon, president Woman's Christian
Temperance Union; Mrs. C. M. Cartwright, State Pioneers' Association;
Mrs. Clara Waldo, State Grange; Dr. Luema G. Johnson, State Labor
Organization; Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Sacajawea Association.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
PENNSYLVANIA.[153]
Pennsylvania was a pioneer State in the movement for woman suffrage.
One of the first "woman's rights" conventions in history took place in
1852 in West Chester under the auspices of the Friends, or Quakers,
and Philadelphia was the home of Lucretia Mott, who joined with
Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 in calling the first "woman's rights"
meeting ever held. The State Woman Suffrage Association was formed in
this city in December, 1869, a few months after the founding of the
National Association, and did not cease its work until the final
victory in 1920.
Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia was reelected to the
presidency in 1901 for the tenth consecutive term and was reelected
annually six times thereafter, retiring in 1908 because the work then
required long journeys from home. Auxiliaries had been organized in 11
counties before the convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1901.
Suffrage activities had been confined to southeastern Pennsylvania but
now three extreme western counties and two central ones had
organizations and offered a promising field. For the first time plans
were made for extended canvassing for members. To the courageous women
of that period who carried on steadfastly under severe handicaps and
with little encouragement may be attributed much of the inspiration of
the suffragists of later years. Miss Jane Campbell of Germantown,
poet, author and orator, president for many years of the large, active
Philadelphia County Society, was responsible in a great degree for the
enthusiasm and spirit which sustained the pioneers.
The convention of 1902 took place in Philadelphia November 7. A
report on the canvassing of one ward of Philadelphia, the 10th, showed
55 per cent. of the women in favor. Leaflets were sent to 2,184
schools during the year and a prize offered for the best essay on
woman suffrage by a pupil. On December 5 the Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting of Friends organized an Equal Rights Association.
A report on the canvass of the 15th ward, undertaken by the county
society, the largest and most active auxiliary, was given at the
annual convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 1903, and showed that
of the 4,839 women interviewed nearly one-half were favorable, less
than a third opposed and the rest were indifferent. This year the
State Grange and the city Labor Union endorsed woman suffrage. A
banquet in honor of Miss Susan B. Anthony and the other national
officers took place at the New Century Club, the guests including
Mayor Samuel Ashbridge and his wife. His progressiveness contrasts
strongly with the fact that sixteen years later the suffragists were
unable to persuade Mayor Thomas B. Smith to welcome their Fiftieth
Annual Convention to the city.
Easton was the place of the convention, Nov. 3-5, 1904, where it was
reported that the result of sending fraternal delegates to
thirty-seven State gatherings was the adoption of woman suffrage
resolutions by nineteen. The convention of 1905 was held in
Philadelphia, November 14, and all auxiliaries reported large gains in
membership. This year suffragists had ably assisted the City Party in
a reform campaign and advanced their own cause. Kennett Square
entertained the convention Nov. 6-8, 1906. An increase of 1,182 in
membership had been made during the year. In 1907 the State convention
was held in the western part of the State, taking place in Pittsburgh,
November 6-8. A resolution was proposed for the first time to ask the
political parties to put woman suffrage planks in their State
platforms by Miss Charlotte Jones but it was voted down as
impracticable. The State Grange, Letter Carriers' Association and
State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted suffrage resolutions
during the year. A junior suffrage auxiliary of 400 Pittsburgh girls
and boys was represented.
Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery succeeded Mrs. Blankenburg as president at
the convention held in Norristown Nov. 4-6, 1908. The proposed program
of the National American Association to secure an enormous petition
calling upon Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment was
undertaken cheerfully, although it was a heavy task for a small group
of workers with no headquarters and limited finances. The State
convention took place at Newton Nov. 22-24, 1909, and Mrs. Avery was
re-elected president. The Equal Franchise Society, representing a
group of prominent women of Philadelphia, had been organized in the
spring as an auxiliary of the State association and the increase of
work caused by advance throughout the State made the establishment of
headquarters imperative. A committee was appointed to arrange for
State and county headquarters in Philadelphia and a sum sufficient to
sustain them for three years was pledged.
The convention of 1910 was held in Harrisburg and Mrs. Ellen H. E.
Price of Philadelphia assumed the presidency. This year was organized
the Equal Franchise Federation of Western Pennsylvania, later changed
to Federation of Pittsburgh, its leaders destined to play a very
important part in suffrage annals. Julian Kennedy was the first
president, one of the very few men who served as president of a woman
suffrage organization. The State Federation of Labor not only adopted
resolutions endorsing woman suffrage but pledging itself to select men
for offices who were committed to a belief in it. The political
district plan was adopted for future work, in accordance with the
recommendation of the National Association. The headquarters were
opened at 208 Hale Building, Philadelphia, October 7. Street meetings
were inaugurated in that city the next summer and the speakers were
received with amazing cordiality. Mrs. Price was re-elected president
at the convention which opened in the Mayor's reception room, City
Hall, Philadelphia, Nov. 23, 1911, Mayor John E. Reyburn granting this
courtesy.
Owing to the necessity of giving the work state-wide scope the
convention held in Philadelphia Nov. 26, 27, 1912, recommended moving
the State headquarters to Harrisburg and this change was effected in
December. In March a Men's League for Woman Suffrage had been
organized with Judge Dimner Beeber of Philadelphia as president and
more than 100 prominent members enrolled. Fourteen new organizations
were formed during the year but the larger part of the State was still
unorganized. The national suffrage convention preceded the State
convention and gave an impetus to the movement. An evening mass
meeting in the Metropolitan Opera House made the record of the largest
and most enthusiastic suffrage meeting ever held in this city. [See
Chapter XII, Volume V.] The association now had 7,211 members. Mrs.
Frank M. Roessing of Pittsburgh was elected president and this young,
practical woman was principally responsible for changing the character
of the work from purely propagandistic lines to recognized business
standards.
The annual convention met in Pittsburgh, Oct. 28-30, 1913, the
president's term of office was lengthened to two years and Mrs.
Roessing was reelected. The State Grange and the Federation of Labor
reaffirmed their suffrage resolutions and the International
Brotherhood of Firemen went on record in favor. A proposition to
submit the question of woman suffrage to the voters had been favorably
passed on by the Legislature and waited action by a second.
Great strides were made in 1914. A press department conducted along
professional lines supplied all the papers of the State with live
suffrage news and there were suffrage editions of several papers. Miss
Hannah J. Patterson of Pittsburgh had charge of organizing the Woman
Suffrage Party along political lines out of the State association, and
to Mrs. Roessing and her belongs especial credit for the strong,
workable organization which was built up so carefully in preparation
for the campaign year. The State convention was held in Scranton,
November 19-24. There was every indication that the next Legislature
would submit a constitutional amendment and the Executive Board asked
for a campaign fund of $100,000, of which $30,000 were pledged at the
convention. Mrs. William Thaw, Jr., of Pittsburgh offered $10,000 if
the fund reached $50,000 by April 1. With this splendid foundation the
State was ready to take up the actual work of the campaign in 1915.
Mrs. Charles Wister Ruschenberger of Strafford announced that she
would have a replica cast of the Liberty Bell to be known as the
"woman's liberty bell." Later Dr. Mary M. Wolfe of Lewisburg was
elected chairman of the Finance Committee and the $50,000 were raised
on time.
The Legislature of 1915 submitted an amendment to be voted on at the
regular election November 2. Mrs. Roessing was president of the State
Association and Miss Patterson was chairman of the Woman Suffrage
Party, whose plan provided for organization by political districts,
recognizing every political division from that of the State unit down
to the precinct and township. The State was divided into nine
districts but as very few women could give sufficient time to head a
division comprising from seven to ten counties, only four were
supervised by chairmen--Mrs. Anna M. Orme, Mrs. E. E. Kiernan, Mrs.
Maxwell K. Chapman and Miss Mary J. Norcross.
Allegheny county had four experienced organizers, Philadelphia four,
Montgomery three, Bucks two, Chester, Washington, Luzerne and McKean
each one. Eighteen other organizers worked under the supervision of
Miss Patterson.[154] They visited every one of the 67 counties during
the year, formed new organizations, stimulated those already
established, conducted booths at county fairs, addressed women's
clubs, teachers' institutes, Chautauquas, picnics, farmers'
institutes, men's organizations, political, church, college and
factory meetings. During the last three months of the campaign they
conducted county tours and held open air meetings daily. They formed
central organizations in 64 counties under competent chairmen. Cameron
and Pike were the only counties where there were no societies but in
Cameron there were active workers. In the other eleven counties
central organizations were not formed but legislative districts and
boroughs were organized, each with a capable chairman.[155]
To Miss Clarissa A. Moffitt, its secretary, belongs much credit for
the able management of the Speakers' Bureau. During the campaign year
56 counties were supplied, involving the services of 64 speakers; 14
were men, 33 were Pennsylvanians, 14 contributed services and expenses
and 27 asked expenses only. The bureau made a study of the
characteristics of each county in industry, agriculture, character of
population and politics. Speakers were then offered who would be
acceptable to the community as well as to the particular meeting. Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, national president, gave 28 lectures and from every
county reports came that hundreds of converts were made.
The manager of the publicity department, Charles T. Heaslip, was an
expert not only in the art of journalism but also in the art of
publicity. This department ultimately required the full time of three
special writers. Semi-monthly a two column plate service was sent to
260 papers from February and from October 1 it was weekly, the list of
papers having grown to 346. Allegheny county, in which Pittsburgh is
located, conducted the most efficient county campaign. Its
headquarters practically duplicated the State headquarters at
Harrisburg with secretaries and organizers and it was the only one
which employed its own publicity agent. A weekly news bulletin was
issued to 500 papers and the regular service was supplemented by
special stories. Much work was done in advance of meetings. From July
to November a weekly cartoon service was undertaken, a new feature in
suffrage campaign work. According to the newspaper men it comprised
the best cartoons ever used in any campaign in the State and the money
spent for them brought greater returns than that for any other
feature. The cartoonists were C. Batchelor, Charles H. Winner and
Walter A. Sinclair.
In special features the publicity department avoided sensationalism.
Suffrage Flower Gardens, Good Roads Day, the Justice Bell and
Supplication Day comprised practically the entire list. Attractive
yellow boxes containing seeds for the old-fashioned yellow flowers
were offered for sale by the State association and the flower gardens
furnished a picturesque form of propaganda and long continued
publicity. In Pennsylvania a day in the spring is set aside by the
department of highways when all residents along country roads are
asked to contribute their services for their improvement. The local
suffrage organizations provided coffee and sandwiches for the
laborers and got in their propaganda. On Supplication Day, the last
Sunday before election, ministers were asked to preach suffrage
sermons. Mrs. Ruschenberger's Bell was the best and main publicity
feature and undeniably secured many thousands of votes. It visited all
the counties, traveling 3,935 miles on a special truck. Hundreds of
appeals by as many speakers were made from this as a stand and it was
received in the rural communities with almost as much reverence and
ceremony as would have been accorded the original bell. The
collections and the receipts from the sale of novelties moulded in the
likeness of the bell helped materially to defray the heavy expense of
operating the truck, paying the speakers' expenses and providing
literature.
Space for the display of advertising cards was purchased in 5,748
street cars for August, September and October. Special suffrage
editions of newspapers in all parts of the State, copy and cuts for
which were prepared by the State Publicity Department, contributed
considerably to propaganda and finance. Throughout the State the
general lines of activity were the same--meetings of all kinds,
parades, hearings before organizations to secure endorsements, booths
at county fairs, exhibitions, canvassing, circularization and auto
tours. The degree of success in each locality depended upon the kind
and amount of work. Millions of fliers, leaflets and booklets original
to Pennsylvania were issued in English, Italian, German, Polish and
Hebrew and no effort or expense was spared to secure converts through
the written word. During the last month of the campaign the county
organizations circularized their voters twice--once with speeches of
Representatives Mondell of Wyoming and Keating of Colorado in Congress
and once with a personal letter written to the voter and signed by the
county chairman or a suffragist in his own community. Four days before
election 330,000 of these letters went to the voters.
Although a bill for woman watchers at the polls failed to pass the
Legislature and the suffragists were thus denied the protection which
every political party is permitted, yet in many counties the
assistance of the regularly appointed watchers was secured. The
Washington party and Socialist watchers were universally helpful and
in many cases the Democratic and Republican watchers gave assistance.
The suffrage organizations were urged to place women workers at every
polling precinct. Many men favorable to suffrage advised against this
plan but the result of the election showed that nothing won as many
votes at the last minute as the appeal of the women at the polls. Of
the 33 counties which were carried 21 had women working at the polls;
of the 36 which lost only six had women there. Of the 33 counties 17
had headquarters.
Eight of the 33 counties which gave a majority are chiefly industrial;
eight are equally industrial and rural and seventeen are chiefly
rural. Luzerne, Lackawanna and Westmoreland are the third, fourth and
fifth counties in point of population and they won by majorities of
3,139, 2,654 and 1,140. In all of them the labor vote is heavy, as
mining is the chief industry. Allegheny was the first county of its
size to be carried in the history of suffrage. Fayette county, the
home of Republican State Chairman Crow, who never wavered in his
opposition, was carried by 1,400. Every ward in Uniontown, the county
seat and his home, gave a majority for the amendment. Mrs. Robert E.
Umbel was county chairman. The eight Dutch counties lost by majorities
ranging from 2,000 to 7,000. Rockbound conservatism had much to do
with this result. Schuylkill county, where an adverse vote from 10,000
to 15,000 was predicted, lost by only 1,000. Miss Helen Beddall, the
chairman, conducted a persistent campaign of education for two years.
Philadelphia had the most difficult problem to face with its large
vote and political corruption. Its difficulties were increased by the
duplication of suffrage organizations working independently. An added
complication was the prejudice created by the efforts of the
"militant" suffrage organization, then called the Congressional Union,
to organize, this being the only center in the State in which they had
secured a foothold. The large women's clubs of Philadelphia took no
part in the constructive work of the campaign. Wilmer Atkinson of this
city, editor and owner of the _Farm Journal_, was president of the
Men's League for Woman Suffrage and gave unstintingly of his strength
and means to secure victory. The vote in Philadelphia was 122,519
noes, 77,240 ayes; adverse majority, 45,279. The total vote was
826,382; in favor, 385,348; opposed, 441,034; lost by 55,686 votes,
only 10,407 more than the majority in Philadelphia. The amendment
received nearly 47 per cent. of the total vote cast on it.
Prior to election day all the political parties in the State had
endorsed woman suffrage per se, except the Republican and that party
had declared in favor of a referendum to the voters. The great
weakness of the campaign was lack of money. The total State fund was
$78,698, of which Allegheny county contributed 50 per cent. Many of
the counties spent considerable sums in addition, Allegheny county's
special "budget" being $25,000. If the association had had an
additional $25,000 the lacking 3 per cent. of the voters could have
been secured and the campaign would have ended in a victory.
* * * * *
The State convention was held in Philadelphia Nov. 30, 1915. As
amendments to the State constitution can be submitted only once in
five years, the delegates reconsecrated themselves to a new campaign
at the end of that time. At a conference held in Harrisburg in the
spring of 1916 47 counties were represented and an inspiring address
was made by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, now national president. An
intercounty rally at Somerset in July was attended by 500 suffragists
from ten counties and a State suffrage flag was adopted. The annual
convention was held in Williamsport, November 21-24, and the delegates
were unanimous in their desire to continue preparations for another
campaign. Mrs. George B. Orlady was elected president.
As Philadelphia is the center of population in the State, the
financial center, has the largest number of newspapers and is more
accessible than Harrisburg, State headquarters were moved to that city
June 1, 1917. Upon the entrance of the United States into the World
War the association without a day's delay offered the services of its
members and the facilities of its organization to the Government.
State officers, county chairmen and suffragists in the ranks served on
the Council of National Defense, on Liberty Loan Committees, in the
various "drives" and wherever needed. Mrs. John O. Miller, State
vice-president, was appointed by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo a
member of the National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee and also served
as State Chairman. Pennsylvania contributed $20,573 to the Women's
Oversea Hospitals, maintained by the National Suffrage Association,
$11,397 of which were raised in Pittsburgh at an outdoor fête of which
Mrs. Leonard G. Wood was chairman. The State convention was held in
this city November 20-22 and Mrs. Miller was elected president. In the
hope that the U. S. Senate would submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment
the convention for 1918 was delayed from month to month and finally
was held in Philadelphia April 9, 10, 1919. Mrs. Miller was
re-elected. On November 10, 11, the amendment having been submitted,
the 51st and last State convention was held in Philadelphia.[156] The
historic Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association was disbanded and the
League of Women Citizens was organized, to become the League of Women
Voters when the women of Pennsylvania were enfranchised. This name was
adopted Nov. 18, 1920, and Mrs. Miller was elected chairman for two
years.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After a lapse of 26 years a second attempt was
made in 1911 under Mrs. Anna M. Orme, as legislative chairman, to
secure a resolution to refer to the voters a woman suffrage amendment
to the State constitution. The Joint Committee of the Judiciary, to
which it was referred, after giving a hearing to the suffragists, sent
it to a special commission which had been appointed to revise the
election laws.
1912. Miss Lida Stokes Adams was legislative chairman when this
commission gave an all day hearing March 22 at City Hall,
Philadelphia, but took no action. This hearing was preceded by a mass
meeting on the 20th in Witherspoon Hall. An effort was made to get an
endorsement from the State political conventions. Miss Mary E.
Bakewell of the Western Equal Franchise Federation appeared before the
Republican convention May 1; Mrs. Mabel Cronise Jones, Miss Adams and
Miss Bakewell addressed the Democratic convention May 7, and both gave
approval. The Keystone and Prohibition party conventions also heard
suffrage speakers and adopted favorable resolutions. For the first
time all of the 880 candidates for the Legislature were interviewed by
a letter as to submitting the question to the voters and 283 gave
affirmative answers.
1913. This year the referendum measure passed after a bitter contest.
Twice when the resolution came up in the Senate the motion to postpone
was avoided on a tie vote by Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, the first
time in thirteen years that the president of the Senate had voted on
any question. On the final vote the majority of one was only secured
by the labor leader, Steve McDonald of Lackawanna county, who forced
its Senator, Walter McNichols, to represent his constituents. Senators
Edwin M. Herbst, Edward E. Beidleman (later Lieutenant Governor) and
James P. McNichol maintained the strongest opposition. Miss Adams, the
legislative chairman, and Mrs. Roessing, the State president, did the
greater part of the work at Harrisburg. The association was indebted
to Representative Frank G. Rockwell and Senator A. W. Powell for their
skill in handling this measure. The vote in the Lower House, February
5 was 131 ayes, 70 noes.
1915. A proposed amendment to the constitution must be passed by two
Legislatures. Mrs. Roessing and Miss Hannah J. Patterson, organization
chairman, carried on the lobby work in 1915 and it passed the House on
February 9 by 130 ayes, 71 noes. In the Senate on March 15 a great
gain was registered, as 37 Senators voted aye and only 11 voted no.
The amendment was defeated at the election in November.
1916. The passage of an Enabling Act by the Legislature of 1917 being
the first step toward a referendum in 1921, the work of the State
Suffrage Association in 1916 was concentrated as never before on the
legislative candidates. Practically every one was interviewed
personally or by letter and before the November election reports on 40
of the 50 Senators and all but ten of the 207 members of the House
had been made. Senator Boies Penrose was visited in Washington by Mrs.
George B. Orlady and Mrs. John O. Miller, president and vice-president
of the State Suffrage Association. He said he would help and
authorized these officers to quote him in the public press. On October
9 the Republican State Committee meeting in Philadelphia refused a
hearing to the Suffrage Board and took no action, despite the
favorable assurances of Senator Penrose and of State Senator William
E. Crow, its chairman. On December 28 Governor Martin G. Brumbaugh
promised Mrs. Miller to secure the passage of the desired Enabling
Act.
1917. Mrs. Miller led the work when the Legislature convened in
January, 1917, and Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Mrs. Lewis L. Smith and Mrs.
Harriet L. Hubbs were members of the Legislative Committee. County
chairmen of the suffrage association brought continuous pressure on
their legislators; 270 powerful labor organizations in the State
signed petitions with their official seal and a petition with the
names of 56,000 individual men and women was unrolled on the floor of
the House. Every legislator received a special petition signed by 445
of the most prominent men in the State, a copy of Dr. Shaw's
biography, the Story of a Pioneer, and weekly copies of the _Woman's
Journal_. Mrs. Funk had an interview with Senator Penrose at
Washington with one of the most prominent members of the Republican
party present. The Enabling Act was introduced in the House early in
January but at the request of Senator Penrose the vote was delayed
from time to time and finally took place April 17. The preceding day
121 men were listed as favorable, 104 being the required
constitutional majority. When the vote was taken only 101 answered
"aye."
Forty-eight hours before the vote the liquor lobby, represented by
Neil Bonner, David Hardy, James P. Mulvihill and George W. Boyd, made
a concentrated effort to defeat the measure. It was understood that
150 men were employed for this purpose and that the pressure brought
upon the legislators was tremendous. Although other lobbyists had been
denied the privilege of going on the floor of the House Mr. Boyd was
always permitted to do so and he announced to Mrs. Funk a few minutes
before the vote was taken that he had the bill defeated by six votes.
Speaker Richard J. Baldwin moved a verification of the roll
immediately in order that no man voting in the affirmative could
change his vote and ask for a reconsideration. A bill granting
Presidential suffrage to women was introduced in the House May 28 but
never reported from committee. From 1913 to 1917, Robert K. Young,
State Treasurer, rendered inestimable assistance by the closest
cooperation with the Legislative Committees.
1918. Plans were at once made for continuing the effort. In 1918 the
organization carried out a most efficient plan of interviewing every
legislative candidate before the primaries on two questions: (1) Will
you vote to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment? (2) Will you vote
to submit to the voters an amendment to the constitution enfranchising
the women of this State? After the November election 80 members of the
House of Representatives for 1919 were favorably pledged in writing on
both questions and 40 had given verbal pledges--16 more than the
constitutional majority required. From the Senate 13 written and 18
verbal pledges had been secured, 5 more than necessary. There was
practically no organized opposition to the referendum and probably
many of the men who pledged themselves to vote for ratification felt
that the Federal Amendment would not pass Congress. The gubernatorial
candidates also had been followed up carefully. William C. Sproul and
J. Denny O'Neil, of the rival Republican factions, both said in
interviews and through the public press that they were ready to work
for any measure which would ensure suffrage to Pennsylvania women.
Judge Eugene C. Bonniwell, the Democratic candidate, did not answer
any inquiries.
1919. Upon the defeat of the Federal Amendment in the U. S. Senate
February 10, Governor Sproul, who had given many proofs of his
friendship, was consulted regarding the advisability of introducing
Presidential suffrage or a referendum or both. At first he recommended
both but 24 hours later word came that the former could not be passed
but the "organization" would sponsor a referendum. A resolution for
this was introduced and after a public hearing, at which anti-suffrage
women from New Jersey and New York spoke at length, the House passed
it on April 22 by 128 ayes, 66 noes. In the Senate on May 26 the vote
stood 41 ayes, 7 noes. Mrs. William Ward, Jr., of Chester,
vice-chairman of the Legislative Committee, managed a large part of
the work for it.
RATIFICATION. The Legislative Committee held its organization intact
awaiting the submission of the Federal Amendment, which took place
June 4, 1919. Although this committee was in Harrisburg continuously
from January 6 to June 24 and knew the personnel of the Legislature
better than any others except some of the political leaders, members
of the National Woman's Party came to Harrisburg early in June, the
first time they had ever been seen there, and tried to create the
impression that they inaugurated the work on ratification. A
delegation from the State Suffrage Association visited Senator Penrose
in Washington on June 5. Although he was paired against the amendment
he was asked to offer no opposition to ratification. He was
non-committal but the committee felt that Republican opposition had
been removed.
On June 8 the Legislative Committee began an intensive campaign. Mrs.
Gifford Pinchot telephoned or telegraphed Chairman Hays and all the
members of the National Republican Committee; also all Republican
Governors and other prominent Republicans, asking them to communicate
with Governor Sproul, Senator Penrose and State Chairman Crow urging
ratification as a Republican measure. All editors of influential
Republican papers east of the Mississippi River received the same
appeal. The Governor advised that the resolution should not be
introduced in the Senate until Chairman Crow had decided to get behind
it. On June 16 the latter told Mrs. Miller that the road was clear and
it would come to a vote June 19. The vote stood 31 ayes, 6 noes. The
House voted on June 24, giving 153 ayes, 44 noes.
Immediately after the vote in the House the work of the State
association was recognized when Representative Robert L. Wallace, a
friend in many Legislatures, moved to give its president the privilege
of addressing the House from the Speaker's rostrum. This was the first
time it ever was granted to any man or woman. Governor Sproul also
gave a special reception to the officers of the association and the
500 women who had journeyed to Harrisburg for the ratification. For a
number of years, the State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage had
been represented at all sessions of the Legislature by Mrs. Horace
Brock, the president, Mrs. John B. Heron and Miss Eliza Armstrong of
Pittsburgh, but to Miss Armstrong, a woman of seventy, it had been
left to fight the last battle on ratification and fifty legislators
supported her efforts to the end.
The example of the big Republican State of Pennsylvania unquestionably
aided in securing like action in a large number of other Republican
States. Its prompt action may be attributed primarily to Governor
Sproul's sincere interest but due credit must be given to all the
brave women who toiled for more than half a century to keep the torch
burning and to the leaders in the last years, especially Mrs. John O.
Miller, the president. The newspapers, from the editorial departments
to the youngest reporters, were always of the greatest assistance and
it was highly appreciated.
[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating especially to women and
children accompanied this chapter, comprising about 3,600 words and
including the laws for women in the industries, child labor,
jurisdiction of the Juvenile Courts, property rights of wives,
guardianship of children, divorce, mothers' pensions and others. It is
a distinct loss that the decision had to be made to omit the laws from
all State chapters for lack of space.]
FOOTNOTES:
[153] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet L.
Hubbs, executive secretary of the State Woman Suffrage Association
1916-1919 and thenceforth of the State League of Women Voters and
active member of Legislative Committees for both organizations.
[154] These organizers were: Mrs. Evelyn Binz, Mrs. Laura Gregg
Cannon, Mrs. Ada Mundorff, Mrs. Alice Moore Dunbar, Misses Lillian
Howard, Emma MacAlarney, Ladson Hall, Helen Arny, Grace Ballard, Mary
Calhoun, Louise Hall, Leona Huntzinger, Doris Long, Adella Potter,
Eudora Ramsey, Jeanette Rankin, Ethel Rankin and Mary Sleichter.
[155] The list of the nearly seventy chairmen is unavoidably omitted
for want of space.
[156] Several of the presidents of the association were at first
vice-presidents; others were Mrs. Mary B. Luckie, Mrs. Anna M. Orme,
Mrs. William I. Hull, Dr. Ruth A. Deeter, Miss Lida Stokes Adams, Miss
Mary E. Bakewell, Mrs. Maxwell K. Chapman, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach,
Mrs. H. Neely Fleming, Miss Maud Bassett Gotham, Dr. M. Carey Thomas,
Mrs. Lewis L. Smith, Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Mrs. James P. Rogers,
Mrs. Edwin Linton; secretaries: Mrs. Helen M. James, Miss Lybretta
Rice, Miss Jane Campbell, Mrs. Mary R. Newell, Mrs. Mary C. Morgan,
Miss Katharine Collison, Miss Caroline Katzenstein, Miss Mary
Norcross, Miss Helen L. McFarland, Miss Helen C. Clark, Mrs. Gifford
Pinchot; treasurers: Mrs. Margaret B. Stone, Mrs. Luckie, Miss Matilda
Orr Hays, Mrs. Robert K. Young, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach, Miss Martha
G. Thomas; auditors: Mrs. Ellen H. Thomas, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine,
Mrs. Minora F. Phillis, Miss N. M. Crumpton, Mrs. Reba Artsdalen, Mrs.
Robert Coard, Miss Ellen L. Thomas, Mrs. H. Wilfred DuPuy; directors:
Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Miss Henrietta Baldy Lyon, Mrs. Emma H.
McCandless, Mrs. E. S. H. McCauley, Mrs. Richard S. Quigley, Mrs.
George A. Piersol, Mrs. Clifton A. Verner, Mrs. Daniel F. Ancona.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
RHODE ISLAND.[157]
The opening of the 20th Century found the Old Guard of the Rhode
Island Woman Suffrage Association still in the van. Some of those who
were charter members when the organization was formed in 1868 were in
active service, enriching the work by their wide experience in the
past and clear vision for the future. Mrs. Ardelia Cooke Dewing, a
woman of unusual ability, had taken the presidency at the death of
Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace in 1899 and continued in the office until
1905. The association never failed to hold an annual convention in the
autumn in Providence, where reside about half the population of the
State. In 1901, the usual propaganda was conducted by public and
parlor meetings, the circulation of literature and the May banquet,
for years a regular social function. A special impetus was given this
year by the presence of Miss Susan B. Anthony at the convention. The
following morning she addressed the students of the Woman's College of
Brown University.
On June 2, 1902, the endorsement of the State Central Trades and Labor
Unions was secured. Harry Parsons Cross, a leading lawyer, gave two
courses of lectures on the Legal Status of Women and Parent and Child
in Common Law. This year the organization met with a great loss in the
removal from Rhode Island of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, who had
served the society from its inception, officially and unofficially,
with signal devotion. Henry B. Blackwell gave a notable address at the
annual meeting. To him, Lucy Stone and Alice Stone Blackwell the State
association was indebted for invaluable services on many important
occasions.
In 1903, at the annual meeting a letter was read from Mayor D. L. D.
Granger of Providence, heartily endorsing woman suffrage. Mrs.
Charlotte B. Wilbour and the Rev. Mrs. Spencer were made honorary
presidents of the association. In 1904 and thereafter a prize of $25
from the Elizabeth Buffum Chace legacy was given for the best essay on
woman suffrage written by a student of the Woman's College. Mrs.
Dewing declined re-election in 1905 and Mrs. Jeannette S. French was
chosen president, serving two years. Events of the year were two
lectures by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American
Suffrage Association. In 1906 Mrs. Mary F. W. Homer was elected
corresponding secretary and her wide experience in suffrage work in
Massachusetts was a valued contribution at a time when re-enforcements
were greatly needed.
In 1907 Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley was elected president. Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe, in her 88th year, gave a remarkable address in April. The
association secured an endorsement of woman suffrage and equal pay for
equal work by the United Textile Workers of America, who met in
Providence. Mrs. George D. Gladding, daughter of Mrs. Dewing, was
appointed chairman of the Committee on College Work and initiated the
movement for the College Equal Suffrage League by securing Mrs. Maud
Wood Park to address a meeting of college women at the home of Mrs.
Dewing and also to speak at the Woman's College. The league was
organized December 11.
In 1908 Mrs. Tingley was re-elected president but because of ill
health the duties of the office devolved largely upon Mrs. Gladding,
first vice-president. The 40th anniversary of the association was
celebrated December 11 in Churchill House, the women's club house,
named for one of the distinguished suffrage pioneers, Mrs. Elizabeth
Kittridge Churchill. Mrs. Tingley, Arnold B. Chace, Mr. Blackwell and
the Rev. Mrs. Spencer, the speakers on this occasion, had been present
when the association was formed and they added to the pleasure of the
meeting with personal reminiscences. Miss Florence Garvin, president
of the College Equal Suffrage League, spoke of the debt of the young
women to the pioneer suffragists. The State association enrolled
thousands of names for the National Association's petition to Congress
in behalf of the Federal Amendment and used its influence to obtain
for it the support of the Rhode Island members of Congress.
In 1909 at the annual meeting Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, who had
recently come to the State, was elected president. This year was
marked by distinctive propaganda through the efforts of Mrs. Oliver H.
P. Belmont of New York. The lectures given at Marble Palace, her home
in Newport, by Dr. Shaw and Professor Charles Zueblin interested a new
and influential class and gave a substantial impetus to suffrage work
throughout the State. Increasing calls to discuss the question before
clubs, granges, church societies and other organizations were an
encouraging sign of a popular awakening to its importance.
In 1910 a debate on woman suffrage between Brown University and
Williams College was won by the former in the affirmative. Mrs. Anne
M. Jewett, who had served acceptably as recording secretary for ten
years, resigned. Miss Mary M. Angell was elected at the annual meeting
and gave a like term of years of devoted service. Mrs. Dewing was made
honorary president. In 1911 a lecture on Woman's Ballot by Professor
Henry S. Nash of Harvard University, well known as a lecturer, before
the Providence Biblical Institute, greatly strengthened the cause
among conservative people. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst gave a lecture
under the auspices of the State association and the College League.
This year the first anti-suffrage society was organized by a group of
wealthy and prominent women, among whom were Mrs. Charles Warren
Lippitt, Mrs. Rowland Hazard, Miss Louise Hoppin, Mrs. Herbert Maine
and Mrs. Henry T. Fowler. Miss Yates and Mrs. Lippitt were invited to
hold a debate before the Jewish Women's Council.
In January, 1912, the College League and the State association opened
headquarters in Butler Exchange at Providence and engaged Miss Louise
Hall as organizer. President M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr College
spoke under the auspices of the State Collegiate Alumnae on the Need
of Woman's Ballot and made a strong impression on this conservative
university city. From May the College League assumed the office duties
and the State association carried on the field work. This year a booth
was secured at the Food Fair of the Retail Grocers' Association,
where thousands of new members were enrolled, tens of thousands of
leaflets were distributed and much publicity work was done. The
"suffrage map" was in evidence, showing the many States that had been
won, an irrefutable argument against the emanations of the
anti-suffrage booth. At no other time and place could so many classes
of persons be reached. The arduous work involved was carried on by
Miss Alice F. Porter, Miss Nettie E. Bauer, Mrs. George E. Dunbar,
Miss Enid Peirce, Miss Althea L. Hall, Miss Margaretha Dwight, Mrs.
Caroline Dowell, Miss Ethel Parks and a score more of like unselfish
workers.[158] At the annual meeting in October Mrs. Homer, who had
been the efficient corresponding secretary for six years, declined
re-election and Mrs. Sara L. Fittz was elected to the office, which
position she retained until the end. She served also as chairman of
the Publicity Committee and was always in demand as a speaker. Miss
Hall went to assist in the Ohio campaign, accompanied by Mrs. Camilla
Von Klenze, president of the College League. In April Dr. Shaw
addressed a large audience at Infantry Hall. In the summer suffrage
headquarters were established on Franklin Street, Newport, mainly
through the energy of Mrs. Belmont, a member of the Newport League,
and meetings were held here every afternoon during this and other
seasons.
In 1913 the work of the year opened with a lecture by Miss Mary
Johnston, the novelist, on Woman in Politics and one by Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt on the White Slave Traffic. Mrs. Catt also addressed a
meeting in the interests of the Woman Suffrage Party, which had been
organized under the leadership of Mrs. Sara M. Algeo. The State
association and the College League being dues-paying organizations
there was an open field for the non-dues-paying Suffrage Party formed
along political lines. Nearly all the members of the older
associations joined it and at the same time continued to maintain
their own lines of propaganda. Miss Yates, the State president, was
invited by the municipal government to deliver the Fourth of July
address at City Hall, Providence. Dr. Valeria H. Parker addressed the
annual convention on Women as Civil Guardians.
In 1914 a series of lectures on the Modern Woman of Various Countries
was given by the State association which called out large audiences.
The three organizations united in a celebration of "suffrage week" in
May, closing with a meeting in the Casino at Roger Williams Park with
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise as the principal speaker. Miss Yates, after
serving five years, was obliged on account of other demands on her
time to decline reelection and was made honorary president. No
president being elected at the annual meeting, Agnes M. (Mrs. Barton
P.) Jenks was chosen later by the Executive Committee to fill the
vacancy and afterwards was elected and held the office until May,
1918. In December representatives of the three organizations met and
formed a Cooperative Council to secure economy of effort and increased
efficiency. The work of the College League had been of distinctive
value in Providence, the seat of Brown University with its Woman's
College. During the years of its independent existence it had been
well served by its presidents, Miss Garvin, Mrs. Von Klenze, Mrs.
Algeo and Miss Helen Emerson. It presented speakers of national
reputation; published special leaflets, notably What Rhode Island
Women Ought to Know; conducted study clubs and gave generous
cooperation in the undertakings of the other organizations.
During the winter of 1915 a special series of lectures was given for
the council on political and economic subjects by professors of the
University. The joint endeavors of the three organizations this winter
proving successful they amalgamated under the name of the Rhode Island
Equal Suffrage Association and the annual meeting was changed from
fall to spring. Most of the officers of the State association were
retained. Others were Miss Emerson and Mrs. Carl Barus,
vice-presidents; Mrs. John A. Cross, treasurer; Mrs. Barton A. Ballou,
Mrs. Gerald A. Cooper and Mrs. Gilbert C. Carpenter, auditors; Mrs.
Dunbar and Mrs. Helen Dougherty, chairman and secretary of the Woman
Suffrage Party. In accordance with the plan of the National
Association, the State's members of Congress, U. S. Senators LeBaron
B. Colt and Henry F. Lippitt; Representatives Walter R. Stiness,
George F. O'Shaughnessy and Ambrose Kennedy, were interviewed on the
Federal Amendment with encouraging results. Weekly suffrage teas were
established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses
on current topics. The association was especially indebted to Mrs.
Ballou, Mrs. Edward M. Harris and Miss Sarah J. Eddy for the
hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social
pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause.
On February 17, 1916, a luncheon and conference at the Narragansett
Hotel were held in honor of Mrs. Catt, now national president. A mass
meeting was held in March in Sayles Hall, where Mrs. Glendower Evans
of Boston and Professor Louis J. Johnston of Harvard spoke in the
interest of the Federal Amendment. In April a "suffrage shop" was
opened in Providence in charge of Miss Mary B. Anthony, which proved
an active center of propaganda. Rhode Island was represented in the
suffrage parades during the national political conventions in Chicago
and St. Louis in 1916 by Miss Yates. On election night in November a
public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private
wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were
present.
In 1917 Miss Yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters
during February and March. The major activities of the year were given
to legislative work. The granting of Presidential suffrage to women by
the Legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which
Governor R. Livingston Beeckman, representatives of the political
parties of the State and Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national
corresponding secretary, were the principal speakers. An invitation
was accepted from Thomas W. Bicknell, one of the staunchest
suffragists, to unite with the Citizens' Historical Association, of
which he was president, in a joint celebration of the Declaration of
Independence by Rhode Island on May 4, 1776, and the passage of the
Presidential suffrage bill in April, 1917, and Miss Yates was chosen
as speaker for the State association. Miss Elizabeth M. Barr was
elected treasurer in 1917 and served until 1920. Miss Barr's
predecessors were Miss Mary K. Wood, Mrs. Jewett, Mrs. Ballou, Mrs.
Helen N. B. Janes, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Cross, and Mrs. George W. Parks.
During the winter of 1918, a civics course was conducted by Miss
Anthony covering local and national government, Mayor Joseph H. Gainer
of Providence and other city officers speaking in the course. Miss
Anthony was elected State president at the annual meeting in June and
brought to the office experience in public work and wide social
influence that were of special value in the closing years of the
association. Mrs. Jenks was made honorary president. On December 11
the 50th anniversary of the association was celebrated. An interesting
historical review of the first meeting was given by Arnold Buffum
Chace, who had acted as secretary on that occasion and whose mother,
Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was president of the association for
thirty years. The Rev. Mrs. Spencer, also a charter member, recounted
the early struggles of the pioneers. Miss Yates and Mrs. Jenks gave
interesting accounts of the early and later work. Mrs. Catt and Miss
Blackwell were guests of honor and brought inspiring messages. This
year both the Democratic and Republican parties put suffrage planks in
their State platforms and sent resolutions to Congress urging the
Rhode Island Senators to support the Federal Amendment.
The suffragists responded to every demand of the Government for war
service. Mrs. Walter A. Peck, honorary vice-president, was State
chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Liberty Loan. Miss Emerson,
first vice-president, served in France with the Bryn Mawr unit. Miss
Bauer, second vice-president, was a member of the executive board of
the Red Cross. Miss Fittz, corresponding secretary, and Miss Yates,
honorary president, received government certificates as speakers with
the "four-minute men."
In 1919 Miss Frances E. Lucas, chairman of the Civics Committee, gave
a course of lectures on social and political problems, which were
largely attended. Miss Avis Hawkins, chairman on schools, perfected an
organization throughout the State to advance the interests of both
pupils and teachers. On May 27 the Woman's College and the State
Association commemorated the centenary of the birth of Julia Ward
Howe, in Pembroke Hall of the college. At the annual meeting on June 4
Miss Anthony was re-elected president. Mrs. Raymond Brown, national
vice-president, gave an interesting address. The occasion was made
memorable by the passing of the resolution for the Federal Amendment
by the U. S. Senate while the convention was in session. The entire
Rhode Island delegation in both Houses of Congress voted in favor, the
only eastern State except Maine to have this record. In October Miss
Anthony called a meeting of the presidents of all the women's
organizations of the State in the interests of social betterment,
which resulted in the foundation of the Civics Cooperative Council,
and Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker was engaged to give a course of lectures
on Citizenship.[159]
THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE PARTY.
In the fall of 1915 Mrs. Sara M. Algeo re-organized the Woman Suffrage
Party as an independent body and began a vigorous campaign for civic
betterment and political education. Miss Mary E. McDowell of Chicago
and Miss Margaret Foley of Boston addressed large audiences. Its
policy was to invite the fullest cooperation of colored women and a
meeting was held at which Mrs. Robert M. LaFollette spoke to a large
audience of both colored and white women on their common need of full
citizenship.
In 1916 the endorsement of the State conference of Congregational
Churches was secured. A civic forum was organized in Providence,
holding Sunday afternoon meetings in a theater. Among the eminent
speakers were Lord and Lady Aberdeen, Thomas Mott Osborne, Mrs. Kate
Waller Barrett, Mary Antin and Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada. The same
line of work was followed elsewhere in the State. A suffrage class was
established at the Young Men's Christian Association. Miss Laura Clay
of Kentucky gave ten days of helpful service.
In 1917 Mrs. LeBaron B. Colt of Bristol was appointed committee
chairman of the Women's Oversea Hospitals conducted by the National
Suffrage Association and with the assistance of Mrs. Algeo and the
party $3,000 were raised. After the passage of the Presidential
suffrage bill in 1917 the party specialized in training for
citizenship and conducted a campaign in naturalization in conjunction
with the Americanization Committee of the National Association. In the
fall under the direction of Mrs. Frederick H. Bagley of Boston, its
chairman, efforts were made to secure from the Legislature an
Americanization bill providing compulsory education for immigrants and
also for a director of Americanization on the Board of Education,
which was passed in 1919. Mrs. Agnes M. Bacon was appointed by the
Governor.
In 1919 Mrs. Algeo compiled and published Suggestions to the Women
Voters of Rhode Island, of which thousands of copies were circulated.
July 1, being the first day of registration for the elections of the
following year, she organized a state-wide campaign for the
registration of women for using the presidential vote. It was
celebrated in Providence by an imposing ceremony on the steps of the
City Hall at noon, and in the evening by a banquet, at which Mrs.
Charles H. Brooks of Kansas, national chairman of the League of Women
Voters, and Mrs. Charles Tiffany of New York were the principal
speakers. This year Miss Leila P. Andrews was elected president of the
Woman Suffrage Party and Mrs. Algeo president of the Providence League
of Women Voters.
* * * * *
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After the defeat of a woman suffrage amendment to
the State constitution in 1887 and the refusal of the Legislatures
afterwards to submit it again the association decided to follow the
advice of Henry B. Blackwell and try to obtain a vote for presidential
electors, which could be granted by a law. The proposition, first made
in 1892, met with practically no support among the legislators and
finally further attempts to secure it were discontinued for years. At
the annual meeting of 1902 an address by Mr. Blackwell resulted in a
resumption of efforts to secure this law and in 1903 a petition to the
Legislature, signed by influential men and women, accompanied a bill
introduced in the Senate. A hearing was given but it was not reported
from committee.
In 1904 the bill was presented in the House and Senate and reported
favorably but defeated in both branches.
In 1905 there was increased activity to secure favorable action on the
bill. A little paper called _The Woman Citizen_ was issued as a
campaign document and a copy of it placed on the desk of every
legislator.[160] The _Remonstrance_, a small paper published by the
Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association followed, protesting against
it. The merits of the bill were presented at a well attended hearing
but no action was taken on it.
In 1906 a Senate hearing was given on the bill, addressed by Mr.
Blackwell. It was reported without recommendation and ably debated.
Senator Walter R. Stiness made a strong speech in its support and it
passed by 29 ayes, 7 noes. In the House the bill was referred to the
Committee on Special Legislation. Long petitions from prominent voters
were presented asking that it be reported but General Charles R.
Brayton, the Republican "boss" who for years controlled the
Legislature, seeing the strong sentiment in its favor would not permit
it to come to a vote. He admitted that he feared it would help the
Democratic party.
In 1907 the battle for the bill was renewed and among the petitioners
was Governor James H. Higgins. At two largely attended hearings nearly
every person gave a rising vote in favor. Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt
and Mrs. Edward Johnson protested against women's being allowed to
vote for President and Rowland Hazard supported them. The bill was
defeated, though not by them but by political opposition.
In 1909 Mr. Blackwell appeared for the last time as the advocate of
the measure. Like a seer he pleaded for it, the significance and
potency of which he grasped far in advance of his contemporaries. Miss
Yates was appointed his successor as the National Association's
chairman of Presidential suffrage, which position he had filled for
many years.
In 1911 the Presidential suffrage bill was introduced in the Senate
and referred to the Committee on Special Legislation, that limbo of
lost causes. The suffragists rallied for a hearing and succeeded in
getting it reported without recommendation. When taken from the
calendar the Senators seemed to realize for the first time that they
were dealing with a live issue. One of them demanded to know why that
bill was permitted to waste their valuable time and threw it on the
floor and stamped on it, saying: "I will kill woman suffrage." It was
then buried by a vote of 29 noes and 3 ayes. The suffragists passed
out from the obsequies with full faith in the resurrection.
In 1913 a commission was appointed to revise the State constitution
and an appeal to it was made for a woman suffrage clause. A hearing
was given; influential men supported the association; the women
"antis" made a touching plea to be spared from the burden of the
ballot, but the constitution was not revised. This year the
Legislature of Illinois passed a bill for Presidential suffrage, which
attracted wide attention. The Rhode Island association continued to
present one every year. Sometimes zealous friends would introduce a
resolution for a constitutional amendment but it was not endorsed by
the State association as it would require a three-fifths majority of
the voters.
In 1915 Governor R. Livingston Beeckman recommended Presidential
suffrage for women in his message and the use of the hall of the House
of Representatives in the new State House was for the first time
granted for a hearing. Mrs. Agnes M. Jenks, State president, secured
Senator John D. Works of California and Representative Frank W.
Mondell of Wyoming to speak on the practical effects of woman suffrage
in their States. Mrs. A. J. George came from Brookline, Mass., to
voice the fears of the "antis." Notwithstanding the hearing surpassed
in attendance and interest any that session the bill was indefinitely
postponed by a House vote of 61 ayes and 31 noes. An active lobby was
maintained and every available influence brought to bear to get the
bill on the Senate calendar but it was killed in committee.
Between the close of this Legislature and the opening of the one of
1917 unforeseen events caused a marked change in the attitude of Rhode
Island politicians. Its delegates to the Democratic and Republican
national conventions in 1916 had recognized the party expediency which
compelled a plank in the national platforms in favor of woman
suffrage and voted for it. At the Republican State convention in
September U. S. Senator LeBaron B. Colt, who had been non-committal on
the question, came out with a decisive pronouncement in its favor. The
Republicans saw the handwriting on the wall. They recognized that the
votes of western women had re-elected President Wilson. For the first
time since the Republican party was organized, a Democratic U. S.
Senator was elected. Both parties were on the alert for any issue that
might bring re-inforcements.
Once more Presidential suffrage was the objective and Governor
Beeckman repeated his endorsement. The bill was introduced in the
Senate Feb. 8, 1917. The association's Legislative Committee worked
without ceasing. The suffragists throughout the State were well
organized and loyally backed the committee. Petitions, letters and
telegrams showered the legislators. The endorsement of the Republican
State Committee was secured. Meanwhile the Legislatures in half a
dozen States granted Presidential suffrage. The time had come for
Rhode Island. On April 11 the bill passed the Senate by 32 ayes, 3
noes. There was an organized attempt to defeat it in the House by one
for a referendum to the voters but by the efforts of Richard W.
Jennings and Daniel E. Geary, Republican and Democratic floor leaders,
it was defeated. On April 17, after four hours' debate in the presence
of hundreds of women, the bill passed by 71 ayes, 20 noes. This was
the fifteenth time it had been before the Legislature. On April 18 it
was signed by the Governor.
RATIFICATION. As soon as the Federal Amendment was submitted by
Congress June 4, 1919, the suffrage organizations began to ask for a
special session of the Legislature for ratification but it was deemed
best by Governor Beeckman for various reasons to wait until the
regular session in January, 1920. Several days before it met the
chairman of the Republican State Committee, Joseph P. Burlingame, made
the announcement that by a suspension of the rules and contrary to
every precedent ratification would be accomplished on the first day.
The longed-for day, January 6, dawned clear and cold. Women thronged
the Capitol and filled the galleries of the House, except the section
which was occupied by the Governor's party, who had come to witness
the final scene in a fifty years' drama. After summoning the Senate
to meet with the House in Grand Committee, the Governor read his
annual message in which he recommended immediate ratification of the
amendment, "as an act of justice long delayed." The resolution was at
once presented and the floor leaders of both parties, William R.
Fortin of Pawtucket, Republican, and William S. Flynn of Providence,
Democrat, spoke in favor. It was passed on roll call by 89 ayes, 3
noes--Speaker Arthur P. Sumner of Providence, William H. Thayer of
Bristol and Albert R. Zurlinden of Lincoln. A rush was made by the
audience across the corridors to the Senate Chamber, where action was
even more rapid. Lieutenant Governor Emery J. San Souci, a friend of
woman suffrage, was in the chair and within a few moments, with no
speeches, the resolution was passed by viva voce vote with but one
dissenting voice, that of John H. McCabe of Burrillville. The
following day it was signed by Governor Beeckman, not that this was
necessary but he wished to give it his approval.
The great event was celebrated in the evening by a brilliant banquet
given by the Providence League of Women Voters at which the work of
the pioneers was especially featured. A handsome dinner given by the
Woman Suffrage Party took place at which the Governor and other public
officials spoke on the great victory. Miss Jeannette Rankin, the first
woman member of Congress, was a speaker.[161]
On May 17, 1920, the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association concluded
its work and merged into the State League of Women Voters, Miss Mary
B. Anthony, chairman. Then a procession of women marched through the
streets of Providence carrying the records of the organization for
fifty years, which were deposited in the archives of the State House
with impressive ceremony.
* * * * *
Among the nerve centers of suffrage activity in Rhode Island the
Newport County Woman Suffrage League had a definite place from its
founding in 1908, by Miss Cora Mitchell, its first president. The
League's work was at first largely carried on by an active group of
philanthropic women of Bristol Ferry, Miss Mitchell's friends and
neighbors, among whom were Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mrs. John Eldredge and
Mrs. Barton Ballou. Gradually the suffrage agitation spread over the
entire island, which includes the three townships of Portsmouth,
Middletown and Newport. In Middletown the league's work was ably
carried on by Mrs. Eugene Sturtevant and her daughters. All rendered
priceless service to what was then an unpopular and unfashionable
cause.
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was present at the first meeting and as long as
she lived took great interest in its work. This interest was inherited
by her daughters, Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott and Mrs. Florence Howe Hall.
The summer meetings were sometimes held at Oak Glen, Portsmouth, Mrs.
Howe's country home, and here on soft June afternoons the veteran
suffrage workers and the young neophytes destined to carry on their
work rejoiced in coming together. On one occasion a young stranger was
noticed in the audience who followed the proceedings with breathless
interest. Soon afterwards Mrs. Norman deR. Whitehouse of New York
began her fine service for suffrage, which was continued until the
victory was won in that State.
Many of the most distinguished speakers ever heard in Newport came
under the auspices of this league. Among the active workers were Mrs.
Walter Wright, secretary and treasurer; Miss Elizabeth Peckham, Mrs.
Oscar Miller, Mrs. Bertram Storrs and many others, and among the
faithful members Admiral and Mrs. Sims rendered "aid and comfort"
beyond belief in those days when it took some courage in fashionable
Newport to "come out" for woman suffrage!
[The long and interesting account of this league must be omitted
because space can be given only to national and State organizations.]
FOOTNOTES:
[157] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Elizabeth Upham
Yates, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association 1909-1914,
and honorary president until its work was finished in 1920.
[158] The presidents of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Mrs. Susan Hammond Barney, Mrs. Emeline Burlingame Cheney, Mrs. Mary
A. Babcock, Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston, Mrs. Jennie L. W. Rooke and
Mrs. Ethelyn Roberts have all been active workers for woman suffrage.
[159] In addition to those already mentioned, the following have been
officers or members of the State Executive Committees: Mrs. Ellen M.
Calder, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee, Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer, Mrs. Ora A.
Angell, Mrs. Sarah M. Aldrich, Mrs. Betsy A. Stearns, Miss Mary K.
Conington, Mrs. Annie B. Jackson, Mrs. Catherine G. Wilbur, Mrs. Clara
F. Delaney, Mrs. Myra Phinney, Miss S. Arvilla Jewett, Mrs. Amy E.
Harris, Miss Katherine H. Austin, Mrs. Josephine Fry, Miss Eleanor B.
Green, Mrs. Margaret C. Edgren, Mrs. Victor Frazee, Mrs. Anna B.
Kroener, Miss Abby P. Gardiner, Mrs. William H. Adams, Mrs. Nathaniel
Greene, Mrs. Job Manchester, Mrs. William A. H. Comstock, Miss Mabel
Orgelman, Mrs. Edwin C. Smith, Mrs. Ava C. Minsher, Mrs. Fred S.
Fenner, Mrs. Clarence Fuller, Mrs. Frank A. Jackson, Miss Sarah E.
Doyle, Mrs. Alfred M. Coats, Miss Ellen G. Hunt and Mrs. Charles
Remington.
To these should be added a list of men to whom the workers are deeply
indebted.
[160] The _Woman Citizen_ was edited and published for ten years by
Mrs. Jeannette French, and was a valuable contribution to the movement
for woman suffrage.
[161] At the next Democratic State convention Miss Elizabeth Upham
Yates received the nomination for Lieutenant Governor amid great
enthusiasm. She was termed "a student of sociology, missionary leader,
prophet and dreamer, whose dreams have come true."--Ed.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
SOUTH CAROLINA.[162]
For a number of years there had been a suffrage association in South
Carolina with Mrs. Virginia Durant Young, editor of the Fairfax
_Enterprise_, president. Evidence of advance in public sentiment was
shown when in April, 1900, by invitation, Mrs. Young addressed 5,000
people at Rivers Bridges Memorial Association; in June when Mrs.
Malvina A. Waring made the commencement address at Limestone College
and again when Mrs. Young responded to a toast at the banquet of the
State Press Association. That same year there was lively effort to
decide which one of twenty women candidates should be elected State
librarian. Miss Lucy Barron was elected and a large number of women
engrossing clerks were appointed to share her work.
In 1902 during the Exposition a woman suffrage convention was held in
Charleston through the courtesy of the chairman of Promotion and
Publicity, Major J. C. Hemphill. Although opposed to woman suffrage he
induced the officials in charge to grant the use of the German
Artillery Hall for two nights and one meeting was held in the
exposition grounds, where Henry B. and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell,
Mrs. Mamie Folsom Wynn, Miss Koch, Miss Helen Morris Lewis, Miss
Claudia G. Tharin, Mrs. T. M. Prentiss and Mrs. Young made addresses.
A reception was given in the Woman's Building. In May, 1903, Mrs.
Young made a suffrage speech at the meeting of the State Press
Association at Georgetown. With her death in 1906 the organization
lapsed but there was a small group of suffragists in Columbia with Dr.
Jane Bruce Guignard president.
It was not until May 15, 1914, when Miss Lavinia Engle, one of the
organizers sent by the National American Woman Suffrage Association,
called together a representative group of clubwomen, that the State
Equal Suffrage League was organized in the Kennedy Library at
Spartanburg. Mrs. M. T. Coleman of Abbeville, retiring president of
the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was elected president; Mrs.
John Gary Evans, Spartanburg, first and Mrs. J. L. Coker, Hartsville,
second, vice-president; Mrs. Henry Martin, Columbia, secretary; Mrs.
F. T. Kicklin, Chester, treasurer. Dr. Rosa H. Gannt, Spartanburg, was
appointed legislative chairman. Three organized leagues--Columbia,
Charleston and Spartanburg--with a membership of about 450, joined at
this time. In twenty months the number of local leagues increased to
eight and the membership to 1,514.
Three speakers were brought to the State during the winter of 1915,
Mrs. Lila Meade Valentine, president of the Virginia League; Mrs.
Desha Breckinridge, president of the Kentucky Association, and Miss
Kate M. Gordon of Louisiana. The league supplied literature for school
and club debates and distributed it at many county fairs. On October
17 a State convention was held in Columbia. Mrs. Coleman and Dr. Gannt
resigned; Mrs. Harriet P. Lynch, Cheraw, was elected president and
Mrs. W. C. Cathcart of Columbia was appointed legislative chairman.
This year for the first time suffrage was represented in a parade of
women, which took place during the State Fair with a suffrage float in
the evening display.
In 1916 the annual convention met in Charlestown. During the year Mrs.
Lynch had stressed organization and chairmen had been appointed in
sixteen counties to work along political lines, the unit of
organization being the wards in cities and townships in counties. A
plank in the Democratic platform to refer a woman suffrage amendment
to the voters was secured at the State convention in the spring and
State and national candidates were canvassed as to their views on
woman suffrage.
When the convention of 1917 was held in Columbia in October there were
twenty-five leagues in the State with a membership of about 3,000. The
Federal Suffrage Amendment, the Prohibition Amendment, Food
Administration as outlined by Mr. Hoover and a Minimum Wage for Women
were endorsed. Protests were made against any attempt to lower
educational standards or to weaken the laws safeguarding women and
children. The Legislative Committee reported that before the
Legislature convened its members had been completely canvassed as to
their views on woman suffrage; these were classified and only a few
were tagged impossible. A "suffrage school" was held in Columbia in
December under the auspices of the National Association with one
hundred pupils. During the year woman suffrage had been endorsed by
the State Federation of Labor, Federation of Women's Clubs and Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.
In May, 1918, Mrs. Cathcart was appointed by U. S. Senator Tillman as
associate committeewoman on the Democratic National Committee. When
the State Democratic convention was held in Columbia that month the
committeewoman and the committee decided that this was the opportunity
for the Democratic party to substantiate its pledge. Senator Neils
Christensen was asked to introduce a resolution requesting the party
to permit women to vote in the Democratic Primaries in August,
provided the 36th State had ratified the Federal Amendment. The
resolution was debated in committee and rejected by a vote of 18 to
14. The convention adopted the unfavorable report by a vote of 249 to
58. The women were not only rejected but through the spokesman for the
opposing faction, U. S. Senator Christie Benet of Columbia, they were
dubbed as paid propagandists. This the women denied through the press
and called on him to prove his accusation, which was never done. The
State suffrage convention was held in October and Mrs. Lynch and Mrs.
Cathcart were re-elected. At this convention the league declared
itself in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment as a war measure.
The State convention of 1919 was held in Columbia in January, Mrs.
Julian B. Salley of Aiken presiding. Resolutions on the death of Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, also resolutions endorsing the Treaty of Peace and
the League of Nations were read by Mrs. Cathcart and adopted. Mrs.
Lynch, whose resignation was accepted, was made honorary president,
and at the meeting of the executive committee in Columbia in July Mrs.
Salley was elected president. During the year work was immensely
strengthened by the contribution of the National Association of 10,000
pieces of literature and of Miss Lola Trax, who in five months
organized forty counties for the petition work for ratification. The
National's expenditures were over $1,700.
The State convention of 1920 met in Columbia in January at the
Jefferson Hotel and was welcomed by Governor Robert A. Cooper, who
said he was convinced that women would soon vote. U. S. Senator
Pollock of Cheraw made a rousing speech in favor of the Federal
Amendment. Mrs. Salley reviewed the year's work, telling of the
distribution of 10,000 copies of Senator Pollock's speech in Congress;
of the new course of citizenship in the State University and of the
growth of the organization. The legislative report of the past five
years was read by the chairman, Mrs. Cathcart. Mrs. Munsell, chairman
of the American Citizenship Committee, reported a ten-day course of
citizenship at Winthrop Summer School; a summer class at the
University of South Carolina; one at Coker College, Hartsville,
conducted by Mrs. J. L. Coker, and a course at Converse College,
Spartanburg. Mrs. Cathcart, chairman of the Resolutions Committee,
read the following: "The State Equal Suffrage League tenders
appreciation and thanks to the members of the General Assembly of
South Carolina, who have fostered the cause ... among them Joseph E.
McCullough, Greenville; A. E. Horton, Spartanburg; James A. Hoyt,
Speaker of the House; Senators J. L. Sherard, Anderson; Neils
Christensen, Beaufort; Allan Johnston, Newberry; Legrande Walker,
Georgetown; T. C. Duncan, Union, and Representative Shelor, Oconee. We
commend William P. Pollock who spoke and voted in the U. S. Senate for
the Federal Suffrage Amendment, for his loyalty to his convictions and
his belief in true democracy." At the afternoon session Miss Marjorie
Shuler, who had been sent by the National Association for press and
publicity work for one month, was one of the principal speakers.
Delegates were elected for the meeting to be called to merge the Equal
Suffrage League into the League of Women Voters. This meeting was held
June 20 at Craven Hall, Columbia, the league was formed and Mrs.
Munsell was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. In 1902 Mrs. Virginia D. Young, then president of
the suffrage association, brought personal influence to bear on the
Governor, Senators and Representatives for a hearing on woman
suffrage. On January 28 Senator Aldrich and Representative Izler
introduced simultaneously two bills, one asking for Presidential
suffrage for taxpaying women; the other for suffrage in Municipal
elections. A hearing was held before a joint session January 31, with
the galleries crowded, where, in Mrs. Young's own words, "I was
received with the usual chivalric attention and asked if I would
ascend to the Speaker's chair. 'By no means. I wish to speak from the
floor,' I answered. This privilege was accorded me and for the first
time a woman spoke in the House of Representatives."
1914. From 1902 there is no record of action on the part of the
General Assembly to grant suffrage to women until Jan. 23, 1914, when
a bill was introduced in the House by Mr. McMillan and referred to the
Judiciary Committee, by which it was unfavorably reported the next day
and rejected without a record vote, after little if any discussion. It
had been introduced in the Senate by Mr. Carlisle on the 15th and
referred to the Judiciary Committee, which reported it without
recommendation February 25, and the next day it was laid on the table
without discussion or a record vote.
1915. Early in the session a resolution was introduced asking for the
submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. In
connection an invitation was extended by Speaker James A. Hoyt of
Columbia to Mrs. Valentine, president of the Virginia Suffrage League,
to address the House and she spoke most convincingly. It was said that
if a vote had been taken that night the resolution would have been
adopted. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, which granted a
hearing. The speakers were the Rev. Kirkman G. Finlay, Professor Lewis
Parke Chamberlayne, Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Lynch, Miss Eudora Ramsey, Dr.
Gannt and Mrs. Valentine. The resolution was reported out of the
committee unfavorably, with a minority report, and it was thought best
not to push for a vote.
1916. The resolution for an amendment was introduced in the House by
Judge McCullough of Greenville and received a vote of 51 ayes; 61
noes.
1917. The amendment resolution was introduced by Senator J. L. Sherard
and Representative A. E. Horton. After an exciting debate lasting for
three days the Senate bill came to a vote, receiving 25 ayes; 19 noes.
In the House the bill was reported and placed early on the calendar
for the next year.
1918. Mr. Horton, House leader, was requested by the league to
withdraw the resolution and state that as President Wilson had
declared himself in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and had
requested members of Congress to vote for its submission the league
would concentrate on this amendment. After the vote in favor by the U.
S. House of Representatives letters and telegrams were sent by leagues
and individuals all over the State requesting the Senators to vote for
it. Both voted against it but with the election of William P. Pollock
the suffragists were encouraged. The amendment was submitted to the
Legislatures June 4, 1919.
RATIFICATION. On January 14, 1920, Senator Neils Christensen
introduced a joint resolution to ratify the proposed Federal Suffrage
Amendment, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee. On the 23rd
it was reported unfavorably; on motion of Senator Christensen the
report was laid on the table; on the 28th the resolution went to a
vote and received 32 noes, four ayes--Christensen, Duncan, Shelor and
Walker. In the House on January 21 Representatives Bradford and Hart
introduced a concurrent resolution to reject the proposed amendment;
on the 22nd a motion to refer it to the Judiciary Committee was
defeated by a vote of 85 to 26. The debate on the resolution to reject
extended into the afternoon and the vote resulted in 93 ayes, 20 noes.
Even members who were opposed to ratification made strong speeches for
justice and denounced this unprecedented action of voting for a
measure before it had been referred to a committee or placed on the
calendar.
FOOTNOTES:
[162] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. W. C. Cathcart,
member of the State Board of Public Welfare and chairman of the
Legislative Committee of the State Equal Suffrage League for six
years.
CHAPTER XL.
SOUTH DAKOTA.[163]
Here beginneth the last chapter of the history of woman suffrage in
South Dakota. At the time this is written (1920) women have the same
rights, privileges and duties politically as men except that they do
not serve on juries but the law will undoubtedly be amended to permit
them to do so if there is any demand for it. For many years the
suffrage work was conducted by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
its officers acting for the suffrage societies and its legislative
committees doing the lobbying. The activities of the two organizations
are so interwoven until 1909 that the history of the W. C. T. U. is
practically the history of woman suffrage. The suffrage association
was inactive after the last defeat in 1898 until 1901. In that year a
State Political Equality Association was organized with Mrs. Alice M.
A. Pickler of Faulkton president and Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson of
Highmore vice-president. She was the mother of Royal C. Johnson, now
in Congress.
A State amendment for full suffrage was not again submitted until 1909
and in the interim there was a lull in active work although local
clubs were formed as the nucleus of a larger organization. The
suffrage lobby, usually the same as the W. C. T. U. lobby, appeared at
each session of the Legislature. When a suffrage resolution was
introduced it either died in committee or was reported out unfavorably
and failed to pass. Always when the question was brought before either
House there was a spirited debate and the suffragists then continued
their campaign through literature and other means.
In October, 1902, Mrs. Pickler called a conference at Watertown which
decided to take advantage of the initiative and referendum, that the
State had adopted in 1897. Not realizing that it did not apply to
constitutional amendments, the suffragists in 1903 at great expense
and effort secured the signatures of the requisite number of voters to
a petition asking that a constitutional amendment be submitted to the
voters. Secretary of State O. C. Berg was criticized for refusing to
receive it for transmission to the Legislature but he could not
legally do so, as the initiative applied only to Laws. He was not
opposed to woman suffrage and in later years his wife worked for it
and his son conducted a newspaper which gave it able support.
Still under the leadership of Mrs. Pickler, the years 1904 and 1905
passed with the usual routine work and in 1906 another petition was
begun which had nothing to do with the initiative and referendum but
was merely a petition of women as citizens to the Legislature asking
that the question be submitted to a vote at the next general election.
This work was carried on all summer by a house to house canvass
throughout the State and later at the State Fair, with the result that
when it convened the women were able to stage a spectacular event by
having pages carry up the aisle of the Lower House a list of names
thirty-six yards in length. The resolution was introduced and passed
the Senate but failed in the House by ten votes.
During all this time Mrs. Anna R. Simmons of Faulkton was president of
the State W. C. T. U. and Mrs. Pickler and she did excellent team
work, enlisting the aid of many other splendid women. A complete list
of them it is unfortunately impossible to secure but many mentioned in
Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage continued their services.
The years 1907-8 were spent in propaganda work and raising funds and
when the Legislature convened in January, 1909, the suffrage and W. C.
T. U. lobby was on hand to ask once more for the submission of the
question to the voters. Two resolutions for partial suffrage were
introduced in the Senate in addition to the one for the amendment. One
would confer the vote on property-owning women only and the other
would permit women to vote on the liquor question, the State being
under local option. Whether they were presented by friends or were a
"half loaf" offered by enemies is not known at this late date. They
were probably the former, because a vote on the liquor question by
women was the last thing the principal opponents wanted and such an
amendment if adopted would have speedily put South Dakota in the "dry"
column for all time. The resolution to send to the voters an amendment
for full suffrage passed both Houses and was signed by Governor Robert
S. Vessey. His favorable attitude was a great help to the women, as it
had been in former years when he was in the State Senate.
From 1909 the W. C. T. U. continued its suffrage work under its
franchise department and the State Suffrage Association was a separate
organization. In June, 1909, a suffrage convention was held at
Aberdeen and Mrs. Lydia B. Johnson of Fort Pierre was elected
president of the State Political Equality League, a new constitution
adopted, officers chosen and an invitation extended to all women's
organizations to send delegates to a convention at Sioux Falls in the
autumn, when plans for the coming campaign would be perfected. This
convention met November 6 and from that time until the election in
November, 1910, an active campaign was conducted. The amendment was
defeated, receiving 35,290 ayes, 57,709 noes, but the workers felt
that gains had been made and were more determined than ever not to
cease their efforts.
After the election of 1910 Mrs. Johnson called a State convention at
Huron and Mrs. John L. Pyle of that city was elected president and
continued to serve until the Federal Suffrage Amendment was adopted in
1920. The question was not again brought to the attention of the
Legislature until 1913. During the summer of 1911 Mrs. Pyle called a
conference at Huron. It seemed advisable to change the method of
procedure and the name of the organization, which became the Universal
Franchise League. An incident of this conference--amusing now but very
serious then--was the earnest discussion of the newly introduced
slogan, "Votes for Women," brought over from England. Several precious
hours were spent considering whether this was dignified and whether
women would not be considered "unladylike" if they adopted it. There
was much protest also over being called "suffragettes" when they were
really "suffragists," the former being the English for "militants." At
this meeting the State was divided into four districts for campaign
purposes. Mrs. May Billinghurst of Pierre was chairman for the
northeast; Miss Susie Bird of Belle Fourche for the northwest; Mrs.
Edith M. Fitch of Hurley for the southeast and the Rev. Katherine
Powell of Custer for the southwest, to organize branch leagues in
their districts.
Their stories of trying to organize, especially in the western, thinly
populated sections of the State would make an interesting volume. Miss
Bird, with a horse and buggy, drove hundreds of miles, sometimes forty
from one house to the next. There were almost no railroad facilities
after leaving the Black Hills district but armed with suffrage
literature she drove her trusty steed from place to place, spreading
the gospel of suffrage at school houses, private homes or wherever the
opportunity presented and organizing little groups.
In July, 1912, Mrs. Pyle called a convention at Huron, where the
decision was made to ask the Legislature of 1913 to submit a full
suffrage amendment. Officers were re-elected, Mrs. Nina Pettigrew of
Belle Fourche took charge of the northwest district in place of Miss
Bird, who had resigned, and the president was directed to select her
Legislative Committee. It consisted of the Rev. Katherine Powell, Mrs.
Billinghurst, Mrs. Ruth B. Hipple of Pierre, Miss Bird for the State
Franchise League and Mrs. Simmons of Faulkton; the State president,
Mrs. Ruby Jackson of Ipswich, and Miss Rose Bower of Rapid City for
the W. C. T. U.
In January, 1913, Mrs. Pyle and her lieutenants met at Pierre, the
capital, prepared for action. The hard work, the deep devotion to the
cause of the men and women of preceding years had begun to bear fruit
and instead of finding a lone member here and there in favor of woman
suffrage, now there were many. Hitherto it had been solely a woman's
campaign, aided by only a few loyal men who dared brave the ridicule
of their brothers. The years of education had begun to change public
opinion and the president felt that the time for women to be
buttonholing unwilling men in the lobbies in an apologetic manner was
past. She called a conference of leading men from both Houses to meet
with the Legislative Committee in the office of Attorney General Royal
C. Johnson. This call met with a hearty response and plans were made
which proved so effective that the amendment resolution was the first
measure to pass the Legislature, almost before the opponents knew the
suffragists were on the ground. The poll had been so quietly and
carefully taken that the committee knew its exact strength in both
Houses almost before the resolution was on the calendar. Governor
Frank M. Byrne gave his valuable assistance, as he had done when a
member of the Senate in preceding years. Mrs. Byrne also was an
excellent ally.
The members of the Legislature always referred to this legislative
work as "the campaign of Committee Room 2," as this room beside the
elevator in the House side of the Capitol had been placed at the
disposal of the suffragists. Their committee quietly stayed there
while members were summoned one by one, interviewed and pledged if
possible. Unsuspecting members, supposing they were summoned by some
State official, would come and then would consider it such a good joke
that they would say nothing and wait for their neighbor to get caught,
so that nearly the entire membership was interviewed before the men
began to compare notes.
Among many amusing incidents was the following: The suffrage question
could always be depended upon to fill the galleries and call forth
floods of oratory. When it was up for discussion at this time Senator
James Mather of Brown county rose and announced in no uncertain terms
that he was unalterably opposed; he did not believe in woman suffrage;
it would afford him great satisfaction, indeed he craved the
opportunity, to be recorded as voting against it. The roll-call
started alphabetically and it went Aye-Aye-Aye down to M. When the
name Mather was called the Senator, looking decidedly embarrassed,
asked to be excused from voting. Protests came from all sides. Senator
Norbeck (afterwards Governor) in stentorian tones demanded that since
the Senator had craved the opportunity to record his opinion he should
do it now. Senator Mather meekly cast the only dissenting vote and
never was returned to the Legislature. In the Lower House the vote was
70 ayes, 30 noes.
The campaign of 1914 received most important and highly valued
assistance from Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National
American Suffrage Association; Miss Jane Addams, its vice-president;
Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Mrs. Ella S. Stewart and Mrs. Florence
Bennett Peterson, all of Chicago, and from many others. One of the
best educational forces was the _South Dakota Messenger_, a weekly
paper controlled and edited by the State organization. It had a wide
circulation and was able to reach into the farthest corners of the
State. Other papers clipped freely from its editorial and news
columns. On November 3 the amendment received 39,605 ayes and 51,519
noes, lost by nearly 12,000. For the fifth time the men of South
Dakota had denied their women the right of representation in the
government.
The suffrage leaders were not in the least daunted or discouraged and
a convention was very soon called at Huron to decide whether or not
resubmission should be asked of the Legislature the next year and the
unanimous decision was that it should be. The district plan was
abandoned and county organization adopted. A "budget" was prepared and
each county assessed according to its population, which plan was
generally successful.
In January, 1915, the Legislative Committee, this time composed of
Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Etta Estey Boyce of Sioux Falls and Mrs. Paul Rewman
of Deadwood, assisted by a number of Pierre suffragists for the
Universal Franchise League and Dr. Mary Noyes Farr of Pierre and Miss
Rose Bower for the W. C. T. U., once more climbed the steps of the
Capitol to ask for another referendum. Once more the request was
granted--in the Senate by 29 to 15, in the House by 57 to 40--during
the first two weeks of the session. A reception was given by the
committee and Pierre suffragists to the members of the Legislature,
the State officers and the ladies of their families in the ballroom of
the St. George Hotel, said to have been a social event second only to
the inaugural ball. Later in the session a bill to give women a vote
for presidential electors, county and municipal officers, which could
be granted by the Legislature itself, received 59 ayes and 40 noes in
the House; 18 ayes and 24 noes in the Senate.
During the summer of 1916 for the first time the women "antis" deemed
it necessary to do active work. They established headquarters at the
capital with a manager in charge and made an open campaign. To answer
their old stock argument, "Women do not want the vote," a state-wide
plan of petitions by the women of each county was adopted and every
one where the work was well done showed a good majority in favor. On
November 7 when the first election returns came from those counties
that usually indicate the result of the whole State, the Associated
Press sent the news broadcast that South Dakota had been carried for
woman suffrage by a large majority, but again it was the same old
story, principally the foreigners, especially the Germans, had once
more denied to American women the privilege which they, themselves,
had acquired so easily. The returns showed 53,432 in the affirmative;
58,350 in the negative, an opposing majority of less than 5,000.
Each campaign had shown a growth in favorable sentiment and there
seemed every reason to believe that another one would be successful.
The National Association agreed with the State in this opinion and
were ready to cooperate, so it seemed best to ask the session of 1917
to give one more opportunity. The Legislature was well trained by this
time and willingly passed the resolution, the Senate by 31 ayes, 12
noes; the House by 66 ayes, 27 noes. After it had adjourned and before
definite plans for a campaign were completed the country was plunged
into the World War and misgivings arose in the minds of the executive
board as to the wisdom of an undertaking which would make demands on
the time of the women. After much prayerful deliberation the unanimous
decision was reached that since this war was being fought for the
establishment of world democracy and this question was undoubtedly one
of democracy, there must be no turning back, but that the campaign
must be managed in such a way as to require the services of as few
women as possible. No further effort was made to organize county
leagues but a committee of three was elected in each county to look
after its interests except in those already well organized. Not much
was done this year beyond laying a foundation for the necessary work
of the next year.
In January, 1918, Governor Peter Norbeck called a special session of
the Legislature to consider important State affairs, one being to
change the clause in the constitution relating to citizenship. Its
framers, to render settlement of a new, undeveloped country
attractive, made the requirement such that a foreigner might become a
qualified elector after having merely declared his intention of
becoming a citizen, without having sworn allegiance to the United
States. Thousands of aliens had taken out their first papers, filed on
government land, proved up and established their homes, failed to
complete their naturalization and yet were fully qualified to vote.
This had long been considered a menace to the government and
suffragists knew that it was principally to this class of voters that
they owed their many defeats. The war developed great disloyalty among
this class and the Governor announced that the situation was
intolerable and the requirements for citizenship must be changed. In
order to do this it was necessary to amend the section of the
constitution which stated the qualifications of a voter and which was
the same section that it was sought to amend for woman suffrage by
striking out the word "male." It was finally decided that the only way
was to have the two matters submitted as one amendment. The word
"male" was stricken out and full naturalization and a five years'
residence were required before the privilege of voting should be
granted and this was substituted for the original suffrage amendment.
In the course of a report made to the national executive board Mrs.
McMahon, one of its organizers, said:
There was a conference in the headquarters at Huron and Mrs. Pyle
faced the situation and took up the burden. The National Suffrage
Association had sent two field workers--Miss Mary Elizabeth
Pidgeon and Mrs. Albert McMahon. To the latter was given charge
of the organization department and together the two women set to
work with the State officers to district the State and organize
in each county a campaign committee. Eventually there was an
organizer for every six districts, each comprising from twelve to
fourteen huge counties. Each worker as she came into the State
had to be carefully instructed in everything that touched upon
the constitutional provisions for voting, the status of the
alien, the reason for putting the citizenship clause into the
suffrage amendment, the effect its passage would have upon the
aliens, etc., because these questions were constantly met. Much
new literature had to be prepared and all the posters changed to
fit new conditions.
What won the State? Persistent, intensive, quiet work. We had few
meetings of our own but we used those of every one else, from
women's aid societies to Rotary clubs, political rallies and
Fourth of July celebrations. We did not plan parades, but
wherever patriotic sentiment expressed itself through a parade we
were in it. We circularized the voters in groups again and
again--lawyers, business men, farmers, etc., with literature
adapted to each group. We circulated a petition and 95 per cent.
of the women to whom it was presented signed it. We sent every
organizer we could command into delinquent counties, having the
cooperation of the local women. In the evening street meetings
were held. The workers left literature in every home and posters
placarded on every wall space. They left suffrage stories with
the newspapers and the spoken word in the ear of all who would
listen and they left the morale of the local workers at high
water mark. The signed petitions were printed and mailed to the
voters in each county with our final circularization.
Ninety-eight per cent. of the newspapers were favorable and in
spite of paper shortage and the demand for war publicity they
never failed the women. In addition to news stories, editorials,
etc., they universally used the plate material which the National
Association furnished. As much as any other one thing perhaps,
this plate material helped to win the campaign. All political
parties endorsed the amendment, Republicans and Democrats making
it a part of their platforms.
In June Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding secretary of the
National Association, came to South Dakota and with Mrs. S. V.
Ghrist, vice-president of the State League, and Mrs. McMahon, a
school of methods was held in the principal towns. The women were
taught how to organize and were grounded in the new aspects of
the campaign. Mrs. Catt was ill and could not come, which was the
greatest blow the campaign had; however Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson,
national recording secretary, took her place very acceptably.
Among the organizers Mrs. McMahon mentioned Mrs. R. E. H. Stevens,
Miss Stella Crosley, Miss Gertrude Watkins, Miss Josephine Miller,
Miss Liba Peshokova and Miss Ida Stadie and said: "But this efficient,
faithful little band could not have won the campaign alone. South
Dakota State women will perhaps never realize how much they owe to
Mrs. John L. Pyle, president, who gave herself absolutely to the
winning of their political freedom. She was at her desk from early in
the morning until 11 o'clock and later at night. Nothing was allowed
to stand in the way of her complete service. The best there was in her
she gave to the cause and she has the gratitude of those for whom and
with whom she worked. Ably seconding her efforts were Mrs. Ghrist,
vice-president; Mrs. Frank Meyer, office secretary; Mrs. Rewman and
Miss Alice Lorraine Daly in the finance department; Mrs. Lewis L.
Leavitt, chairman of the Minnehaha committee; Miss Harriet Grant of
Huron and Mrs. R. H. Lewis of Mitchell. The whole structure rested on
the county workers. There was never a Fair that was not covered nor a
Teachers' nor a Farmers' Institute nor a political meeting. Everywhere
that voters gathered, there they were."
It may be presumed that those who would be disfranchised until they
had completed their naturalization would cast their votes against the
amendment but these were more than counteracted by American citizens,
who, even if they did not believe in woman suffrage, would vote for
the amendment because of this part of it. The election took place Nov.
6, 1918, and the amendment received 49,318 ayes and 28,934 noes;
carried by 20,384. The following figures show the progress made from
campaign to campaign: Opposing majority in 1910, 22,419; in 1914,
11,914; in 1916, 4,934.
The women of South Dakota are deeply grateful to the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, which always helped generously with
organizers, speakers and money. It contributed $7,500 to this
campaign. Various States were loyal and helpful and have the fullest
appreciation and gratitude.
RATIFICATION. The final scene in the drama of woman suffrage was
staged on December 4, 1919, at 12:40 a. m., when the members of the
Legislature, coming to Pierre at their own expense and at great
inconvenience, in the middle of winter, unanimously ratified the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Many States were having special sessions
for this purpose but Governor Norbeck, who would have to call one in
January, did not wish to do so before then. He agreed, however, that
if a majority of the members would come to Pierre at their own expense
in order to ratify the amendment, he would call a session for that
purpose.
This State has a new law which requires that in December of the year
preceding an election there shall be "proposal meetings" held at the
capital to propose candidates for nomination at the March primaries,
each party holding a separate meeting. This year there were to be also
three party conventions at the same time and practically all the
politicians would be at the capital. Mrs. Pyle and her board asked the
Governor to call the session for that time, for many of the members
would be in attendance as delegates from their counties. Accordingly,
after receiving the assurance that a majority of them were willing to
come to Pierre at their own expense, he issued a call for December 3
at 7 o'clock in the evening. It was dead of winter and distances are
long. The call was issued after 3 o'clock on Saturday and the session
was to be the next Tuesday. Telephone and telegraph wires were kept
humming for the next thirty-six hours and the men came from all
directions. One man rushed home to Huron from Minneapolis, called to
his wife to send his "grip" after him and just caught the train for
Pierre. Another used up three automobiles getting to the train from
his home many miles from the railroad, as the snow made the roads
almost impassable.
The question arose how to put the resolution through the two Houses in
the least possible time. It was finally done by introducing the
resolutions in both Houses and giving them their first and second
readings on the evening of December 3. They were then referred to the
proper committees and the Legislature adjourned until the next
legislative day. The earliest possible moment of the next day was one
minute after midnight and this was the hour when it convened. The
final passage took place at 12:44 a. m. on the 4th by unanimous vote.
This was the first time that a South Dakota Legislature ever convened
in the middle of the night but the members were anxious to get home as
soon as possible and the trains leave in both directions about 2 a.
m.
FOOTNOTES:
[163] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Ruth B. Hipple,
member of the Legislative Committee of the State Woman Suffrage
Association and editor of the _South Dakota Messenger_.
CHAPTER XLI.
TENNESSEE. PART I.[164]
The history of the suffrage movement in Tennessee filled only five
pages of the volume preceding this one, which ended with 1900, and
such as there was had been due principally to that dauntless pioneer,
Mrs. Lide A. Meriwether of Memphis, to whom this chapter is reverently
and gratefully dedicated. The first suffrage society was formed in
Memphis in May, 1889, and none of its founders is now living except
Mrs. J. D. Allen of this city. In April, 1894, a society was formed at
Nashville at the home of Mrs. H. C. Gardner by Miss Amelia Territt,
Mrs. Bettie Donelson and a few others but it had no connection with
the one at Memphis. Its members were earnest and capable but it did
not long survive. Through the efforts of the National Association a
State organization was effected in 1897, the year of the Centennial
Exposition in Nashville, and there was a convention in April, 1900,
attended by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president. There had
been no State convention for five years when in 1906, through the
initiative of Miss Belle Kearney of Mississippi a meeting was called
in Memphis of which Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky sends the following
account taken from her scrapbook:
The conference of Southern Women Suffragists was held in Memphis
December 19, 20, the opening session in the morning at the
Peabody Hotel; the afternoon session at the residence of Mrs. J.
O. Crawford and the other sessions at the hotel. Miss Clay was
elected chairman; Mrs. Nannie Curtiss of Texas, secretary. The
meeting included representatives from many of the southern States
and letters were received from "Dorothy Dix," Mrs. Caroline E.
Merrick and Mrs. Sophy Wright of New Orleans; Mrs. Mary Bentley
Thomas of Baltimore; Mrs. Josephine K. Henry of Versailles, Ky.;
Mrs. Eliza Strong Tracey of Houston; Mrs. Mary B. Clay and Mrs.
James Bennett of Richmond, Ky., and Mrs. Key, president of the
North Texas Girls' College. Discussions on aspects of the
suffrage question were led by Miss Kearney, Miss Clay, Mrs.
Meriwether and Mrs. Jennie H. Sibley of Georgia. The conference
was resolved into a committee of the whole to formulate plans for
concerted legislative work in the southern States. A thousand
copies of the resolutions were printed. At this time the State
Equal Suffrage Association was re-organized, with Mrs. Meriwether
honorary president; Mrs. J. D. Allen, president; Mrs. L. F.
Selden, corresponding secretary and treasurer; Mrs. M. M. Betts,
recording secretary; Mrs. S. S. Deem, chairman of problems
affecting women or children.
Mrs. Allen served continuously until 1912. In 1908 the State
Federation of Labor not only endorsed woman suffrage but agreed to
petition members of the Legislature and Congress to work for it and
they loyally kept their pledge. This same year suffrage literature was
first distributed at the State Federation of Women's Clubs and Dr.
Shaw, then president of the National Association, spoke in Memphis.
In 1910 the first suffrage State petition work was begun in Memphis
and its Nineteenth Century Club and the Newman Circle of Knoxville
held parlor meetings and discussions. Knoxville formed a local league;
the women's clubs began to awaken and the State Federation appointed
its first legislative committee, with the object of having the laws
unfavorable to women changed. In 1911 thousands of pieces of
literature were distributed, press articles sent out and a resolution
to amend the State constitution by striking out the word "male" was
first presented to the Legislature. The movement did not gain much
impetus until the Nashville League was organized in the fall of this
year and Chattanooga and Morrison soon followed. On Jan. 10-12, 1912,
the association with its five virile infant leagues met in Nashville
and plans for state-wide organization began. Miss Sarah Barnwell
Elliott, an eminent writer, was unanimously chosen president. In
October, 1913, the State convention met in Morristown and eight
leagues answered the roll call.
The work in the Legislature naturally always fell heavily upon the
Nashville League and from 1913 to 1919 the lobby was composed
principally of its members. The first real effort to break down the
prejudice of the legislators was in 1913, when Miss Elliott and Mrs.
Guilford Dudley asked for an audience for Miss Laura Clay, president
of the Kentucky association, and Miss Mary Johnston of Virginia, the
novelist. This was granted and Miss Elliott was the first woman to
address the Legislature, although no bill was before it.
At a called meeting of the Executive Board, at Memphis in May, 1914,
the resignation of Miss Elliott was regretfully accepted and Mrs. L.
Crozier French succeeded her. At the State convention held October 29,
30 in Knoxville a division occurred and some of the delegates,
refusing to be headed by Mrs. French, elected as president Mrs. James
M. McCormack, who was first vice-president. Mrs. French was
unanimously elected by a part of the original association, which had
obtained a charter October 13, incorporating the name Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association. This association continued to be a dominating
force in suffrage activities. Mrs. French resigned the presidency
April 1, 1915, and her unexpired term was filled by the
vice-president-at-large, Mrs. John M. Kenny of Nashville. The holding
of the annual convention of the National Association in Nashville Nov.
12-17, 1914, was the turning point in the history of suffrage in
Tennessee because of its far-reaching educational propaganda and
because Nashville was the political center of the State.
Mrs. Dudley was elected president at the State convention held at
Jackson in October, 1915. She went to east, west and middle Tennessee,
visiting in the first year of her administration nineteen towns, many
of them twice, and assisting the Campaign Committee in organizing
fourteen. She made addresses in twenty-two different cities. Toward
the end of the year Miss Sue S. White, of Jackson, the recording
secretary, a court stenographer and business woman, gave a month to
organizing the headquarters staff and making plans to carry forward
the work in a businesslike way.[165]
Mrs. Catt was making a strong effort to have the various States follow
the same policy at the same time and thereby each could contribute to
the national victory. With the view of securing woman suffrage planks
in both Democratic and Republican national platforms, each association
was asked to secure endorsement from its political State conventions.
Early in January, 1916, Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Kenny went before the
executive committees of both parties, asking for a plank in the
platforms and also that delegates be instructed to vote for a suffrage
plank in the national platform this year. In May Mrs. Dudley spoke
before the platform committees and the conventions of both endorsed
woman suffrage. Former Governor Ben Hooper, Mr. and Mrs. James S.
Beasley, the Hon. H. Clay Evans and Harry Anderson were of much
assistance with the Republicans and Governor Tom C. Rye and U. S.
Senator Kenneth D. McKellar secured the resolution from the Democrats.
Tennessee sent seven women to the Republican national convention in
Chicago, who marched in the famous parade through wind and rain to the
convention hall, Mrs. Dudley carrying the State suffrage banner.
Eleven women went to the Democratic national convention in St. Louis,
where they stood bravely in the "golden lane" through which the
delegates marched to the convention. Mrs. Dudley was chosen to address
the Tennessee delegation and it was a proud moment for the women of
the State when they voted solidly for the suffrage plank. In October
farewell banquets to congressmen on the eve of their departure for
Washington, to influence their votes for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, were given in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis. The State
Federation of Women's Clubs endorsed woman suffrage this year by a
large majority, under the leadership of Mrs. George Fort Milton of
Chattanooga and Mrs. D. T. Kimbrough of Nashville. Other endorsements
were those of the Southern Federation of Labor (unanimous), obtained
through the efforts of Mrs. Walter Jackson of Murfreesboro; the
Tennessee Women's Press and Authors' Club, through Miss Libbie Morrow;
the State conventions of the Beemen, the Nurserymen and the
Horticulturists, at the request of Mrs. Kimbrough.
Mrs. Dudley soon came to be known nationally. She spoke on the Federal
Amendment at the luncheon of four hundred given to the incoming
members at the Congress Hotel in Washington; addressed congressional
committee hearings, and in December she joined the "lobby" at the
national suffrage headquarters in Washington to interview southern
Senators and Representatives. The State convention was held in
Nashville, Jan. 30, 31, 1917. Mrs. Dudley was unanimously re-elected
and served until her election to the board of the National Association
in December. At this convention Mrs. Kenny was elected chairman of
publicity and under her direction special suffrage editions of
newspapers were published in the principal towns and cities and copies
mailed to every voter. The plate matter sent out by the national press
committee was widely distributed.
Mrs. Leslie Warner was elected president in 1918, and at the State
convention held in Nashville in June, 1919, Mrs. George Fort Milton
succeeded her. During her seven years of suffrage activity Mrs. Milton
had rendered valuable service in various official positions. It was
while this convention was in session that the news came of the
submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress and there was
a demonstration of joy. In the evening a brilliant public banquet took
place at the Tulane Hotel. The convention extended its official board
to include a chairman from each congressional district, for the
ratification campaign. Three weeks later the board held a meeting at
Lookout Mountain, formulated plans for organizing the districts
politically and pledged the largest amount of money for State work in
the history of the association.
LEGISLATIVE WORK. In 1915 Mrs. L. Crozier French, State president,
appointed Mrs. Guilford Dudley, president of the Nashville League,
legislative chairman to sponsor a resolution for a woman suffrage
amendment to the State constitution. The members of the lobby
committee were Mrs. Kenny, Mrs. Kimbrough, Mrs. W. G. Spencer, Mrs.
Reau E. Folk, Mrs. Ittie K. Reno, Mrs. Victoria James Roach and Mrs.
A. Y. Scott. To amend the constitution it is necessary to obtain a
majority in the first Legislature and a two-thirds majority in the
succeeding one before the question is submitted to the voters. In
January when the House committee met to report on the amendment it was
opposed almost to a man. Mrs. Dudley with all her committee back of
her made an eloquent appeal for justice and fair play, urging them at
least to permit the House to vote on the measure. When she finished
not a man raised his voice against it. The House adjourned to permit
Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Scott to speak to the members and the final roll
call registered only fourteen noes. It passed the Senate with only
three dissenting votes. The leagues all over the State had brought
strong pressure to bear upon their representatives. In 1917 it was
replaced by the Presidential suffrage bill.
On May 17 a conference was held at Tullahoma, where the Campaign
Committee was formed. Two joint-chairmen headed the executive
committee, Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. Henry J. Kelso of Knoxville, with Mrs.
Scott vice-chairman. On the resignation of Mrs. Kelso, Mrs. Milton was
elected in her place.[166] Miss Elizabeth Breen, executive secretary,
gave untiring and efficient service. Headquarters were opened in
Nashville. This Campaign Committee was the trail-blazer. Although in
operation only seven months it organized thirty-two leagues; enrolled
9,600 names; printed and distributed 75,000 pieces of literature and
expended on organization work over $4,000. State-wide publicity was
gained; the workers received valuable training in organizing and
public speaking and it was a harmonizing force.
It was difficult to enlist Tennessee suffragists in street speaking,
not that they had not the courage of their faith but they feared to
violate the conservative traditions of their southland. After seeing
its wonderful effect during the national suffrage convention in
Atlantic City in 1916 a few of the bold-hearted summoned courage and
the first attempt was made in Jackson and Memphis in 1917 by Mrs.
Kimbrough, Mrs. Kenny, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Reno and Miss White. At the
State Fair in Nashville in 1918 the Campaign Committee took charge of
the open air meetings, these women speaking eight or ten times each
day, and they were rewarded by the great number of enrollment cards
signed by those who received the message favorably.
In 1917 the legislative campaign was conducted under the friendly
administration of a Democratic Governor, Tom C. Rye, and under the
direction of Mrs. Dudley, State president, and Mrs. Ezzell,
legislative chairman. Before direct plans had been made, advices came
from the National Association to concentrate on a Presidential and
Municipal suffrage bill similar to that passed in Illinois in 1913.
This was agreed upon and General G. T. Fitzhugh of Memphis drew up the
bill. His services were of great value to suffrage interests because
both as a citizen and a member of the bar he was held in the highest
esteem. From this time until the State Supreme Court decision of 1919
removed the last barrier to this bill he was a valued friend and
adviser, and was associate counsel in the last legal battle on
ratification from the Chancery to the Supreme Court--all without
financial remuneration.
This Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill was one of the first
introduced, sponsored in the House by Speaker Clyde Shropshire and in
the Senate by C. W. Rocks of Humboldt, and its progress was watched
with great interest. Petitions were sent to the members from all parts
of the State. The Memphis and Nashville members were solid for it from
the beginning with one exception--Senator John M. Thompson, a violent
"anti" from Nashville. Both suffragists and "antis" were invited to
speak before the House Judiciary Committee and both accepted, but
after two postponements through courtesy the "antis" did not put in an
appearance and the suffragists alone were heard. General Fitzhugh came
to speak for the bill. There had been much discussion as to its
validity without the insertion of a poll tax clause and it was in
jeopardy. An appeal was made to a friend whose legal advice and
services the suffragists had always had for the asking--General
Charles T. Cates, Jr., Attorney General, who came from his home in
Knoxville to construe for the committee some of the perplexing phases
and the committee unanimously recommended the bill.
When it came to a vote in the House women from all sections of the
State were present. Among the most untiring workers were George Fort
Milton, editor of the Chattanooga _News_, and Mrs. Milton; Miss
Margaret Ervin of Chattanooga; Mrs. Isaac Reese, Mrs. Harry Anderson
and Mrs. Scott of Memphis; Miss White, Mrs. Kimbrough and Mrs. Kenny.
Many members of the Nashville League served at frequent critical
times. The vote in the House was 59 ayes, 25 noes, on Jan. 19, 1917,
Lee's birthday, an anniversary celebrated throughout the South, and it
was fittingly referred to by some of the members as an appropriate
occasion for Southern men to give justice to women. Following its
passage the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, who was in Nashville, was
invited to address the Legislature and spoke strongly in favor of it.
Mrs. Bryan accompanied him and at a luncheon given in her honor at the
Hermitage Hotel, attended by members of the Legislature and over two
hundred guests, she made an eloquent plea for suffrage and Mr. Bryan
spoke again.
While this bill was pending in the Senate the newspapers throughout
the State were giving much more publicity to woman suffrage than they
had ever done before. Many of the county papers favored it and
published matter sent them. The _Labor World_ gave continuous support.
Some of the best suffragists were newspaper women and they gave freely
of their time and talents. The excellent service of Mrs. W. A. Overall
is recalled; though not a "professional" her clear, logical articles
impressed impartial readers. Of the large daily papers the Knoxville
_Sentinel_ and the _Commercial Appeal_ and _News Scimitar_ of Memphis
were favorable. The Jackson _Daily Sun_ and the Nashville _Banner_
were opposed. The Chattanooga _News_ was an ardent advocate, while the
Chattanooga _Times_, under the control of the New York _Times_, was
strongly opposed. The Nashville _Tennesseean_ was regarded as the
official organ of the suffragists. Its owner, former U. S. Senator
Luke Lea, while in the Senate in 1913 had been one of three southern
Senators to vote for the Federal Amendment. Throughout the campaign he
was ready at all times to help in every way possible, ignoring his
personal political interests. This was true of U. S. Senator McKellar
and Governor Rye.
When the first canvass of the Senate was made the sentiment was about
as follows: For the bill 11; unalterably opposed, 7; uncertain, 15.
The classification "uncertain" was most appropriate, for fifteen more
uncertain men were never encountered. When assured that the measure
could safely be brought to vote it would be discovered that changes
had occurred over night which would mean defeat. The "antis" worked
through a hastily organized local society at Nashville, which was
inspired by Judge John J. Vertrees, a prominent lawyer of that city. A
Charles McLean of Iowa, who had been used by the opponents in other
State suffrage campaigns, made two or three visits to Nashville during
the session. The State suffrage convention in this city a few days
before the bill came to a vote in the Senate was the largest ever held
and many delegates remained for the vote.
The bill was introduced by Senator C. W. Rooks, who with Senator John
C. Houk led the fight for it. It was lost on February 3 by 21 noes, 12
ayes. A motion to reconsider by Senator A. E. Hill carried it over
until the Legislature reconvened on March 7. The generosity of Mrs.
Scott, vice-chairman of the Campaign Committee, who gave $500, enabled
the State association to employ four organizers and the National
Association paid the salaries of three more. New organizations were
formed and remote towns, which had scarcely ever heard of suffrage,
were visited. A telegram from President Wilson urging the Senate to
pass the bill was received at the March session but was not read in
that body until the day after it was defeated.[167] The motion for
reconsideration was laid on the table the first day by 18 ayes, 10
noes.
Incessant work in behalf of the bill was carried on in the districts
of hostile or doubtful Senators from September until January, 1919,
when the Legislature met and the bill for Presidential and Municipal
suffrage was again introduced. It was a hard fight for many weeks made
by Mrs. Warner and her committee, with daily, continuous work at the
Capitol and "back log" work through the State, where she had the
constant help of her board. Mrs. A. G. Buckner, as legislative
chairman, worked unceasingly, as did Mrs. Margaret Ervin Ford, Mrs.
Reno and Miss Matilda Porter, the lobby committee, assisted by Miss
Josephine Miller, a national organizer. Mrs. Dudley came after the
national suffrage convention in March.
Attorney L. D. Miller of Chattanooga introduced the bill in the House
and conducted the fight for it. It passed the third and final reading
April 3 by 52 ayes, 32 noes. Speaker Seth M. Walker of Wilson county
became a convert and eloquent advocate, leaving his desk to plead for
it. [See Ratification.]
After the bill had been cleverly put to sleep by the President of the
Senate, Andrew Todd, by referring it to the hostile Judiciary
Committee, Senator E. N. Haston, who was its sponsor, secured enough
votes to overrule his action and put it in the Committee on Privileges
and Elections, which reported in favor. The enemies were led by
Senator J. Parks Worley. The hardest fight that ever took place in the
Senate was waged, and the outcome was not certain until Judge Douglas
Wikle of Williamson county cast the deciding vote in favor, making the
result on April 16, ayes, 17; noes, 14, a bare majority. At 10:30 the
following morning Governor Roberts affixed his signature to the Act
conferring upon women the right to vote for electors of President and
Vice-President of the United States and in the Municipal elections
throughout the State. More than half a million women were thus far
enfranchised.
Conspicuous and persistent among the enemies of the bill outside of
the Legislature were U. S. Senator John K. Shields and Judge Vertrees.
The latter, claiming to represent "others" filed a writ of injunction
in the Chancery Court to test the validity of the law. Attorney
General Frank M. Thompson and other able lawyers defended this
suit[168], which was hotly contested, and this court, by Chancellor
James B. Newman, in June declared the law unconstitutional. The case
was appealed to the State Supreme Court, which in July, 1919, reversed
this decision and declared the law valid.
When the Supreme Court rendered this decision the regular biennial
registration was only ten days off and it was at the hottest period of
the summer, when many women and most of the suffrage officials were
out of town, but the registration was large in all the cities. In
Nashville about 7,500 registered; in Knoxville about 7,000, and the
type of those who presented themselves everywhere was of the highest
and best. Contrary to all predictions the negro women did not flock to
the polls. They voted but in comparatively few numbers and the records
show that only the better educated were interested. Their vote proved
to be anything but the "bugaboo" politicians had tried to show that it
would be and in some instances it was a contributing factor to good
government. In Nashville they registered about 2,500 and voted almost
their full quota. They organized under the direction of the suffrage
association, had their own city and ward chairmen and worked with an
intelligence, loyalty and dignity that made new friends for their race
and for woman suffrage. There was not a single adverse criticism of
them from any ward. They kept faith with the white women even when
some of their men sold out the night before election to a notorious
political rounder. They proved that they were trying to keep step with
the march of progress and with a little patience, trust and vision the
universal tie of motherhood and sisterhood can and will overcome the
prejudice against them as voters.
An immense amount of work was done by Tennessee women for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. After interviewing their members of Congress and
using every possible influence on them in their home districts,
hundreds of letters and telegrams were sent to them in Washington
whenever they were to vote on it from 1915 to 1919. Mrs. Dudley, as a
member of the national board, spent months in Washington and was sent
to various southern States where skilled work was necessary. There was
a gradually increasing vote in favor by Tennessee members until when
the last one was taken in June, 1919, only three Representatives,
Moon, Hull and Garrett, voted against it. Senator Shields voted in
opposition and Senator McKellar in favor.
* * * * *
[With this chapter was sent a complete history of the woman suffrage
movement in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and smaller
cities, which accounts for the phenomenally rapid advance in
Tennessee. Unfortunately these chapters can give space only to the
general work of the State associations.]
TENNESSEE. PART II[169]
Tennessee's pioneer period was from 1885-1911, for during those years
the educational and organization work carried on by a few intrepid
women was as difficult as was the same work in other parts of the
United States thirty or more years before that time. Woman suffrage
was in the stage of ridicule and abuse and with a few exceptions the
press of the State was opposed and lost no opportunity to disparage
it.
The State Equal Suffrage Association was reorganized in Memphis in
1906 and there was increasing activity each year afterwards. In 1907
the suffragists held a convention and reported their membership
trebled. They secured a suffrage article in the _News Scimitar_
through the courtesy of Mike Connolly, its editor. In 1908 Dr. Shaw
spoke at the Goodwin Hall in Memphis under the auspices of the State
association and a return engagement was secured by the Lyceum Course
the following winter. The third annual convention was held Dec. 15,
1909, in Memphis at the home of the State president, Mrs. J. D. Allen,
and the officers were re-elected. It was reported that a petition had
been sent to Congress for a Federal Amendment and more than 400
letters written, one to President Taft asking him to declare for woman
suffrage and local work had been done. Mrs. E. S. Conser, assisted by
Mrs. Allen and the suffrage club, prevailed upon the Memphis
University Law Department to open its doors to women and Mrs. Conser
became its first woman student. Mrs. Allen attended the national
convention at Seattle, Washington. Mrs. Ittie K. Reno delivered the
first woman suffrage address in Nashville, at the Centennial Club, and
the first one in Chattanooga was given by Miss Margaret Ervin at the
university where she was a student.
In 1910 a league was organized in Knoxville by Mrs. L. Crozier French,
who became its president. In the summer a suffrage debate, affirmative
taken by Mrs. Ford, was held in the Methodist church at Kingston, the
first time the question was discussed in that part of the State and
people came from neighboring towns. Miss Catherine J. Wester, a
Kingston suffragist, had a six weeks' newspaper debate in the
Chattanooga _Times_. A booth was maintained at the Appalachian
Exposition, and 590 names of visitors from Tennessee, Arkansas and
Mississippi were registered in the suffrage booth at the Tri-State
fair in September at Memphis.
The fourth State convention was held at Memphis in the Business Men's
Club Feb. 18, 1911, and the president, Mrs. Allen, reported suffrage
trips to Little Rock, Ark., and Jackson, Miss. Addresses were given by
Attorney Robert Beattie and by H. P. Hanson, vice-president of the
Southern Conference on Child and Woman Labor, who brought word that
the Memphis Typographical Union was on record for woman suffrage. Mrs.
Beattie was elected vice-president and Dr. Madge Patton Stephens
secretary. The Nashville club was organized September 28, with Mrs.
Guilford Dudley president; one at Morristown November 3, with Mrs.
Hannah Price Hardy president; one at Chattanooga December 9, with Mrs.
E. W. Penticost president.
By 1912 a new era had dawned with five of the largest cities organized
and affiliated with the State association. It held its annual
convention at Nashville January 10-11. Governor Ben W. Hooper
addressed it and stated that he was "on the fence" as to the suffrage
question. Mrs. Allen was elected honorary president and Miss Sarah
Barnwell Elliott president. Miss Elliott spent two months of this year
speaking in the State and she also spoke in Birmingham, in New York
and the Mississippi Valley Conference in Chicago. In December a
suffrage club was organized in Jackson with Mrs. C. B. Bell president.
J. W. Brister, State Superintendent of Schools, gave a suffrage
address at Nashville.
The State convention was held again at the Hermitage Hotel in
Nashville, Jan. 6, 7, 1913. The principal speakers were ex-Governor
John I. Cox, U. S. Senator Luke Lea, Misses Laura Clay of Kentucky and
Mary Johnston of Virginia. Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton, as president,
sent greetings from the Huntsville, Ala., league, reorganized after a
lapse of thirty years with the same president. The main discussion was
whether to introduce a suffrage bill in the Legislature. Mrs. Margaret
Ervin Ford urged it, saying that, though it had small chance, it was
well to accustom the Legislature to the idea. The matter was placed in
the hands of Miss Elliott, Mrs. French, Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Scott,
who recommended that no bill should be introduced. Mrs. Allen and Miss
Elliott were re-elected and Mrs. James M. McCormack was made
vice-president-at-large; Miss Clay and Miss Johnston spoke on the 10th
at a large meeting in Chattanooga and Miss Clay the following Sunday
in the Universalist church. On April 7 Miss Elliott and Mrs. Dudley
marched in Washington in a parade to the Capitol to interview the
Tennessee representatives in Congress on the Federal Amendment. This
year Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, an organizer for the National
Association, came to assist. By October the State membership was 942
and fifteen newspapers were reached regularly with suffrage matter.
Booths were conducted at many of the county fairs and a "suffrage day"
was given at the Memphis Tri-State fair, when the outside speakers
were Miss Clay and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The _News Scimitar_
issued a suffrage edition.
A second convention met in Morristown, October 21, 22. Miss Sue S.
White was elected secretary, Mrs. Hardy State organizer and the other
officers continued. At the national convention in Washington in
November Miss Wester and Mrs. Ford represented Tennessee on the
"committee of one hundred," which, led by Mrs. Medill McCormick,
chairman of the National Congressional Committee, called upon
President Wilson to enlist his assistance. That year and each
succeeding year letters, telegrams and petitions were sent to the
President and to the Tennessee Representatives in Congress urging
their support of the Federal Amendment. One petition from Chattanooga
bore a thousand signatures.
By 1914 the six largest cities in the State were organized and the
majority of the clubs celebrated National Suffrage Day, May 2, with
parades and open air meetings to the amazement and interest of the
people. The Chattanooga parade, with a brass band, ended at the Court
House where the steps of that building were aglow with yellow bunting.
Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner of Washington, D. C., was the principal
speaker and Mrs. Ford, the local president, read the following
resolution: "We, citizens of Chattanooga, voice our demand that women
citizens of the United States be accorded the full right of
citizenship." The silence was breathless as the sound of the "ayes"
died away and not a voice was raised to say "no." Other speakers were
Mayor Jesse M. Littleton, L. P. Barnes, Attorney J. J. Lynch, the
Reverends Charles H. Myers, L. R. Robinson and Dr. Daniel E. Bushnell.
The State Federation of Women's Clubs in convention at Pulaski voted
down a suffrage resolution, though the president, Mrs. George W.
Denney, favored it.
From March to May 13 there was a spirited controversy as to whether
the annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association should meet in Chattanooga, which city had invited it, or
in Nashville, which had not. Miss Elliott, who was ill, resigned and
Mrs. McCormack took charge of the State work. Chattanooga won the
convention on the first vote of the State board but after balloting
by the clubs through telegrams for several weeks and much
misunderstanding it met in Nashville the next November. The annual
convention was held in Knoxville October 28-30, when there was a
separation of the State forces, Mrs. Crozier French and her following
leaving the convention, taking three clubs with them and organizing
the "Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association Incorporated," with Mrs.
French president. Mrs. McCormack was elected president of the original
Equal Suffrage Association, of which this chapter is the history.
The Southern States Suffrage Conference, Miss Kate M. Gordon,
president, met in Chattanooga, November 10-11, just before the
national convention. A special suffrage edition of the _News_, with
Mrs. Frances Fort Brown editor-in-chief, was issued and the conference
was a great success. Many prominent women from outside the State
attended and all except Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont of New York and Miss
Christabel Pankhurst of England, who was with her, went on to the
national convention at Nashville. Here a special edition of the
_Tennesseean_ was issued, many street meetings were held and suffrage
arguments filled the air. Both State delegations were seated.
By the end of the year only four cities with a population of five
thousand or over were still unorganized. In December Miss Mary
Pleasant Jones organized the Nashville Business Women's League with a
large membership. Organization was continued during 1915. Through the
courtesy of Judge Samuel C. Brown, the Circuit Court at Benton was
suspended for an hour to hear the speeches of Miss Wester, Miss Sarah
Ruth Frazier and Mrs. Ford and a club was then organized with 100
members. Mrs. Ford organized the Business Woman's Suffrage Club of
Chattanooga with 160 charter members. A Men's Suffrage Club was formed
there, the first in the State, R. B. Cook, George Fort Milton and J.
B. F. Lowery, officers.
This year the suffragists assisted a vigorous campaign to secure a
majority vote for holding a convention to prepare a new constitution,
opened headquarters in the different cities and worked day and night,
and they received letters of high appreciation from the chairman of
the State committee. The convention really won but was lost by
dishonest election returns. The annual convention was held at the
Hotel Patton, Chattanooga, December 9, Mrs. McCormack presiding. In
1912 a treasury fund of $5.50 was turned over to the new treasurer,
Miss Wester, who handled in 1915 $1,127. The National Association this
year elected Mrs. McCormack auditor.
National Suffrage Day, May 2, 1916, was celebrated in all of the
larger cities. The Business Women's Club brought Mrs. Emmeline
Pankhurst of England and Miss Margaret Foley of Boston to Chattanooga
and the 5,000 capacity auditorium was packed. The State Federation of
Women's Clubs, which was to hold its convention there May 3, was
invited to attend and the next day it passed a woman suffrage
resolution by a vote of 96 to 43.
In May woman suffrage planks were secured in both the Republican and
Democratic State platforms, after which the State officers living in
Chattanooga had a 25-foot streamer prepared with the following words
on it: Tennessee Leads the South, The State Federation, Republican and
Democratic Parties Endorse Woman Suffrage, and had it stretched across
the main street. Over night Police Commissioner E. R. Betterton had
made a ruling that banners could no longer hang over the street and
three policemen with the patrol wagon "arrested" it. The women secured
the release of the culprit and through the courtesy of E. A. Abbott, a
merchant, it was placed over the front of his store and there it hung
for several weeks. On June 13 it was taken to the National Democratic
convention at St. Louis, where it gave its silent message hanging on
the wall of the lobby of the hotel in which the Tennessee delegation
had headquarters. Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Ford addressed the Tennessee
delegates to the convention urging them to vote for the woman suffrage
plank, which they did unanimously.
Mrs. Catt held a successful congressional conference in Memphis, spoke
at several large meetings and the biggest automobile parade ever seen
in the city added to the occasion.[170] Federal Amendment Day was
celebrated in twenty-six cities and thousands of leaflets were
distributed. In October the legislative chairman wrote to all
candidates for Congress asking their position on suffrage and eight
declared in favor. In November those elected were interviewed and
banquets, luncheons and receptions given them on the eve of their
leaving for Washington.
In order to unite the two State associations Mrs. Catt suggested that
they hold their conventions at about the same time in the same city.
The Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association, Mrs. McCormack president,
set its convention for Jan. 5, 6, 1917, and that of the other was
announced for the 9th, both in Nashville. The former was held at the
Hotel Hermitage, large and enthusiastic, with the principal speakers
Clyde Shropshire, Speaker of the House, the Hon. George L. Berry,
Dixon Merritt, editor of the _Tennesseean_, and Miss Laura Clay. Mrs.
Ford was elected president. The latter postponed its convention to
January 30-31, which made the union impossible. On February 22 the
former association offered its services to Governor Rye to be utilized
as he should see fit, should the United States enter the war. Mrs.
Catt called a meeting of the Executive Council of the National
Association for the 23rd in Washington to consider offering its
assistance to President Wilson and Mrs. Ford represented Tennessee.
The suffragists of this State, as did those of every other, rallied to
the colors. Many served in France and thousands at home in every field
of activity where women were permitted, in army and navy, in citizen
service, Red Cross, Government bond sales, etc., and their devoted
service proved a most effective plea for their enfranchisement.
On March 26, 1918, the boards of the two associations met in Memphis
at the Professional and Business Women's Club, with Mrs. Allen,
honorary president, in the chair. A union was effected and Mrs. Leslie
Warner was unanimously elected president of the amalgamated
associations. Mrs. Warner spoke at the State Federation of Women's
Clubs in Jackson and after one session she asked all to remain who
were interested in suffrage. About 90 per cent. did so and an
enthusiastic meeting was held. Her next work was to secure resolutions
in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and protests against
further delay in the Senate. She spoke before nineteen organizations
of various kinds, all of which passed the desired resolutions. It was
also endorsed by the Democratic and Republican State Committees.
As vice-chairman of the Woman's Committee Council of National Defense,
Mrs. Warner introduced Dr. Shaw, its chairman, to an audience of 7,000
people at Nashville in April. In July she called 200 suffragists from
all sections of the State for a hearing before U. S. Senator John K.
Shields, hoping they might convince him that the Tennessee women did
want the ballot, as one of his reasons for voting against the Federal
Amendment was that they did not. Later when pressed by the women for a
declaration during his candidacy for re-election he gave to the press
his correspondence with President Wilson who had urged him to vote for
it, to whom he wrote: "If I could bring myself to believe that the
adoption of the resolution would contribute to the successful
prosecution of the war we are waging with Germany I would
unhesitatingly vote for it, because my whole heart and soul are
involved in bringing the war to a victorious issue and I am willing to
sacrifice everything save the honor and freedom of our country in
aiding you to accomplish that end, but I have been unable to do
so...."
The President said in reply: "I realize the weight of argument that
has controlled your attitude in the matter and I would not have
written as I did if I had not thought that the passage of the
amendment at this time was an essential psychological element in the
conduct of the war for democracy. I am led by a single sentence in
your letter, therefore, to say that I do earnestly believe that our
action upon this amendment will have an important and immediate
influence upon the whole atmosphere and morale of the nations engaged
in the war and every day I am coming to see how supremely important
that side of the whole thing is."
On August 8 the State Bar Association passed a strong resolution
endorsing woman suffrage by Federal Amendment. The president, Colonel
Ed Watkins, in his annual address, included a strong plea for it and
Judge David V. Puryear introduced the resolution. Miss Elizabeth Lea
Miller and Mrs. Ford, the first women members of the association; Mrs.
John Lamar Meek and others worked for it. Col. Joseph H. Acklen gave
his services as attorney for years to the State association without
charge. Urgent petitions which bore the names of all the leading
Democrats of the State, arranged on a large sheet with the photograph
of and a quotation from President Woodrow Wilson, were sent to Senator
Shields. The State board sent petitions to the legislators urging that
they ask him to vote for the Federal Amendment resolution, which
lacked only two votes of passing the Senate, but he opposed it to the
end.
The remainder of Mrs. Warner's régime was filled with efforts in the
Legislature for the Presidential suffrage bill. She began in September
and worked unceasingly until its passage the next April, financing the
campaign with some small assistance from her board. During the
hundredth anniversary of the city of Memphis in June, a notable State
event, a suffrage "victory" celebration was held with addresses by
Mayor Monteverde and leading suffragists.
The eleventh annual convention was held in the Tulane Hotel,
Nashville, June 4, 5, 1919. During the second day's session news came
of the submission of the Federal Amendment by the U. S. Senate and
excitement ran riot. Telegrams of congratulation were sent to Mrs.
Catt, Dr. Shaw, U. S. Senator McKellar and the Tennessee
Representatives who voted for it. It was a dramatic ending of the
long contest--long even in Tennessee, for here too women had grown old
and died in the struggle. Tributes were paid to those who were gone,
among them Mrs. Meriwether who had given her life to the work. The two
pioneers present, Mrs. Allen and Miss Terrett, gave reminiscences of
the early days. Mrs. George Fort Milton was elected president.
A call was issued for the final convention of the State association
and the first convention of the Tennessee League of Women Voters to
meet May 18, 19, 1920, in the House of Representatives at Nashville.
This was signed by the presidents of the following State associations:
Suffrage, Mothers' Congress and Parent Teachers', Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, Federation of Music Clubs, Daughters of the American
Revolution and Press and Authors' Club. Mrs. Milton presided over the
convention and Miss Mary Boyce Temple, regent of the D. A. R.,
presided over the first conference of the League of Women Voters. The
association and the League were merged and Mrs. Milton was elected
chairman.[171]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1911. This year for the first time a resolution
was introduced by Senator Walter White of Dayton "to amend the
constitution so as to give women the ballot." It was referred to the
Constitutional Amendment Committee, Alfred A. Adams, chairman, which
reported adversely. The women in charge were Mrs. J. D. Allen, State
president, and Attorney Frances Wolf, legislative chairman.
1915. The suffragists espoused two bills. The association of which
Mrs. McCormack was president worked for a new State constitution
because of the great difficulty of changing the old one. The
association of which Mrs. Dudley was president asked for an amendment.
It received a "courtesy" vote in favor from the first Legislature and
did not come before a second. Mrs. McCormack, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Henry J.
Kelso, Mrs. Hall and Miss Wester were the Legislative Committee.
1917. In March the Legislature passed an Act amending the charter of
Lookout Mountain so as to give the women Municipal suffrage. The prime
mover was Attorney James Anderson and Mayor P. F. Jones, and the other
commissioners voted unanimously for it. Mrs. Ford, the State
president, a lifelong resident, had the previous year registered there
in order to call attention to the injustice of "taxation without
representation" but her name was removed from the records. Early in
1917 Mrs. Ford called on President Wilson at the White House and asked
him to send a message to the Legislature in favor of the pending
Presidential suffrage bill, which he did.
[Mrs. Ford's thorough account of the fortunes of this bill through the
Legislatures of 1917 and 1919 is so largely covered by the report in
Part I of this chapter that it is omitted here.][172]
After the law was enacted Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. Kimbrough appeared at
the office of the county trustee and made a tender of the amount due
as their poll tax. He refused to receive it, acting under instructions
from the county attorney who declared that the laws of the State
exempted women. They then filed a bill in the Chancery Court of
Davidson county asking a decision. Chancellor Newman dismissed it with
an opinion in part as follows: "It will be observed by Section 686 of
the code that those liable for poll taxes are males between the ages
of 21 and 50 years on the 10th day of January the year the assessment
is laid. Women were not liable Jan. 10, 1919, for poll tax and plainly
it was never the purpose or intent of Section 1220 that a qualified
voter as a condition precedent to the right to vote should produce
satisfactory evidence that he had paid a poll tax assessed against him
for which he was not liable.... All women between the ages of 21 and
50 years, otherwise qualified as voters, are entitled to vote in the
November election of 1920 without paying a poll tax for 1919." The
case was taken to the Supreme Court, which ruled that women did not
have to pay in order to vote that year.
RATIFICATION. When the Legislature of Washington in March, 1920,
ratified the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment making the 35th, there
came an absolute stop. The southeastern States had rejected it and it
had been ratified by all the others except Vermont and Connecticut,
whose Governors refused to call special sessions. It looked as if the
women of the United States would be prevented from voting at the
presidential election in November for the lack of one ratification.
There was every reason to believe that the Legislature of Tennessee
would give this one if it were not prevented by a clause in the State
constitution. Meanwhile the ratification of the Federal Prohibition
Amendment by the Ohio Legislature had been sent to the voters by a
recent law, they had rejected it and an appeal had been taken to the
U. S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the referendum law. On
June 1, in Hawk vs. Smith, this court held that a referendum to the
voters on the ratification of Federal Amendments was in conflict with
Article V of the Federal Constitution, therefore null and void, as
this Constitution was the supreme law of the land. The decision said:
"It is not the function of courts or legislative bodies, National or
State, to alter the method which the U. S. Constitution has fixed."
Article II, Section 32 of the Tennessee constitution reads: "No
convention or General Assembly of this State shall act upon any
amendment of the Constitution of the United States proposed by
Congress to the several States unless such convention or General
Assembly shall have been elected after such amendment is submitted."
The presumption was naturally that this clause was nullified by the U.
S. Supreme Court's decision. On June 10, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president of the National American Suffrage Association, telegraphed
Governor Albert H. Roberts, urging him to call an extra session. He,
thereupon, sought the opinion of Attorney General Frank M. Thompson as
to the power of the present Legislature to ratify, who answered that
it would have the power. He said that he had submitted the question to
the U. S. Department of Justice through Solicitor General John L.
Frierson, to whom President Wilson had also appealed, whose answer in
brief was as follows: "The ruling of the Supreme Court in the Ohio
case and the consideration which I gave to this question in preparing
those cases for hearing leave no doubt in my mind that the power to
ratify an amendment to the Federal Constitution is derived solely
from the people of the United States through this constitution and not
from the people or the constitution of the State. The provision of the
Tennessee constitution that no Legislature shall act on an amendment
to the Federal Constitution unless elected after the proposal of the
amendment, if valid, would undoubtedly be a restriction upon that
power.... If the Legislature is called in extra session it will have
the clear right to ratify."
A request was made to President Wilson for assistance, and on June 24
he sent the following telegram to Governor Roberts: "It would be a
real service to the party and to the nation if it is possible for you
under the peculiar provisions of your State constitution, having in
mind the recent decision of the Supreme Court in the Ohio case, to
call a special session of the Legislature to consider the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. Allow me to urge this very earnestly." At the same
time the Governor received a telegram signed by practically every
member of the Tennessee delegation at the National Democratic
convention meeting in San Francisco, impressing on him the advantage
to the party of his calling the extra session. In addition U. S.
Senator Kenneth McKellar, a member of the platform committee of that
convention, secured a plank in the platform, endorsing the amendment
and urging the Democratic Governors and legislators of Tennessee and
other States to unite in an effort to complete the ratification. On
June 26 Homer S. Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, informed the Governor that the committee that day by
unanimous vote had directed him to send the following message: "We
most earnestly emphasize the extreme importance and urgency of an
immediate meeting of your Legislature for the purpose of ratifying the
proposed 19th Amendment to the Federal Constitution." On June 8 the
Tennessee Democratic convention had passed the following resolution:
"We heartily favor the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States ... and we demand that the Governor
call an extra session."
Governor Roberts answered President Wilson: "I will call the extra
session in ample time for the women to vote in the 1920 elections."
This he did on August 7, calling the Legislature to convene on the
9th.[173]
The first of July Governor Roberts appointed Mrs. Leslie Warner State
chairman to organize for ratification. She selected a committee of one
hundred, some from each county, recommended by the legislators, and
opened headquarters at the Hotel Hermitage in Nashville and Mrs. James
B. Ezzell was elected vice-chairman, Mrs. Margaret Ervin Ford,
secretary of the committee, which became known as the Democratic
Ratification Committee. On the advisory board were: Miss Charl
Williams, vice-chairman of the National Democratic Committee; Miss
Della Dortch, regional chairman of the National League of Women
Voters; Mesdames A. H. Roberts, wife of the Governor; Guilford Dudley,
third vice-president of the National Suffrage Association; John B.
Gilmore, James S. Fraser and Miss Lutie Jones. Mrs. George Fort
Milton, chairman of the League of Women Voters, appointed Mrs. John M.
Kenny State chairman for ratification with Mesdames John R. Aust and
Claude B. Sullivan chairmen of committees. They opened headquarters at
the Maxwell House. Mrs. James Beasley became chairman of the
Republican committee and ex-Governor Rye of the Men's Committee,
assisted by ex-Governors Albert A. Taylor and Ben W. Hooper and Mr.
Hal H. Clements.
Early in July Miss Marjorie Shuler, chairman of publicity of the
National Suffrage Association, was sent by it to assist. She expressed
gratification at what had been accomplished, saying: "The Tennessee
women have done wonders; they are now well organized and things look
promising for ratification." She joined with the committees in urging
Mrs. Catt to come and direct the work and she came soon after the
middle of July and remained six weeks.[174] Her first move was to
start a series of letters through the League of Women Voters to local
groups urging meetings, deputations to legislators and the return to
headquarters of their signed pledges to vote for ratification, which
later were very useful. With Mrs. Milton and with Miss Shuler in
charge of publicity, a speaking tour began at Memphis and ended in
eastern Tennessee, including all the large cities and creating much
favorable sentiment. During this trip Mrs. Catt did not hesitate to
call attention to the sinister forces which it was discovered were
working against ratification and she sent a message to Senator Harding
and Governor Cox, the presidential candidates, describing them. On
July 24 Miss Esther Ogden, a director of the National Association,
with a deputation of women, appeared before the National Democratic
Committee in session at Columbus, O., presenting a memorial from that
association, signed by Mrs. Catt, urging the committee to assume the
responsibility of achieving the ratification and she brought their
favorable answer to Nashville. The last week in July Mrs. Catt
received the following from Senator Harding: "I am exceedingly glad to
learn that you are in Tennessee seeking to consummate the ratification
of the suffrage amendment. If any of the Republican members should ask
my opinion as to their course I would cordially recommend immediate
favorable action." He sent a similar message to Senator John C. Houk,
State chairman, but later when the Harding-Coolidge League of the
District of Columbia urged him to appeal further for ratification he
answered: "You can understand why I cannot consistently urge Tennessee
legislators to vote for ratification without knowing their reasons for
such commitment as they have made. The situation is being reported to
national headquarters, where it will be given attention at once."
A letter from Governor Cox to Mrs. Catt said: "I am very much
gratified at the news that you are to remain in Tennessee for the
ratification campaign. It gives me added reason for expressing
confidence that the Legislature will act favorably, which will greatly
please the national Democratic party." In addition he sent Miss Charl
Williams, a member of the Democratic National Committee, to Nashville
with the message that if necessary he would himself come and fight for
it. On August 7 at the request of Will H. Hays, chairman of the
Republican National Committee, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton,
vice-chairman of its executive committee, came to assist.
Urged by President Wilson, Governor Cox, George White, chairman of the
National Democratic Committee, and Senator Pat Harrison, its chairman
of publicity and speakers, U. S. Senator McKellar came with his
valuable help. Miss Edna A. Beveridge of Maryland and Mrs. Lydia
Holmes, president of the Louisiana Suffrage Association, came to
assist Mrs. Catt. Miss Sue White, Tennessee chairman of the National
Woman's Party, assisted by Mesdames L. Crozier French, Walter Jackson,
Frank Phillips, Miss Anita Pollitzer, Miss Betty Grim, Parley P.
Christensen and others, also opened headquarters and worked for
ratification. Since there were so many committees at work it was
decided to appoint a general chairman and Miss Charl Williams was the
wise choice.
From the time the special session was called anti-suffragists gathered
in Nashville from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, many of them paid
workers. Everett P. Wheeler, a New York lawyer, president of a
so-called American Constitutional League, formerly the Men's
Anti-Suffrage Association, came and formed a branch composed of men
prominent politically, who used every means known to influence
legislation; sent speakers into the districts of friendly legislators,
promised rewards, used threats, and charges of bribery were so
insistent that Judge D. B. DeBow ordered a grand jury investigation.
There was no depth to which some of the men trying to defeat woman
suffrage did not descend.[175]
Mrs. James S. Pinckard of Alabama, president of the Southern Women's
Rejection League; Miss Josephine Pearson, its Tennessee president;
Miss Mary G. Kilbreth, president of the National Anti-Woman Suffrage
Association, with many of their followers were at work with the
legislators. They were industriously assisted by Mrs. Ruffin G.
Pleasant, wife of the ex-Governor of Louisiana, and by Miss Kate M.
Gordon of that State and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, ardent
suffragists but opposed to the Federal Amendment. The presidents or
other officers of anti-suffrage associations in Ohio, Maryland,
Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine and other States joined with the forces
above.
The Legislature convened in extraordinary session Aug. 9, 1920, and
heard the Governor's message, which said in part: "The Legislatures of
thirty-five States have ratified the amendment, only one more being
required to make it effective as a part of the Constitution of the
United States. Its prompt ratification is urgently recommended.
Tennessee occupies a pivotal position and the eyes of all America are
upon us. Millions of women are looking to this Legislature to give
them a voice and share in shaping the destiny of the Republic." He
then quoted the platform declarations of both State and National
Democratic and Republican parties urging ratification. The next day
the Senate was called to order by President Andrew L. Todd, who
introduced the ratification resolution. It was introduced in the House
by the Shelby county delegation, all for it. Both were referred to the
Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
On the night of August 12 a joint hearing was held and able speeches
were made by Senator McKellar, Generals James A. Fowler and Charles A.
Cates, Jr., and Attorney Ed T. Seay. Anti speakers were: Congressman
Finis J. Garrett, Major E. B. Stahlman, Judges S. F. Wilson and G. N.
Tillman. Miss Charlotte Rowe, of Yonkers, N. Y., represented the
National Anti-Suffrage Association. The next day a memorial from
Maryland "antis" urging rejection was read in the Senate. Senator L.
E. Gwin presented the committee report recommending ratification,
signed by himself and Senators M. H. Copenhaver, John C. Houk, C. C.
Collins, J. W. Murray, T. L. Coleman, Douglas Wikle and E. N. Haston.
Senators W. M. Cameron and J. W. Rice presented the minority report.
After many eloquent speeches in favor and two in opposition the
Senate vote was ayes 25, noes 4, two not voting, and a motion to
reconsider was tabled.
On August 17 the House Committee reported in favor of ratification,
saying: "This is the performance of solemn platform promises and we
take great pride in the fact that to Tennessee has been accorded the
signal distinction of passing a resolution which will secure the final
adoption of the 19th Amendment." Speaker Seth M. Walker then moved to
adjourn to gain time, which was carried by 52 ayes, 44 noes. He had
given the suffragists his word that he would not only vote for
ratification but would lead the fight for it in the House. On the
contrary he suddenly underwent a radical change and fought it bitterly
through the entire session.
On August 18 occurred the most exciting and dramatic session ever held
in the House. Speaker Walker moved to table the resolution in an
effort to kill it. R. L. Dowlen, who had undergone a serious
operation, was brought from his bed to the Capitol to vote for it. T.
A. Dodson received a message that his baby was dying and after he had
taken the train it was found that his vote would be needed to carry
it. A member reached the train as it was pulling out, found him and
they leaped off. He cast his vote for the resolution and a man who was
able to do so sent him home on a special train. The Speaker lobbied
openly after clearing the House of suffrage lobbyists. Sitting with
his arm around the shoulder of Banks S. Turner he stopped his voting
when his name was called, but Turner won the honor of all present
when, at the end of the roll call, he threw off Speaker Walker's arm,
stood up and cast his vote for ratification. Harry T. Burn, aged 24,
had been voting with the opposition but had given the suffragists his
word that, as he had voted for the Presidential suffrage bill in 1919
and as his mother wanted him to vote for ratification, he would do so
if his vote should be needed but otherwise he would vote against it,
as his constituency was opposed. When the vote was a tie--48 to 48--he
instantly realized that the resolution would be lost unless he should
vote for it. This he did and the vote stood 49 ayes, 47 noes. Speaker
Walker then changed his vote from no to aye, making the vote 50 ayes,
46 noes, and moved to reconsider.[176]
By the rules of the House Speaker Walker had for three days the
exclusive right in which to call up the motion to reconsider, after
which others could do so. During this time the opponents worked madly
to get one of the loyal 49 to change his vote without avail. They
attempted every unscrupulous scheme known to control legislation. All
failing, as a last desperate move, 36 in the early morning hours made
a hegira to Decatur, Ala., where they remained for about ten days.
On August 23 the seats of the "antis" were conspicuously vacant. As
the Speaker had not asked for a reconsideration, Mr. Riddick moved to
call from the Journal the motion to reconsider. Speaker Walker ruled
this out of order, giving among other reasons that Judge E. F.
Langford of the Chancery Court had granted a temporary injunction
restraining the Governor, Secretary of State and Speakers from
certifying to Secretary of State Colby that the Legislature had
ratified. Mr. Riddick appealed from the decision of the chair and it
was not sustained. He then moved that the House reconsider its action
in concurring in the Senate ratification, which was defeated by 49
noes, 9 present and not voting. He next moved that the Clerk of the
House be instructed to transmit to the Senate the ratification
resolution, which was carried by a viva voce vote. Governor Roberts,
himself formerly a Judge, could not be checked by the devices of the
opposition but asked Attorney General Thompson to place the matter
before Chief Justice D. L. Lansden of the State Supreme Court. He
issued a writ of supersedeas and certiorari, which, taking the matter
out of the jurisdiction of the Chancery Court, amounted to a
dissolving of the injunction. The Governor then mailed the certificate
of ratification to Secretary Colby at noon, August 24, which he
received on the morning of August 26. This completed the necessary
thirty-six ratifications and Secretary Colby immediately proclaimed
the Federal Suffrage Amendment a part of the Constitution of the
United States.
During the weeks of machinations by the opposition, Governor Roberts,
State Superintendent of Education Albert H. Williams, the other
officers of the administration and the efficient Steering Committee,
made up of members of the Legislature, headed by President Todd and
Chief Clerk W. M. Carter of the Senate, were on complete guard night
and day.
After the American Constitutional League had failed in the courts of
Tennessee they planned to secure injunctions against election
officials to prevent women from voting and carried their fight to the
courts of the District of Columbia, losing in every one. They finally
reached the Supreme Court of the United States, which eventually
decided that the 19th Amendment was legally and constitutionally
ratified. [This matter is referred to in Chapter XX of Volume V.]
Meanwhile on September 20 Speaker Walker and other opponents went to
Washington and requested Secretary Colby to withdraw and rescind the
ratification proclamation. Failing in this effort they went on to
Connecticut to prevent ratification by the special session there,
which had at last been called, and this mission also was a failure.
To Tennessee will forever belong the glory of placing the last seal on
the Federal Amendment by which the women of the United States were
enfranchised.
[Illustration: MAP I.
The Suffrage Map from 1869 to 1893. Wyoming as a Territory in 1869 and
as a State in 1890 gave equal suffrage to women.]
[Illustration: MAP II.
The Suffrage Map from 1893 to 1910. Colorado gave equal suffrage to
women in 1893 Utah in 1895, Idaho in 1896.]
[Illustration: MAP III.
The Suffrage Map when Congress submitted the Federal Amendment June 4,
1919. In the white States women had full suffrage; in the dotted
States Presidential; in Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee
and Vermont Municipal also; in the first three County besides.]
[Illustration: MAP IV.
The Legislatures of all the white States ratified the Federal Woman
Suffrage Amendment; those of the black States rejected it except that
of Florida, whose Governor said it would do so if he called a special
session.]
[Illustration: This is What Tennessee Did to the Suffrage Map
MAP V.
The Suffrage Map after the Ratification of the Federal
Amendment--universal, complete woman suffrage in every State.]
FOOTNOTES:
[164] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. John M. Kenny,
an officer of the State Equal Suffrage Association from 1914 until the
ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in 1920.
[165] Through the combined efforts of the joint chairmen of the
campaign Committee, Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. Milton, and the association of
which Mrs. Dudley was President, a conference was called to formulate
a plan of amalgamation of the two State associations. This was finally
accomplished in March, 1918, when Mrs. Leslie Warner of Nashville was
unanimously chosen as the amalgamation president.
[166] The other congressional district chairmen were Mrs. Ferd. E.
Powell, Johnson City; Miss Sara Ruth Fraser, Chattanooga; Mrs. Sam
Young, Dixon Springs; Mrs. Walter Jackson, Murfreesboro; Mrs.
Kimbrough, Nashville; Mrs. Ben Childers, Pulaski; Miss Sue S. White,
Mrs. Jas. B. Ezzell, Newsom Station; Mrs. M. M. Betts, Memphis.
[167] "W. R. Crabtree, President of the Senate: May I not express my
earnest hope that the Senate of Tennessee will reconsider the vote by
which it rejected the legislation extending the suffrage to women? Our
party is so distinctly pledged to its passage that it seems to me the
moral obligation is complete.--Woodrow Wilson."
[168] Mrs. Frances Fort Brown of Nashville left a bequest of $3,000 to
the National American Woman Suffrage Association and its board of
officers appropriated enough of it to pay the expenses of this suit.
[169] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Margaret Ervin
Ford, president of the State Equal Suffrage Association.
[170] Mrs. C. B. Allen organized the Memphis Woman's Party within the
State Association and became its president and Mrs. Ford organized it
in Chattanooga with over 400 members, was elected president and ward
organization started there. Nashville had the first through ward
organization, due to Miss Matilda Porter.
[171] The lists of the many officers of the association during the
years are unavoidably too imperfect to be used without doing injustice
to those omitted. In Mrs. Ford's strong desire to give full credit to
all the men and women who were actively connected with the work for
woman suffrage in Tennessee she sent lists so long that the lack of
space made it absolutely necessary to omit them.--Ed.
[172] The gold pen used by Governor Roberts in signing the bill was
one used by Dr. John W. Wester when drafting the first anti-liquor
bill ever introduced in the Tennessee Legislature, in December, 1841.
With it also Governor Rye signed the Lookout Mountain Suffrage Bill.
It belongs to Mrs. Ford, grand-daughter of Dr. Wester.
[173] Anti-suffragists from all over the State bombarded Governor
Roberts with threats of defeat for reelection should he persist in
pushing ratification, many of whom were his strongest friends and
supporters. At the special elections during the summer held to fill
vacancies in the Legislature several suffragists were elected, among
them M. H. Copenhaver, who took the seat of Senator J. Parks Worley,
arch enemy of suffrage. T. K. Riddick, a prominent lawyer, made the
race in order to lead the fight for ratification in the House.
Representative J. Frank Griffin made a flying trip from San Francisco
to cast his vote for it.
[174] Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Upton and Miss Shuler did no lobbying in the
State House.
[175] After Mrs. Catt returned to New York she said: "Never in the
history of politics has there been such a nefarious lobby as labored
to block the ratification in Nashville. In the short time that I spent
in the capital I was more maligned, more lied about, than in the
thirty previous years I worked for suffrage. I was flooded with
anonymous letters, vulgar, ignorant, insane. Strange men and groups of
men sprang up, men we had never met before in the battle. Who were
they? We were told, this is the railroad lobby, this is the steel
lobby, these are the manufacturers' lobbyists, this is the remnant of
the old whiskey ring. Even tricksters from the U. S. Revenue Service
were there operating against us, until the President of the United
States called them off.... They appropriated our telegrams, tapped our
telephones, listened outside our windows and transoms. They attacked
our private and public lives. I had heard of the 'invisible
government.' Well, I have seen it work and I have seen it sent into
oblivion."
[176] Burn's vote so angered the opposition that they attempted to
fasten a charge of bribery on him. On a point of personal privilege he
made a statement to the House which was spread upon the Journal. After
indignantly denying the charge he said: "I changed my vote in favor of
ratification because I believe in full suffrage as a right; I believe
we had a moral and legal right to ratify; I know that a mother's
advice is always safest for her boy to follow and my mother wanted me
to vote for ratification. I appreciated the fact that an opportunity
such as seldom comes to mortal man--to free 17,000,000 women from
political slavery--was mine. I desired that my party in both State and
Nation might say it was a Republican from the mountains of East
Tennessee, purest Anglo-Saxon section in the world, who made woman
suffrage possible, not for any personal glory but for the glory of his
party."
[Lack of space prevents giving the names of the immortal 49, which
were sent with the chapter.]
CHAPTER XLII.
TEXAS.[177]
For many reasons Texas was slow in entering the movement for woman
suffrage. There was some agitation of the subject from about 1885 and
some organization in 1893-6 but the work done was chiefly through the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. In February, 1903, a meeting was
called at Houston by Miss Annette Finnigan, a Texas girl and a
graduate of Wellesley College. Here, with the help of her sisters,
Elizabeth and Katharine Finnigan Anderson, an Equal Suffrage League
was formed with Annette as president. The following month Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association, lectured in Houston under its auspices. During the summer
Annette and Elizabeth Finnigan spoke several times in Galveston and
secured a suffrage committee of twenty-five there. With this nucleus a
State Woman Suffrage Association was organized at a convention held in
Houston, in December, which lasted two days and was well attended. Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president of the National Association, was
present at all the sessions, spoke at both evening meetings and took a
deep interest in the new organization. Annette Finnigan was elected
State president and during the following year made an effort to
organize in Beaumont, San Antonio and Austin but the women, although
interested, were too timid to organize for suffrage. Mrs. Charlotte
Perkins Gilman spoke under the auspices of the league.
The second State convention or conference was held in Houston in
December, 1904, Galveston and La Porte being represented. Reports were
given and officers elected, Annette Finnigan remaining president. The
Houston league had a paid up membership of one hundred, regular
meetings were held and the subject of woman suffrage was kept
constantly before the public. An effort was made to get a woman on the
school board but the Mayor refused to appoint one. Among those active
in the work were Althea Jones, Miss Mary W. Roper, Mrs. E. F. and Miss
Ruby McGowen of Houston; Mrs. A. Adella Penfield of La Porte, Mrs. C.
H. Moore and Miss Julia Runge of Galveston. The Finnigan sisters were
the leaders and the league prospered for several years until they left
the State. The movement became inactive and the society formed in
Austin in 1908 with twenty-five members was the only one that
continued.
In 1912 through the efforts of Miss M. Eleanor Brackenridge of San
Antonio and Miss Anna Maxwell Jones, a Texas woman residing in New
York, suffrage clubs were organized in San Antonio, Galveston, Dallas,
Waco, Tyler and San Marcos. Miss Finnigan returned to Texas and the
Houston league was revived. The third State convention was held in San
Antonio in March, 1913. Miss Brackenridge was elected president, Miss
Finnigan honorary president. The convention was spirited and showed
that the suffrage movement was well launched. This was just ten years
after the first club was started. Miss Brackenridge possessed large
means and a wide acquaintance and gave much prestige to the
association. A number of notable speakers were brought to the State
and the subject was introduced in women's organizations. This year
through the San Antonio league a bill was introduced in the
Legislature but never came to a vote.
In April, 1914, the State convention was held in Dallas and Miss
Brackenridge was made honorary president and Miss Finnigan again
elected president. During the year State headquarters were opened in
Houston and the clubs were increased from eight to twenty-one. Miss
Pearl Penfield, as headquarters and field secretary, organized the
State work. The president sent letters to all the legislators asking
them to pledge themselves to vote for a woman suffrage amendment to
the State constitution. None of them had an idea that any of the
others would agree to support it and a considerable number in a desire
to "please the ladies" wrote charming letters of acquiescence. When in
January, 1915, they confronted a large group of women lobbyists,
experiences were hurriedly compared and consternation reigned among
them. "Uncle" Jesse Baker of Granbury, of honored memory, introduced
the resolution to submit an amendment to the electors. The Legislative
Committee were inexperienced but they worked with such zeal that it
received a vote in the House of 90 to 32. It was not considered by the
Senate.
Among those who worked with Miss Finnigan during the three months in
Austin were Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham, president of the Galveston
Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. Tex Armstrong of the Dallas
association; Mrs. J. O. Creighton of the Austin association; Mrs. Ed.
F. Harris and Mrs. J. H. W. Steele of Galveston; Mrs. David Doom, Mrs.
Robert Connerly, Mrs. L. E. Walker, Mrs. A. B. Wolfe and Mrs. R. H.
Griffith, all of Austin; Mrs William H. Dunne of San Antonio; Mrs.
Elizabeth Herndon Potter of Tyler; Mrs. W. E. Spell of Waco.
On Sunday afternoon, March 28, Dr. Shaw, the guest of Miss
Brackenridge, delivered a great speech in Beethoven Hall under the
auspices of the San Antonio Equal Franchise Society, accompanied on
the stage by its president, Mrs. Dan Leary; J. H. Kirkpatrick,
president of the Men's Suffrage League, the Rev. George H. Badger and
Miss Marie B. Fenwick, a veteran suffragist. Many converts were made.
In April the State convention met in Galveston and reports showed
twenty-one auxiliaries. Mrs. Cunningham was elected president, alert,
enthusiastic and bringing to the cause the valuable experience of work
in it for the past two years. The president and new board prosecuted
the work so vigorously that during the year there was a 400 per cent.
increase in organizations. Miss Kate Hunter, president of the
Palestine league, gave her entire summer vacation to field work.
In May, 1916, the State convention met in Dallas, re-elected Mrs.
Cunningham to the presidency and instructed the executive committee to
ask for suffrage planks in State and National Democratic platforms.
The name was changed from Woman Suffrage to Equal Suffrage Association
and the Senatorial district plan of organization was adopted,
following the lines of the Democratic party. When the State Democratic
convention met in San Antonio this month to elect a national
committeeman there were scores of women in the galleries proudly
wearing their suffrage colors but Governor James E. Ferguson and
ex-U. S. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey, both of unhallowed memory,
united their forces and woman suffrage had not a remote chance.
Texas women went to the National Republican convention in Chicago in
June and a sufficient number of them to form half a block in the
"golden lane" at the National Democratic convention in St. Louis. At
the latter Governor Ferguson brought in the minority report of the
Resolutions Committee against a woman suffrage plank in the platform,
and let it be recorded that there were only three other men on the
committee who would sign it, the remainder signing the majority report
placing the plank in the platform. In August the Democratic convention
met in Houston to nominate State candidates and prepare the State
platform. Mrs. Cunningham, Mrs. Helen Moore and Mrs. J. M. Quinnof
appeared before the platform committee and with all the eloquence at
their command urged it to insert a woman suffrage plank or at least to
endorse the National platform. This committee was entirely in the
hands of the liquor ring and Ferguson was czar of the convention, so
woman suffrage was ignored.
Mrs. Edith Hinkle League, the headquarters secretary, shared the
president's ten, twelve and even fourteen-hour days of labor, so that
Mrs. Cummingham was able to leave the office in charge of her and
volunteer assistants while she helped to fill the pressing need of
field workers and organizers. She had the assistance of Miss Lavinia
Engle, one of the National Association's organizers. Despite the lack
of funds when word came of West Virginia's need of Mrs. Cunningham in
its amendment campaign the executive board paid her expenses to that
State and she donated her services. Upon her return to Texas she
devoted July and August to field work, averaging two or three speeches
a day during these insufferably hot months.
When the Legislature convened in January, 1917, the Legislative
Committee were on hand. The following report by Mrs. Cunningham
summarizes the work:
First. Opening suffrage headquarters on the main street at Austin
near the Capitol. Second. A luncheon, at which the attendance
exceeded the capacity of the largest hotel. The program was a
mock legislative session at which the suffrage bill came up for
the third reading and debate, those opposed imitating the style
of the leading "antis" at hearings. Third. A very successful mass
meeting at the Hancock Opera House with good speakers. Fourth.
Introduction of the House Joint Resolution for a suffrage
amendment, signed by twenty members, including some who had
opposed it in 1915. Fifth. Mass meeting in the House of
Representatives the night before the amendment came to a vote,
invitation for this being extended by resolution of the House.
Speaker F. O. Fuller presided and House and gallery were crowded.
Sixth. Introduction of the Primary suffrage bill in the Senate
and House. Seventh. Introduction of the Presidential suffrage
bill. Eighth. Speakers touring the State and keeping the cities
and towns aroused; a constant stream of letters to organizations
and individuals and from them to Representatives. Ninth. Press
work, a weekly news letter to those papers which would reach the
legislators; getting in touch with reporters and editors of the
large daily papers in the State in Austin for the session. First,
last and all the time work at the Capitol, interviewing members
of the House and Senate, Speaker, President, and public men who
could and if asked might help a little here and there. This work
was carried on daily for nearly three months.
It is my judgment that the Presidential suffrage bill could have
been passed (anticipating the Governor's veto though) but for the
fact that the closing days of the session were taken up by the
investigation of the Governor on charges preferred in the House.
On January 31 the Primary suffrage bill was favorably reported by the
Senate committee but was not taken from the calendar. On February 6
the resolution to submit an amendment to the voters received 76 ayes,
56 noes in the House, lacking the required two-thirds. It was not
acted upon by the Senate. On February 19 the Presidential suffrage
bill was referred to a Senate committee and on the 26th was returned
with a favorable minority report but not acted upon.
Early in 1917 the misdeeds of Governor Ferguson culminated and a great
campaign was begun to secure his impeachment. He was the implacable
foe of woman suffrage and of every great moral issue for which women
stood, therefore at the very beginning of the campaign word was sent
to the committee in Austin that the State Equal Suffrage Association
had abandoned all other work temporarily and placed its entire
resources at their command. The offer was accepted at once and the
character and value of the services which the women performed may be
judged from the following statement from D. K. Woodward, Jr.,
secretary of the Central Committee in charge of the campaign:
The impeachment of former Governor Ferguson could not have been
brought about without the cooperation of the women of the
State.... Their work was under the direction of Mrs. Cunningham,
president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association, who came at
once to Austin and established headquarters. The women were asked
to reach the remote sections, to eradicate prejudice and leave
understanding in its stead.... They did all that was asked of
them and more. The most confirmed skeptic on the question of
women's participation in public life must have been converted had
he witnessed the unselfish, tireless, efficient work of these
hundreds of devoted women and the striking ability of their
leader, whose genius for organization, knowledge of public
affairs and public men of Texas and sound judgment on all
questions of policy were of untold value....[178]
Then came the entrance of the United States into the World War and the
suffragists consecrated time, strength, life itself if necessary to
its demands. The call to the annual convention held in Waco in May,
1917, indicated with what directness and intelligence the women
approached their added responsibilities. It was "a call to the
colors," to work for the war. War and Woman's Service; What can we do?
Our Need of the Ballot to do it; True Americanism, were among the
subjects considered. It voted to ask the War Department to abolish
saloons in the soldiers' concentration and mobilization camps.
Resolutions were passed pledging "loyal and untiring support to the
Government." The convention expressed itself in no uncertain tones in
the following resolution telegraphed to President Wilson: "For nearly
seventy years the women of the United States have tried the State
rights' route with its long and tortuous path. Since the Texas
Legislature has repeatedly refused submission of the suffrage
amendment to the voters, thereby repudiating the State rights'
principle of the Democratic party, the State Equal Suffrage
Association hereby urges your support of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment to enfranchise the women of our country."
Mrs. Cunningham was literally conscripted president again, with a
budget calling for the expenditure of $30,000 and only $66.38 in the
treasury! Other offices were filled and then the women hurried home to
engage in Red Cross work, Liberty Loan work, anti-vice work; to knit,
to sew, to tramp the highways and byways for the various "drives"; to
make speeches before all sorts of audiences--women who a year before
were too timid to second a motion. Following the instructions of the
convention Mrs. Cunningham in June called together in San Antonio the
heads of all organizations of women and out of the conference was
formed the Woman's Anti-Vice Committee. Living in such close proximity
to the training camps, Texas women early learned with sinking hearts
of the unspeakable conditions obtaining there and their efforts to
remedy matters and to arouse the proper authorities were strenuous and
unceasing. Thousands of mothers whose sons were in training in far
away Texas will never know how earnestly the mothers of this State
labored to do by their sons as they would have wished their own done
by.
The Federal Amendment work was not neglected during this time, neither
was State work and organizations rapidly multiplied. The year 1918 is
one never to be forgotten by Texas suffragists. January was given over
to intensive work for the Federal Amendment. Day letters, night
letters and telegrams poured into Congress at such a rate that the
national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, referred to them as the
"heavy artillery down in Texas." The Executive Committee of the State
Association in session at Austin, on the 23rd authorized Mrs.
Cunningham and Mrs. Hortense Ward to call upon the new Governor,
William P. Hobby, and ask that he submit a bill for Primary suffrage
for women at the special session of the Legislature soon to convene.
A few weeks later the special session was called to consider a number
of important measures asked for by the Secretary of War. On February
24 the suffrage leaders came to Austin and established headquarters at
the Driskill Hotel, determined to secure the Primary law in time for
women to vote in the July elections. While the women were interviewing
the legislators Mrs. Nonie B. Mahoney, prominent in Dallas suffrage
work, called on Judge Barry of that city, who seemed unfavorable and
finally said it would take 5,000 names of Dallas women on a petition
to change him. He dismissed the subject from his mind and returned to
his legislative duties. Four days later Mrs. Mahoney arrived in Austin
with a heavy suit case, opened it and unfolded before the Judge's
astonished gaze a petition containing the names, not alone of the
required 5,000 but of 10,000 of his townswomen!
Mrs. Cunningham and her committee again asked the Governor to submit
Primary suffrage for women to the Legislature but he delayed. So great
pressure was brought to bear on him that he finally consented if they
should present a petition to him signed by a majority of the members
of both House and Senate. After many hours of labor they were able to
comply with this condition and to furnish additional data to prove
that the bill would pass both Houses with large majorities. The
Governor did not submit it but he did submit the Primary Election
bill, and the Primary Suffrage bill was immediately introduced by C.
B. Metcalfe of San Angelo as an amendment to it. It passed the House
March 16 by a vote of 84 to 34 and the Senate March 21 by 17 to 4, and
was signed by Governor Hobby on March 26 in the presence of Mr.
Metcalfe, Captain Sackett, who also labored untiringly in its behalf,
Mrs. Cunningham, Mrs. Doom, Mrs. Elizabeth Speer and Mrs. McCallum,
members of the Legislative Committee. The handsome fountain pen was
purchased for the occasion by Mr. Metcalfe and after the signing
presented by him to Mrs. Cunningham. Judge A. S. Lattimore drafted the
bill in 1917 and Judge Ocie Speer of Fort Worth the one carried in
1918.[179]
This law gave women the right to vote at all primary elections and in
all nominating conventions and nominations are equivalent to an
election, as there is practically but one party. As Texas has two U.
S. Senators and 18 Representatives it gave the women votes for more
members of Congress than those of any other State possessed, and
consequently for more presidential electors.[180]
The remaining days in March, all of April and a part of May were
devoted by the suffragists to the Liberty Loan. The annual convention
was held in Austin May 29-31. In order to concentrate the entire
strength of the organization on war work the delegates agreed not to
ask the Legislature of 1919 to submit a constitutional amendment for
full suffrage but the women would give whatever time they could spare
to the Federal Amendment. The convention enthusiastically endorsed
Governor Hobby for re-election and he addressed the delegates. It was
resolved to vote only for candidates for the Legislature who favored
ratification and to send greetings and letters of appreciation to the
"immortal six" Texas Representatives in Congress who voted for the
amendment the preceding January.[181] Decisions of importance were to
work out a plan whereby women could be educated as to candidates and
issues and the machinery of voting; to endeavor to bring out a heavy
vote of women in the coming primaries and to organize non-partisan
Women Voters' Leagues. Mrs. Cunningham against her determined protest
was re-elected president.
The suffrage law did not go into effect until June 26, and, as the
primary election was scheduled for July 27 and registration had to
cease fifteen days before, the women had only seventeen days in which
to register. There was not time to assess and collect the poll tax
requisite for voting and the Legislature added to its good work by
remitting it for the election in case of women. The suffrage
association set to work to assist the new citizens. Omitting only the
words "official ballot," nearly half a million reproductions of the
long, complicated ballot to be used in the July primaries were
circulated; candidates' records were scrutinized; issues were studied;
"schools of instruction" were conducted all over the State. Women
attending the first "schools" held others until practically the city
women in every precinct, ward and block had been given the chance to
vote intelligently if they so desired and the country women had
similar opportunities. All the candidates for Governor who stood for
civic righteousness withdrew in favor of Governor Hobby when it became
certain that Ferguson would again be a candidate and the women
organized Hobby clubs and advertised Ferguson's record. A strong
campaign was also waged in behalf of the suffrage candidate for
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Miss Annie Webb Blanton.
Congressional candidates and those for the Legislature came in for
especial attention. Thousands of women remained in the heat and dust
all summer to help in the campaign. As a result approximately 386,000
women registered in the seventeen days--surely a convincing answer to
the statement that "Southern women do not want to vote." Governor
Hobby was elected by an immense majority, as were Miss Blanton and all
of the candidates who had been espoused by the new voters.
In August women were heartily welcomed into the political conventions,
the men urging their appointment on all committees and even passing
resolutions of pleasure at having them participate! It was reported
that 233 out of 253 county conventions endorsed woman suffrage in some
form. In September, 1918, at the State Democratic convention in Waco
the women carried their demand for an endorsement of the Federal
Suffrage Amendment but not without strenuous opposition. In November
the Executive Board of the State Suffrage Association unanimously
passed a resolution emphasizing the one of its annual convention, that
the Legislature be requested to postpone a State referendum on woman
suffrage until after the war. The thought of one under present
conditions was appalling. A Ratification Committee which included the
heads of practically all of the women's organizations of state-wide
importance was formed. Mrs. Cunningham went to Washington for the
fourth time to assist the National Congressional Committee in the
effort for a Federal Amendment.
In January, 1919, the State Legislature met in regular session and the
poll in both Houses was entirely satisfactory in regard to ratifying
the Federal Amendment. The lawmakers were so gratified at the part
played by the women during the war and the "impeachment" that they
were ready and anxious to grant anything wanted of them, in fact were
disappointed that so little was asked. It was not deemed necessary to
have a large lobby and only Mrs. Jessie Daniel Ames of Georgetown came
to Austin to assist the chairman. A resolution offered by Judge W. H.
Bledsoe of Lubbock county and Senator R. M. Dudley of El Paso county,
which was enthusiastically adopted by both Houses the second day of
the session, after complimenting highly the voting of the women at the
primaries, said: "Resolved, That the United States Senate is hereby
respectfully but urgently requested to act immediately and favorably
upon the woman suffrage amendment, which has already received proper
recognition by the House of Representatives; that such action is in
full accordance with enlightened sentiment which sees no reason for
further delay."
Unfortunately many friends, both men and women, were misled into
believing that it would now be possible to win a complete suffrage
victory in Texas, although 260,000 real American voters were away on
account of the war and thousands of aliens remained at home to vote.
Because of the delay in Congress on the Federal Amendment both Houses
submitted by unanimous vote an amendment to the State constitution. It
was handicapped by a "rider" which required full naturalization by
every foreign-born man before he could vote, instead of merely his
first papers as now. This ensured a negative vote from every alien. A
telegram to Washington summoned Mrs. Cunningham to return immediately
and take command of the campaign, for it would be a Herculean task to
manage one successfully in less than three months' time in a State
consisting of 253 counties and the vote to be taken May 24. It was
impossible for the State association to finance such a campaign and
the National Association, although disapproving of the referendum,
contributed about $17,000.
President Wilson sent a cablegram from Paris urging the voters to give
the amendment their support and the members of his administration used
their influence in its favor. The State officials championed it and
the party organization of the State and many in the counties put
themselves behind it. All of the daily newspapers but one in the four
largest cities advocated it. Almost every minister labored earnestly
for it, many of them preaching in favor of it. Many excellent women
engaged in the campaign, some of them even speaking on the street
corners. The district, city and county chairmen of the State suffrage
association totaled 400 earnest, active women with whom the
headquarters kept in close touch through letters, press bulletins,
telephone and telegraph. These chairmen were the medium through which
3,000,000 fliers and 200,000 copies of the _Texas Democrat_, an
excellent paper edited for the occasion by Dr. A. Caswell Ellis of
the State University faculty, reached the voters. More than ninety
small papers issued a four page suffrage supplement furnished them.
The list of speakers included 1,495 names and almost no meeting or
convention of any importance was held during the latter part of the
three months that did not make room on its program for a talk on woman
suffrage.
On the other hand every nook and corner of the State was flooded with
anti-suffrage literature, a great deal of it emanating from U. S.
Senator Reed of Missouri, of such a vile, insinuating character that
when placed by the "antis" upon the desks of the legislators they
quickly passed protesting resolutions with only five dissenting votes.
These called attention to the splendid work of Texas women during the
war and their suffering at the absence and loss of their loved ones;
declared that this literature was "nothing short of a slap in the face
of these good women and of the members who passed, by a unanimous
vote, the woman suffrage amendment," and said: "Resolved that we go
upon record as condemning the circulation of this character of
literature and opposed to the sentiments expressed therein. We
re-affirm our allegiance to the woman suffrage amendment ... and when
we return to our homes we will do all in our power to secure the
passage of this amendment."
Some of the most vicious literature was from a so-called "Man's
Organization Opposed to Woman Suffrage," with headquarters in Selma,
Ala. Former U. S. Senator Bailey, who had been residing in New York
for some years, made a speaking tour of the State, assailing the
amendment in the most vindictive manner.[182]
The Women's National Anti-Suffrage Association sent Miss Charlotte
Rowe of New York, who spoke and worked against the amendment. Mrs.
James W. Wadsworth, Jr., president of this association, accompanied by
her husband, the U. S. Senator, came into the State during the
campaign and held some parlor meetings. She appointed Mrs. James B.
Wells, wife of the political "boss of the borderland" at Brownsville,
to send out literature, speak where possible, etc. Mrs. Wells had
headquarters in Austin with Mrs. Darden and their work was done from
there. The amendment failed but not because of their feeble efforts.
It was opposed by the strongest political forces in Texas, including
the liquor interests. The vote was 141,773 ayes, 166,893 noes;
defeated by a majority of 25,120.
In eleven days after this defeat--on June 4--the Federal Woman
Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress to the Legislatures for
ratification. Both of the Texas Senators--Charles A. Culberson and
Morris Sheppard--and nine Representatives voted for it.
RATIFICATION. Governor Hobby issued a call for a second special
session of the Legislature to convene June 23 to consider other
matters but the opening day found the suffragists on hand ready to ask
for ratification. The "antis" were on hand also and while they were
holding a conference in the Driskill Hotel to devise ways and means of
obtaining a hearing before the House committee, Resolution No. 1 to
ratify the amendment was read the first time in the House and referred
to this committee. The "antis" came in just in time to learn that the
committee had held its meeting, favorably reported the resolution and
it had been made the special order of business for 11 o'clock the next
morning. All of this occurred before noon of the first day.
Speaker R. E. Thomason was one of the most ardent supporters of the
resolution and promptly on the hour it was brought up. As a poll of
the House had shown that it was safe, the leaders decided not to
choose between the dozens who wanted to speak in its behalf but to let
the "antis" do the talking since the "pros" had the votes. The "father
of the House," Representative King of Erath, alone spoke for it but
the opponents talked until 3:55 p. m., when some one moved the
previous question. The vote stood 96 ayes, 20 noes. As the Senate
committee hearing was set for 4 o'clock there could be no thought of
lunch but only to hurry to its room in the far removed wing of the
Capitol. That hearing can never be adequately described.
Ex-Congressman Robert W. Henry and State Senator J. C. McNealus,
fire-eating "antis," almost came to blows over the name of former
Governor Ferguson, and Miss Rowe, the New York crusader, had a
difficult time with questions. The chairman was instructed to report
favorably and in the Senate the real fight was on.
The opposition tried every conceivable method to defer or defeat.
Heckling, threats, fervid oratory had no effect on the favoring
Senators. Filibustering continued all through Wednesday and Thursday,
except when the Senate recessed to listen to Governor Brough of
Arkansas, who touched on the justice of suffrage for women in an
effective manner. Finally their swan song was due and came from
Senator W. A. Johnston of Houston, intimate friend of ex-Senator
Bailey. Senator Paul Page of Bastrop ably led the fight in behalf of
the resolution. On June 27, at 7 p. m., it passed to third reading by
a vote of 18 to 9, with one pair and one absentee. That night the
opposition tried to get enough Senators out of town to break the
quorum but the friendly members and the women "shadowed" the
passengers on all out-going trains. On June 28 by a viva voce vote the
Senate went on record as the ninth State to ratify the Federal
Suffrage Amendment, the actual strength being 19 to 10, with one
absent. Lieutenant Governor W. A. Johnson proved his friendship and
loyalty to the cause of woman suffrage by remaining in the chair
constantly during the four days' contest.
With the women of Texas soon to be fully enfranchised the State Equal
Suffrage Association in October, 1919, merged into the State League of
Women Voters, with Mrs. Jessie Daniel Ames chairman.[183]
[LAWS. An excellent digest of the laws for women and children
accompanied this chapter, showing considerable advance since a résumé
was given in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. The writer of
the present chapter insists that they never were so unjust as there
represented. The omission of the laws from this, as from the other
State chapters for lack of space is a loss to the History.]
FOOTNOTES:
[177] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Jane Y.
McCallum, member of the Executive Board of the State Equal Suffrage
Association as chairman of the Legislative Committee, the Ratification
Committee and the Publicity Committee.
[178] It is a matter of much regret that the dramatic account sent of
this remarkable campaign must be omitted because of the pressing lack
of space.--Ed.
[179] See Primary suffrage in Arkansas chapter.
[180] Judge F. G. Chambliss of the 36th District Court, who was
defeated for reelection at this time, claimed that it was due to votes
of women and brought suit in the 79th District Court at Corpus Christi
to test the legality of the Primary Law. Judge V. M. Taylor ruled that
it was unconstitutional. In another case an injunction was sought to
restrain the tax collector of McLennan county from issuing poll tax
receipts to women. The Appellate and Supreme Courts upheld the
constitutionality of the law.
[181] The speech of Morris Sheppard delivered in the U. S. Senate Aug.
5, 1918, was one of the strongest arguments ever made for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment.--Ed.
[182] After women got the Primary vote Mr. Bailey returned to Texas
and announced himself a candidate for Governor. He was overwhelmingly
defeated at the primaries and his comment was: "The women and the
preachers did it."
[183] The following women besides those mentioned have held office in
the association since 1900: Mesdames Tex Armstrong, Anna B. Cade, A.
O. Critchett, John Davis, Walter L. Fordtran, Mary Herndon Gray,
Goodrich Jones, Lindley Miller Keasbey, Helen Moore, Elizabeth
Stribling Maury, Jane Yelvington McCallum, Sterling Myer, Elizabeth
Herndon, Dwight Edward Potter, Ella Pomeroy, E. B. Reppert, L. E.
Walker, Robert Aeneas Watt; Misses Mary Fowler Bornefield, Irelene
DeWitt, Marin B. Fenwick, Kate Hunter, A. A. Stuart, Hettie D. M.
Wallis.
CHAPTER XLIII.
UTAH.[184]
The results of equal suffrage in Utah for fifty years--1870-1920--with
an unavoidable interim of eight years, have demonstrated the sanity
and poise of women in the exercise of their franchise. The Mormon
women had had long training, for from the founding of their church by
Joseph Smith in 1830 they had a vote in its affairs. Although the
Territory of Wyoming was the first to give the suffrage to women--in
November, 1869--the Legislature of Utah followed in January, 1870, and
the bill was signed by Governor S. A. Mann February 12. Women voted at
the regular election the next August and there was no election in
Wyoming until September, so those of Utah had the distinction of being
the pioneer women voters in the United States and there were over five
times as many women in Utah as in Wyoming. The story of how their
suffrage was taken away by an Act of Congress in 1887 and how it was
restored in full by the men of Utah when they made their constitution
for statehood in 1895 and adopted it by a vote of ten to one is
related in detail in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. The
women have voted since then in large numbers, filled many offices and
been a recognized political influence for the benefit of the State.
The large and active Territorial Woman Suffrage Association held
annual conventions until after it succeeded in gaining the franchise.
In 1899, during a visit of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt to Salt Lake City,
a meeting was called and steps taken to form a Utah Council of Women
to assist the suffrage movement in other States and Mrs. Emily S.
Richards was made president. This Council, composed of Mormons and
non-Mormons, continued in existence for twenty years. For the first
ten years there were monthly meetings and also special and committee
meetings and prominent speakers addressed the annual gatherings,
eulogizing and commemorating the lives and labors of the suffrage
pioneers throughout the Union. Whenever the National American Suffrage
Association called for financial aid it responded liberally. The
suffrage having been gained it was hard to keep up the interest and
after 1910 meetings were held only at the call of the president for
the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the National Suffrage
Association, at whose conventions the Council was always represented
by delegates. In 1909-10, when the association was collecting its
monster petition to Congress, the Council obtained 40,000 names as
Utah's quota.
The official personnel remained practically the same from 1900. That
noble exponent of the best there is in womanhood, Mrs. Emily S.
Richards, preserved the spirit and genius of the Council, which
recognized no party and whose members cast their votes for good men
and measures without undue partisan bias. She was sustained by its
capable and resourceful secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen, and both
maintained a non-partisan attitude in the conduct of the Council. The
officers were: Emmeline B. Wells, member national executive committee;
Elizabeth A. Hayward, Mrs. Ira D. Wines, Dr. Jane Skolfield and Mrs.
B. T. Pyper, vice-presidents; Anna T. Piercey, assistant secretary;
Hannah S. Lapish, treasurer.
As Territory and State, every county, every town, every precinct has
been served faithfully and well by women in various positions. It
would be impossible to name all who have done yeoman service during
the past years but the three women who have meant more than all others
to the suffrage cause are Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, who was appointed by
Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow as the standard bearer of that cause
in the late '60's and who maintained her active hold upon politics
until about 1885, when her able first lieutenant, Mrs. Emmeline B.
Wells, took up the work dropped by the aged hands of Mrs. Kimball. She
in turn carried the banner of equal civic freedom aloft, assisted by
Mrs. Richards, until she relinquished it in 1896 and Mrs. Richards
became the standard bearer. Many other splendid women have labored
assiduously in this cause.
In legislative matters a committee from the Council has worked during
every session since 1911 with associated committees from the other
large organizations of women, the powerful Relief Society, the Young
Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association and the Federated Clubs leading
in all good movements. Results in the enactment of welfare laws for
women and children have been very gratifying. The women's committees
of the various organizations meet at the State Capitol during the
legislative sessions and go over very carefully every bill in which
they are interested. If after investigation a bill meets with their
approval it is endorsed and every effort is made to secure its
passage. From 1911 to 1917 the women's legislative committee secured
copies of laws already in successful operation in other States and
framed bills to meet their own needs. These were always submitted to
two young lawyers, Dan B. Shields and Carl Badger, who corrected any
flaws which might jeopardize their constitutionality. Among the women
who comprise these committees are Mrs. Cohen, chairman, Miss Sarah
McLelland of the Relief Society; Mrs. Adella W. Eardley and Mrs. Julia
Brixen of the Y. L. M. I. A.; Mrs. Richards and Mrs. Hayward of the
Suffrage Council; Mrs. C. M. McMahon, president, Mrs. Peter A.
Simpkin, Mrs. A. V. Taylor and Mrs. Seldon I. Clawson, members of the
Federation of Women's Clubs.
In many Legislatures since statehood there have been women members and
their work has been along expected lines. In 1896, the year Utah was
admitted to the Union, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the
State Senate, the first woman in the United States to receive that
honor. Several women were elected to the Lower House then and others
in the years following. Needed reform measures were secured by Mrs.
Mary G. Coulter, who sat in the Lower House and was made chairman of
the Judiciary Committee in 1903. There was a long interim when no
women were sent to the Legislature but in 1913 four were elected, Mrs.
Annie Wells Cannon, Dr. Skolfield, Mrs. Elizabeth Ellerbeck Reid and
Mrs. Annie H. King. They were instrumental in securing the Mothers'
Pension Law and the Minimum Wage Law and through Mrs. Cannon the
bureau of emigration labor was provided with a woman deputy to look
after the women and children workers. Utah already had an equal
guardianship law but largely through the efforts of Mrs. Cannon it was
improved and is now regarded as a model and has been copied by other
States. She is a representative daughter of Mrs. Wells.
In 1915 Mrs. Elizabeth A. Hayward and Mrs. Lily C. Wolstenholme were
elected and to the former the improved child labor law must be
credited. In 1917 she was re-elected and Dr. Grace Stratton Airy and
Mrs. Daisy C. Allen became members of the Lower House. During
1915-1917 laws raising the age of protection for girls to 18 and
requiring equal pay for equal work were enacted. Mrs. Hayward, at the
request of the women's Legislative Council, introduced the resolution
calling on Congress to submit the Federal Amendment. In 1918 she was
elected State Senator. In 1919 Dr. Airy was re-elected and Mrs. Anna
G. Piercy and Mrs. Delora Blakely were elected to the Lower House.
Altogether there have been thirteen women members of the Legislature.
No State has better laws relating to women and children than Utah.
It has been difficult to persuade the women to stand for important
offices. The modern furious pace set by campaigners and the severance
of home ties for long periods are not alluring to wives and mothers
but they find many public activities through which to exercise their
executive abilities. They sit on the boards of many State and local
institutions and serve on committees for civic and educational work. A
considerable number have filled and are now filling city and county
offices. Mrs. L. M. Crawford has a responsible position in the office
of the State Land Board. Mrs. McVickar was State Superintendent of
Schools. In 1917 a new department was added to the office of the
Adjutant General to secure pensions for those veterans who had served
in the early Indian wars of Utah. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen was given
custody of the old Indian War Records and was named Commissioner of
Pensions. In order to prove the claims of these men and women she
cooperated with the Pension Bureau at Washington, D. C. Up to date out
of a possible 1,500 whose claims have merit nearly 700 pensions have
been granted, bringing into the State the sum of $400,000.
When Brigham Young established those monuments to his name, the
Brigham Young University of Provo and the Brigham Young College of
Logan in 1874 he placed women on their boards. Mrs. Martha J. Coray of
Provo served ten years for the former and Professor Ida M. Cook for
the latter. Mrs. Gates was made a trustee of the university in 1891,
which position she still occupies, while her sister, Mrs. Zina Young
Card, has been a trustee since 1914. Mrs. Gates was on the board of
the State Agricultural College 1905-1913. Mrs. A. W. McCune was on
this board ten years, seven of them its vice-president. Mrs. Rebecca
M. Little, Mrs. Antoinette B. Kinney and Dr. Belle A. Gummel have been
regents of the university. Professor Maude May Babcock has been dean
of physical education and expression since 1892 and a trustee since
1897. Her culture and personality have left an indelible impress on
the history of this State.
From the beginning women have allied themselves with the different
political parties, occasionally uniting on a great issue like that of
Prohibition. From the time they were enfranchised by the State
constitution they have received the recognition of the parties. In
1900 women were sent as delegates and alternates to both national
presidential conventions and Mrs. Cohen seconded the nomination of
William Jennings Bryan. A number were sent in following years. In 1908
Mrs. Margaret Zane Cherdron was a delegate and a presidential elector,
carrying the vote to Washington. She was one of the two received by
President Taft and was royally entertained while in the capital. Among
other women who have acted as delegates and alternates since 1900 are
Mrs. William H. Jones, Mrs. Hayward, Mrs. Sarah Ventrees, Mrs. Gates,
Mrs. Lucy A. Clark, Mrs. B. T. Pyper, Mrs. L. M. Crawford, Mrs. Alice
E. Paddison.
Women have their representation on all political committees--Mrs.
Hayward is a member of the Democratic National Committee--and their
participation in politics is accepted without question. There are
about 10,000 more women voters than men voters. As a rule about 90 per
cent. of the women vote and about 86 per cent. of the men, as some of
the latter are in the mines or out of the State for various reasons.
Among the Republican leaders are Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Gates, Mrs.
Cherdron, Mrs. Jannette A. Hyde, Mrs. Cannon, Mrs. Wolstenholm, Mrs.
Loufborough, Mrs. William Spry, Mrs. Reed Smoot; Mrs. Martha B.
Keeler of Provo and Mrs. Georgina G. Marriott of Ogden. The Democratic
party has had among its leading women Mrs. Richards, Mrs. Alice
Merrill Horne, Mrs. Cohen, Mrs. Hayward, Gwen Lewis Little, Mrs.
Piercy, Mrs. S. S. Smith, Mrs. Annice Dee, Mrs. Inez Knight Allen and
Miss Alice Reynolds.
No State exceeded Utah in the proportion of the work done by women
during the World War. Mrs. Clarissa Smith Williams was the unanimous
choice for chairman of the State branch of the Woman's Council of
National Defense. She was eminently fitted for this position through
her long experience as first counsellor to Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells,
head of the Relief Society, and every demand of the Government was
fully met.
RATIFICATION. At the request of the Suffrage Council and without
urging, Governor Simon Bamberger called a special session of the
Legislature for Sept. 30, 1919, to ratify the Federal Suffrage
Amendment submitted the preceding June. The resolution was presented
by Senator Elizabeth A. Hayward and was ratified unanimously by both
Houses within thirty minutes. The Governor signed it without delay.
The women and the Legislature had helped in every possible way to
secure the Amendment and the entire Utah delegation in Congress had
voted for it.
A striking event in the train of possible fruitful activities left
behind was the visit of the great leader, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president of the National American Suffrage Association, with her able
young assistants, who came to Utah for Nov. 16-18, 1919. She was
accompanied by Dr. Valerie Parker and Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield,
chairmen in the National League of Women Voters, and Miss Marjorie
Shuler, director of publicity for the National Association. The
convention, held in the Assembly Hall, was in charge of the Suffrage
Council, its president, Mrs. Richards, assisted by Mrs. Cohen and Mrs.
E. E. Corfman. A long and valuable program was carried out. Mrs. Catt
spoke in the Tabernacle on Sunday afternoon, introduced by President
Charles W. Penrose with a glowing tribute to her power as a leader, to
the sincerity and womanliness of her character and to the catholicity
of her vision and sympathy. There were banquets, teas and receptions.
At the close of the convention the Suffrage Council, which had
rendered such splendid service for the past twenty years, was merged
into the State League of Women Voters and Mrs. Richards willingly
resigned her leadership to its chairman, Mrs. Clesson S. Kinney.
On Feb. 12, 1920, a jubilee celebration was held in honor of the
fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the woman suffrage bill by the
Territorial Governor S. A. Mann. There was also celebrated the
granting of the complete franchise by the immense majority of the
voters in 1895.
Utah celebrated in Salt Lake City August 30, with a great
demonstration, the triumph of woman suffrage in the United States
through the ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been
proclaimed August 26. It was introduced with an impressive parade led
by bands of music and the program of ceremonies was carried out on the
steps of the State Capitol. Governor Bamberger, former Governor Heber
M. Wells, Congressman E. O. Leatherwood and Mayor C. Clarence Neslen
joined the women in congratulatory addresses. Mrs. Richards, Mrs.
Hannah Lapish and Mrs. Lydia Alder, veteran suffragists, told of the
early struggles and Mrs. Beulah Storrs Lewis appealed to women to keep
high the standard in order to lead men out of the darkness of war into
the light of brotherly love and make ready for world peace. Mrs. Annie
Wells Cannon and Mrs. Susa Young Gates were appointed to send a
telegram of congratulation to Mrs. Catt. The celebration was under the
auspices of the League of Women Voters, whose chairman, Mrs. Kinney,
presided. The most impressive figure on the platform was President
Emmeline B. Wells, 92 years old, who had voted since 1870 and who had
labored all these years for this glorious achievement. What those dim
eyes had seen of history in the making, what those old ears had heard
and what that clear brain had conceived and carried out only her close
associates knew. She was the incarnate figure of tender, delicate,
eternally determined womanhood, arrived and triumphant.
FOOTNOTES:
[184] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Susa Young
Gates, member of the General Board of the Woman's Relief Society and
editor of the Relief Society's Magazine since it was established in
1913 and historian of the activities of Utah women.
CHAPTER XLIV.
VERMONT.[185]
The first convention to consider woman suffrage took place in Vermont
in 1883, when a State association was formed, and others were held
regularly to the end of the century, with the cooperation of the
Massachusetts association. At the convention held in Waterbury Center
June 12, 13, 1900, Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, editor of the
_Woman's Journal_, was the chief speaker. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association,
sent a letter of helpful suggestions. Petitions for a Federal Suffrage
Amendment were forwarded to Congress. During this and the following
years the _Woman's Journal_ was sent to members of the Legislature; a
column prepared from that paper was sent to every editor in the State
and much literature was distributed, the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union assisting.
The convention of 1901 met in Rochester June 25, 26. The speakers were
Mr. Blackwell, Professor W. L. Burdick, the Rev. George L. Story, Miss
Eliza Eaton, Miss Blanche Dunham and Mrs. Laura Kezer, president of
the W. C. T. U. The convention congratulated women of the Methodist
Episcopal Church on their admission as delegates to the General
Conference, the Vermont conference having voted for it unanimously.
In 1902 the convention met at West Concord June 18, 19, among the
speakers being Miss Mary N. Chase, president of the New Hampshire
Suffrage Association, and Mr. Blackwell, who never missed a
convention.[186] The State Baptist Association went on record this
year in favor of women voting on license and prohibition and the
Universalist Church convention endorsed equal suffrage.
In 1903 the convention was held at Barton June 9, 10, with Mrs. Ida
Porter Boyer, a national organizer, among the speakers. The convention
of 1904 went to Woodstock, June 22, 23, and was addressed by the Rev.
Harry L. and Mrs. Canfield, suffrage leaders there, and many others.
It was announced that Mrs. Dorcas McClelan of Glover had left a
bequest of $150 to the association. A "composition" entitled Female
Education, written by a pupil in a Woodstock school in 1831, now Mrs.
Harriet Walker of Denver, 90 years old, was read and much enjoyed.
The convention of 1905 took place in Springfield June 7, 8. During the
year 10,000 copies of Opinions on Equal Suffrage by Vermont Men and
Women had been distributed and the _Woman's Journal_ placed in twelve
libraries. A memorial service was held for Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, a
life long suffragist. In 1906 the convention was held at Brattleboro
June 6, 7, with a long list of State speakers, including six
clergymen. A memorial service with tributes of appreciation was held
for Miss Susan B. Anthony.
Burlington entertained the convention June 13, 14, 1907, which had the
privilege of hearing Mayor W. J. Bigelow, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, now
president of the National Association, and State Representative H. H.
Shaw of Burlington. Mr. Blackwell presented a fine portrait of his
wife, Lucy Stone. Four prominent State workers had died during the
year, the Hon. Henry Ballard, C. W. Wyman, Miss Carolyn Scott and Miss
Laura Moore, the latter for twenty-two years secretary of the State
association, its leader and inspirer. She was known at the Capitol as
"the Saint of Barnet" and U. S. Senator Carroll S. Page once said: "If
the cause of equal suffrage should ever prevail in Vermont it will be
largely because of the seed sown by Laura Moore." Miss Scott, her
companion and co-worker, who passed away in her 92d year, left a
bequest of $1,000 to the association.
At the convention in Rutland Oct. 12, 13, 1908, among the speakers
were the Reverend Mary Traffern Whitney and Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee,
State superintendent of press. The association voted to become
auxiliary to the National Association. A letter was read from former
Governor Fletcher D. Proctor, declaring himself in favor of the
movement and willing to assist it. Signatures to the suffrage petition
this year included the names of Governor George H. Prouty, Lieutenant
Governor John Abner Mead and Secretary of State Guy Bailey.
In 1909 the convention held at Barre June 4, 5, decided to concentrate
its efforts on a State constitutional amendment to be voted on in
1910. A press report of the convention said: "Henry B. Blackwell,
although 84 years of age, is a commanding figure and his voice as it
rings forth in tones of conviction is more like that of a man in his
prime than of one who has passed his four-score milestone." It
therefore was a great shock when the news came on September 7 that
this far-visioned leader had passed from earth. The State suffragists
owed him a debt of gratitude which could only be repaid by carrying
forward his life work.
In 1910 and 1911 the association so sadly bereft by death held no
convention but the work did not cease. Miss Chase, now a national
organizer, formed new leagues; Mrs. Parmelee sent out 3,057 pieces of
mail, circularized the clergy, conducted thirty-seven debates, wrote
131 newspaper articles, furnished leaflets to ninety W. C. T. U.
units, sent _Woman's Journals_ to every graded school and every
library in the State and circulated literature at the county fairs.
She also prepared a leaflet, Seventeen Reasons Why Women Should Vote,
wrote and superintended the production of a play entitled A Mock
Session of the Legislature and spoke at legislative sessions,
churches, granges and parlor meetings. She was ably assisted in this
work by the secretary, Mrs. Canfield, who had charge of the large
Vermont and New Hampshire tent at the State Fair at White River
Junction, where speeches were made, literature distributed and
signatures obtained. Fourteen speakers were kept busy. The pastors of
all the churches in the State were circularized and as a rule were
sympathetic.[187]
In 1912 the convention was held at Montpelier on June 7, with
Professor George B. Cox of Dartmouth College; Attorney J. H. Senter
and Dr. J. Edward Wright among the speakers. At Woodstock a big
suffrage "rally" was held with Dr. Harvey W. Wiley of Washington as
chief speaker. Mrs. Frances Rastall, recently appointed State
congressional chairman by the National Association, organized a
congressional committee in every county. At the convention in
Rochester June 11, 12, 1913, Mrs. Emily Chaffee of Detroit, Mich., and
many State speakers made addresses. Mrs. Julia Pierce, the State
president, handsomely entertained speakers and delegates at her home.
At St. Albans a successful "rally" with Mrs. Marian Booth Kelly as
speaker was held.
In 1914 the convention was held in Burlington November 4, 5, and the
city hall was crowded at the evening meetings. Mrs. Beatrice Forbes
Robertson Hale of New York and Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston were the
out-of-town speakers and Representative E. P. Jose of Johnson headed
the State coterie. Conforming to plans sent out by the National
Association, "suffrage day" had been observed May 1 in Burlington with
an address by Mayor James E. Burke.
The convention which met at Springfield Oct. 20, 21, 1915, received a
royal welcome. American flags and suffrage banners were suspended
across the streets and the stores were decorated with yellow. A
reception and banquet were given by Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Woolson at
Mucross Park. Among the speakers were Miss Alice Stone Blackwell,
Arthur P. Howard, editor of _The Advance_; the Hon. James Hartness,
Dr. Grace Sherwood and Representative H. E. Taylor. Mrs. Pierce,
having served six years as president, asked to be released and was
made honorary president for life. Mrs. Lucia E. Blanchard was elected
in her place. The convention deplored the opposing attitude of
Congressman Frank Greene and of U. S. Senator William P. Dillingham,
who had declared himself "unalterably opposed" to the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, and it commended the stand of Congressman Porter Dale.
Among public officials declaring themselves favorable were U. S.
Marshal Horace W. Bailey, Dr. Guy Potter Benton, president of the
University of Vermont, and J. N. Barss, superintendent of the State
Industrial School.
On March 1, 1916, Mrs. Rastall called a congressional conference in
Burlington. Mrs. Catt, national president, and Mrs. Susan W.
Fitzgerald of Boston addressed a large audience. The day sessions were
at the City Hall and the mass meeting at the Strong Theater. During
the autumn a delegation of suffragists called on U. S. Senator Carroll
S. Page of Hyde Park to urge his support of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. They were graciously received, entertained at luncheon at
the Inn and reported themselves as "pleased with the interview." In
November the National Association sent Mrs. Augusta Hughston, one of
its organizers, for a month's field work, paying all expenses, and
eighteen clubs were formed with officers and active committees.
In 1917 the convention was held at St. Albans June 27, 28, with the
usual list of good speakers. Mrs. Lilian H. Olzendam was employed as
State organizer. A resolution was passed condemning the methods of the
"militant" suffragists. It was reported that after an address by Mrs.
Rastall at the State conference of the Federation of Labor at Bellows
Falls August 11, 12, woman suffrage was endorsed unanimously.
In accordance with the plans of the National Association to strengthen
the situation wherever there were opposing members of Congress, and to
assist in bringing pressure on Senator Dillingham, Mrs. Halsey W.
Wilson, its recording secretary, was sent to Vermont in July, 1918,
and also Miss Marjorie Shuler, its director of field publicity, who
spent two weeks, speaking, interviewing editors and building up
favorable press sentiment. The convention was held at Burlington July
10, 11 and was addressed by Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. A. L. Bailey, State
president; Mrs. Joanna Croft Read, State secretary, and Dr. Alice
Wakefield. A resolution was adopted thanking Senator Page for his
promise to support the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Senator Dillingham
still remained obdurate and Mrs. Wilson returned to meet with the
Executive Board August 17 at Montpelier, after which Mrs. Bailey, Mrs.
Read, Mrs. Parmelee, Mrs. Olzendam and Mrs. Wilson called on him by
appointment to appeal for his vote. He was very courteous but gave
them no encouragement. Mrs. Wilson remained for three weeks conferring
with and assisting the workers. In November, at the expense of the
National Association, Mrs. Hughston spent three weeks doing valuable
field work.
In January, 1919, Mrs. Wilson again returned to assist the board
during the legislative session, remaining until after the convention,
which was held at Burlington March 11, 12. The speakers were Mrs.
Catt, Mrs. Wilson, Dr. Marion Horton, the new State president; City
Attorney Hamilton S. Peck, Miss Bernice Tuttle, president of the Child
Welfare Bureau; Mrs. Anna Hawkes Putnam, State chairman of the Woman's
Division of the National Council of Defense; Mrs. M. D. Chittenden,
president of the State Y. W. C. A., and others. Mrs. Parmelee gave an
account of the work for woman suffrage in Vermont and its courageous
leaders during the past thirty-six years and the reasons why bills
were voted down in the Legislature.
RATIFICATION. On June 4, 1919, the Federal Suffrage Amendment was
submitted to the Legislatures for ratification and a survey showed
that Vermont's would probably be necessary to make the needed 36. Mrs.
Halsey Wilson returned for consultation with the State leaders and an
intensive effort was begun which continued for more than a year. Mrs.
Olzendam, chairman of ratification, not only obtained enough favorable
pledges from the members to ratify but an agreement by a majority to
pay their own expenses, and give their time for a special session. It
was soon evident, however, that Governor Percival W. Clement was
determined not to call one. Every possible influence was brought to
bear on him but he based his refusal on the ground that it would be
unconstitutional. By March, 1920, 35 States had ratified and it seemed
that the 36th would have to be Vermont or Connecticut, whose Governor
also had refused to call a special session.
An ingenious demonstration was decided on, which was made possible by
a contribution of $1,000 from the Leslie Suffrage Commission. An
interview of Vermont women with the Governor was arranged by a good
friend of suffrage, Major Harvey Goodell, secretary of Civil and
Military Affairs. On April 21, a remarkable deputation of 400 women
arrived in Montpelier, representing twelve of the fourteen counties,
loyal, ardent soldiers, overcoming the obstacles of long distances,
almost impassable roads and poor train service, many coming from towns
where there were no trains and where they must plow through deep snow
and over muddy and rocky roads, one woman walking five miles. Led by
Mrs. Olzendam in a cold, drenching rain they marched through the
streets and up the steps of the Capitol and took their places before
the Governor's chair. One by one, fourteen speakers presented the case
in a few sentences. It was a notable demonstration in size, enthusiasm
and determination. It had been arranged that letters and telegrams
should arrive the day before, the day of and the day following the
visit and his excellency received 1,600 communications in three days.
Governor Clement's only response was that he did not wish to make a
decision at present.
In May, 1920, the State Republican convention, with the Governor
seated on the platform, passed a resolution urging him to call a
special session, saying: "We have full faith and confidence that the
voters of the State, regardless of party affiliation, would cordially
approve and endorse the ratification of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment."
The State suffrage convention met in the roof garden of The Tavern,
St. Albans, July 1, 2, in a rousing convention. Governor John H.
Bartlett of New Hampshire, which had ratified, was the guest of honor,
attending by special request of Will Hays, chairman of the National
Republican Committee. He had consulted Governor Clement about coming,
who answered: "I shall be glad to have you. Regret I shall be unable
to hear you." Miss Katharine Ludington, chairman of the Connecticut
League of Women Voters, and Miss Julia A. Hinaman, its press
chairman, were among the speakers. Mayor Charles A. Buck extended the
freedom of the city and Mrs. Read, acting president, responded. On the
platform were a large number of prominent Vermont men and women. The
report of Mrs. Olzendam described the strenuous efforts of the women
of the State for an extra session, acknowledging the assistance of
Miss Ann Batchelder, Mrs. Vida M. Chase and others and thanking Mrs.
Wilson, Mrs. Raymond Brown, fourth vice-president, and Miss Shuler, of
the National Association; Mrs. Sara Algeo, president of the Woman
Suffrage Party of Rhode Island, and Miss Winifred Brown of Utah for
their help. The delegates expressed in applause and in words their
high appreciation of Mrs. Olzendam's work. A resolution was passed at
an evening mass meeting calling upon Governor Clement to summon a
special session in order that Vermont might have the honor of being
the 36th State to ratify.
Just before the convention the Governor went to Washington and the
press dispatches of July 1 told of a long talk he had that day with
President-elect Harding. Both men admitted in interviews that the
calling of a special session in Vermont had been discussed. Senator
Harding said he told the Governor he would be very glad to see this
done but made plain his desire not to interfere with the Governor's
prerogatives. Governor Clement frankly admitted that he had been urged
by Senator Harding, Chairman Hays and other Republican leaders to give
an early call but made the stereotyped excuses. Nevertheless the press
generally expressed the opinion that he would yield. On the contrary
he returned home and on July 12 issued an official proclamation in
which he made the assertion that "the Federal Constitution in its
present form threatened the foundation of free popular government; the
16th Amendment, providing for a federal income tax, was lobbied
through Congress and State Legislatures by federal agents and the 18th
Amendment for Federal prohibition was forced through by paid agents of
irresponsible organizations with unlimited funds." To what he called
the proposal to "force through the 19th Amendment for woman suffrage
in the same manner," he said: "I will never be a party to any
proceeding which proposes to change the organic law of the State
without the consent of the people." "The National Constitution," he
said, "threatens free popular government alike as it stands and as it
is interpreted by the Supreme Court. Its decision leaves the people at
the mercy of any group of men who may lobby a proposal for a change in
it through Congress and then through the Legislatures."
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, issued an open letter to
the Governor in the course of which she said:
In order that this generation of your fellowmen and posterity
also may not misunderstand your position, the National American
Woman Suffrage Association urges you to supplement your
proclamation with answers to the following questions: Do you
challenge the fact which has stood unchallenged for 131 years
that the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of this land and
supersedes all State constitutions whenever the two are in
conflict? Do you know that on Jan. 10, 1791, Vermont ratified
that Constitution, although she had one of her own, and by so
doing accepted the precedence of the Federal Constitution and by
that act was admitted into the Union? If you do know these facts
of common knowledge why did you throw over your refusal to call a
special session the camouflage of a dissertation about the
alleged conflict between the Vermont and Federal Constitutions
which has nothing whatever to do with the calling of a special
session of your Legislature?... Do you not know that when a
Legislature acts upon a Federal constitutional amendment it draws
its authority from the Federal and not from the State
constitution, and that the Governor has no responsible part in
the transaction except as custodian of the amendment when it
comes from the Federal Secretary of State and returns to him with
the Certificate of Ratification? Then why profess such a burden
of personal responsibility in the matter?
You pretend to fear "an invasion of State's Rights" and take upon
yourself the responsibility of preserving "the foundations of
free popular government." Then why did you veto the Presidential
suffrage bill passed by the Legislature of Vermont in 1919, which
was strictly a State action and conferred the vote upon the women
of Vermont alone?... Your national party convention in 1920
called for completion of ratification in time for women to vote
for the next President. Your party's National Committee in the
interim of conventions took action three times--once asking
Congress to submit the amendment; once favoring early
ratification and once calling upon Republican Governors to call
special sessions in order that ratification might proceed. Your
State party convention, your party's State Committee, your State
Legislature, hundreds of Vermont women, the chairman of the
National Republican Committee and the chairman of your State
Republican Committee, the candidate for President of your
party--all have asked you to call a special session.... You owe
it to the Republican party and to the world to explain your
assumption of an authority that belongs to your party leaders. By
what right do you make this assumption? Governor Clement, tell it
all!"
The total cost of the efforts to secure a special session was $7,442,
of which the National Association paid $2,578 and the Leslie Woman
Suffrage Commission $4,864.[188]
Following the convention of the State association at St. Albans, July
1, 2, 1920, Miss Ludington explained the purpose of the National
League of Women Voters and the association was dissolved and a State
league organized with Mrs. Lilian Olzendam chairman.
The Vermont suffrage association was fortunate in always having the
support of other State organizations, the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, Grange, Federation of Labor, Teachers' Association, Federation
of Women's Clubs, Young Women's Christian Association and, in the
closing years, of all political parties. Among other noted speakers
from outside the State not mentioned were Professor Charles Zueblin,
Mrs. Florence Kelley and Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, president of the
Massachusetts W. C. T. U. Over fifty clergymen of various
denominations gave active assistance.[189]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. From 1884 to 1900 a bill to give Municipal
suffrage to taxpaying women was regularly introduced in the
Legislature only to be defeated.
1902. The Town and Municipal Suffrage bill in the Senate was defeated
by 22 to 6; in the House by 111 to 75. A Presidential suffrage bill
received only six votes. A bill permitting women to vote on the
license question was defeated by 138 to 67. Petitions with 15,000
signatures had been presented for these various measures.
1904. The Municipal Suffrage bill was reported favorably to the House
by C. C. Fitts, chairman of the committee, but was refused third
reading by 99 to 97. On November 17 it was introduced in the Senate,
reported favorably by committee chairman J. Emery Buxton and passed
without debate with three opposing votes. When on December 6 it came
again before the House for reconsideration it was ordered to a third
reading by 112 to 104 but the next day was defeated by 124 to 100.
1906. A bill to substitute the word "person" for "male" in the
statutes came before the House October 24, was ordered to third
reading by 149 to 24 and passed the following day by 130 to 25. This
majority aroused the Massachusetts Society Opposed to the Further
Extension of Suffrage to Women and an officer, Mrs. A. J. George of
Brookline, was sent to try to defeat the bill. She was coolly received
and found it so impossible to convince the members that she was not an
emissary of the liquor interests that she failed to obtain even a
hearing before the committee. Her coming stirred the suffrage forces
and a telegram was sent to the _Woman's Journal_ of Boston asking for
help and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the editor, and Mrs. Maud Wood
Park responded. A public hearing was granted by the Senate committee
and people from all over the State were present. Nine legislators and
members of the association spoke for the bill. Not one opponent
appeared. In the Senate it failed by three votes, many who were
pledged to it deserting.
1908. Legislative committee chairman 1908-1910, Mrs. Annette W.
Parmelee, spoke at the hearing on the Municipal suffrage bill, which
was defeated in the Senate by 16 to 11. During the final debate Mrs.
Parmelee wrote down the disgusting remarks made by some of the
opponents and their consternation was great when these were published.
This bill for years was termed the "football."
1909. The legislative chairman sent an official letter to Frank E.
Partridge, chairman of the Commission to Propose Amendments to the
State Constitution, which can only be done once in ten years, asking
that suffrage for women be among the proposals considered. The letter
was read May 28, 1910, before the commission--Frank L. Greene, A. M.
Fletcher, W. N. Cady and M. G. Leary, but received no attention.
1910. The legislative chairman was assisted by Chaplain A. W. Ford. In
the official record suffrage was spelled "sufferage." The Municipal
suffrage bill was introduced in the House and the suffragists asked
for a hearing but the date was changed three times and the final one
left no time for summoning speakers. At the request of Judge H. S.
Peck the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole and the
Senate came in. The Northfield Cadets, the Burlington High School and
several hundred visitors attended the hearing and gave close attention
to Mrs. Parmelee for an hour. A large number of members spoke for and
against the bill. An anti-suffrage newspaper in referring to it said:
"Its killing will make a Roman holiday for ladies' week." It was
refused a third reading by 113 to 111. A bill permitting women to vote
on the liquor question aroused the stormiest debate of the session and
the Speaker split his desk trying to preserve order. It was definitely
settled that the Legislature would pass no woman suffrage bills.
1912. The legislative committee was Mrs. Frances Rastall, Miss Fanny
B. Fletcher, Mrs. J. B. Estee and Mrs. Parmelee and the bill was to
add the words "and female" in the statutes. On October 24 at a hearing
held in Representatives Hall, which was filled to overflowing, the
following made addresses in favor: Miss Anne Rhodes of New York; Mrs.
Agnes M. Jenks of New Hampshire; Miss Mabel Foster of Washington, D.
C.; Mrs. Rastall, Mrs. Charles Van Patten, Mrs. Parmelee, Senators
Darling, Jose, and the Rev. Clifford Smith, superintendent of the
State Anti-Saloon League. Those speaking in opposition were: Mrs. E.
D. Brooks Brown, who presented an "anti" petition; Miss Minnie
Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association; Mrs. M.
H. Buckham, Mrs. George W. Wales, Miss Lillian Peck, Mrs. T. J.
Deavitt and Senator D. C. Hawley. It was defeated as usual. A bill
which gave women the same right as men to vote in town meetings on all
matters relating to taxation and the raising and appropriation of
money passed the Senate but was not considered by the House.
1915. Mrs. Amanda Seaver served as the "watchman on the tower," her
husband being a member of the Legislature, and she was assisted by
Mrs. Wyman and Mrs. Taylor. A public hearing on the bill for Municipal
and Presidential suffrage was held January 21. A large audience in
Representatives Hall listened to a convincing address by Mrs.
Antoinette Funk of Chicago, a member of the Congressional Committee of
the National Association. Mrs. Wyman closed the hearing with an
effective speech. Opportunity was given for the opponents but although
a large delegation of them from Burlington was present, no one spoke.
Mrs. George of Massachusetts and John A. Matthews, a member of the New
Jersey Legislature, were the anti-suffrage speakers February 2 at a
largely attended Senate hearing. The vote in the Senate was 19 to 19;
in the House the bill was loaded with amendments and a third reading
was refused by 129 to 100.
1917. Dr. Grace Sherwood was legislative chairman. Six bills giving
various kinds of suffrage to women were introduced and every trick
that legal minds could devise was employed to retard or defeat their
passage but nevertheless one was passed, which was introduced by
Representative Ernest E. Moore. It provided that "a female citizen, 21
years of age, who has taken the Freeman's Oath ... and whose taxes
were paid prior to the 15th day of February preceding town meeting,
shall while residing in such town be a voter in town meeting."
Hearings were held February 6, 15, 16 and March 17, 20. There were 28
speakers in favor, 9 of them women; 21 opposed, 9 of them women. The
Speaker, Stanley G. Allson, instead of asking the usual question
"Shall the bill pass?" put the question "Shall the bill be rejected?"
Several members were caught by the trick and voted the opposite of
what they intended but four changed their votes--Hardy of Guildhall,
Hayden of Barton, Hooper of Hardwick and Bliss of Georgia, just enough
to carry it. It passed the House March 9 by 104 to 100, and the Senate
March 20 by 16 to 11. It was signed by Governor Horace F. Graham March
30. Vermont thus had the honor of leading all eastern States in
adopting a Town and Municipal suffrage bill permitting tax paying
women to vote and hold office.
1919. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its recording secretary, was sent by the
National Association to assist the State Executive Board during the
legislative session. A bill introduced by Senator Carr of Caledonia to
repeal the Municipal suffrage act was promptly defeated. Effort was
now concentrated on the Presidential suffrage bill, which was
introduced January 14. The Senate passed it by a vote of 20 to 10 and
sent it to the House, where it was first read on January 28 and
referred to the Committee on Suffrage and Elections, which reported in
favor. The bill was read the second time and several motions to defeat
it were made by Representative Hopkins of Burlington but all were lost
and the third reading was ordered by a vote of 129 ayes, 83 noes. At a
hearing February 4 the following spoke in favor: Dr. Sherwood, Mrs.
Fred Blanchard, Mrs. Joanna Croft Read, Senators Steele, Vilas and M.
J. Hapgood; in opposition, Senators Carr and Felton, Miss Margaret
Emerson, Mrs. Wayne Read, Mrs. H. C. Humphrey, David Conant,
Representatives O'Dowd, Cudworth and Hopkins. On February 5 the bill
passed by 120 ayes, 90 noes. Governor Percival W. Clement vetoed it in
March on the ground of unconstitutionality, though eight Legislatures
had passed a similar bill without question and Illinois women had
voted under one in 1916.
The State suffrage convention was in session at Burlington and
immediately on its adjournment March 12 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the
national president, and fifteen of the delegates went to Montpelier,
where Mrs. Catt addressed the Legislature. The Senate reconsidered the
bill and passed it over the veto. On March 17 the Speaker laid before
the House an extended communication from Governor Clements giving in
detail his reasons for failing to approve the bill. It was then read
and Representative Tracy moved that it be made a special order for the
following Thursday, which was agreed to by 104 ayes, 70 noes. At that
time the question, "Will the House pass the bill notwithstanding the
objections of the Governor?" was decided in the negative by 168 noes,
48 ayes. The next year the women were fully enfranchised by the
Federal Amendment.
FOOTNOTES:
[185] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annette W.
Parmelee, State Superintendent of Press, State Secretary and State
Historian for the Vermont Woman Suffrage Association.
[186] Among those who addressed the annual conventions during the
years were the Reverends A. M. Smith, J. A. Dixon, F. E. Adams, Verdi
Mack, J. Borden Estee, George B. Lamson, T. L. Massock, E. T.
Matthison, E. M. H. Abbott, C. J. Staples, O. M. Owen, Eugene Haines,
M. T. Merrill, Charles A. Pennoyer; Hon. James F. Hooker, Dr. M. V. B.
Knox, Attorney E. B. Flynn, Colonel G. C. Childs, Professor Cox,
Martin Vilas, Mr. Woolson and F. G. Fleetwood; Mesdames Canfield,
Kidder, Flanders, Julia A. Pierce, C. J. Clark, M. V. B. Knox, Louisa
M. Slocum, Inez Campbell, Mary E. Tucker, Laura Kezer, G. E. Davidson,
M. S. Margum, E. B. Lund, Juliette Rublee, Amanda Seaver, Frances
Rastall Wyman, Frances Hand, Elizabeth Van Patten, L. M. Benedict, O.
C. Ashton, Edgar Moore, H. B. Shaw, Dr. Sue H. Howard; Misses Mary E.
Purple, Grace Robinson, Margaret Allen, Fanny Fletcher, Emilia
Houghton, Eliza Eaton, Carolyn Scott.
[187] This year Miss Lou J. C. Daniels, a liberal contributor to the
suffrage association, her family the largest taxpayers in Grafton,
where they had a summer home, was indignant to learn that the
Representative of her district had voted against the suffrage bill in
the Legislature. She sent a written protest and refusal to pay her
taxes, whereupon an official served papers on her and several shares
of stock in the Bellows Falls National Bank were attached and sold at
auction. The bank declared it illegal and declined to honor the sale.
The matter aroused discussion throughout the State and surrounding
country. When the town elected a Representative who supported woman
suffrage she considered the lesson sufficient and paid her taxes.
[188] Governor Clement retired from office Dec. 31, 1920, and was
succeeded by Governor James Hartness. The Legislature met in regular
session in January, 1921. The resolution to ratify the Federal
Suffrage Amendment was read in the House for the third time on January
28 and passed by 202 ayes, 3 noes, French, Stowell and Peake of
Bristol. On February 8 it passed the Senate unanimously.
[189] Presidents of the State association from 1900 to 1920 not
already mentioned were Elizabeth Colley; C. D. Spencer; the Rev. A. M.
Smith; Mrs. A. D. Chandler; the Hon. James Hutchinson; Mrs. Frances
Rastall Wyman; Dr. Grace Sherwood. Secretaries: Miss Laura Moore
(1883-1905); Mrs. Fatima Davidson; the Rev. Verdi Mack; the Rev. Mary
T. Whitney; Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee; Mrs. Jeannette Pease; Mrs. Annie
C. Taylor; Miss Emilia Houghton; Mrs. Amanda Seaver; Miss Marguerite
Allen; Miss Ann Batchelder; Mrs. James A. Merrill.
CHAPTER XLV.
VIRGINIA.[190]
The earliest record of woman suffrage in Virginia bears the name of
Mrs. Hannah Lee Corbin of Gloucester county, whose protest in 1778
against taxation without representation was answered by a letter from
her brother, Richard Henry Lee ("Lighthorse Harry"), who wrote that in
his opinion under the clause in the constitution which gave the vote
to householders she could exercise the suffrage.
There had been a suffrage organization in Virginia in 1893, of which
Mrs. Orra Langhorne, a pioneer worker, had been president. When the
State Equal Suffrage League was organized, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky
gave to it a trust fund of $2.50 which had been left in the treasury
and Mrs. Langhorne had requested her to give to a Virginia League when
one should be formed. In November, 1909, a preliminary meeting was
held to discuss organization, followed a week later by the forming of
the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Lila Meade (Mrs. B. B.)
Valentine, widely known for her public work, was elected president and
served in this capacity for the next eleven years. State and city
headquarters were opened in Richmond and remained there. Miss Mary
Johnston was greatly interested and used her influence in promoting
the new organization. Miss Ellen Glasgow also was very active. The
league was organized to work for suffrage by both State and Federal
action and early in its existence circulated a petition to Congress
for a Federal Amendment. In 1910 this was presented to the Virginia
members by Mrs. Valentine and the State delegates attending the
national suffrage convention.
In January, 1911, the first public meeting ever held in Richmond in
the interest of woman suffrage was addressed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with
Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, president of William and Mary College, in the
chair. The first State convention was held this year in Richmond with
delegates present from Norfolk, Lynchburg, Williamsburg and Highland
Springs societies, and individual suffragists from Fredericksburg and
Charlottesville. In 1912 the convention was held in Norfolk with
delegates from twenty-two leagues. In 1913 it met in Lynchburg and the
reports showed that 2,500 new members had been added and Mrs.
Valentine had made 100 public speeches.
An outdoor demonstration was held in Richmond on the steps of the
State Capitol, May 2, 1914, in conformity with the nation-wide request
of the National Association, and the celebration was continued in the
evening. The convention was held in Roanoke, where it was reported
that forty-five counties had been organized in political units and
that the _Virginia Suffrage News_, a monthly paper, was being
published at State headquarters under the management of Mrs. Alice
Overbey Taylor.
In 1915 street meetings were inaugurated and held in Richmond from May
till Thanksgiving, and in Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Lynchburg
and Warrenton. For the first time women appeared on the same platform
with the candidates for the Legislature and presented the claims of
the women of Virginia to become a part of the electorate. The May Day
celebration was held on the south portico of the Capitol on the
afternoon of May 1, after a morning devoted to selling from street
booths copies of the _Woman's Journal_, suffrage flags, buttons and
postcards. A band played and the decorations and banners in yellow and
blue, the suffrage and Virginia colors, made a beautiful picture. John
S. Munce of Richmond introduced the speakers, Dr. E. N. Calisch, Rabbi
of Beth Ahaba Temple; Miss Joy Montgomery Higgins of Nebraska and Miss
Mabel Vernon of Washington, D. C. In December the convention was held
in Richmond and the two hundred delegates marched to the office of the
Governor, Henry Carter Stuart, to request him to embody in his message
to the General Assembly a recommendation that it submit to the voters
an equal suffrage amendment to the State constitution. They were led
by Mrs. Valentine and brief addresses were made by Mrs. Stephen
Putney of Wytheville, Mrs. Lloyd Byars of Bristol, Mrs. John H.
Lewis of Lynchburg, Miss Lucy Randolph Mason of Richmond,
great-great-granddaughter of George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill
of Rights; Miss Agnes Randolph, great-great-granddaughter of Thomas
Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia; Miss Mary Johnston,
Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins of Richmond, author; Miss Elizabeth Cooke of
Norfolk, Miss Janetta FitzHugh of Fredericksburg, Mrs. Kate Langley
Bosher of Richmond, author; Miss Roberta Wellford of University; Mrs.
George Barksdale, Miss Marianne Meade and Miss Adele Clark of
Richmond. He received them courteously but not seriously and paid no
attention to their request. During the year organization of the State
into legislative and congressional districts was begun. Norfolk was
the place of the annual convention in 1916 when 111 leagues were
reported. This was a legislative year and all efforts were
concentrated on the Assembly.[191]
From January 29 to February 2, 1917, a very successful suffrage school
was conducted in Richmond under the auspices of the National
Association. Later when the services of this association were offered
to the Government for war work the league dedicated itself to State
and country and endeavored to carry out the plans of the National
Board. The president, Mrs. Valentine, was the first person in the
State, on request of the Governor, to speak in the recruiting campaign
and other members also took part in it. At the annual convention held
in Richmond in November a resolution not only again endorsing the
Federal Suffrage Amendment but pledging members to work for it was
unanimously adopted. Virginia sent the largest delegation in her
history to the national convention in Washington in December and it
was upon the advice of the returning delegates that emphasis was laid
upon enrollment of those who desired woman suffrage. Because of the
influenza epidemic no State convention was held in 1918.
The enrollment of 32,000 men and women was accomplished in 1919, Mrs.
Faith W. Morgan, a vice-president of the association, securing the
largest number of names and Miss Ellen Robinson being the first person
to fill her quota. The submission by Congress of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment in June of this year gave great impetus to the work. In
November the annual convention was held in Richmond, with
representatives from all parts of the State. At this time there were
175 suffrage centers. The members reaffirmed with enthusiasm their
determination to carry on the fight for ratification. An important
feature of the year had been the endorsement of the amendment by the
State Teachers' Association, the State Federation of Women's Clubs and
the Women's Benevolent Association of the Maccabees.[192]
On Sept. 9, 10, 1920, the State league met in convention in the hall
of the House of Delegates in the Capitol for the joint purpose of
celebrating the proclamation of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and
planning for the organization of a League of Women Voters. It was an
occasion never to be forgotten, with a welcome extended by Governor
Westmoreland Davis, speeches by Attorney General John R. Saunders,
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Harris Hart and members of
the Legislature who had made the fight for ratification. Mrs. Maud
Wood Park, president of the National League of Women Voters, gave an
inspiring address and extensive plans for future work were made. A
reception was given by the wife of the Governor assisted by the
officers of the league. On November 10, in the Senate chamber, the
State League of Women Voters was organized with Mrs. Valentine
honorary chairman; Mrs. John H. Lewis honorary vice-chairman and Miss
Adele Clark chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. For improved conditions for women in industry,
child labor laws and all welfare legislation before the General
Assembly in the past ten years individual members of the league have
labored assiduously. The league as an organization, however, has
confined itself to work for suffrage, knowing that the vote gained
"all things else would be added."
1900. When the constitutional convention met to draft the present
State constitution, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association, and a small group of
Virginia and other southern women appeared before it and Mrs. Catt
urged it to embody woman suffrage in the new constitution but this was
not done.
1912. The first resolution proposing an amendment to the State
constitution enfranchising women was introduced in the House by Hill
Montague of Richmond and the hearing granted by the committee created
statewide interest. The speakers were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. Lewis, Miss
Johnston, Mrs. Bosher, Miss Randolph, Clayton Torrence and Howard T.
Colvin of the State Federation of Labor, later Assistant U. S.
Commissioner of Labor. The vote in the House was 12 ayes, 84 noes.
1914. The resolution for a State amendment was again introduced in the
House and a hearing granted by the Committee on Privileges and
Elections. Mrs. Valentine presided and introduced the following
speakers: Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Mrs. Kate Waller
Barrett of Alexandria, State regent of the D. A. R.; Mrs. Putney, Mrs.
Lewis, Mrs. Barksdale of Richmond, Miss Mason, Miss Lillie Barbour,
State factory inspector, and Mr. Colvin. The vote was 13 ayes, 74
noes.
1916. The resolution for a State amendment had its first public
hearing before a joint committee of the House and Senate. The speakers
were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. J. H. Whitner of Roanoke, a vice-president
of the State League; Miss Eudora Ramsey and Miss Adele Clark of
Richmond; the Rev. John J. Wicker, pastor of Leigh Street Baptist
Church, Richmond, and E. F. Sheffey of Lynchburg. The House vote, 40
ayes, 51 noes, marked the third defeat but an increase in suffrage
sentiment.
1918. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Valentine, Miss
Wellford, Mrs. Frank L. Jobson, Miss Clark, Miss Nora Houston and
Mrs. Munce, all of Richmond. The Federal Suffrage Amendment having now
passed the Lower House of Congress, a resolution urging the U. S.
Senate to take favorable action on the Federal Amendment was
introduced but it did not come out of committee. The Hon. William
Jennings Bryan stopped over trains to pay his respects to Governor
Westmoreland Davis. He was escorted to the Capitol by members of the
Equal Suffrage League and made a brief address to the Assembly in
joint recess, urging ratification of the Federal Amendment if
submitted in time for action at this session.[193]
RATIFICATION. The Legislature assembled August 13, 1919, in special
session for the purpose of meeting the federal appropriation for good
roads. The Federal Suffrage Amendment having been submitted to the
Legislatures for ratification on June 4 was due to be presented by the
Governor. As the special session had been called specifically for good
roads, the State Equal Suffrage League intended to await the regular
session of 1920 to press for action but to test the legislators a
questionnaire was sent to them. Answers proved that it would be
well-nigh impossible to obtain ratification at this time, even though
substantial petitions from all sections of the State were shown to men
representing the localities from which these came. Spurred on,
however, by efforts of the National Woman's Party to secure action at
any cost, the opponents succeeded in having a Rejection Resolution
railroaded through the House without debate ten minutes before
adjournment in the second week of the session. The Senate refused to
sanction such tactics and by 19 to 15 voted to postpone action until
the next session.
1920. The State league's committee on ratification was composed of
Mrs. Valentine, Miss Clark, Mrs. Bosher, Mrs. Jobson, Miss Houston and
Miss Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon.[194] Miss Josephine Miller, an organizer
for the National Association, was sent into the State toward the end
of the campaign. There were in the two Houses 61 new members who had
been elected since the Federal Amendment was submitted. Very strong
pressure to ratify was made upon the General Assembly. President
Wilson sent an earnest appeal and others came from Homer Cummings,
chairman of the National Democratic Committee; A. Mitchell Palmer, U.
S. Attorney General; Carter Glass, U. S. Treasurer; U. S.
Representative C. C. Carlin and other prominent Democrats. Thousands
of telegrams were sent from women throughout the southern States. A
cablegram came from Lady Astor, M. P. of Great Britain, a Virginian.
Urgent requests for ratification were made by presidents of colleges,
mayors of cities, State and county officials and other eminent
citizens.
Before the Governor had even sent the certified copy of the amendment
to the Legislature its strongest opponent, Senator Leedy, also an
opponent of the administration at Washington, introduced a Rejection
Resolution couched in the same obnoxious terms he had used in August.
By urgent advice of the leaders he finally omitted some of its most
offensive adjectives. It was presented in the House by Representative
Ozlin and referred to the Federal Relations Committee, which granted a
hearing. On the preceding evening Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president
of the National Suffrage Association, addressed a mass meeting held by
the Equal Suffrage League in the Jefferson Hotel. The hearing was held
before a joint session of the Senate and House in the Hall of
Delegates at noon on January 21. Some of Virginia's foremost citizens
spoke for ratification, among them Allan Jones, member of the State
Democratic Committee; Roswell Page, State auditor and a brother of the
Hon. Thomas Nelson Page; U. S. Representatives Thomas Lomax Hunter and
Howard Cecil Gilmer; J. B. Saul, chairman of the Roanoke County
Democratic Committee; former Senator Keezel; Dr. Lyon G. Tyler. The
women speakers were Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Valentine, president, and Mrs.
John H. Lewis, vice-president of the State Suffrage League, and Mrs.
Kate Waller Barrett.[195]
Notwithstanding this very able presentation the Federal Relations
Committee reported the Rejection Resolution favorably. On the floor
Lindsay Gordon of Louisa county substituted a Ratification Resolution
and Harry Rew of Accomac a substitute to refer ratification to the
voters. The latter carried on January 27 by a vote of 55 to 39,
supported by Representatives Gordon, Willis of Roanoke, Williams of
Fairfax, Hunter of Stafford, Rodgers, J. W. Story, Wilcox of Richmond,
Snead of Chesterfield and H. W. Anderson, Republican floor leader.
The battle front now shifted to the Senate, where, owing to illness of
the chief suffrage proponent, G. Walter Mapp, consideration had been
postponed. On February 6, the day finally set, proceedings were
similar to those in the House, Senator E. Lee Trinkle's ratification
resolution and Senator Gravatt's referendum being respectively
substituted for Leedy's rejection. The referendum, under Leedy's
coercive method, was voted down. All day the contest raged on the
ratification resolution, with strong speeches in favor by Senators
Trinkle of Wythe, Corbitt of Portsmouth, Paul of Rockingham, Layman of
Craig, West of Nansemond, Parsons of Grayson. Supporting the measure
by vote were also Senators Crockett, Haslinger and Profitt; and
pairing in favor Pendleton and Gravatt. The Ratifying Resolution was
defeated. The Rejection Resolution was adopted by 24 to 10 votes; in
the House by 16 to 22.
One week later the resolution of Senator J. E. West to submit to the
voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution passed the
Senate by 28 ayes, 11 noes; the House by 67 ayes, 10 noes; as it would
have to pass the Legislature of 1921 and ratification of the Federal
Amendment was almost completed, this vote was merely an empty
compliment. A few days thereafter the Qualifications Bill, offered by
Senator Mapp, was overwhelmingly adopted, Senate, 30 ayes, 6 noes;
House, 64 ayes, 17 noes. It made full provisions for the voting of
women if the Federal Amendment should be ratified.
FOOTNOTES:
[190] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Edith Clark
Cowles, Executive and Press Secretary; Miss Adele Clark, Legislative
Chairman, and Miss Ida Mae Thompson, Headquarters Secretary of the
State Equal Suffrage League.
[191] From year to year delegates from the Equal Suffrage League went
to the State political conventions, asking for an endorsement of woman
suffrage. The Republicans, the minority party, always received them
courteously and a few times put the plank in their platform. The
Democrats always treated them with discourtesy and never endorsed
woman suffrage in any way until 1920, when they "commended the action
of the General Assembly in passing the Qualifications Bill contingent
upon the ratification and proclamation of the 19th Amendment."
[192] There were very few changes in officers during the eleven years
of the league's existence. The list was as follows: Honorary
vice-presidents, Miss Mary Johnston, Miss Ellen Glasgow.
Vice-presidents: Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett, Mrs. Louise Collier
Willcox, Mrs. C. V. Meredith, Mrs. T. Todd Dabney, Mrs. W. J. Adams,
Mrs. John H. Lewis, Miss Nannie Davis, Mrs. Stephen Putney, Mrs. Kate
Langley Bosher, Mrs. J. Allen Watts, Mrs. W. T. Yancey, Mrs. C. E.
Townsend, Mrs. W. W. King, Mrs. J. H. Whitner, Mrs Faith W. Morgan,
Mrs. Robert Barton; secretaries, Mrs. Alice M. Tyler, Miss Adele
Clark, Mrs. Grace H. Smithdeal, Miss Roberta Wellford, Miss Lucinda
Lee Terry; treasurers: Mrs. C. P. Cadot, Mrs. E. G. Kidd; auditors:
Mrs. John S. Munce, Mrs. Henry Aylett Sampson, Mrs. S. M. Block.
[193] By act of the General Assembly of 1918 women were admitted to
William and Mary College. They were admitted to the graduate and
professional schools of the University of Virginia by act of the Board
of Visitors in 1920.
[194] Miss Pidgeon was appointed by the National Association in
November, 1919, for organization to prepare for ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. After its defeat the next February she
continued until June 15, organizing citizenship schools throughout the
State. The expense to the association was $1,792.
[195] The next day, after Mrs. Catt had returned to New York, Harry
St. George Tucker appeared before the Legislature and ridiculed her
and her speech in the most insulting terms. In 1921 Mr. Tucker was a
candidate for Governor and was defeated at the primaries by Senator E.
Lee Trinkle, whose plurality was 40,000. He had been a strong
supporter of woman suffrage and his victory was attributed to the
women.
CHAPTER XLVI.
WASHINGTON.[196]
The period from 1900 to 1906 was one of inactivity in State suffrage
circles; then followed a vigorous continued campaign culminating in
the adoption of a constitutional amendment in 1910 granting to women
full political equality. This victory, so gratifying to the women of
Washington, had also an important national aspect, as it marked the
end of the dreary period of fourteen years following the Utah and
Idaho amendments in 1895-6, during which no State achieved woman
suffrage.
The Legislature of 1897 had submitted an amendment for which a
brilliant campaign was made by the Equal Suffrage Association under
the able leadership of its president, Mrs. Homer M. Hill of Seattle,
but it was defeated at the November election of 1898. The inevitable
reaction followed for some years. Three State presidents were elected,
Dr. Nina Jolidon Croake of Tacoma, 1900-1902, elected at the Seattle
convention; Dr. Luema Greene Johnson of Tacoma, 1902-1904, elected at
the Tacoma convention; Dr. Fannie Leake Cummings of Seattle,
1904-1906, elected at a meeting in Puyallup at which only five persons
were present, the small suffrage club here being the only one
surviving in the State. Dr. Cummings, aided by Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer
Spinning of Puyallup, State treasurer for many years, and Mrs. Ellen
S. Leckenby of Seattle, State secretary, kept the suffrage torch from
being extinguished. Mrs. Leckenby held office continuously throughout
twelve years.
The revival of interest plainly seen after 1906 was due to the impetus
given through the initiative of Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, who with her
husband, John Henry DeVoe, had recently come from Harvey, Ills., and
established a new home. Mrs. DeVoe was a life-long suffrage worker
who had served many years in many States with Susan B. Anthony and
also was a national organizer. She began by calling on individual
suffragists and suggesting that Washington was a hopeful State for a
campaign and aroused so much interest that in November a large and
enthusiastic convention met at Seattle. Dr. Cummings presided and
inspiring addresses were given by A. W. McIntyre of Everett, formerly
Governor of Colorado; Miss Ida Agnes Baker of the Bellingham State
Normal School; Miss Adella M. Parker of the Seattle Broadway High
School and Professor J. Allen Smith of the University of Washington.
Mrs. DeVoe was elected president.
Conventions were held at Seattle in 1907, 1908 and 1909, Mrs. DeVoe
being re-elected each time. By June, 1909, there were 2,000 paid
members of the State association and afterwards, many thousands of men
and women were enrolled. The executive committee decided upon a
campaign to amend the State constitution for woman suffrage and Mrs.
DeVoe was made manager and given authority to conduct it according to
her own judgment. No other convention or executive committee meeting
was held, only frequent informal conferences, until after the vote was
taken on November 8, 1910. The final executive committee meeting was
held at Seattle in January, 1911, when it was voted to continue the
association until all bills were paid and then disband. It was decided
to present the large silken banner "Votes for Women" to the next State
having a campaign and it went to California the following year. The
unfinished business was completed by the old officers, Mrs. DeVoe,
Mrs. Leckenby and Dr. Eaton.[197]
CAMPAIGN. After the defeat of 1898 no amendment came before the
Legislature for eleven years, nor was there any legislation on woman
suffrage until a resolution to submit to the voters an amendment to
the State constitution giving full suffrage was presented to the
session of 1909. It was drafted by Senator George F. Cotterill of
Seattle, a radical suffragist, after many conferences with Mrs. DeVoe,
and was introduced, strangely enough, by Senator George U. Piper of
Seattle, an able politician and a friend of the liquor interests, in
honor of his dead mother, who had been ardently in favor of woman
suffrage. It was presented in the House by Representative T. J. Bell
of Tacoma. The State association rented a house in Olympia for
headquarters and Mrs. DeVoe spent all her time at the Capitol,
assisted by many of its members, who came at different times from over
the State to interview their Representatives and Senators. The work
was conducted so skilfully and quietly that no violent opposition of
material strength was developed. The resolution passed the House
January 29 by 70 ayes, 18 noes; the Senate February 23 by 30 ayes, 9
noes, and was approved by Governor Marion E. Hay on February 25.
The interests of the amendment were materially advanced later by
Senator W. H. Paulhamus, then an anti-suffragist, who "in the interest
of fair play" gave advance information as to the exact wording and
position of the amendment on the ballot, which enabled the women to
hold practice drills and to word their slogan, "Vote for Amendment to
Article VI at the Top of the Ballot." The clause relating to the
qualifications of voters was reproduced verbatim except for two
changes: 1. "All persons" was substituted for "all male persons." 2.
At the end was added "There shall be no denial of the elective
franchise at any election on account of sex."
During the campaign of 1910 the State Equal Franchise Society, an
offshoot from the regular organization, was formed, its members being
largely recruited from the Seattle Suffrage Club, Mrs. Harvey L.
Glenn, president, with which it cooperated. Headquarters were opened
in Seattle July 5, with Mrs. Homer M. Hill, president, in charge and
the organization was active during the last four months of the
campaign.[198] The Political Equality League of Spokane, Mrs. May
Arkwright Hutton, president, worked separately for fourteen months
prior to the election, having been organized in July, 1909. The
college women under the name of the College Suffrage League, with Miss
Parker as president, cooperated with the regular State association.
Following the act of the Legislature twenty months were left to carry
on the campaign destined to enfranchise the 175,000 women of the
State. It was a favorable year for submission, as no other important
political issue was before them and there was a reaction against the
dominance of the political "machines."
The campaign was unique in its methods and was won through the
tireless energy of nearly a hundred active, capable women who threw
themselves into the work. The outstanding feature of the plan adopted
by the State Equal Suffrage Association under the leadership of Mrs.
DeVoe, was the absence of all spectacular methods and the emphasis
placed upon personal intensive work on the part of the wives, mothers
and sisters of the men who were to decide the issue at the polls. Big
demonstrations, parades and large meetings of all kinds were avoided.
Only repeated informal conferences of workers were held in different
sections of the State on the call of the president. The result was
that the real strength was never revealed to the enemy. The opposition
was not antagonized and did not awake until election day, when it was
too late. Although the women held few suffrage meetings of their own,
their speakers and organizers constantly obtained the platform at
those of granges, farmers' unions, labor unions, churches and other
organizations.
Each county was canvassed as seemed most expedient by interviews,
letters or return postals. Every woman personally solicited her
neighbor, her doctor, her grocer, her laundrywagon driver, the postman
and even the man who collected the garbage. It was essentially a
womanly campaign, emphasizing the home interests and engaging the
cooperation of home makers. The association published and sold 3,000
copies of The Washington Women's Cook Book, compiled by the
suffragists and edited by Miss Linda Jennings of LaConner. Many a
worker started out into the field with a package of these cook books
under her arm. In the "suffrage department" of the Tacoma _News_ a
"kitchen contest" was held, in which 250-word essays on household
subjects were printed, $70 in prizes being given by the paper.
Suffrage clubs gave programs on "pure food" and "model menus" were
exhibited and discussed.
Thousands of leaflets on the results of equal suffrage in other States
were distributed and original ones printed. A leaflet by Mrs. Edith
DeLong Jarmuth containing a dozen cogent reasons Why Washington Women
Want the Ballot was especially effective. A monthly paper, _Votes for
Women_, was issued during the last year of the campaign with Mrs. M.
T. B. Hanna publisher and editor, Misses Parker, Mary G. O'Meara, Rose
Glass and others assistant editors. It carried a striking cartoon on
the front page and was full of suffrage news and arguments, even the
advertisements being written in suffrage terms.[199]
State and county fairs and Chautauquas were utilized by securing a
Woman's Day, with Mrs. DeVoe as president of the day. Excellent
programs were offered, prominent speakers secured and prizes given in
contests between various women's societies other than suffrage for
symbolic "floats" and reports of work during the year. Space was given
for a suffrage booth, from which active suffrage propaganda went on
with the sale of Votes for Women pins, pennants and the cook book and
the signing of enrollment cards. The great Alaska-Yukon-Pacific
Exposition of 1909 at Seattle was utilized as a medium for publicity.
A permanent suffrage exhibit was maintained, open air meetings were
held and there was a special Suffrage Day, on which Judge Ben B.
Lindsey of Denver spoke for the amendment. The dirigible balloon, a
feature of the exposition, carried a large silken banner inscribed
Votes for Women. Later a pennant with this motto was carried by a
member of the Mountaineers' Club to the summit of Mt. Rainier, near
Tacoma, said to be the loftiest point in the United States.[200] It
was fastened to the staff of the larger pennant "A. Y. P." of the
exposition and the staff was planted in the highest snows on the top
of Columbia Crest, a huge white dome that rises above the crater.
The State association entertained the national suffrage convention at
Seattle in 1909 and brought its guests from Spokane on a special train
secured by Mrs. DeVoe, as an effective method of advertising the cause
and the convention.
The State Grange and the State Farmers' Union worked hard for the
amendment. State Master C. B. Kegley wrote: "The Grange, numbering
15,000, is strongly in favor of woman suffrage. In fact every
subordinate grange is an equal suffrage organization.... We have
raised a fund with which to push the work.... Yours for victory." The
State Federation of Labor, Charles R. Case, president, at its annual
convention in January, 1910, unanimously adopted with cheers a strong
resolution favoring woman suffrage and urged the local unions to "put
forth their most strenuous efforts to carry the suffrage amendment ...
and make it the prominent feature of their work during the coming
months."
Practically all the newspapers were friendly and featured the news of
the campaign; no large daily paper was opposed. S. A. Perkins,
publisher of eleven newspapers in the State, gave a standing order to
his editors to support the amendment. The best publicity bureau in the
State was employed and for a year its weekly news letter carried a
readable paragraph on the subject to every local paper. Besides this,
"suffrage columns" were printed regularly; there were "suffrage
pages," "suffrage supplements" and even entire "suffrage editions";
many effective "cuts" were used, and all at the expense of the
publishers.
The clergy was a great power. Nearly every minister observed Mrs.
DeVoe's request to preach a special woman suffrage sermon on a Sunday
in February, 1910. All the Protestant church organizations were
favorable. The Methodist Ministerial Association unanimously declared
for the amendment April 11 at the request of Miss Emily Inez Denney.
The African Methodist Conference on August 10 passed a ringing
resolution in favor, after addresses by Mrs. DeVoe and Miss Parker.
The Rev. Harry Ferguson, Baptist, of Hoquiam was very active. In
Seattle no one spoke more frequently or convincingly than the Rev. J.
D. O. Powers of the First Unitarian Church and the Rev. Sidney Strong
of Queen Anne Congregational Church. Other friends were the Rev.
Joseph L. Garvin of the Christian Church, the Rev. F. O. Iverson among
the Norwegians, and the Rev. Ling Hansen of the Swedish Baptist
Church. Mrs. Martha Offerdahl and Mrs. Ida M. Abelset compiled a
valuable campaign leaflet printed in Scandinavian with statements in
favor by sixteen Swedish and Norwegian ministers. The Catholic priests
said nothing against it and left their members free to work for it if
they so desired. Among Catholic workers were the Misses Lucy and Helen
Kangley of Seattle, who formed a Junior Suffrage League. Father F. X.
Prefontaine gave a definite statement in favor of the amendment.
Distinguished persons from outside the State who spoke for it were
Miss Janet Richards of Washington, D. C., the well-known lecturer;
Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, afterwards elected to Congress; Mrs.
Clara Bewick Colby of Nebraska and Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Abigail
Scott Duniway of Oregon.
None of the officers and workers connected with the State association
received salaries except the stenographers. For four-and-a-half years
Mrs. DeVoe, with rare consecration, gave her entire time without pay,
save for actual expenses, and even these were at crucial times
contributed by her husband, from whom she received constant
encouragement and support. For the most part of the entire period she
was necessarily absent from home, traveling over the State, keeping in
constant personal touch with the leaders of all groups of women
whether connected with her association or not, advising and helping
them and on special days speaking on their programs. Her notable
characteristics as a leader were that she laid personal
responsibility on each friend and worker; from the first assumed
success as certain and avoided arousing hostility by mixing suffrage
with politics or with other reforms. She asked the voters everywhere
merely for fair play for women and made no predictions as to what the
women would do with the vote when obtained. It was her far-sighted
generalship and prodigious personal work that made success possible.
The Equal Franchise Society of Seattle planned to carry suffrage into
organizations already existing. It gave a series of luncheons at the
New Washington Hotel and made converts among many who could not be met
in any other way and was especially helpful in reaching society and
professional people. Its workers spoke before improvement clubs,
women's clubs, churches, labor unions, etc. A man was employed to
travel and engage men in conversation on woman suffrage on trains,
boats and in hotel lobbies and lumber camps. A good politician looked
after the water front. The Political Equality League of Spokane worked
in the eastern counties and placed in the field the effective worker,
Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds of Colorado.
The Franchise Department of the W. C. T. U. had done educational work
for years under the leadership of Mrs. Margaret B. Platt, State
president, and Mrs. Margaret C. Munns, State secretary, affectionately
referred to as "the Margarets." Its speakers always made convincing
pleas for suffrage and Mrs. Munns's drills in parliamentary usage were
valuable in training the women for the campaign of 1910. Tribute must
be paid to the fine, self-sacrificing work of this organization. In a
private conference called by Mrs. DeVoe early in the campaign, the W.
C. T. U. represented by these two, an agreement was reached that, in
order not to antagonize the "whisky" vote, the temperance women would
submerge their hard-earned honors and let the work of their unions go
unheralded. They kept the faith.
A suffrage play, A Mock Legislative Session, written by Mrs. S. L. W.
Clark of Seattle, was given in the State House and repeated in other
cities. Several hundred dollars' worth of suffrage literature was
furnished to local unions. They placarded the bill boards throughout
the State, cooperating with Dr. Fannie Leake Cummings, who managed
this enterprise, assisted by the Seattle Suffrage Club, by Mrs.
George A. Smith of the Alki Point Club and others who helped finance
it to a cost of $535. The placard read: "Give the Women a Square Deal.
Vote for the Amendment to Article VI," and proved to be an effective
feature.
Mrs. Eliza Ferry Leary, among the highest taxpayers in the State, was
chosen by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage as their
representative, but, having satisfied her sense of duty by accepting
the office, she did nothing and thus endeared herself to the active
campaigners for the vote. There were no other "anti" members in the
State. The only meeting held was called by a brief newspaper notice at
the residence of Mrs. Leary one afternoon on the occasion of a visit
by a representative, Mrs. Frances E. Bailey of Oregon, at which six
persons were present--the hostess, the guest of honor, three active
members of the suffrage association and a casual guest. No business
was transacted. With the "antis" should be classed the only minister
who opposed suffrage, the Rev. Mark A. Mathews of the First
Presbyterian Church, the largest in Seattle. He was born in Georgia
but came to Seattle from Tennessee. His violent denunciations lent
spice to the campaign by calling out cartoons and articles combating
his point of view. When suffrage was obtained he harangued the women
on their duty to use the vote, not forgetting to instruct them how to
use it.
Election day was reported to the _Woman's Journal_ of Boston by Miss
Parker as follows: "It was a great victory. The women at the polls
were wonderfully effective. Many young women, middle-aged women and
white-haired grandmothers stood for hours handing out the little
reminders. It rained--the usual gentle but very insistent kind of
rain--and the men were so solicitous! They kept trying to drag us off
to get our feet warm or bringing us chairs or offering to hand out our
ballots while we took a rest, but the women would not leave their
places until relieved by other women, even for lunch, for fear of
losing a vote. The whole thing appealed to the men irresistibly. We
are receiving praise from all quarters for the kind of campaign we
made--no personalities, no boasting of what we would do, no promises,
no meddling with other issues--just 'Votes for Women' straight
through, because it is just and reasonable and everywhere when tried
has been found expedient."
The amendment was adopted November 8, 1910, by the splendid majority
of 22,623, nearly 2 to 1. The vote stood 52,299 ayes to 29,676 noes
out of a total vote of 138,243 cast for congressmen. Every one of the
39 counties and every city was carried. The large cities won in the
following order: Seattle and King County 12,052 to 6,695; Tacoma and
Pierce County, 5,552 to 3,442; Spokane and Spokane County, 5,639 to
4,551. Then came Bellingham and Whatcom County, 3,520 to 1,334;
Everett and Snohomish County, 3,209 to 1,294; Bremerton and Kitsap
County, including the U. S. Navy Yard, 1,094 to 372. Kitsap was the
banner county giving the highest ratio for the amendment. This was
largely due to the remarkable house to house canvass made by Mrs.
Elizabeth A. Baker of Manette.
The cost of the twenty months' campaign is estimated to be $17,000,
which includes the amounts spent by organizations and individuals. The
money was raised in various ways and contributions ran from 25 cents
up, few exceeding $100. Over $500 were subscribed by the labor unions
and about $500 collected at the Granges and Farmers' Unions' suffrage
meetings. Dr. Sarah A. Kendall of Seattle collected the largest amount
of any one person. About $3,000 were contributed from outside the
State, chiefly from New York, Massachusetts and California. The first
and largest gift which heartened the workers was $500 from Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt.[201]
After the suffrage amendment was carried there was organized on Jan.
14, 1911, the National Council of Women Voters at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. John Q. Mason in Tacoma. Governor James H. Brady of Idaho issued
a call to the Governors of the four other equal suffrage
States--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Washington--asking them to send
delegates to this first convention. He presided at the opening session
and spoke at the evening meeting which filled the largest theater.
Mrs. DeVoe was elected president and was re-elected at each succeeding
convention. It was non-partisan and non-sectarian and its objects were
three-fold: 1. To educate women voters in the exercise of their
citizenship; 2. To secure legislation in equal suffrage States in the
interest of men and women, of children and the home; 3. To aid in the
further extension of woman suffrage. As new States gained suffrage
they joined the Council.
Before Mrs. DeVoe went to the National Suffrage Convention at St.
Louis in March, 1919, she was authorized by the Council to take
whatever steps were necessary to merge it in the National League of
Women Voters which was to be organized there. Mrs. Catt requested her
to complete the arrangements when she returned to Washington and act
as chairman until this was accomplished. On Jan. 6, 1920, the Council
became the State League of Women Voters. Mrs. Nelle Mitchell Fick was
elected temporary and later Mrs. W. S. Griswold permanent chairman.
On the afternoon of August 21, old and new suffrage workers joined in
a celebration at Seattle of the final ratification by the Legislature
of Tennessee, which was attended by over two hundred women.
* * * * *
Election returns furnish conclusive proof that the women of Washington
use the ballot. After 1910 the total registration of the State nearly
doubled, although men outnumber women, and the women apparently vote
in the same proportion as men. A tremendous increase of interest among
them in civic, economic and political affairs followed the adoption of
suffrage and the results were evidenced by a much larger number of
laws favorably affecting the status of women and the home passed in
the ten year period following 1910 than during the previous ten year
period. Uniform hostility to liquor, prostitution and vice has been
shown; also to working conditions adversely affecting the health and
morals of women and children.
The vote of the women was the deciding factor in the Seattle recall
election of February 8, 1911, when Mayor Hiram Gill was removed
because of vice conditions permitted to flourish under his
administration. It was acknowledged that, due to a strong combination
of the vice and public utility interests of the city, he would have
been retained but for their opposition. His re-election later by a
small majority is explained by the fact that he begged the citizens to
give him a chance to remove the stigma from his name for the sake of
his wife and family, with whom his relations were blameless.
The State Legislative Federation, representing 140 various kinds of
women's clubs and organizations, having a total membership of over
50,000 women, has maintained headquarters at Olympia during the
sessions of the Legislature in recent years, to the advantage of
legislation. The W. C. T. U. also is an active influence. Miss Lucy R.
Case, as executive secretary of the Joint Legislative Committee of the
State Federation of Labor, Grange, Farmers' Union and Direct
Legislation League, took an important part at the elections of 1914
and 1916 in defeating the reactionary measures affecting popular
government and labor.
Representative Frances C. Axtell of Bellingham introduced and
engineered the minimum wage law and several moral bills in cooperation
with the W. C. T. U. Representative Frances M. Haskell of Tacoma led
in securing the law for equal pay for men and women teachers. Reah M.
Whitehead, Justice of the Peace of King county, prepared and promoted
the law relating to unmarried mothers. The Seattle Branch of the
Council of Women Voters established a "quiz congress," which requested
candidates to attend its meetings and state their position on campaign
issues and answer questions and many candidates importuned it for a
chance to be heard.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was ratified on March 22,
1920, at an extraordinary session called principally for that purpose.
Governor Louis F. Hart had been reluctant to call a special session on
the ground that, due to the unsettled condition of the country at that
time, it would afford opportunity for the introduction of a flood of
radical legislation which would keep the Legislature in prolonged
session at great expense to the State. He finally yielded to the
persuasion of a large number of the leading women of the State and to
political pressure from his party in high places and called the
session, which lasted but three days and dealt only with the subjects
mentioned in the call.
The occasion was most impressive. The Capitol was thronged with women
who had traveled from every corner of the State to participate in the
occasion. Every available seat in the balconies of both Houses was
filled and the aisles and corridors were crowded. The hope and
expectation that at any moment the wires might flash the news that
Delaware had ratified and Washington would thus be the thirty-sixth
and final State to enfranchise the women of the whole nation, lent an
added thrill to the proceedings. At noon both Houses met in joint
session to listen to the Governor's message. Dealing with the
ratification he reminded the members that in 1910 the electors had
adopted woman suffrage by an overwhelming vote and said, "The State
has done well under the management of both men and women." A marked
feature of their proceedings was the gracious courtesy accorded to the
old suffrage leaders and workers, who were present in large numbers.
In the House the honor of introducing the resolution was accorded to
Mrs. Haskell, Representative from Pierce county, who made a strong
speech favoring its adoption. Not one vote was cast against it. By
special resolution Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, referred to as "the mother
of suffrage" in the State, was invited to a seat on the right of
Speaker Adams, with Governor Hart on the left. A special committee was
appointed to escort her and she took her seat amid loud cheers. She
was asked to address the House and said in part:
I am proud of the Legislature of Washington because of this
patriotic act and I thank you in the name of our forefathers, who
first proclaimed that "taxation without representation is
tyranny" and that government without consent is unjust.... I
thank you in the name of the early suffrage workers who have
passed on to their beautiful reward. I thank you in the name of
the women of the United States of today who will, I trust, use
their new political freedom wisely and well. I thank you in the
name of the children who will come after us; they will have a
better, broader and nobler heritage than was ours. And I
personally thank you from the depths of my heart. God bless you
every one!
Twelve minutes after the resolution reached the Senate it had been
passed by another unanimous vote. During the proceedings Mrs. Homer M.
Hill sat beside President Carlyon and was invited to address the
members. Described as "a tiny figure whose white hair was scarcely on
a level with the top of the Speaker's desk," she expressed the
emotions of the older suffragists as they witnessed the adoption of
the resolution. She thanked them in the name also of the W. C. T. U.,
and thanked the leaders in the cause of labor and of many other
organizations, as well as the leaders of both parties. "Washington has
led the victorious crusade for the Pacific Coast States," she said.
"May we always appreciate what it means to live in a State whose men
themselves gave this right to women!"
* * * * *
[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating especially to the
interests of women and children and to moral questions enacted during
the first decade of the present century was prepared for this chapter
by Judge Reah M. Whitehead of Seattle. This was supplemented by an
abstract of fifty-eight statutes of a similar nature enacted during
the last decade, prepared by attorneys Adella M. Parker of Seattle and
Bernice A. Sapp of Olympia. They largely cover the field of modern
liberal legislation but can not be given because of the decision to
omit the laws in all the State chapters for lack of space. The results
on questions related to prohibition submitted to the electors, with
women voting, are significant: Statute for State-wide prohibition
submitted in 1914: ayes, 189,840; noes, 171,208; statute submitted in
1916 permitting hotels to sell liquor: ayes, 48,354; noes, 262,390;
statute authorizing manufacture, sale and export of 4 per cent. beer:
ayes, 98,843; noes, 245,399.]
FOOTNOTES:
[196] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Cora Smith King,
assisted by Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, Dr. Sarah A. Kendall, Mrs. Homer M.
Hill, and others. Valuable assistance in editing the manuscript was
rendered by Judson King, writer and lecturer, Secretary of the
National Popular Government League, Washington, D. C.
[197] Following is a complete list of the officers of the State
Association who served during the campaign of 1910: President, Mrs.
Emma Smith DeVoe, Melmont; vice-presidents: Mrs. Bessie I. Savage,
Seattle; Mrs. Jennie Jewett, White Salmon; Mrs. John Q. Mason, Tacoma;
Mrs. Alice M. Grover, Spokane; Mrs. Anna E. Goodwin, Columbia (now
Mrs. Yungbluth); treasurer, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Seattle (now Dr.
King); corresponding secretary, Mrs. Ellen S. Leckenby, Seattle;
headquarters secretary, Miss Mabel Fontron, Seattle (now Mrs. Paul
Rewman); auditors, Miss Bernice A. Sapp, Olympia, Dr. Anna W. Scott,
West Seattle, Dr. N. Jolidon Croake, Tacoma, Mrs. H. J. McGregor,
Tacoma; trustees, Dr. Sarah A. Kendall, Seattle, Mrs. Georgia B.
Smith, Anacortes, Mrs. B. B. Lord, Olympia; chairmen of standing
committees: Church Work, Mrs. C. M. Miller, Seattle; Letter Writers,
Mrs. Lucie F. Isaacs, Walla Walla; Literature, Mrs. E. M. Wardall,
West Seattle; Labor Unions, Dr. Luema G. Johnson, Tacoma; Publication,
Miss Linda Jennings, LaConner; Finance, Mrs. H. D. Wright, Seattle;
Headquarters, Miss Mary G. O'Meara, Seattle (now Mrs. Otway Pardee);
Advisory, Mrs. Amos Brown, West Seattle; Library, Mrs. Dora W.
Cryderman, Bellingham; Precincts, Mrs. Silvia A. Hunsicker, Seattle;
Petitions, Mrs. Roy Welch, Kelso; Educational, Mrs. Margaret Heyes
Hall, Vancouver; Member of National Executive Committee, Miss Adella
M. Parker, Seattle; Historian, Miss Ida Agnes Baker, Bellingham.
[198] Other officers of the Franchise Society were: Assistants, Mrs.
Edward P. Fick and Mrs. D. L. Carmichael; corresponding secretary,
Mrs. F. S. Bash; recording secretary, Mrs. W. T. Perkins; treasurer,
Mrs. E. M. Rininger; financial secretary, Mrs. Phebe A. Ryan. Others
who worked without pay were: Miss Martha Gruening of New York and Miss
Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Mrs. George A. Smith, president of the
Alki Point Suffrage Club of Seattle, worked independently but
cooperated with the society in many ways. The society employed Mrs.
Rose Aschermann, Mrs. Ethel Stalford, Charles E. Cline, Vaughn Ellis
and John Gray of Washington.
[199] During the year following the winning of the franchise Mrs.
Hanna published her paper under the name of _The New Citizen_. Miss
Parker published twelve numbers of a monthly paper called The _Western
Woman Voter_, from the files of which much valuable data has been
gleaned for this chapter.
[200] The member was Dr. Cora Smith King.--Ed.
[201] Among eastern contributors were Henry B. and Alice Stone
Blackwell, Mass., $250; Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Lesser, California, $100;
Mrs. H. E. Flansburg, New York, $100; Miss Janet Richards, Washington,
D. C., $100; the Rev. Olympia Brown, Wisconsin, $25. The National
American Woman Suffrage Association contributed direct to Mrs. DeVoe
for traveling expenses to June, 1909, inclusive, $900. At this time,
seventeen months before the amendment was submitted, through
differences arising between the national and State organizations, all
national support was withdrawn. Among those contributing from the East
to Mrs. Hill's society through Miss Margaret W. Bayne of Kirkland, who
went there to raise money, her own trip being financed by Mrs. E. M.
Rininger of Seattle, were: Mrs. Henry Villard, New York, $200; Mrs.
Susan Look Avery, Kentucky, $250; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller and Miss
Anne Fitzhugh Miller, New York, $300; Mrs. Kemeys, New York, $100;
Mrs. Alfred Lewis, New York, $50; Mrs. Raymond Robins, Illinois, $50;
Misses Isabel and Emily Howland, New York, $20; Mrs. Sarah L. Willis,
New York, $20; Mrs. Isabella B. Hooker, Conn., $25; Equal Suffrage
Association, Mass., $100; Mrs. H. S. Luscomb, Mass., $100; "A Friend,"
$200.
The net contribution of the National to the State Association during
the campaign, deducting the expense of entertaining the 1909 national
convention, was about $30.
CHAPTER XLVII.
WEST VIRGINIA.[202]
In 1895 when the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association was
organized through the effort of the National American Association,
with Mrs. Jessie G. Manley president, nine clubs were formed in the
northern part of the State but only those in Fairmont and Wheeling
remained in existence after 1900. The first president of the Fairmont
Club was the mother of Mrs. Manley, Mrs. Margaret J. Grove, who with
her sisters, Mrs. Corilla E. Shearer and Miss Ellen D. Harn, all still
living, aged 89, 90 and 92, led in the early suffrage work in the
State, and Mrs. Mary Reed of Fairmont also was a pioneer. Little
public work was done until an active suffrage movement was inaugurated
in Virginia and in 1912 Miss Mary Johnston came to Charleston and
organized a club. One was formed in Morgantown and these four
constituted the State association until the amendment campaign of
1916.
The following have served as State presidents: Mrs. Beulah Boyd
Ritchie, 1900-1903; Mrs. M. Anna Hall, 1904; Mrs. Anne M. Southern,
1905; Dr. Harriet B. Jones, 1906; Mrs. May Hornbrook, 1907-1910; Mrs.
Allie Haymond, 1911-1912; Miss Margaret McKinney, 1913; Mrs. J. Gale
Ebert, 1914-1915; Mrs. Lenna Lowe Yost, 1916; Mrs. John L. Ruhl,
1917-1920.[203] Annual meetings were held as follows: 1900, December
1, Fairmont; 1904, August 11, Moundsville; 1905, October 27, Fairmont;
1906, October 26, Wheeling; 1907, November 8, Wheeling; 1908, October
29, Fairmont; 1909, October 30, Wheeling; 1911, October 27, Fairmont;
1913, October 24, Wheeling. During these years practically all that
was done was to have speakers of note from time to time and a
resolution for woman suffrage introduced in the Legislature whenever
possible.
In 1904 a new city charter was prepared for Wheeling and an effort was
made to have it provide for a municipal vote for women. Dr. Anna
Howard Shaw, national president, gave a week to speaking in the city
and Miss Kate Gordon, national corresponding secretary, spent three
weeks there, addressing many organizations. The question was submitted
to the voters with the charter but on a separate ballot. Both were
lost, the suffrage amendment by 1,600. More votes were cast on it than
on the charter itself.
In 1910 an amendment to the State constitution permitting women to be
appointed notaries public, clerks of county courts, probation officers
and members of boards of State institutions went to the voters. The
State Bar Association also had an amendment and kindly printed the
literature for the former and sent it out with theirs. It received the
larger number of votes--44,168 ayes, 45,044 noes--and was lost by only
876.
With the submission to the voters by the Legislature of 1915 of an
amendment to the constitution conferring full suffrage activity was
stimulated. Miss Ida Craft of New York, in cooperation with the women
of Charleston, held a suffrage school there January 28-February 3 and
at that time Mrs. J. E. Cannady, vice-president of its Equal Suffrage
League, obtained permission from Governor Henry D. Hatfield to put the
"suffrage map" in the lobby of the Capitol. Mrs. Mary E. Craigie,
chairman of church work for the National Association, addressed the
Woman's Club of Parkersburg April 5 and afterwards spoke in many
cities and towns through arrangement by Dr. Jones, as did Mrs. Harriet
Taylor Upton of Warren and Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser of Girard, Ohio.
In May Mrs. Ebert of Parkersburg, president of the State association,
addressed a letter to the clergymen urging them to use as a text on
Mothers' Day, May 9, The Need of Mothers' Influence in the State, and
Dr. Jones sent a questionnaire to 150 editors, receiving answers
favoring suffrage from 53. Mrs. Desha Breckinridge, president of the
Kentucky Equal Suffrage Association, spent a week in the State
speaking and Miss Craft, who kept her promise to return in May,
organized many new suffrage groups, as did Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner
of Washington, who campaigned principally in the mining towns. In the
summer a Men's Advisory Committee with Judge J. C. McWhorter as
chairman was appointed by the State board; the State Educational
Association in convention endorsed woman suffrage; and after an
address by Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston of Maine, who was on a tour of
the State, the Methodist Episcopal Conference passed a favorable
resolution. Later on Governor's Day at Middlebourne with thousands of
people present Mrs. Ebert spoke with Governor Hatfield, both making
appeals for votes for women. At the annual Fall Festival at Huntington
a suffrage float designed by Mrs. E. C. Venable was in the parade. At
Parkersburg suffragists addressed an immense crowd at Barnum and
Bailey's circus.
In October the number of small subscribers was increased by "dollar
day," when many persons sacrificed or earned a dollar and gave it to
the association. Window displays were arranged in many cities with
especially elaborate ones in Wheeling, Parkersburg and Huntington. At
the State convention held in Huntington Nov. 16, 1915, a "budget" of
$25,000 was authorized, $5,000 of which was quickly subscribed by the
delegates, Dr. Irene Bullard of Charleston and Mrs. Helen Brandeburg
of Huntington pledging $1,000 each for their branches. Mrs. Frank
Roessing of Pittsburgh, national first vice-president, who was one of
the speakers, pledged $400 for the Pennsylvania association. For the
first time there was an automobile parade.
In January, 1916, Mrs. Ebert resigned and Mrs. Yost, first
vice-president, succeeded her, soon afterwards opening headquarters in
her own home in Morgantown. These demanded practically every hour of
her time from 6 in the morning until 11 at night throughout the ten
months' campaign. Because of the illness of Dr. Bullard, chairman of
literature, that department was moved to Morgantown and placed in
charge of Mrs. P. C. McBee, with Lillie Hagans assisting. About $2,000
were invested in literature. Over 200,000 congressional speeches were
sent to the voters. In the last days of the campaign personal appeals
were mailed to those in half of the 55 counties and 10,000 posters
were sent out by this bureau to be used on election day. Through a
publicity department opened February 25, with Frank C. Dudley at the
head, the 200 newspapers of the State were served with news bulletins.
He also edited a special edition of the Wheeling _Intelligencer_ in
June. In September the National Association sent Mrs. Rose L. Geyer of
Iowa, who had conducted the publicity in its campaign this year.
During the last month bulletins were supplied to all daily papers; 110
newspapers were provided with free plate service; many anti-suffrage
articles were answered; much copy was given to local newspapers about
public meetings held by the speakers and organizers; newspaper
advertisements were furnished to all rural papers the week before
election; every city organization carried a conspicuous advertisement
in the daily papers; hundreds of two-page supplements were furnished
the last week. The majority of the newspapers were editorially in
favor of the amendment.
In January the State association put two organizers in the field, Miss
Marie Ames and Miss Eudora Ramsey, the salary of the latter paid by
the Allegheny county suffrage society of Pennsylvania, and the
National Association placed two, Miss Lavinia Engle and Miss Katherine
B. Mills. An appeal in March for more help brought Miss Hannah J.
Patterson, its corresponding secretary and chairman of organization.
In making her report to the National Board on April 5 she recommended
that headquarters be established in the business district of
Morgantown; additional office assistance be sent to relieve the
president; ten organizers be secured and so distributed that there
would be one in every group of five or six counties; and a
representative of the National Association visit the State each month
in order to keep in close touch with the work. As the "budget" called
for $16,000 the National Board voted to give $5,000 providing the
State association would raise $11,000. The headquarters were moved at
once and furnished by friends. Later when they became too small the
Board of Trade rooms were placed at the disposal of the suffragists
through the kindness of E. M. Grant. From time to time organizers were
sent to the State until there were twenty-eight and 400 organizations
were formed. To relieve the president, Miss Alice Curtis of Iowa was
sent as executive secretary, remaining until the end of the campaign.
Miss Patterson made three trips to the State. Mrs. Catt made one with
her, meeting with the State board August 3, 4, in Clarksburg, to hold
a workers' conference, which considered publicity, money raising,
organization and election day methods. A "budget" of $14,948 to cover
the last four-and-a-quarter months of the campaign was adopted.
A "flying squadron" of prominent West Virginia men and women speakers
was sent in groups to thirty points. They were Dr. Joseph A. Bennett
of Sistersville; C. Burgess Taylor of Wheeling; the Hon. Charles E.
Carrigan of Moundsville; Judge McWhorter and J. M. N. Downes of
Buckhannon; Howard L. Swisher of Morgantown; the Hon. Tracy L.
Jeffords and the Hon. B. Randolph Bias of Williamson; Mrs. Frank N.
Mann of Huntington; Mrs. Flora Williams of Wheeling, soloist. Mrs.
Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama and Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada
joined the squadron and spoke at several points. Among others of
influence who filled many speaking engagements and met their own
expenses were Mrs. Henry M. Russell and Rabbi H. Silver of Wheeling;
Milliard F. Snider and the Hon. Harvey W. Harmar of Clarksburg; Judge
Frank Cox and ex-Governor Glasscock of Morgantown. Judge McWhorter
made about 25 addresses. Uncounted numbers of women throughout the
State freely gave their time and work. About 1,500 meetings were
arranged by the headquarters staff exclusive of those in charge of
local women. Mrs. Catt spoke to mass meetings at Clarksburg,
Morgantown and Fairmont and at the hearing before the Democratic State
convention; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago before the Republican
State convention. Favorable suffrage planks were placed in the
platforms of both parties and the candidates for Governor declared
publicly for the amendment.
Dr. Shaw made thirteen addresses in cities of over 5,000 inhabitants,
contributing her services and expenses with the condition that the
collections at her meetings go into the State treasury. Miss Katharine
Devereux Blake, principal of a New York City school, addressed
Teachers' Institutes three weeks without charge, the State paying her
expenses. Mrs. Jacobs gave a two weeks' speaking tour and paid her
own expenses. Other speakers from outside the State were Mrs. Forbes
Robertson Hale, Mrs. T. T. Cotnam of Arkansas; Dr. Effie McCollum
Jones of Iowa; Mrs. Anna Ross Weeks and Miss Emma L. McAlarney of New
York; Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Texas and Mrs. McClung. Dr.
Harriet B. Jones spoke throughout the campaign.
The National Association paid the salary or expenses or both of the
outside speakers and twenty of the organizers.[204] It paid also for
200,000 Congressional speeches; circularized and sent the _Woman's
Journal_ for four months to 1,600 clergymen; furnished suffrage
posters and a Ford car and paid for election advertising in all the
rural newspapers. It sent Mr. Heaslip, its own chairman of publicity,
for the last days of the campaign. Financial assistance came also from
the Massachusetts association. The State was left with a deficit of
$3,740. During the campaign the National Association had sent in cash
$5,257. Afterwards, to reduce the deficit, it sent money for the
salary of one organizer and expenses of another beside $1,000 in cash.
Later the Leslie Suffrage Commission paid a bill of $540 to the
Publishing Company for literature ordered from June to November by the
State and $2,000 in cash which cleared up the deficit. According to
the State report the campaign cost the State organization about
$9,000. It cost the National Association and Leslie Commission over
$17,000.
The vote on November 7 was 63,540 in favor; 161,607 against; opposing
majority of 98,000, the largest ever given against woman suffrage.
Only two out of the fifty-five counties carried, Brooke and Hancock,
industrial districts situated in the extreme northern part of the
State. Brooke county had the lowest per cent. of illiteracy--two per
cent. while it was eight and three-tenths per cent. in the State at
large. The "wet" vote of Wheeling, Huntington and Charleston proved a
decisive factor in defeating the amendment. Another element working
toward the suffrage defeat was the use made by the opposition of the
negro question. They told the negroes that the white women would take
the vote away from them and also establish a "Jim-Crow" system and
they told the white women that the negro women outnumbered them and
would get the balance of power. There is a large colored vote in the
State. A really big campaign was conducted and while the size of the
opposition vote was appalling, one must consider that it was the first
attempt. The election methods in some places were reprehensible.
The State convention was held at Fairmont, Nov. 20, 1917, and there
was a determination to hold together for future effort. In 1918 there
was no convention, the women being absorbed in war work. By 1919
another great struggle was ahead, as it was evident that the Federal
Suffrage Amendment would soon be sent to the Legislatures by Congress.
Following the plan of the National Association Mrs. Nettie Rogers
Shuler, national corresponding secretary and chairman of organization,
went to Charleston on Jan. 7, 1919, to meet the State board to discuss
plans for ratification. The officers present were Mrs. Ruhl,
president; Mrs. Yost, member of the National Executive Committee, and
Mrs. Edward S. Romine of Wheeling, chairman of the Congressional
Committee. They stated that there was little organization, no funds
and that help must be given by the National Association. Mrs. Shuler
remained two weeks and with these three officers and Miss Edna Annette
Beveridge interviewed and polled members of the Legislature. Acting
for the association Mrs. Shuler divided the State and assigned the
districts to three national organizers, Miss Beveridge, who remained
three-and-a-half months; Mrs. Augusta Hughston and Miss Mary Elizabeth
Pidgeon, six weeks each, the National Association paying salary and
expenses and furnishing literature and printed petitions to members of
the Legislature. Suffrage societies were revived, public officials,
editors and ministers interviewed and much work was done.
On April 2, 3, a large and enthusiastic State convention was held in
Charleston at the Kanawha Hotel. Coming directly from the convention
of the National Association at St. Louis, Mrs. Catt, the president,
who had asked for a "working" conference with the State board, spoke
on the Federal Amendment at the afternoon session and to a mass
meeting in the Young Men's Christian Association Hall in the evening.
She was accompanied by Mrs. Shuler, who spoke at a dinner in the
Ruffner Hotel presided over by Mrs. Woodson T. Wills, vice-president
of the West Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs, and addressed by
prominent men and women of the State and by Miss Marjorie Shuler,
national director of field publicity, who had conducted a conference
at the afternoon session.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress June 4,
and the pressing work for the State association was to secure its
ratification by the Legislature. Mrs. Ellis A. Yost was made chairman
of the Ratification Committee, whose other members were Mrs. Ruhl,
Mrs. Ebert, Mrs. H. D. Rummel, Miss Mary Wilson, Miss Margaret
McKinney and Mrs. Romine. An Advisory Board was formed of 150 of as
influential men as there were in the State, judges, lawyers, bankers,
officials, presidents and professors of colleges, editors, clergymen,
presidents of the State Federation of Labor and other organizations;
and the most prominent women in educational, civic and club work. This
list was printed on the campaign stationery. The last of December
Governor John J. Cornwell received a letter from Mrs. Catt urging him
to call a special session in January. He was known to favor
ratification and he had been kept informed by the members of the
suffrage association and the W. C. T. U., who had polled the
legislators and found a majority in favor.
The Democratic Governor called the Republican Legislature in special
session for Friday, February 27, 1920. President Wilson telegraphed
members of the Senate: "May I not urge upon you the importance to the
whole country of the prompt ratification of the suffrage amendment and
express the hope that you will find it possible to lend your aid to
this end?" Both the Democratic and Republican National Committees
joined in urging ratification, as did the entire State delegation in
Congress, who had voted for submitting the amendment. The resolution
was introduced and by the rules went over for one day. All looked
promising when suddenly its advocates found themselves in a torrent of
opposition, due to the injection of the fight that was being made for
the governorship and interference from outside the State. The Maryland
Legislature sent a committee to urge its rejection and anti-suffrage
leaders from all over the country made their appearance. The vote was
taken on Wednesday and stood 47 ayes, 40 noes in the House. The vote
was 14 to 14 in the Senate. A motion to reconsider was lost by the
same vote. In the meantime Senator Jesse A. Bloch, who was in
California, telegraphed: "Just received notice of special session. Am
in favor of ratification. Please arrange a pair for me." This was
refused by the opponents with jeers. Secretary of State Houston G.
Young immediately got into communication with him on the long distance
telephone and he agreed to make a race across the continent for
Charleston.
Then came the struggle to hold the lines intact until his arrival. The
situation was most critical because a motion in the Lower House to
reconsider had been laid on the table and could be called up at any
time. Many members were anxious to go home and there was difficulty in
keeping enough present at roll call to defeat hostile attacks. The tie
in the Senate held fast, however, as Senator Bloch sped across the
country. The day he reached Chicago the opposition resorted to its
most desperate expedient by producing a former Senator, A. R.
Montgomery, who about eight months before had resigned his seat,
saying that he was leaving the State, and later had moved to Illinois.
There was documentary evidence that he had given up his residence. He
demanded of Governor Cornwell to return his letter of resignation. The
Governor refused and he then appeared in the Senate that afternoon and
offered to vote. President Sinsel promptly ruled that he was not a
member. On an appeal from this ruling he was sustained by a tie vote
and the case was referred to the Committee on Privileges and
Elections.
When Senator Bloch reached Chicago he found that not only a special
train but also an airship were awaiting him.[205] He chose the train
and made the trip with a speed that was said to have broken all
records. He arrived on March 10 and took his seat in the Senate amid
cheers from crowded galleries. The corridors were thronged and even
the floor of the Senate was crowded with guests, many of them women.
Then followed a most dramatic debate of several hours, as each side
tried to get the advantage. Montgomery was not permitted to take his
seat and at 6 o'clock in the afternoon the vote was taken--16 ayes, 13
noes, one opponent changing his vote when he saw the resolution would
pass.
After the Senate vote a second was secured in the House by the
opponents of the motion to reconsider, which resulted in a larger
favorable majority than the first.
Harvey W. Harmer of Clarksburg, who had charge of the resolution in
the Senate and W. S. John of Morgantown in the House, deserve the
warmest gratitude of the women. It was not an ordinary vote that the
members gave but one which stood the test for days and against the
most determined opposition. Too much praise can not be given to
Governor Cornwell for calling the special session and for unyieldingly
standing by the cause. The Democratic State chairman, C. L. Shaver,
although unable to be present, gave splendid help. The men outside the
Legislature who gave their time unstintedly, and were present,
cooperating with the Ratification Committee of the Equal Suffrage
Association, were State chairman of the Republican Committee, W. E.
Baker; Secretary of State Young, former Minister to Venezuela; Elliott
Northcott, mayor of Charleston; ex-Governor A. B. White; U. S. Senator
Howard Sutherland; Major John Bond; National Republican Committeeman
Virgil L. Highland; Congressman M. M. Neely; Mayor Hall and Jesse B.
Sullivan, a prominent newspaper correspondent. The best legal and
editorial assistance was given generously by the Hon. Fred O. Blue,
the Hon. Clyde B. Johnson and former U. S. Senator W. E. Chilton. Boyd
Jarrell, editor of the Huntington _Herald Dispatch_, was constantly on
the firing line.
The chairman of the Ratification Committee had a herculean task during
these strenuous days and after they were over a letter of appreciation
of her services was sent to Mrs. Catt, the national president, which
closed: "The opposing elements combined tended to create for Mrs.
Yost what at first seemed to be a situation impossible of solution,
but with rare tact and a soundness of judgment that we have seldom
seen equalled her leadership has brought about a complete victory. As
supporters of suffrage we are sending you this without Mrs. Yost's
knowledge and simply that at least some part of the credit due her may
be given." This was signed by Chas. A. Sinsel, president State Senate;
Grant P. Hall, Mayor of Charleston; W. E. Chilton, former U. S.
Senator; Houston C. Young, Secretary of State; Albert B. White, former
Governor; W. E. Baker, chairman Republican State Committee; J. S.
Darst, Auditor of State.
The president of the State Association, Mrs. Ruhl, was present
throughout the sessions, as were members of the State committee, Mrs.
Ebert, Mrs. Rummel, Miss McKinney, Mrs. Romine, Mrs. Thomas Peadro,
Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Allie B. Haymond, Mrs. O. S. McKinney, Mrs. Kemble
White, Mrs. William G. Brown and Mrs. Olandus West. The cost of
organizers and literature in the ratification campaign to the National
Association was about $2,300, in addition to the State association's
expenses.
On Sept. 30, 1920, the State association became the League of Women
Voters and Mrs. John L. Ruhl was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. A bill for Presidential suffrage, drawn by
George E. Boyd, Sr., was introduced in the House by Henry C. Hervey
and seconded by S. G. Smith of Wheeling. It was rejected by a vote of
31 to 25, Speaker Wilson voting against it. The bill was introduced in
the Senate by Nelson Whittaker of Wheeling. U. S. Senator Stephen B.
Elkins commanded it to be tabled and this was done.
1903. A bill for Presidential suffrage was defeated.
1905. A resolution introduced in the Senate by Samuel Montgomery to
submit a suffrage amendment to the State Constitution received two
votes.
1907. Dr. A. J. Mitchell introduced a resolution for an amendment in
the house; Z. J. Forman in the Senate. Senator Robert Hazlett arranged
a legislative hearing at which every seat was occupied, with people
sitting on the steps and sides of the platform and the large space in
the back part of the room filled with men standing. Dr. Harriet B.
Jones made a short address and was followed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
president of the National Suffrage Association, in an eloquent plea.
The vote in the Senate was 10 ayes, 13 noes; in the House, 26 ayes, 48
noes.
1913. A resolution to submit a State amendment was introduced in the
House January 28 by M. K. Duty and later at his request Delegate Ellis
A. Yost took charge of it. Through the generosity of the Hon. William
Seymour Edwards, Miss Mary Johnston was brought to Charleston by its
suffrage association and addressed the Legislature, which assembled in
the House Chamber. She also spoke to a large audience in the Burlew
Theater. The resolution came up on February 15; the hall was crowded
with interested spectators and stirring speeches were made by the
members. On the final roll call, to the dismay of its supporters, it
did not poll the necessary two-thirds. On motion of Delegate Yost the
announcement of the vote was postponed till Monday, the 17th, and
every possible effort was made to bring in absent members but as the
final vote was being taken it was seen that it lacked one. At the
request of Governor Hatfield Delegate Hartley changed his vote and it
was carried by the needed 58, Speaker Taylor George voting for it. The
resolution was introduced in the Senate by N. G. Keim of Elkins and
supported by able speakers but it was lost on February 20 by 14 noes,
16 ayes, 20 being necessary.
1915. On January 26 the resolution for a State amendment was submitted
by 26 ayes, 3 noes in the Senate and 76 ayes, 8 noes in the House, to
be voted on in November, 1916.
FOOTNOTES:
[202] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Harriet B.
Jones, officially identified with the movement for woman suffrage in
the State since its beginning about thirty years ago, and to Lenna
Lowe (Mrs. Ellis A.) Yost, chairman of the Ratification Committee;
also to the records of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association.
[203] Women who have been most prominent in the work not already
mentioned are: Miss Jennie Wilson, Mrs. Annie C. Boyd, Mrs. Henry O.
Ott, Miss Elizabeth Cummins, Miss Anne Cummins, Miss Florence Hoge,
Mrs. Virginia Hoge Kendall and Mrs. Edward W. Hazlett of Wheeling;
Mrs. I. N. Smith, Mrs. Harold Ritz and Mrs. A. M. Finney of
Charleston; Miss Harriet Schroeder of Grafton.
[204] The organizers, who often were speakers also, not elsewhere
mentioned, were Misses Adella Potter, Eleanor Furman, Alice Riggs
Hunt, Lola Walker, Josephine Casey, Lola Trax, Grace Cole, Eleanor
Raoul, Mrs. C. E. Martin, Mrs. W. J. Cambron, Mrs. Elizabeth Sullivan,
Dr. Harriet B. Dilla and others. Miss Ramsey and Miss Raoul gave the
use of their cars. Miss Gertrude Watkins and Miss Gertrude Miller of
Arkansas donated their services from July 17, the State paying their
expenses. The Philadelphia County Society sent Miss Mabel Dorr for
two-and-a-half months as its contribution. Miss Alma B. Sasse of
Missouri gave her services for over two months, the State paying her
expenses.
[205] It was kept a secret at the time who was responsible for this
arrangement but later it was found to be Captain Victor Heinze of
Cincinnati, who had charge of the National Republican headquarters in
Chicago.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
WISCONSIN.[206]
Woman suffrage history in Wisconsin from 1900 to 1920 naturally
divides itself into three sections, the first including the ten years
preceding the submission of the referendum measure by the Legislature
in 1911; the second the two years of the referendum campaign and the
third the succeeding seven years to 1920.
The work of the State Woman Suffrage Association, which was organized
in 1869, continued in the 20th century, as in the 19th, through
organization, public meetings, annual conventions, the publication of
the _Wisconsin Citizen_. The conventions of the first decade, which
always took place in the autumn, were held as follows: 1901, Brodhead;
1902, Madison; 1903, Platteville; 1904, Janesville; 1905, Milwaukee;
1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, Madison; 1911, Racine. The Rev. Olympia
Brown, who had been elected president in 1883, continued to serve in
that capacity with undiminished vigor and ability, having been elected
every year, until the end of 1912. Besides her other services she gave
hundreds of addresses on woman suffrage, speaking in nearly every city
in the State.[207]
The publication of the _Wisconsin Citizen_, established in 1887, was
continued in spite of limited finances. Its first editor was Martha
Parker Dingee from Boston, a niece of Theodore Parker, who gave her
services for seven years. After that the editors were Mrs. Helen H.
Charlton, Miss Lena V. Newman and Mrs. Youmans. After 1914 it was
published at Waukesha, before that at Brodhead, and was discontinued
in 1917. Notable speakers from outside the State at conventions of the
first decade were Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, the Rev. Florence
Buck, the Rev. Marion Murdock, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, Mrs. Belva A.
Lockwood, Miss Jane Addams and Dr. Julia Holmes Smith.
The association for some time supported a State organizer, the Rev.
Alice Ball Loomis, and later Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe for two seasons. In
1902 headquarters were established at Madison, the capital, in a
little room in the State House, for the distribution of literature,
and here was kept a register of men and women who believed in woman
suffrage. In 1907 the Rev. Mrs. Brown prepared a bulletin for the
legislators, giving the statistics of woman suffrage in the United
States and other countries.
In 1908 Mrs. Maud Wood Park came to Wisconsin and spoke to women
students of five colleges, arrangements having been previously made by
Mrs. Brown, who took part in some of the meetings, and College Women's
Suffrage Leagues were organized. Mrs. Brown prepared a pamphlet, Why
the Church Should Demand the Ballot for Women, which was widely
distributed. Near the end of 1909 the State association was asked to
circulate the national petition to Congress for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. Blanks were sent all over the State to schools, libraries
and other public institutions and to individuals. The members took up
the matter with enthusiasm and worked faithfully. The association did
all that could be done in the six weeks allowed and about 18,000 names
were signed, 5,000 of them in Racine. Mrs. Wentworth, over eighty
years of age, canvassed portions of the city and obtained 1,000 names.
During this whole decade resolutions and petitions were sent to
Congress and at every session of the Legislature suffrage measures
were introduced. Mrs. Jessie M. Luther was chairman of the Legislative
Committee during this period, an unrecognized and unpaid lobbyist, but
by her skilful work, in which at times she was assisted by Mrs. Nellie
Donaldson and others, she kept the Legislature in advance of the
people of the State.
In 1911 the Legislature submitted to the voters a statutory law giving
full suffrage to women, as it had authority to do. Influences from
outside the State led to the organization of the Political Equality
League, of which Miss Ada L. James was president and Mrs. Crystal
Eastman Benedict from New York was made campaign manager. The campaign
of 1911-1912, therefore, was carried on by two organizations, the
State association and this league, working separately, although effort
was made to correlate their activities by forming a cooperative
committee representing both societies, of which Miss Gwendolen Brown
Willis was chairman. The National American Woman Suffrage Association,
through its president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, contributed $100 per
month salary for an organizer and speaker, Miss Harriet Grim, and gave
further assistance to both organizations.[208]
Both associations employed field organizers, arranged meetings,
provided speakers, distributed literature and made active effort to
interest as far as possible organizations and individuals in the
cause. The State association had headquarters in the Majestic Building
and later in the Goldsmith Building in Milwaukee. The League had
offices first in the Wells Building and later in the Colby-Abbott
Building in that city. A bulletin of suffrage news was sent each week
to the 600 newspapers in the State by Mrs. Youmans, who was press
manager.
The campaign opened with a big rally in Racine June 1, 1912. The Rev.
Olympia Brown, State president, continued her speaking tours without
cessation and was assisted by prominent outside speakers, including
Mrs. May Wright Sewall, Mrs. Colby, Dr. and Mrs. William Funck of
Baltimore, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery and Mrs. Clara V. Laddey, who
addressed the Germans. Miss Willis arranged a course of lectures in
Milwaukee for Miss Jane Addams, Louis F. Post, Dr. Sophonisba
Breckinridge of Chicago University, and Mrs. Catherine Waugh
McCulloch.[209]
The Political Equality League believed enthusiastically in street
meetings and arranged many of them in Milwaukee and other cities.
Under the same auspices several automobile tours swept the State, one
of them having an itinerary through the southwestern counties, Miss
James, Mrs. B. C. Gudden, Miss Grim and Miss Mabel Judd the speakers.
The noted air pilot, Beachy, scattered suffrage fliers from the
airship which he took up into the clouds at the State Fair in
Milwaukee. The State association had a large tent on the grounds, in
front of which there were a platform for speakers, where addresses
were made every day, and a counter covered with literature and books.
The two societies conducted Votes for Women tours up the Wolf and Fox
Rivers, which were important features of the campaign. They traveled
in a little steamer, stopping at landings and speaking and giving out
literature. The association also held outdoor meetings at lunchtime
before the factories and wherever it seemed best. The league formed
two allied societies, the Men's League for Woman Suffrage, of which
the late H. A. J. Upham was president, and a league for colored
people, Miss Carrie Horton, president.
An extended series of mass meetings was held in many cities addressed
by prominent speakers, who came from outside the State to assist,
among whom were Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, Miss Addams, Mrs. Beatrice
Forbes Robertson, Mrs. Emily Montague Bishop, Professor Charles
Zueblin, Max Eastman, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery; the Countess of
Warwick and Miss Sylvia Pankhurst of England; Miss Inez Milholland,
Mrs. Maud C. Nathan, Mrs. Glendower Evans, Baroness von Suttner
(Austria), Mrs. Alice Duer Miller, Mrs. Florence Kelley, Rabbi Emil
Hirschberg, Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, Mrs. Henrietta C. Lyman, Mrs.
Ella S. Stewart, Dr. Anna E. Blount, the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer,
Mrs. Clara Neymann, who addressed the Germans, and Dr. Shaw.
There is no adequate record of that campaign in existence. Mrs. Luther
was State historian and in the habit of keeping carefully all
programs, calls for meetings, reports and other material necessary for
history, which were preserved at the Capitol and were destroyed when
it was burned. The Political Equality League raised and expended
$10,000 and the State association $5,000, as reported to the Secretary
of State. Nearly as much more was expended by individual members and
by other organizations. Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Benedict arranged a mass
meeting in New York which netted $2,700.
The determined hostility of the liquor interests to woman suffrage was
unmistakably shown during the campaign by the official organ of the
State Retail Liquor Dealers' Protective Association, called
"Progress." For months preceding the election it was filled with
objections, innuendo and abuse in prose, verse and pictures, all
designed to impress the reader with the absurdity and danger of giving
the vote to women. It appealed to the farmers and to every class of
people connected in any way with the manufacture and sale of beer,
saying in headlines: "Give the Ballot to Woman and Industry goes to
Smash." "It means the Loss of Vast Sums to Manufacturer, Dealer and
Workingmen," and this was kept up to the end.
An unprecedented vote was cast on the woman suffrage proposition at
the election November 4, 1912: for, 135,736; against, 227,054; lost by
91,318. Each of the three constitutional amendments voted on at the
time received barely a fifth of the vote cast on this measure. Of the
71 counties but 14 were carried for suffrage, Douglas county in the
extreme northwest on Lake Superior had the best record, a majority of
1,000. Milwaukee county, including the city, gave 20,445 votes for and
40,029 votes against. The referendum was placed on a pink ballot, used
only for this purpose, which unquestionably increased the majority
against it, as even the most illiterate could stamp it with a "no."
The defeat was conceded to have been due to an insufficiency of
general education on woman suffrage and of organization, the large
foreign population and the widespread belief that it would help
largely to bring prohibition.
Three days after the election officers of the Political Equality
League sent to officers of the State association a letter proposing a
union of the two under a new name and on condition that the president
of neither should be made president of the new one. The latter was in
favor of the union but insisted that the old historic name, Wisconsin
Suffrage Association, should be retained, which was done. Miss Lutie
E. Stearns was chosen its president at its annual convention to serve
until the union was effected. There were ultimatums and
counter-ultimatums and finally a call for a joint convention to be
held in Madison Feb. 4, 5, 1913, was issued by Miss Zona Gale,
vice-president of the association, and Miss James, president of the
League. Here the union was duly effected; the Rev. Olympia Brown was
elected honorary president, Mrs. Henry M. Youmans president and the
other officers were divided between the two societies.
The suffrage work henceforth was conducted under the same president
and the same policy. The first year of the new régime, the
organization had no headquarters and paid no salaries, the officers
doing their correspondence with their own hands. The next year an
office was opened in Madison and Miss Alice Curtis was installed as
executive secretary. It was difficult to do effective work so far away
from the president and the office was removed to Waukesha, her
residence, with Miss Curtis and later Mrs. Helen Haight in charge. In
October, 1916, it was removed to Milwaukee, and, with the county
association, headquarters were opened at 428 Jefferson Street, where
they remained, with Mrs. Ruth Hamilton as office secretary.[210]
The great increase of sentiment favorable to woman suffrage throughout
the country was plainly seen in Wisconsin and it was evident that a
wide campaign of education must be undertaken. A "suffrage school"
held in Madison in June, 1914, was very successful. Sixty-six women
enrolled for the full course and hundreds of men and women attended
the special lectures. The "faculty" of the school included the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, members of the faculty of the State
University and other well known men and women. Social Forces, a
topical outline with bibliography, published this year by the
Education Committee, Mrs. A. S. Quackenbush, chairman, was especially
designed for the instruction of women, first, in existing conditions,
and second, in the various movements made to improve them. Copies were
purchased by universities, organizations and individuals all over the
United States. Wisconsin Legislators and the Home was a valuable
pamphlet compiled by Miss James following the legislative session of
1913, giving the records of all members on the bills of especial
interest to women which came up that year. Wisconsin Legislation,
Topics for Discussion, was prepared in 1915 by Mrs. J. W. McMullein
Turner for the use of the legislative and educational committees.
Miss James served as legislative chairman in 1913; Mrs. Ben Hooper in
1915; Mrs. Joseph Jastrow in 1917; Mrs. Hooper again in 1919. She was
also for several years congressional chairman. Regular press service
was continued during the last decade, a weekly letter being sent to
100 newspapers. Mrs. Youmans had charge of all publicity during her
presidency. Mrs. Gudden supplied suffrage letters regularly to several
German papers and due to her ability they were always published.
In March, 1916, a Congressional Conference was held in Milwaukee with
Mrs. Catt, the national president, as the chief speaker. In June at
the time of the Republican National Convention in Chicago the
association sent to the great suffrage parade an impressive
contingent, accompanied by a G. A. R. drum corps. This year it gave
$500 to the Iowa campaign and among its members who assisted there and
in campaigns in other States were Mrs. Hooper, Mrs. Haight, Miss
Curtis, Mrs. Maud McCreery, Miss Edna Wright and Mrs. Youmans.
On Oct. 14, 1917, a branch of the National Woman's Party was formed in
the home of Mrs. Victor Berger and became active. There were two
anti-suffrage societies of women, one in Milwaukee and one in Madison,
and together they formed a so-called State association, of which Mrs.
C. E. Estabrook was president and Mrs. Francis Day an active member.
They provided speakers for legislative hearings and signed their names
to newspaper articles sent them from the East but were of slight
importance. The State petition work was stopped by the epidemic of
influenza in the autumn of 1918 and after the first of the next year
the apparent favorable attitude of the Legislature made it
unnecessary, but already in forty counties the names of 5,800 men and
20,000 women had been obtained. Self-denial Day was originated by Miss
Harriet Bain of Wisconsin and adopted by the National Association. The
fund in this State was over $400.
The State association was prompt to organize for war work and formed
all the committees recommended by the National American Suffrage
Association. Many suffrage leaders served as leaders of the war work
in their communities. The president was on the Woman's Committee of
the State Council of Defense and State chairman for Americanization.
The association sent $1,590 for the Oversea Hospitals financed by the
National Association.
The relations of the State with the National Association have been
very cordial. It has sent a large delegation to each of the national
conventions and paid its quota for the support of national work, about
$1,500 in 1919.
In February, 1919, the Legislature gave Presidential suffrage to women
and the submission of the Federal Amendment was near at hand. The last
meeting of the State association, a Good Citizenship convention, was
held in Milwaukee Oct. 29-Nov. 1. The program was devoted to the
intelligent and patriotic use of the ballot. Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker
came from Connecticut to give six lectures on Citizenship for Women. A
plan was adopted for publishing a Citizenship Manual and engaging a
traveling representative to teach good citizenship to groups of women
throughout the State. The convention provided that the association
should automatically cease to exist as soon as the Federal Amendment
was ratified, in any case not later than March 1, 1920, and should be
replaced by a State League of Women Voters. This took place on
February 20 and Mrs. Ben Hooper was elected chairman.[211]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. Provision was made for separate ballot boxes
for women, making fully operative the School Suffrage Law of 1885.
1903. A Municipal suffrage bill received a small vote. A full suffrage
measure introduced in the Assembly by David Evans was lost by only one
and had a large vote in the Senate.
1905. A Municipal suffrage bill was passed by the Assembly; not acted
upon by the Senate.
1909. A bill for a referendum to the voters passed in the Senate;
defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 53 to 34.
1911. The session opened promisingly. David G. James introduced in the
Senate and J. H. Kamper in the Assembly a measure providing full
suffrage for Wisconsin women contingent upon the approval of a
majority of the voters at the general election in November, 1912. Miss
Mary Swain Wagner was the only registered lobbyist but other
suffragists, notably Miss James, Mrs. George W. Peckham, Mrs. Nellie
Donaldson and Mrs. Luther, worked for the measure. At a joint hearing
thirteen speakers, including several from outside the State, spoke in
favor of the bill and one lone Assemblyman, Carl Dorner, spoke in
opposition. It passed the Senate March 31 by a vote of 16 to 4, and
the Assembly April 26 by a vote of 69 to 29, and was signed by
Governor Francis E. McGovern on the ground that it was a problem which
should be solved by the voters. This measure was not, as generally
assumed, an amendment to the constitution but was a law, the
constitution providing that suffrage might be extended by statute but
this must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general
election. It was defeated in 1912.
1913. Paradoxical as it may seem, legislators now became more
friendly. The Legislature of 1913 passed by a large majority in both
Houses another referendum bill introduced by Senator Robert Glenn but
it was vetoed by Governor McGovern on the ground that the voters
should not be asked so soon to pass upon a measure which they had just
defeated.
1915. Three measures were introduced in 1915, one by Senator Glenn and
Assemblyman W. C. Bradley, providing for full suffrage by State-wide
referendum; one by Senator George E. Scott and Assemblyman H. M.
Laursen, providing for Presidential suffrage by action of the
Legislature, and one by Senator A. Pearce Tompkins and Assemblyman
Axel Johnson to permit to counties local option in the matter of
enfranchising their women. Only the first was seriously considered and
this was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 41. A
representative of the German-American Alliance appeared against it at
the hearing and at several later sessions.
1917. A referendum measure was introduced by Senator George B. Skogmo
and Assemblyman James Hanson and was killed in the Assembly by a vote
of 47 to 40.
1918. Meanwhile the tide was perceptibly turning and at the State
political conventions held in September, 1918, all parties adopted
planks favoring the enfranchisement of women. What was known as "the
woman suffrage session" followed.
1919. Resolution urging the U. S. Senate to submit a Federal Suffrage
Amendment: Assembly 75 for, 14 against; Senate 23 for, 4 against.
Presidential suffrage bill granting to women the right to vote for
presidential electors: Assembly 80 for, 8 against; Senate 25 for, one
against. Law extending the right of suffrage to women subject to a
referendum, passed without an aye and no vote in both Houses. It was
repealed after ratification of the Federal Amendment made it
unnecessary.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress
on June 4, 1919. The Wisconsin Legislature ratified it about 11
o'clock in the morning on June 10, with one negative vote in the
Senate, two in the House. A special messenger, former Senator David G.
James (the father of Ada L. James), started for Washington on the
first train carrying the certificate from the Governor and he brought
back a statement from J. A. Tonner, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and
Library, Department of State, that "the certified copy of the
ratification resolution by the Legislature of Wisconsin is the first
which has been received." The Illinois Legislature ratified an hour
earlier but owing to a technical error it had to ratify a second time.
The two U. S. Senators LaFollette and Lenroot and eight of the eleven
Representatives from Wisconsin voted for the Federal Amendment on its
final passage through Congress.
FOOTNOTES:
[206] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Theodora W.
Youmans, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association from 1913
until its work was finished in 1920.
[207] The following were the officers for the first twelve years:
Vice-presidents: Mrs. Jessie M. Luther, Mrs. Madge Waters, Mrs. Laura
James, Vida James, Mrs. E. C. Priddle, Miss Linda Rhodes;
corresponding secretaries: Miss Lucinda Lake, Mrs. Margaret Geddes,
Mrs. Emma Geddes, Miss Lena Newman, Mrs. B. Ostrander, Mrs. Nellie K.
Donaldson; recording secretaries: Miss Marion W. Hamilton, Miss Emma
Graham, Mrs. Ethel Irish, Miss W. von Bruenchenhein; treasurers: Mrs.
Dora Putnam, Mrs. Lydia Woodward, Mrs. F. H. Derrick, Mrs. A. B.
Sprague, Mrs. B. Ostrander, Gwendolen Brown Willis; chairmen Executive
Committee: Ellen A. Rose, Mrs. Etta Gardner, Mrs. Kate Rindlaub.
[208] Near the end of the campaign Miss Mary Swain Wagner from New
York organized the American Suffragettes, a short-lived society, with
Miss Martha Heide as president, and it arranged a mass meeting in
Milwaukee with Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England as the principal
speaker.
[209] A unique automobile tour was made by Mrs. McCulloch and her
husband, Frank McCulloch, both prominent lawyers in Chicago, and their
four children, who devoted their annual vacation in the summer of 1912
to a tour through Wisconsin, the eldest son driving a big car, Mr. and
Mrs. McCulloch making suffrage speeches at designated points and the
three younger children enjoying the outing.
[210] After 1913 annual conventions were held as follows: 1914,
Milwaukee, speakers at evening meeting, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence of
England and Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary; 1915, Milwaukee; 1916
(postponed to January, 1917, at the time of the legislative session),
Madison; 1917, Milwaukee, Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada speaker; 1918,
no convention because of the war.
[211] The officials from 1913, not already mentioned, were as follows:
Vice-presidents: Miss Zona Gale, Dr. Jean M. Cooke, Mrs. Wm. Preston
Leek, Mrs. Victor Berger, Mrs. Isaac Witter, Mrs. Frank Thanhouser,
Miss Harriet F. Bain; corresponding secretaries: Mrs. W. M. Waters,
Mrs. Joseph Jastrow, Mrs. James L. Foley, Mrs. Glen Turner, Mrs.
Charles H. Mott, Mrs. H. F. Shadbolt; recording secretaries: Mrs. H.
M. Holton, Mrs. A. J. Rogers; treasurers, Miss E. E. Robinson, Mrs.
Harvey J. Frame; auditors: Miss Gwendolyn B. Willis, Miss M. V. Brown,
Mrs. Louis Fuller Hobbins, Miss Amy Comstock, Mrs. A. W. Schorger,
Mrs. H. A. J. Upham, Mrs. Sarah H. Van Dusen. Mrs. A. J. Birkhauser.
CHAPTER XLIX.
WYOMING.[212]
Wyoming was the pioneer Territory and the pioneer State to give full
suffrage to women. It is an interesting fact that the women did not
find it necessary to have a Territorial or State Suffrage Association,
or even a convention except the one during the campaign for Statehood
in 1889-90. This rare situation is explained by the fact that
universal suffrage came to the women in the newly organized Territory
in 1869 without any general demand for it but through the efforts of a
very few progressive men and women. [History of Woman Suffrage, Volume
IV, page 994.] When the Constitutional Convention was preparing for
Statehood in 1889, holding its sessions in Cheyenne, the women of the
Territory held a convention there in order to pass resolutions asking
that the constitution should contain an article granting to the women
a continuation of the right of suffrage which they had possessed for
twenty years. This was granted and both men and women voted on the
constitution, which was adopted by a three-fourths majority of the
votes cast. The fact that there was no women's association for
suffrage or for political purposes was at times a serious handicap to
women of other States, who were not able to appeal to an organized
body for an endorsement of woman suffrage or related subjects.
In 1901 and at subsequent dates by joint resolution of both Houses of
the Legislature a strong appeal was sent to Congress to submit the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. On Feb. 14, 1919, a joint resolution was
passed and signed by Governor Robert D. Carey commemorating the
granting of woman suffrage in Wyoming, Dec. 10, 1869, by making this
date each year Wyoming Day, "to be observed by appropriate exercises
commemorative of the history of the Commonwealth and the lives and
work of its pioneers."
At a State convention in Laramie Nov. 9-11, 1919, with Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, the national president, as guest of honor, a branch of
the National League of Women Voters was organized, with Mrs. Cyrus
Beard as State chairman. At Casper, Oct. 2, 1920, it was re-organized
by Mrs. James Paige, regional director, with Mrs. C. W. Crouter as
State chairman.
RATIFICATION. Governor Robert D. Carey called a special session of the
Legislature for Jan. 26, 1920, to ratify the Federal Suffrage
Amendment. The vote was unanimous in each House, and, after it was
finished and had received the Governor's signature, Mrs. Theresa
Jenkins of Cheyenne, a faithful supporter of woman suffrage in Wyoming
for fifty years, thanked the members and the Governor for their action
in behalf of the women of the State, the United States and the world.
* * * * *
The decree that laws must be omitted for lack of space bars out the
many statutes in the interests of women and children which are
Wyoming's especial pride.
The pioneer member of the Legislature was Mrs. Mary Godat Bellamy of
Laramie, elected to the Lower House in 1911. She had been a teacher in
the public schools of the city and county superintendent. She was very
active in her duties and was instrumental in having a number of
excellent bills become laws. Among these were bills for an adequate
appropriation to employ a State humane officer for child and animal
protection; to establish an industrial institution for male convicts
twenty-five years old or under, as at that time 85 per cent. of those
in the penitentiary were under twenty-one; an eight-hour day for women
and children who worked in factories, laundries and industrial places;
a grant to the State University of a permanent annual revenue. She
helped to kill a bill to repeal an existing law which prohibited
liquor being sold in places that were not incorporated, as mining and
lumber camps. Mrs. Bellamy said later: "While the men were courteous
yet no woman must expect that when it comes to gaining a point a man
is going to make an exception because his colleague is a woman."
In the Legislature of 1913 two women Representatives had seats--Mrs.
Anna Miller of Laramie, a mother of six grown children, three of whom
were graduated from the State University, and Miss Nettie Truax of
Sundance, a school teacher and at one time county superintendent. Mrs.
Miller was a successful merchant and at the time of her election was
at the head of a large drygoods establishment. She succeeded her son
in the Legislature. Miss Truax was made chairman of the important
Committee on Education. In 1915 Mrs. Morna Wood, also of Sundance, was
elected to the Lower House. She introduced a bill, which became a law,
for the protection and regulation of child employment. During this
session a bill in the direction of easy divorce came before the House
and Mrs. Wood made a strong speech condemning it and appealing for
loyal support of her protest in the interests of the home and the
children. Nothing further was heard of the bill. While women may not
have taken a large place as lawmakers they have had an active and
effective interest in many excellent laws.
The following women have been elected State Superintendent of Public
Instruction: Miss Estelle Reel, 1894-1898; Miss Rose A. Bird,
1910-1914; Miss Edith K. O. Clark, 1914-1918; Mrs. Katharine A.
Morton, 1918-1922. This is the most highly paid office occupied by a
woman, the salary being the same as that of the Secretary of State,
State Auditor and State Treasurer. By virtue of her office the
Superintendent is a member of the State Boards of Pardons, Charities
and Reforms, Land Commissioners, School Land Commissioners and
Education, with power to appoint all members of the last board, which
elects the State Commissioner of Education. At present all the
counties have women county superintendents of schools, not an unusual
situation. They also hold other county offices and as in all States as
soon as the suffrage is granted are eligible to all official
positions.
The largest woman's organization is the Federation of Clubs, with a
membership of 4,000, a democratic body which has been able to do much
for the State in legislation, education and reform. The women of
Wyoming have been very conservative with the ballot and have never
used radical means to accomplish their aims. No woman's ticket has
ever been offered.
All institutions of learning are co-educational. Since 1891 there has
been but a short interval when women have not been on the Board of
Trustees of the State University. Grace Raymond Hebard was the first,
serving thirteen years. For eighteen years, 1891-1908, a woman was
secretary, acting also as financial agent, buying for the institution
and paying the bills. In February, 1913, Mrs. Mary B. David of Douglas
was appointed trustee by the Governor and displayed such unusual
ability as an executive that later she was unanimously elected by the
Board as its president, serving from September, 1917, to February,
1919, when she removed from the State. During her administration more
important matters than ever before were brought to the Board for its
consideration and solution--questions of land leases and oil grants,
rents and royalties involving millions of dollars. The efficient,
intelligent and impartial way in which Mrs. David handled these
matters, of course in conjunction with the other members, won for her
from the Board and the parties involved the strongest commendation. At
one time a woman was seriously thought of for president of the
university but she refused to consider it. At present (1920) two of
the four most highly paid professors are women at the head of the
combined departments of Psychology and Philosophy and of Political
Economy and Sociology. There are five women on the Faculty, receiving
the same compensation as the men holding equal positions. Women are
full professors in History, English and Home Economics. The professor
of Elementary Education and supervisor of the training school is a
woman and the Dean of Women ranks as a full professor. With the
assistant professors there are fourteen women on the Faculty.
On June 12, 1921, this university gave its first honorary degree and
very appropriately to a woman. With beautiful ceremonies the degree of
Doctor of Laws was conferred on Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association and of the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
FOOTNOTES:
[212] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Grace Raymond
Hebard, professor of Political Economy and Sociology in the State
University of Wyoming.
CHAPTER L.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE
PHILIPPINES.
ALASKA.[213]
When the bill was before Congress in 1912 to make Alaska a Territory
of the United States an amendment was added on motion of
Representative Frank W. Mondell of Wyoming to give its Legislature
full power to enfranchise women. This was accepted by the House
without objection. Afterwards the official board of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association gladly responded to the request of
Arthur G. Stroup of Sitka, one of the Territorial Representatives, who
intended to introduce a bill for the purpose, to send up some suitable
literature. The board also asked women in Seattle, former residents of
Alaska, to write to the members of the new Legislature.
Woman suffrage in Alaska possesses the unique record of being granted
without any solicitation whatever from the residents. It is not known
that a suffrage club ever existed in the Territory; it is quite
certain that prior to the convening of the first Territorial
Legislature in Juneau in 1913 no suffrage campaigning whatever had
been carried on, yet two members, coming from towns not less than
1,500 miles apart, brought drafts for an equal suffrage bill. House
Bill No. 2, "An Act to extend the elective franchise to the women in
the Territory of Alaska," was the first to pass both Houses--7
Senators and 15 Representatives--and the vote on it was unanimous,
Senator Elwood Brunner of Nome, the only member who had expressed
himself as unfavorable, having had the good sense or caution to absent
himself during roll call. This was also the first bill to be approved
by the Governor, J. F. A. Strong, on March 21, 1913, and the Act
became effective ninety days thereafter. It declared the elective
franchise extended to such women as had the qualifications required of
male electors.
The Alaska Code had permitted women to vote only at School elections.
The new law gave them the privilege of voting for the officers in
incorporated towns and cities; for members of the Territorial
Legislature and for Territorial Delegate to Congress.
It is estimated that there is a white population of 30,000 of whom
between 5,000 and 6,000 are women. Probably not 500 native women are
voters. Indian men have a vote if they have "severed tribal
relations," which is interpreted to mean that if an Indian moves to a
white man's town or lives on a creek or in a camp in such a way that
the missions or the marshals think he has left his tribe, he can vote.
Indian women have a vote if they marry white men who have a vote; if
they are unmarried and have "severed tribal relations"; if they are
married to an Indian who has "severed tribal relations." The original
code said definitely that Juries should be drawn from the male
citizens and it has never been changed. With this exception the rights
of men and women are the same.
Two other bills of importance passed by the first Legislature provided
for the compulsory education of white children and for Juvenile Courts
to look after dependent children and create a Board of Children's
Guardians. This board consists of the District Judge and U. S. Marshal
in each judicial division, together with one woman appointed by the
Governor, thus creating four such boards in the Territory, one for
each division.
The interest of Alaska women in questions affecting local or
Territorial conditions is intense and their efforts effective, as
their work in the prohibition campaign of 1916 proved. This was
essentially a woman's campaign, so well handled that at the plebiscite
held at the time of the general election in November, 1916, the vote
was about two to one in favor of prohibition. As a result, Congress
enacted the Bone Dry Prohibition law for the Territory Feb. 14, 1917.
It is believed that about three-fourths of the qualified women vote
but there is no means of knowing. The percentage of illiteracy among
white women is negligible and the young native women taught at the
Government and mission schools can read and write.
The women of Alaska did their share in all kinds of war work, for
conservation, bond drives, Red Cross and kindred activities. On
account of the vast distances and small means of transportation any
general cooperation is impossible. There are two daily papers in
Fairbanks with a wide circulation over the entire district, which is
larger than Texas. The organizing for Red Cross work had to be largely
done through these papers but in a few months there were about 600
knitters, practically all the women in the district, and thirty
organizations in the mining camps, many of these having only two or
three women. In Fairbanks, by means of dances, card parties, sales,
etc., $8,000 were raised just to buy wool, besides all the funds and
"drives."
The interest of Alaskan women in such public questions as affect women
elsewhere is that of the spectator rather than of the worker. When
legislation on housing and tenement laws, protection of factory
workers, prevention of child labor and like problems becomes necessary
they will not be lacking in interest or energy.
HAWAII.
The Organic Act under which the Territories of the United States were
created said that at the first election persons with specified
qualifications should be entitled to vote and at subsequent elections
such persons as the Territorial Legislature might designate. It was
under this Act that Wyoming and Utah enfranchised their women in 1869
and 1870 and Washington in 1883.
When in 1899 the Congress was preparing to admit Hawaii as a Territory
the commission framed a constitution which specifically refused the
privilege that had been granted to every other Territory of having its
own Legislature decide who should vote after the first election, by
inserting a clause that it "should not grant to ... any individual any
special privilege or franchise without the approval of Congress." This
constitution gave the suffrage to every masculine citizen of whatever
nationality--Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese--who could read and write
English or Hawaiian, and it repeatedly used the word "male" to bar
women from having a vote or holding an office. The members of this
commission were Senators John T. Morgan of Alabama and Shelby M.
Cullom of Illinois; Representative Robert R. Hitt of Illinois;
President Sanford B. Dole and Associate Justice Frear of Hawaii.
Justice Frear said over his own signature that he and President Dole
desired that the Legislature should have power to authorize woman
suffrage but the rest of the commission would not permit it. Miss
Susan B. Anthony president, and the Official Board of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association, made vigorous objection to this
abuse of power, sent a protest to every member of Congress and
followed this with petitions officially signed by large associations
but to no avail. The Act was approved by President William McKinley
April 30, 1900.[214]
The women had always exercised great influence in political affairs
and the people of Hawaii resented this discrimination but the U. S.
Congress then and for years afterwards was adamant in its opposition
to woman suffrage anywhere. After the women of Washington, California
and Oregon were enfranchised in 1910-11-12 this resentment found
expression among the women of Honolulu in 1912, when they called on
Mrs. John W. Dorsett to help them organize a suffrage club. They
learned in October that by good fortune Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, would stop
there on her way home from a trip around the world and they arranged
by wireless messages for her to address a mass meeting at the opera
house the one evening she would be there. The audience was large and
sympathetic and she learned that every legislative candidate at the
approaching election had announced himself in favor of getting the
vote for women. She met with the suffrage club and found its
constitution modeled on the one recommended by the National American
Woman Suffrage Association. She was in touch with the women afterwards
and the interest was kept alive.
By 1915 the more thoughtful men of the Territory were beginning to
feel that its women must be enfranchised. Both political parties
declared in favor of asking the U. S. Congress for an Act giving the
Hawaiian Legislature authority in this matter and that body itself
passed a bill to this effect. This was taken to Washington by the
Delegate from the Territory, J. K. Kalanianaole, who presented it but
it received no attention. He presented it again in 1916, with a like
result. Soon afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin F. Pitman of Brookline,
Mass., visited the Islands. Mr. Pitman was the son of a Hawaiian
Chiefess and although he had not been there since childhood he was the
person of the highest rank. Mrs. Pitman was prominent among the
suffrage leaders in Massachusetts and was deeply interested in the
situation in Hawaii. She attended the opening of the Legislature and
conversed with nearly all the members, finding them to a man in favor
of the bill, and the Legislature adopted strong resolutions calling
upon Congress to sanction it. In answer to a request for her
experience to use in this chapter she wrote:
It was on Jan. 30, 1917, that we arrived in Honolulu and on the
31st Madame Nakiuna, who was known as the Court historian, gave
us a large reception at Laniakea. At this fête were all the women
of the highest social circles in the Islands. Among them were
Mrs. John W. Dorsett, Mrs. A. P. Taylor, Mrs. Castle-Coleman,
Miss Mary Ermine Cross and others who had heard of my activities
in "the cause" and importuned me to hold meetings to try to
arouse a keener interest. I would have consented at once but for
the fact that almost the first person I saw in this beautiful
land was the field-secretary of the Massachusetts Association
Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage to Women. I had a feeling
that if there was not already an anti-association here there
would be one the moment I began any serious work and so I advised
waiting, promising to do my best for them as soon as it seemed
wise, and so, while I was indeed sorry that the serious illness
of a relative obliged her to depart for home at a very early
date, it was amusing to say the least that while she was sailing
out of the harbor I was holding my first suffrage meeting in the
home of Mrs. Dorsett. I held meetings on two successive days, one
attended mostly by the middle class and the other by high caste
Hawaiians and the "missionary set," which, perhaps, we might
style their "400." My talk was in the form of a discussion and I
was surprised and delighted at the fluency of all who spoke,
their wide knowledge of world affairs and desire for the
franchise. Many months had passed since the departure of Prince
Kalanianaole and so they begged me to investigate as soon as I
returned home. This I promised to do and wrote at once to Mrs.
Catt all that I heard.
Mrs. Catt sent Mrs. Pitman's letter to Mrs. Maud Wood Park, chairman
of the Congressional Committee of the National Suffrage Association
and she took up the question with Senator John F. Shafroth, chairman
of the Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico. The Delegate from
Hawaii, who was deeply interested, welcomed this new force to assist
in pushing the bill, which had simply been neglected. On May 21, 1917,
he presented still another resolution from the Territorial Legislature
asking for it and on June I Senator Shafroth introduced the following
bill:
_Be it enacted_ ... that the Legislature of the Territory of
Hawaii be, and it is hereby, vested with the power to provide
that in all elections ... female citizens possessing the same
qualifications as male citizens shall be entitled to vote.
SEC. 2. That the said Legislature is further hereby vested with
the power to have submitted to the voters of the Territory the
question of whether or not the female citizens shall be empowered
to vote....
The bill was reported favorably by the committee and passed by the
Senate without objection or even discussion on September 15. In the
House it was referred to the Committee on Woman Suffrage, which set
April 29, 1918, for a hearing. Delegate Kalanianaole had been called
back to Honolulu by business but was represented by his secretary and
there were present Mrs. Park, who presided, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
honorary president of the National Suffrage Association, and Mrs.
Pitman, the principal speaker. Judge John E. Raker was chairman of the
committee, which did not need any argument but was interested in
asking many questions of Mrs. Pitman. At the close of the hearing the
committee voted unanimously to make a favorable report. The bill was
passed June 3 without a roll call. It was signed by President Wilson
on the 13th.
The matter was now in the control of the Hawaiian Legislature, which
received petitions from a number of organizations of women to exercise
its power to confer the suffrage without a referendum to the voters.
This was recommended by Governor C. J. McCarthy and early in the
session of 1919 the Senate took this action and sent the bill to the
House. This body under outside influence refused to endorse it but
substituted a bill to send the question to the voters. The Senate
would not accept it and both bills were deadlocked.
The women were then spurred to action; old suffrage clubs were
revived; one was formed in Honolulu of the native high class women and
what is known as the "missionary set," a very brilliant group. Mrs.
Dorsett made a tour of all the Islands to arouse interest and on
Mani, under the leadership of Mrs. Harry Baldwin, clubs were formed
all over the island. A Hawaiian Suffrage Association was organized. At
the next convention of the National Association a resolution was
adopted that it be invited to become auxiliary without the payment of
dues and the invitation was officially accepted with thanks.
The Federal Suffrage Amendment proclaimed by Secretary of State Colby
Aug. 26, 1920, included the women of the Territories and it was thus
that Hawaiian women became enfranchised. They voted in large numbers
at the November elections that year.
THE PHILIPPINES.
The Philippine Islands came under the jurisdiction of the United
States as a consequence of the Spanish-American war in 1898 and their
government soon became an active question in Congress. There was a
desire to permit their own people to participate in this to some
extent and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, always on
the watch tower, took immediate action toward having women included in
any scheme of self-government. With the recent example before it of
the most unjust discrimination against them in the admission of Hawaii
as a Territory, the association under the presidency of Miss Susan B.
Anthony petitioned the members of Congress to recognize the rights of
women in whatever form of government was adopted. At its annual
convention in 1899 impassioned speeches were made against taking away
from Filipino women the position of superiority which they always had
held under Spanish rule by giving the men political authority over
them.
In 1900 Military Governor-General Otis ordered a re-organization of
the municipalities. To decide who should have a vote in local affairs
the Philippine Commission of the U. S. Senate summoned well informed
persons and among them, in the spring of 1902, were Judge William H.
Taft, Governor-General of the islands, and Archbishop Nozaleda, who
had been connected with the Catholic church there for twenty-six years
and archbishop since 1889. Both declared that the suffrage should be
given to the women rather than to the men, the former saying: "The
fact is that, not only among the Tagalogs but also among the
Christian Filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the family, so
if you expect to confer political power on the Filipinos it ought to
be given to the women. Following is part of the Archbishop's
statement. (Senate Document, p. 109.):
The woman is better than the man in every way--in intelligence,
in virtue and in labor--and a great deal more economical. She is
very much given to trade and trafficking. If any rights and
privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to
the men but to the women.
Q. Then you think it would be much better to give the women the
right to vote than the men?
A. O, much better. Why, even in the fields it is the women who do
the work; the men go to the cock fights and gamble. The woman is
the one who supports the man there, so every law of justice
demands that in political life they should have the privilege
over the men.
Notwithstanding this and other testimony of a similar nature the
Commission framed a Code giving a Municipal or local franchise to
certain classes of men and excluding all women, taking away from them
the privileges they always had possessed. The men soon began demanding
their own lawmaking body and in response Congress passed an Act to
take effect Jan. 15, 1907, to provide for the holding of elections in
the Islands for a Legislative Assembly. The Act limited the voters to
"male persons 23 years of age or over," thus again putting up the
barriers against women and including them in the list of the
disqualified as listed--"insane, feeble-minded, rebels and traitors."
The U. S. Government did, however, give women to the same extent as
men all educational advantages, which heretofore had been denied them
and their progress was very rapid. In 1912 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, visited Manila
on her trip around the world and was warmly received. A meeting was
called at the Manila Hotel for August 15 and twelve women responded.
After making an address she helped them form a club which they called
Society for the Advancement of Women. Thirty attended the next meeting
two weeks later and they took up active philanthropic work. In a
little while most of the women of influence were members of it and it
was re-organized as the Woman's Club of Manila. Its work extended in
many directions and it became one of the city's leading institutions.
Other clubs were formed and they joined the General Federation of
Clubs in 1915. There are between 300 and 400 clubs in the Islands
(1920).
Meanwhile the men were not satisfied with their one-house Legislative
Assembly largely under American control, but wanted more power. In
response Congress provided for a Legislature of a Senate of 24 members
and a Lower House of 90, all to be elected except two of the former
and nine of the latter, who would be appointed by the American
Governor-General to represent districts where elections were not held,
the Act to go into effect in 1918. The suffrage was still confined
exclusively to males, although in 1916 the Women's Club had organized
fifty-seven Mothers' Clubs for the welfare of infants; had secured
through women lawyers legal aid for over thirty poor women; had been
instrumental in having 15,000 people make gardens to give variety to
their fish and rice diet and done a vast amount of other valuable
public work. The Act passed by large majorities, members voting for it
who had persistently voted against the Federal Amendment to
enfranchise the women of the United States.
The Philippines were from 1917 represented in Congress by an able and
progressive Commissioner, Jaime C. De Veyra, an advocate of woman
suffrage. His wife, a native of Iloilo, who had been prominent in
civic work in the Islands, shared his views, and was a frequent
visitor at the suffrage headquarters in Washington. In 1919, assisted
by Miss Bessie Dwyer, vice-president of the Manila Women's Club, she
gave beautifully illustrated addresses in Washington and New York, on
the position of women in the Islands. In these and in interviews she
said:
Philippine women have always been free and have always been held
as equals of the men. In the little rural "barrios" you will
always find some sort of woman leader. All over the islands they
are highly considered. Even when old they exercise full sway over
the family and have the last word in all financial matters. The
married children still cling to the mother as adviser. The young
women who marry go into partnership with their husbands and while
the men handle the workers it is the women who do the paying and
oversee things generally. They are engaged in all kinds of
business for themselves and are employed by scores of thousands.
Many thousands carry work home where they can take care of their
children, do the housework and be earning money.
They have the same opportunities in the professions as men, are
successful physicians and lawyers and members of the Bar
Association. Laws made for them have combined the best of Spanish
and American precedents. They are guardians of their own
children; married women may hold property; of that which accrues
to a married couple, the wife is half administrator. These are
vested rights and cannot be taken away.
A short time ago the question of woman suffrage was introduced
into the Legislature, not by the initiative of American women but
urged by Madame Apacibile, wife of one of the government
secretaries. A petition signed by 18,000 women asking for a joint
legislative hearing was sent to the law makers who granted it.
Three Filipina women spoke, one the widow of the eminent
Concepcion Calderon, a successful business woman, owning a fish
farm and an embroidery enterprise. Others were Mrs. Feodore
Kalon, Miss Almeda and Miss Pazlegaspi, the last two practicing
lawyers. Only one man appeared in the negative. The president of
the Senate, the Hon. Manuel L. Quezon, is in favor of woman
suffrage.
Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison recommended to the
Legislature to give the suffrage to women, as it has the power to do.
A bill was introduced and passed the Senate almost unanimously Dec. 7,
1919, but it was not acted upon by the House. As the Constitution of
the United States is not in force in the Philippines the women were
not enfranchised by the Federal Suffrage Amendment in 1920 but must
await the action of their own Legislature.
PORTO RICO.
After Porto Rico came under the control of the United States as a
result of the Spanish-American war in 1898 its political status was
undetermined for a long time. Shortly before that war Spain had
granted universal suffrage to all its men over 21. Congress confirmed
this privilege as to the affairs of the island but they had no voting
rights in those of the United States. After a few years the more
progressive of the people began asking for the status of a Territory
with their own Legislature. This agitation was continued for sixteen
years before Congress took action and agreed on a bill which would
admit the islanders to citizenship. As usual the chief difficulty was
over the suffrage. There was a desire to have a slight educational and
a small property qualification but as a large majority of the men
were illiterate and without property this aroused a protest, which was
supported by the American Federation of Labor. On May 22, 1916, while
the Porto Rican bill was under consideration in Committee of the Whole
in the Lower House of Congress, the Republican floor leader, James R.
Mann (Ills.), discovered that a majority of those present were
Republicans and suffragists. He therefore proposed a clause giving the
franchise to the women, which was passed by 60 to 37. He expected to
put the Democrats in the position of voting it down the next day in
regular session but when it came up Republicans joined with Democrats
in defeating it by 80 noes to 59 ayes.
Finally when, under pressure, the committee was obliged to put in
universal suffrage for the great mass of illiterate men, even the most
ardent advocates of woman suffrage among the members felt that it
would be unwise to add universal suffrage for women. In answer to the
urgent request of the Congressional Committee of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association that this injustice should not be done to
women, Senator John F. Shafroth, chairman of the Committee on the
Pacific Islands and Porto Rico, wrote: "I would have been very glad to
incorporate a provision including women but it would have killed the
bill. I was notified by Senator Martine of New Jersey and others that
they would not permit a provision of that kind to go into it and the
parliamentary stage of the bill was such that any one Senator could
have defeated it. As it was, it took two years to get the bill before
Congress and fully twenty motions to have it considered and if either
prohibition or woman suffrage had gone into it there would have been
no bill for Porto Rico. We avoided the word 'male' in prescribing the
qualifications of electors."
The Act, which received the approval of President Wilson March 2,
1917, provided that at the first election for the Legislature and
other officers the electors should be those qualified under the
present law, and thereafter voters should be citizens of the United
States 21 years of age and have such additional qualifications as
might be prescribed by the Legislature of Porto Rico. The election
took place on July 16. While this Act was an improvement on the one
which admitted Hawaii as a Territory it left the many educated, tax
paying women, the woman in business, the teachers in government and
mission schools, the nurses in the hospitals, the social workers,
wholly in the power of men.
About 1916 there was incorporated in Porto Rico an organization called
La Liga Feminea de Puerto Rico, which worked energetically for the
social uplift of the people and for the political enfranchisement of
women. The official organ was _La Mujer del Siglo Veinte_--_The
Twentieth Century Woman_. Early in the spring of 1917 Mrs. Geraldine
Maud Froscher, an American living in Porto Rico, appealed to the
National Suffrage Association for financial assistance for a campaign
preparatory to the introduction of the woman suffrage bill in the
Legislature that year. Literature was sent immediately and the
association agreed to pay the expenses of Mrs. Froscher, who organized
suffrage leagues in all towns of any considerable size, addressed
women's clubs, interviewed legislators and distributed literature. In
this work she had the able assistance of Mrs. Ana Roqué Duprey, the
first president of the San Juan Suffrage League, editor of the above
paper and later of _El Heraldo de la Mujer_--_The Woman's Herald_,
with Mrs. Froscher as the American editor.
In August, 1917, at the first session of the new Legislature, a bill
was introduced in the Lower House to give women the right to hold
office but without the right to vote and one to give them equal
rights. Later two more bills were introduced but none was passed. As
Porto Rico is an unincorporated Territory of the United States, its
women were not enfranchised by the Federal Suffrage Amendment in 1920.
At three consecutive sessions of the Legislative Assembly a petition
for woman suffrage has been presented.
FOOTNOTES:
[213] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Jeannette Drury
Clark, a graduate of the University of California, who with her
husband, John A. Clark, an attorney, has made her home in Fairbanks
for the past fifteen years.
[214] History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, pages 325, 343, 346, 446.
CHAPTER LI.
PROGRESS OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
1900 - 1920.[215]
I consider it an honor to have been asked to take up the pen from the
date 1900, when my dear friend and colleague, the late Helen
Blackburn, laid it down after writing the chapter on Great Britain for
Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. I am particularly
fortunate in that it falls to my lot to include the year 1918, when
Victory crowned our fifty years' struggle in these islands to obtain
the Parliamentary franchise for women.
Several circumstances entirely outside our power of control combined
to promote the rapid growth of the movement at the beginning of the
XXth Century. The chief of these were the South African war,
1899-1902, and the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. The war with the
Transvaal was caused by the refusal of President Kruger and his
advisers to recognize the principle that taxation and representation
should go together. The so-called Uitlanders, who formed a large
proportion of the population of the Transvaal and provided by taxation
a still larger proportion of its revenue, were practically excluded
from representation. This led to intense irritation and ultimately to
war. It was, therefore, inevitable that articles in the press and the
speeches of British statesmen dealing with the war used arguments
which might have been transferred without the alteration of a single
word to women's suffrage speeches.
I have described on pages 29 and 30 of Women's Suffrage, a Short
History of a Great Movement, the strong impulse which had been given
to the electorial activity of British women by the Corrupt Practices
Act of 1883, which made paid canvassing illegal and otherwise reduced
electorial expenses. Very soon after it came into operation both the
chief political parties organized bands of educated women to act as
canvassers, election agents, etc., in contested elections. The war
stimulated this electorial activity of women. A general election was
held in 1900 and in the absence of husbands, sons and brothers in
South Africa, many wives, mothers and sisters ran the whole election
on their behalf. Several of these were well known anti-suffragists.
Even Mrs. Humphry Ward herself, on the occasion of an important
anti-suffrage meeting in London, excused her absence on the ground
that her presence was required by the exigencies of the pending
election in West Herts, where her son was a candidate. Suffragists
again were not slow to point the moral--if women were fit (and they
obviously were fit) not only to advise, persuade and instruct voters
how to vote but also to conduct election campaigns from start to
finish, they were surely fit to vote themselves.
The death of Queen Victoria in January, 1901, called forth a
spontaneous burst of loyal gratitude, devotion and appreciation from
all parties and all sections of the country. Every leading statesman
among her councillors dwelt on the extraordinary penetration of her
mind, her wide political knowledge, her great practical sagacity, her
grasp of principle, and they combined to acclaim her as the most
trusted of all the constitutional monarchs whom the world had then
seen. How could she be all that they justly claimed for her, if the
whole female sex laboured under the disabilities which, according to
Mrs. Humphry Ward, were imposed by nature and therefore irremediable?
Nevertheless, it must not be supposed, genuine as were these tributes
to Queen Victoria's political sagacity, that her example immediately
cleared out of the minds of the opponents the notion that women were
fitly classed with aliens, felons, idiots and lunatics, as persons who
for reasons of public safety were debarred from the exercise of the
Parliamentary franchise.
The Parliament returned in 1906 had an immense Liberal majority. There
were only 157 Unionist members in the House of Commons against 513
Liberals, Labour men and Nationalists, all of whom were for Home Rule
and therefore prepared to support in all critical divisions the new
administration which was formed under the Premiership of Sir Henry
Campbell Bannerman. The new House contained 426 members pledged to
Women's Suffrage. The Premier was himself a suffragist but his Cabinet
contained several determined anti-suffragists, notable among whom were
Mr. Herbert H. Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. James
Bryce, chief secretary for Ireland (now Lord Bryce), who became
British Ambassador to the United States in 1907. The new Prime
Minister received a large, representative suffrage deputation in May,
1906, in which all sections of suffragist opinion were represented,
and their case was laid before him with force and clearness. In reply
he told them that they had made out "a conclusive and irrefutable
case" but that he was not prepared to take any steps to realize their
hopes. When asked what he would advise ardent suffragists to do he
told them to "go on pestering." This advice was taken to heart by the
group (a small minority of the whole) who had lately formed in
Manchester the organization known as The Women's Social and Political
Union, led by Mrs. Pankhurst.
An unforeseen misfortune was the death in 1908 of Sir H. C. Bannerman
and the fact that his successor was our principal opponent in the
Government, Mr. Asquith. It was not very long before he revealed the
line of his attack upon the enfranchisement of women. He informed his
party in May, 1908, that his intention was to introduce before the
expiration of the existing Parliament a Reform Bill giving a wide
extension of the franchise to men and no franchise at all to women. In
the previous February a Women's Suffrage Bill which removed all sex
disability from existing franchises had passed its second reading in
the House of Commons but this apparently had no effect on Mr. Asquith.
There were, however, some cracks in his armour. He admitted that about
two-thirds of his Cabinet and a majority of his party were favourable
to Women's Suffrage and he promised that when his own exclusively male
Reform Bill was before the House and had got into committee, if an
amendment to include women were moved on democratic lines, his
Government, as a Government, would not oppose it. This was at all
events an advance on the position taken by Mr. Gladstone upon his
Reform Bill of 1884, when he vehemently opposed a women's suffrage
amendment and caused it to be defeated.
The emergence of what was afterwards known as "militancy" belongs to
this period, dating from the General Election of 1906 and very much
stimulated by Premier Bannerman's reply to the deputation in that year
and by the attitude of Mr. Asquith. It will ever be an open question
on which different people, with equal opportunities of forming a
judgment, will pronounce different verdicts, whether "militancy" did
more harm or good to the suffrage cause. It certainly broke down the
"conspiracy of silence" on the subject up to then observed by the
press. Every extravagance, every folly, every violent expression, and
of course when the "militants" after 1908 proceeded to acts of
violence, every outrage against person or property were given the
widest possible publicity not only in Great Britain but all over the
world. There was soon not an intelligent human being in any country
who was not discussing Women's Suffrage and arguing either for or
against it. This was an immense advantage to the movement, for we had,
as Sir H. Campbell Bannerman had said, "a conclusive and irrefutable
case." Our difficulty had been to get it heard and considered and this
"militancy" secured. The anti-suffrage press believed that it would
kill the movement and it was this belief which encouraged them to give
it the widest possible publicity. The wilder and more extravagant the
"militants" became the more they were quoted, described and advertised
in every way. The sort of "copy" which anti-suffrage papers demanded
was supplied by them in cartloads and not at all by law-abiding
suffragists, who were an immense majority of the whole. This can be
illustrated by an anecdote. The Constitutional suffragists had
organized a big meeting in Trafalgar Square and had secured a strong
team of first-rate speakers. The square was well filled and on the
fringe of the crowd the following conversation was overheard between
two press men who had come to report the proceedings. One said he was
going away, the second asked why and the first answered: "It's no good
stopping, there's no copy in this; these women are only talking
sense!"
The earlier years of militant activity were in my opinion helpful to
the whole movement, for up to 1908 the "militants" had only adopted
sensational and unusual methods, such as waving flags and making
speeches in the lobby of the House and asking inconvenient questions
at public meetings. They had suffered a great deal of violence but had
used none. From 1908 onwards, however, they began to use violence,
stone throwing, personal attacks, sometimes with whips, on obnoxious
members of the Government, window smashing, the destruction of the
contents of letter-boxes--in one instance the destruction of ballot
papers cast in an election. Later arson practised for the destruction
or attempted destruction of churches and houses became more and more
frequent. All this had an intensely irritating effect on public
opinion. "Suffragist" as far as the general public was concerned
became almost synonymous with "Harpy." This cause which had not been
defeated on a straight vote in the House of Commons since 1886 was now
twice defeated; once in 1912 and once in 1913. The whole spirit
engendered by attempting to gain by violence or threats of violence
what was not conceded to justice and reason was intensely inimical to
the spirit of our movement. We believed with profound conviction that
whatever might be gained in that way did not and could not rest on a
sure foundation. The women's movement was an appeal against government
by physical force and those who used physical violence in order to
promote it were denying their faith to make their faith prevail.
The difference made a deep rift in the suffrage movement. The
constitutional societies felt bound to exclude "militants" from their
membership and on several occasions issued strongly-worded protests
against the use of violence as political propaganda. The fact that men
under similar circumstances had been much more violent and
destructive, especially in earlier days when they were less civilized,
did not inspire us with the wish to imitate them. We considered that
they had been wrong and that "direct action," as it is now the fashion
to call coercion by means of physical force, had always reacted
unfavorably on those who employed it. While the constitutional
societies freely and repeatedly expressed their views on these points,
the "militants" not unnaturally retorted by attempting to break up our
meetings, shouting down our speakers and provoking every sort of
disorder at them. It was an exceptionally difficult situation and
that we won through as well as we did was due to the solid loyalty to
constitutional and law-abiding methods of propaganda of the great mass
of suffragists throughout the country. We quoted the American proverb,
"Three hornets can upset a camp meeting," and we determined to hold
steadily on our way and not let our hornets upset us. Our societies
multiplied rapidly both in numbers and in membership. For instance,
the number forming the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
increased from 64 in 1909 to 130 in 1910 and went on increasing
rapidly until just before the war in 1914 they numbered more than 600,
with a revenue of over 42,000 pounds a year.
More important in many ways than the "militant" movement was the
emergence at the General Election in 1906 of the Labour Party. Mr.
Keir Hardie, Mr. Philip Snowden and others of its leaders were very
strong supporters of women's suffrage and it was not long before the
party definitely made the enfranchisement of women on the same terms
as men a plank in its platform. In anticipation of the first General
Election of 1910, the N.U.W.S.S. addressed the leaders of the three
British parties, Conservative, Liberal, and Labour, asking them what
they were prepared to do for Women's Suffrage. Mr. Asquith gave his
answer at an Albert Hall meeting in December, 1909. He reiterated his
intention, if returned to power, of bringing in a Reform Bill, and he
promised to make the insertion of a Women's Suffrage amendment an open
question for the House of Commons to decide. He added: "The Government
... has no disposition or desire to burke the question; it is clearly
an issue on which the new House ought to be given an opportunity to
express its views." This meant that the Government whips would not be
put on to oppose the enfranchisement of women. Mr. Balfour replied to
our memorial that it was a non-party question on which members of the
Unionist Party could exercise individual freedom of action. Mr. Arthur
Henderson, for the Labour Party, told us that it had already placed
the enfranchisement of women on its programme. The Labour Party was
not large but it was an important advantage to us to have even a small
party definitely pledged to our support. There were two General
Elections in 1910, in January and December. The Liberal, Labour and
Nationalist group lost heavily in the second of these elections, their
majority being reduced from 334 to 124.
The Labour Party between these two elections had lost six seats but
they were still forty strong, all definitely pledged to Women's
Suffrage in the new Parliament which assembled in January, 1911. Our
Bill had been carried on its second reading in 1910 by a majority of
110 but after the second General Election of 1910 it secured on May 5,
1911, a majority of 167; there were 55 pairs, only 88 members of
Parliament going into the Lobby against us. The Bill on each of these
occasions was of a very limited character; it proposed to enfranchise
women-householders, widows and spinsters and would only have added
about a million women to the Parliamentary register. It was called the
Conciliation Bill, because it sought to conciliate the differences
between different types of suffragists in the House of Commons, from
the extreme Conservative who only cared for the representation of
women of property, to the extreme Radical who demanded the
enfranchisement of every woman. A committee was formed to promote the
success of this bill in Parliament of which the Earl of Lytton was
Chairman and Mr. H. N. Brailsford Hon. Sec. It was believed that the
bill represented the greatest common measure of the House of Commons'
belief in women's votes. The Labour Party were strongly in favour of a
much wider enfranchisement of women but generously waived their own
preferences in order, as they believed, to get some sort of
representation for women on the Statute Book. Almost immediately after
this large majority for the second reading of the Conciliation Bill in
May, 1911, an official announcement was made by the Government that
Mr. Asquith's promise of the previous November that an opportunity
should be afforded for proceeding with the bill in all its stages
would be fulfilled in the session of 1912.
We were then in the most favourable position we had ever occupied; the
passing of the Women's Suffrage Bill in the near future seemed a
certainty. The "militants" had suspended all their methods of violence
in order to give the Conciliation Bill a chance, and, as just
described, it had passed its second reading debate with a majority of
167 and time for "proceeding effectively" with a similar Bill in all
its stages had been promised. All the suffrage societies were working
harmoniously for the same Bill and the Women's Liberal Federation were
cooperating with the suffrage societies, when suddenly, like a bolt
from the blue, Mr. Asquith dealt us a characteristic blow. In reply to
a deputation from the People's Suffrage Federation early in November
he announced his intention of introducing during the coming session of
1912 the Electoral Reform Bill which he had foreshadowed in 1908; he
said that in this Bill all existing franchises would be swept away,
plural voting abolished and the period of residence reduced. The new
franchise to be created was, he added, to be based on citizenship and
votes were to be given to "citizens of full age and competent
understanding," but no mention was made of the enfranchisement of
women. On being asked what he intended to do about women's votes, he
dismissed the subject with the remark that his opinions on the subject
were well known and had suffered no change, but he reiterated the
promise of "facilities" for the Conciliation Bill in the 1912 Session.
The situation, therefore, was briefly this: An agitation of
ever-growing intensity and determination had for some years been
carried on by women for their own enfranchisement and no agitation at
all had been manifested by men for more votes for themselves; the
Prime Minister's response to this situation was to promise legislation
giving far larger and wider representation to men and none at all to
women. No wonder that he provoked an immediate outburst of militancy!
Stones were thrown and windows smashed all along the Strand,
Piccadilly, Whitehall and Bond Street, and members of the Government
went about in perpetual apprehension of personal assault.
The indignation of the Constitutional suffragists and of the Women's
Liberal Federation with Mr. Asquith was quite as real as that of the
"suffragettes" but it sought a different method of expression. Some
knowledge of this probably reached him, as for the first time in our
experience all the suffrage societies and the W.L.F. were invited by
the Prime Minister to form a deputation to him on the subject. What we
were accustomed to was sending an urgent demand to him to receive us
in a deputation and to get his reply that he believed "no useful
purpose would be served" by yielding to our request; but now, in
November, 1911, he was inviting us to come and see him! Of course we
went. His whole demeanor was much more conciliatory than it had ever
been before. He acknowledged the strength and intensity of the demand
of women for representation and admitted that in opposing it he was in
a minority both in his Cabinet and in his party; finally he added
that, although his personal opinions on the subject prevented him from
initiating and proposing the change which women were pressing for, he
was prepared to bow to and acquiesce in the considered judgment of the
House of Commons, and he stated that this course was quite in
accordance with the best traditions of English public life. The
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, of which I was the
mouthpiece, then put the following questions:
(1) Is it the intention of the Government that the Reform Bill shall
go through all its stages in 1912?
(2) Will the Bill be drafted in such a way as to admit of amendments
introducing women on other terms than men?
(3) Will the Government undertake not to oppose such amendments?
(4) Will the Government regard any amendment enfranchising women,
which is carried, as an integral part of the Bill be defended by the
Government in all its later stages?
To all these questions, as they were put severally, Mr. Asquith
replied "Yes, certainly."
Mr. Lloyd George, who was present, was pressed by the deputation to
speak but did so only very briefly. He was known as an opponent of the
Conciliation Bill but had voted for it in 1911 because it was so
drafted as to admit of free amendment. He made no secret of his
conviction that the wider enfranchisement afforded by amendment of the
Government measure would, to use his own expression, "torpedo" the
Conciliation Bill. Almost immediately after the deputation thus
described he sent the following message to the N.U.W.S.S.: "The Prime
Minister's pronouncement as to the attitude to be adopted by the
Government towards the question seems to make the carrying of a
Women's Suffrage Amendment to next year's Franchise Bill a certainty.
I am willing to do all in my power to help those who are labouring to
reach a successful issue in the coming session. Next year provides the
supreme opportunity and nothing but unwise handling of that chance can
compass failure."
There was plenty of unwise handling, but not, as I am proud to think,
from the constitutional suffragists. The first was the wild outburst
of "militancy" already referred to. Mr. Lloyd George was pursued by
persistent interruption and annoyance deliberately organised by the
Women's Social and Political Union. A meeting he addressed at Bath,
mainly devoted to advocacy of Women's Suffrage, on Nov. 24, 1911, was
all but turned into a bear garden by these deliberately planned and
very noisy interruptions. Not to be outdone in "unwise handling" Mr.
Asquith next had his innings. He received an anti-suffrage deputation
on Dec. 14, 1911, about three weeks after he had received the
suffragists, and in the course of his remarks to them he said: "As an
individual I am in entire agreement with you that the grant of the
Parliamentary Vote to women in this country would be a political
mistake of a very disastrous kind." This went far to invalidate the
fair-seeming promises to us given about three weeks earlier. How could
a man in the all-important position of Prime Minister pledge himself
to use all the forces at the disposal of the Government to pass in all
its stages through both houses a measure which might include the
perpetration of "a political mistake of a very disastrous kind"? A
member of Mr. Asquith's own party who took part in the anti-suffrage
deputation interpreted this expression of his chief as an S.O.S. call
to his followers in the House to deliver him from the humiliation of
having to fulfil the promises he had given us. Every kind of intrigue
and trick known to the accomplished parliamentarian was put into
operation. Every Irish Nationalist vote was detached from support of
the Bill. A description of one of these discreditable devices, among
them an attempt to hold up the N.U.W.S.S. to public contempt as
purveyors of "obscene" literature, will be found in a book by myself
called The Women's Victory and After, published in 1920.
The first result of these intrigues was the defeat of the
Conciliation Bill, by 14 votes only, on March 28, 1912. This was
hailed as an immense triumph by the anti-suffragists, as indeed in a
sense it was, for exactly the same bill had been carried by the same
House in 1911 by a majority of 167; but it was a triumph which cost
the victors dear, especially when the tricks and perversions of truth
came to light by which it had been achieved. From this time forward
public opinion was more decided in our favour and the general view was
that the Government had treated us shabbily.
The progress made by the Government in pressing forward their
Electoral Reform Bill was not rapid. When it was at last introduced it
was discovered to be not a Reform Bill, but in the main a Registration
Bill. In the second reading debate Mr. Asquith described his Bill as
one to enfranchise "male persons only," and said in regard to women
that he could not conceive that the House would "so far stultify
itself as to reverse the considered judgment it had already arrived
at" earlier in the session. It was a "considered judgment" to defeat
the Bill by 14 votes in 1912 but not a "considered judgment" to have
it carried by 167 in 1911! Sir Edward Grey felt strongly that the
House had placed itself in a very undesirable position, but the
Conciliation Bill was defeated and Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Lloyd George
and the leading suffragists in the Government continued to assure us
that the inclusion of Women's Suffrage through an amendment of the
Government Bill presented us with by far the best prospect of success
we had ever had. We worked as we had never worked before to secure the
success of this amendment or series of amendments. The session of 1912
had lasted from January to December without the committee stage of the
Government Bill being reached. This interminable session overflowed
into 1913 and the debate on the suffrage amendments of the Government
Bill was dated to begin on January 24th of that year. On January 23rd,
however, in reply to a question, the Speaker [Mr. Lowther] indicated
that he would probably be compelled to rule that if the Bill were
amended so as to include the enfranchisement of women, he might feel
obliged to rule that in this form it was not the same bill of which
the second reading had been carried in July, and it would, therefore,
have to be withdrawn and re-introduced! This ruling he confirmed on
the following Monday, January 27th. Therefore, every one of the fair
promises which Mr. Asquith had given us in November, 1911, proved to
be absolutely worthless.
I do not accuse Mr. Asquith of anything worse at this stage than
blundering. He was manifestly confounded and distressed by the
Speaker's ruling. Whether this were due to the naming of the Bill or
to Mr. Asquith's own speech on the second reading, "This is a bill to
enfranchise male persons only, etc.", we were not able to discover;
but the net result was that he found himself in a position in which it
was impossible for him to fulfil the promises he had given us. Under
these circumstances he did not take the only honorable course open to
him, i.e., of sending for us once more and asking us what we should
consider a reasonable equivalent for these unredeemed promises. He had
made these promises five years back and had repeated them from time to
time ever since. Now they were null and void. The only reasonable
equivalent would have been the introduction of a Government Reform
Bill which included the enfranchisement of women. Probably Mr. Asquith
knew that this was what we should urge; for he not only did not send
for us but he refused to see us or consult us in any way. He tossed
us, without our consent, the thoroughly worthless substitute of a day
for a Private Member's Bill, such as we had had experience of time and
again ever since 1870. The N.U.W.S.S. indignantly rejected this offer
and took no interest in the proposed Bill, which was, however,
introduced and given a day for second reading in May, 1913, when it
was defeated by a majority of 47.
This discreditable series of incidents did far more harm to the
Government than to the suffrage cause, as was very conclusively shown
in the press. "Punch," for instance, had a cartoon on Feb. 5, 1913,
representing a dance in which Mr. Asquith figured as a defaulting
partner in a corner and trying to escape from an indignant woman who
said, "You've cut my dance!" This was indicative of the general trend
of public opinion.
In the previous year the N.U.W.S.S. had placed a new interpretation on
its election policy. This was to support in elections irrespective of
party "the best friend of Women's Suffrage." After the defeat of the
Conciliation Bill in 1912 when 42 so-called "friends" voted against
it, we resolved in the future that the best friend was a man who was
not only personally satisfactory but who also belonged to a party
which had made Women's Suffrage a plank in its platform. This meant
support for the Labour Party and for the development of this policy we
raised a special fund called the Election Fighting Fund and took
active steps in canvassing and speaking for Labour men whenever they
presented themselves as candidates for vacant seats. Our movement had
now become the storm centre of English politics. A well known labour
leader wrote of the political situation in February, 1913, as follows:
"The Women's Suffrage question will now dominate British politics
until it is settled. It has within the last few weeks killed a great
Government measure and it has done more than that. It has made it
impossible for this or any succeeding Liberal Government to deal with
franchise reform without giving votes to women. The Labour Party will
see to that."
In 1913 the N.U.W.S.S. organised the greatest public demonstration it
had ever made. We called it The Pilgrimage. It meant processions of
non-militant suffragists, wearing their badges and carrying banners,
marching towards London along eight of the great trunk roads. These
eight processions, many of them lasting several weeks, stopped at
towns and villages on their way, held meetings, distributed literature
and collected funds. It was all a tremendous and unprecedented
success, well organised and well done throughout. (Described in detail
in The Women's Victory.) The Pilgrimage made a very great impression
and was favourably commented on in the organs of the press which had
never helped us before. We finished The Pilgrimage with a mass meeting
in Hyde Park on July 26, where we had seventeen platforms, one for
each of our federations. We asked Mr. Asquith and the leaders of other
political parties to receive a deputation from The Pilgrimage the
following week. They all accepted with the exception of Mr. John
Redmond. When Mr. Asquith received us his demeanor was far less
unfriendly than it had ever been before. He admitted that the offer
of a Private Member's Bill was no equivalent for the loss of a place
in a Government Bill. He said: "Proceed as you have been proceeding,
continue to the end," and said if we could show that "a substantial
majority of the country was favourable to Women's Suffrage, Parliament
would yield, as it had always hitherto done, to the opinion of the
country."
In May, 1914, suffrage ground was broken in the House of Lords by Lord
Selborne and Lord Lytton, who introduced a bill on the lines of the
Conciliation Bill, the latter making one of the most powerful speeches
in our support to which we had ever listened. The Bill was rejected by
104 to 60, but we were more than satisfied by the weight of the
speeches on our side and by the effect produced by them. Another
important event which greatly helped our movement in 1914 was the
protest of the National Trade Union Congress on February 12th against
the Government's failure to redeem its repeated pledges to women and
demanding "a Government Reform Bill which must include the
enfranchisement of women." This was followed by resolutions passed at
the annual conference of the National Labour Party re-affirming its
decision "to oppose any further extension of the franchise to men in
which women were not included."
There must, according to law, have been a General Election in 1915 and
the remarkable progress of the women's cause made us feel confident
that a Parliament would be elected deeply pledged to our support. Our
friends were being elected and our enemies, including that worst type
of enemy, the false friend and the so-called Liberal afraid of his own
principles, were being rejected at by-elections in a manner that
foreshadowed a great gain to suffrage forces at the General Election.
Then suddenly, destroying all our hopes of success and jeopardizing
the very existence of representative government and all forms of
democracy throughout the world, came the outbreak of war; the entry of
our own country and the resulting concentration of the vast majority
of the British people, whether men or women, in the gigantic national
effort which the successful resistance of such a foe demanded. August
4, 1914, was a heart-breaking day for us. Nevertheless, suffragists
from the first faced the facts and saw clearly what their duty was.
The "militants" instantly abandoned every sort of violence. A large
number of the more active members of their societies formed the
Women's Emergency Corps, who were ready to undertake all kinds of
national work which the exigencies of the situation demanded. The
N.U.W.S.S. Executive Committee meeting on August 3, the day before our
own country was actually involved, resolved to suspend immediately all
political propaganda for its own ends. Under normal circumstances we
should have summoned a Council meeting to discuss the situation and to
determine the course to be taken by the Union. This being impossible
owing to difficulties connected with railway communication we
consulted our societies, then numbering over 500, by post, placing
them in possession of our own views, viz.: that ordinary political
work would have to be suspended during the war and suggesting that our
best course would be to use our staff and organising capacity in
promoting forms of work designed to mitigate the distress caused by
the war. We felt that our members would desire to be of service to the
Nation and that the N.U.W.S.S. had in their organisation a special
gift which they could offer to their country. This view was endorsed
by our societies with only two dissenting.
On receiving this practically unanimous backing we further proceeded
to recommend distinct forms of active service. The Local Government
Board had addressed a circular to Lord Mayors and Mayors and Chairmen
of Town and County Councils directing them at once to form Local
Relief Committees to deal with any kind of distress caused by the war.
We suggested to our societies that they should offer their services to
help, each in its own district, in this national work. We also opened
in different parts of the country forty workrooms in which women
thrown out of work by the war found employment. We established bureaux
for the registration of voluntary workers and gradually our work
spread in all directions; help for the Belgian refugees, the starting
of clubs and canteens for soldiers and sailors, clubs for soldiers'
wives, work in connection with the Sailors' and Soldiers' Families
Association, patrol work in the neighborhood of soldiers' training
camps, Red Cross work, conducting French classes for our men in
training. A very large number of our societies concentrated on
maternity and child welfare work; others in country districts took up
fruit picking and preserving in order to conserve the national food
supplies. It is really impossible to mention all our various
activities. These were included under a general heading adopted at a
Provincial Council meeting held in November, 1914, urging "our
societies and all members of the Union to continue by every means in
their power all efforts which had for their object the sustaining of
the vital energies of the Nation so long as such special efforts may
be required."
The war work with which the name of the N.U.W.S.S. is most widely
known was the formation of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign
Service. This was initiated and organised by the Hon. Sec. of our
Scottish Federation, Dr. Elsie Inglis, and was backed by the whole of
the N.U.W.S.S. (See Life of Dr. E. Inglis by Lady Frances Balfour.)
Meeting at first with persistent snubbing from the Royal Army Medical
Corps and the British Red Cross, Dr. Inglis formed her first hospital
at the Abbaye de Royaument about thirty miles from Paris, officered
entirely by women. Other units on similar lines quickly followed in
France and Serbia. Their work was magnificent and was rapidly
recognised as such by the military authorities and by all who came in
contact with it. These hospitals probably produced by the example of
their high standard of professional efficiency and personal devotion a
permanent influence on the development of the women's movement in
those countries where they were located. They received no farthing of
government money but raised the 428,856 pounds, which their audited
accounts show as their net total to August 3, 1919, entirely by
private subscription from all over the world including, of course, the
United States.
The N.U.W.S.S. were very early in the field of women's national work
during the war because their members were already organised and
accustomed to work together, but it is no exaggeration to say that the
whole of the women of the country of all classes, suffragist and
anti-suffragist, threw themselves into work for the nation in a way
that had never been anticipated by those who had judged women by
pre-war standards. Into munition work and all kinds of manufacturing
activity they crowded in their thousands. They worked on the land and
undertook many kinds of labour that had hitherto been supposed to be
beyond their strength and capacity. By what was called the Treasury
agreement of 1915 the Trade Unions were induced to suspend the
operation of their rules excluding the employment of female labour.
They bargained that women should be paid the same as men for the same
output and the Government agreed not to use the women as a reservoir
of cheap labour. Thus industrial liberty was ensured for women at
least so long as the war should last.
All these things combined to produce an enormous effect on public
opinion. Newspapers were full of the praises of women; financiers,
statesmen, economists and politicians declared that without the aid of
women it would be impossible to win the war. The anti-suffragism of
Mr. Asquith even was beginning to crumble. In speaking of the heroic
death of Edith Cavell in Belgium in October, 1915, he said: "She has
taught the bravest men among us a supreme lesson of courage; yes ...
and there are thousands of such women and a year ago we did not know
it." Almost the whole of the press was on our side. The general tone
was that it would be difficult to refuse woman a voice in the control
of affairs after the splendid way in which she had justified her claim
to it. We old suffragists felt that we were living in a new world
where everyone agreed with us. Nevertheless, I do not believe we
should have won the vote just when we did if it had not been that,
through the action of the Government itself, it was absolutely
necessary to introduce legislation in order to prevent the almost
total disfranchisement of many millions of men who had been serving
their country abroad in the Navy and Army, or in munition or other
work which had withdrawn them from the places where they usually
resided.
It may be necessary to explain to non-British readers that by far the
most important qualification for the Parliamentary franchise in this
country before 1918 was the occupation of premises, and before a man
could be put on the register of voters it was necessary for its owner
to prove "occupation" of these premises for twelve months previous to
the last 15th of July. Seven out of every eight voters were placed on
the register through this qualification. It was not a property
qualification, for the tiniest cottage at a shilling a week could
qualify its occupier for a vote if he had fulfilled the condition just
described; and a man might be a millionaire without getting a vote if
he were not in occupation of qualifying premises. Before the war the
register of voters was kept up to date by annual revision. The war,
however, made this difficult and the Government in 1915 gave
directions that this annual revision should be abandoned. As the war
went on, the existing register, therefore, rapidly became more and
more out of date. Millions of the best men in the country had become
disqualified through their war service by giving up their qualifying
premises. The House of Commons again and again postponed the date of
the General Election but the occasional by-elections which took place
proved that there was no register in existence on which it would be
morally possible to appeal to the country. The old, the feeble, the
slacker, the crank, the conscientious objector would all be left in
full strength and the fighting men would be disfranchised. A
Parliament elected on such a register would, Mr. Asquith declared, be
wholly lacking in moral authority. Therefore, by sheer necessity the
Government was forced to introduce legislation dealing with the whole
franchise question as it affected the male voter. A Coalition
Government of the Liberal, Conservative and Labour Parties had been
formed in 1915. This improved suffrage prospects, for many of the new
men joining the Government, more especially Lord Robert Cecil, the
Earl of Selborne and the Earl of Lytton, were warm supporters of our
cause; while in making room for these newscomers, Mr. Asquith found it
possible to dispense with the services of men of the type of Sir
Charles Hobhouse, Mr. A. J. Pease and others who were our opponents.
The formation of a Coalition Government helped us in another way.
Neither of the great parties, Conservative and Liberal, had been
unanimous on the women's question and the heads of these parties lived
in terror of smashing up their party by pledging themselves to
definite action on our side. Mr. Gladstone had broken up the Liberal
Party in 1886 by advocating Irish Home Rule, and Mr. Balfour and Mr.
Chamberlain had broken up the Conservative Party by advocating
Protection in 1903-4. Each of these had, in consequence, a prolonged
sojourn in the wilderness of Opposition. But now a Government was
formed in which all the parties were represented except the Irish
Nationalists, who had refused to join, and therefore our friends in
both the old parties could give free rein to their disposition to make
Women's Suffrage a reality without dread of bringing disaster on their
organisations. The attitude of the N.U.W.S.S. and seventeen other
Constitutional Suffrage Societies who had united to form a
Consultative Committee, was quite clear as to the line we should take
under these circumstances. In various ways and by repeated
communications, letters, memorials and deputations we kept the
Government informed that if their intentions with regard to the new
register were limited simply to replacing upon it the names of the men
who had lost their vote through their patriotic service, we should not
press our own claim; but if on the other hand the Government
determined to proceed by creating a new basis for the franchise, or
changing the law in any way which would result in the addition of a
large number of men to the register, without doing anything for women,
we should use every means in our power within the limits of lawful
agitation to bring the case for the enfranchisement of women before
Parliament and the country.
Mr. Asquith answered a communication from us on these lines in May,
1916, with the greatest politeness but said that "no such legislation
was at present in contemplation." However, within the next fortnight
it was in contemplation and the Government made repeated attempts to
deal with the situation by the creation of a special register. All the
attempts were rejected by the House of Commons, which evidently wanted
the subject dealt with on broader and more comprehensive lines. On
August 14 Mr. Asquith, in introducing yet another Special Register
Bill, announced his conversion to Women's Suffrage! This was an advent
of great importance to our movement, for it virtually made the Liberal
Party a Suffrage Party, but the Parliamentary difficulty was not
removed, for the Government was still nibbling at the question by
trying to deal with it by little amendments to the law relating to
the registration of voters. At last a way out was devised. Mr. Walter
Long, president of the local government board, a typical conservative
country gentleman and at that time an anti-suffragist, made the
suggestion that the whole question of Electoral Reform, including the
enfranchisement of women, should be referred to a non-party
Conference, consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament and
presided over by the Speaker. Mr. Asquith concurred and Parliament
agreed. Women's Suffrage was only one of many subjects connected with
Electoral Reform which had to be dealt with by the Conference but it
is not too much to say that if it had not been for the urgency of the
claim of women to representation the Conference would never have been
brought into existence.
The members of this Conference were chosen by the Speaker, who was
careful to give equal representation to suffragists and
anti-suffragists. Sir John Simon and Sir Willoughby Dickinson, members
of the Conference, were very active and skilful in organising the
forces in our favour. The Conference was called into being in October,
1916, and began its sittings at once. A ministerial crisis which
occurred in December resulted in the resignation of Mr. Asquith and
the appointment of Mr. Lloyd George as his successor. The Speaker
enquired of the new Prime Minister if he desired the Conference to
continue its labours. The reply was an emphatic affirmative. The
Conference reported on January 27, 1917. Everyone knows that it
recommended by a majority, some said a large majority, the granting of
some measure of suffrage to women. Put as briefly as possible the
franchise recommended for women was "household franchise," and for the
purposes of the bill a woman was reckoned to be a householder not only
if she was so in her own right but if she were the wife of a
householder. An age limit of thirty was imposed upon women, not
because it was in any way logical or reasonable but simply and solely
in order to produce a constituency in which the men were not
out-numbered by the women.
Some few weeks earlier we had heard on unimpeachable authority that
the new Prime Minister was "very keen and very practical" on our
question and was prepared to introduce legislation upon it without
delay. He no doubt remembered how emphatically he had told us in 1911
of the extreme value of the promises which had been made to us by Mr.
Asquith, and how in our meeting in the Albert Hall in the following
March he had referred to the doubt which some suffragists had
expressed upon the worth of these promises as "an imputation of deep
dishonour which he absolutely declined to contemplate." He had in 1911
put into writing and sent as a message to the _Common Cause_, the
official organ of the N.U.W.S.S., a statement of his conviction that
Mr. Asquith's promises made the carrying of a Women's Suffrage
amendment to next year's franchise bill a certainty and he had offered
his personal help to bring this about. It has already been described
how all these confident hopes had been brought to nought; but now,
December, 1916, within a fortnight of becoming Prime Minister, Mr.
Lloyd George let us know that he was not only ready but keen to go
forward on practical lines. When Parliament met we asked the Prime
Minister to receive a large and representative deputation of women who
had worked for their country during the war. Our object was to ask him
to legislate at once on the lines recommended by the Speaker's
Conference but we were pushing an open door.
The new Prime Minister had arranged to receive us on March 29, 1917,
and on the 28th Mr. Asquith had moved a resolution in the House of
Commons, and his motion had been agreed to by 341 votes to 62, calling
for the early introduction of legislation based on the recommendations
of the Speaker's Conference. When our deputation waited on Mr. Lloyd
George the following day he was able to inform us that he had already
instructed the Government draftsman to draw up a bill on these lines.
The debate in the House on March 28 had turned mainly on Women's
Suffrage and the immense majority in support of Mr. Asquith's motion
was rightly regarded as a suffrage triumph. Every leader of every
party in the House of Commons had taken part in the debate and had
expressed his support of the enfranchisement of women. The Government
whips had not been put on and throughout the debates which followed
the Bill was not treated as a Government but as a House of Commons
measure. The victory, therefore, was all the more welcome to us
because it was the result of a free vote of the House. Mr. Asquith's
retraction of his former errors was quite handsome. He said, among
other things, that his "eyes which for years in this matter had been
clouded by fallacies and sealed by illusions at last had been opened
to the truth." It required a European War on the vastest scale that
the world had ever known to shake him out of his fallacies and
illusions, and many of us felt that it would have been better if a
less terrible convulsion had sufficed to awaken him, but still, now he
was awakened, he was prompt in owning he had been in the wrong and
therefore no more was to be said. The subsequent stages of this
Representation of the People Bill were a series of triumphs for the
suffrage cause. The second reading debate was taken on May 22d and 23d
and again turned almost entirely on the women's question; the majority
was 329 to 40. When the Bill was in Committee and the clauses
enfranchising women were taken up on June 19 the majority was 385 to
55, or exactly seven to one. On June 20 a last division was made, when
the number of anti-suffragists was only 17.
Our friends in the Speaker's Conference had so often impressed on us
the danger of departing, even in the direction of obvious improvement,
from its recommendations that we had carefully abstained from urging
any deviation from them; but when the immense majorities just quoted
showed that the Bill and our clauses in it were safe beyond a
peradventure, we did press very strongly that the same principle
should be applied to Municipal suffrage for women which had already
been sanctioned by the House for the Parliamentary Suffrage, namely,
that the wives of householders should be recognized as householders,
which would entitle them to vote. On November 15 an amendment to this
effect was moved but was not accepted by the Government. There were
vigorous protests in our favour from all parts of the House and the
debate on it was adjourned. During the interval the N.U.W.S.S. and
other societies with whom we were cooperating bombarded the leader of
the House and the Minister in charge of the bill with letters and
telegrams in support of the amendment. These produced a good effect
and on November 20, Government opposition having been withdrawn, the
amendment was agreed to without a division. Thus without the existence
of a single woman voter but on the strength of her coming into
existence within the next few months, the women on the Municipal
registers of Great Britain and Ireland were increased in number from
about one million to over eight-and-a-half millions. And yet Lord
Bryce and the other anti-suffragists assured us that the vote would
make no difference!
In the House of Commons a third reading of the Representation of the
People Bill was taken on December 7 without a division. The Bill was
now safely through the Commons but its passage through the Lords had
yet to be undertaken. The second reading debate began on December 17
and lasted two days. No one could predict what would happen; Lord
Curzon, president of the Anti-Suffrage League, was leader of the House
and chief representative of the Government. The Lord Chancellor [Lord
Finlay], who is in the chair in House of Lords' debates, was an
envenomed opponent. Among other influential Peers whom we knew as our
enemies were Lord Lansdowne, Lord Halsbury, Lord Balfour of Burleigh
and Lord Bryce. On the other hand we could count on the support of
Lord Selborne, Lord Lytton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop
of London, Lord Courtney and Lord Milner. We looked forward to the
debate and the divisions in the Lords with considerable trepidation.
The Lords have no constituents, they have no seats to fight for and
defend. It is therefore impossible to influence them by any
electioneering arts but we sent to all the Peers a carefully worded
and influentially signed memorandum setting forth the chief facts and
arguments in our favour. The second reading of the Bill was taken in
the Lords without a division, the most important speech against it
being Lord Bryce's; he insisted again and again that the possession of
a vote made no difference. Lord Sydenham had the courage (!) to assert
that the suffrage movement had made no progress in America, and, while
admitting that it had lately been adopted in the State of New York, no
doubt thought that he was giving a fair description when he said: "In
America ... fourteen States have refused the franchise to women and
two, Montana and Nevada, have granted it. The population of the
fourteen States is 43,000,000 and that of the two States is 500,000."
(Twelve States had fully enfranchised their women.)
The real fight in the House of Lords began on Jan. 8, 1918, when the
committee stage was reached. The debate lasted three days and on
Clause IV, which enfranchised women, Lord Selborne made an
extraordinarily powerful and eloquent speech in its favour. The House
was filled and the excitement on both sides was intense. As we were
sitting crowded in the small pen allotted to ladies not Peeresses in
the Upper House on January 10th we received a cable saying the House
of Representatives in Washington had accepted the Women's Suffrage
Amendment to the Federal Constitution by the necessary two-thirds
majority. This we hailed as a good omen. No one knew what Lord
Sydenham thought of it! The most exciting moment was when Lord Curzon
rose to close the debate. The first part of his speech was devoted to
a description of the disasters which he believed would follow from the
adoption of women's franchise but the second part was occupied by
giving very good reasons for not voting against it. He reminded their
Lordships of the immense majorities by which it had been supported in
the House of Commons, by majorities in every party "including those to
which most of your Lordships belong.... Your Lordships can vote as you
please; you can cut this clause out of the Bill--you have a perfect
right to do so--but if you think that by killing the clause you can
also save the Bill, I believe you to be mistaken.... The House of
Commons will return it to you with the clause re-inserted. Will you be
prepared to put it back?..." Before he sat down Lord Curzon announced
his intention of not voting at all, for the reason that if he had done
otherwise he "might be accused of having precipitated a conflict from
which your Lordships could not emerge with credit." The division was
taken almost immediately after the conclusion of this speech. Both of
the Archbishops and the twelve Bishops present voted for the bill. Our
clause was carried by 134 votes to 71, and Women's Suffrage was,
therefore, supported in the Lords by nearly two to one. The Lords
inserted in it among other things Proportional Representation. It was
on this and not on women's suffrage that the final contest took place
when it was returned to the Commons, but at last the long struggle of
women for free citizenship was ended, having continued a little over
fifty years. The huge majorities by which we had won in the House of
Commons had afforded our ship deep water enough to float safely over
the rocks and reefs of the House of Lords. The Royal Assent was given
on Feb. 6, 1918.
The first election at which women voted was held on December 14. Our
friends in the Speaker's Conference had aimed at producing a
constituency numbering roughly about 10,000,000 men and 6,000,000
women. The actual numbers of both sexes enfranchised by the Act of
1918 turned out to be considerably in excess of this calculation. A
Parliamentary return published in November, 1918, showed the following
numbers of men and women on the register.
_Men._
12,913,166
Naval and Military Voters 3,896,763
16,809,929
_Women._
8,479,156
Naval and Military Voters 3,372
8,482,528
At the annual Council meeting of the National Union of Women's
Suffrage Societies held in March, 1918, its object was changed by
formal vote. It was no longer necessary to concentrate on Women's
Suffrage and we adopted as our object "To obtain all such reforms as
are necessary to secure a real equality of liberties, status and
opportunities between men and women." No change of name was made until
the following year when a revised constitution was adopted and the
name was modified in accordance with our present object. We have now
become the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and we
hope that the letters N. U. S. E. C. will soon become as familiar and
as dear to our members as N. U. W. S. S. were in the old days. At the
same meeting I retired from the presidency and my friend and
colleague, Miss Eleanor Rathbone, was elected in my place.
[216] In 1907 Acts of parliament for England, Wales and Scotland (and
one for Ireland in 1911) made women eligible as members of Town,
County, Burgh and Borough Councils and as chairmen of these bodies,
including the right to be Mayors and Provosts, Aldermen and Baillies,
with the limitation that women appointed to an office carrying with it
the right to be Justices of the Peace should be incapacitated from so
acting. These Acts though non-contentious in the party sense required
fourteen years' strenuous work to secure their adoption as Government
measures. This was achieved during Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman's
premiership, the necessary legislation being announced in the King's
Speech as part of the Government programme.
In 1918 the Qualification of Women Act for the United Kingdom made
women eligible to the House of Commons. The Bill passed almost without
opposition through both Houses and became law in the week ending
November 16. As the General Election took place on December 14 there
was little time for preparation, nevertheless, there were seventeen
women candidates and one, the Countess Makievicz, a Sinn Feiner, was
elected but refused to take her seat. The fact that her husband was a
foreigner made it doubtful whether she would have been allowed to do
so, though an Irishwoman by birth. In 1919 Viscountess Astor was
elected for Plymouth.
In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Removal Act for the United Kingdom
went some way but not the whole way towards the fulfilment of the
pledge given by the Coalition Government of Mr. Lloyd George in
December, 1918, "to remove existing inequalities in the law as between
men and women." A much more complete bill had been introduced by the
Labour Party early in the session, which passed through all its stages
in the House of Commons notwithstanding Government opposition but was
defeated in the House of Lords and the Government changeling
substituted. This Act, though it did not give women the parliamentary
vote on the same terms as men nor admit them to the civil service on
equal terms, and though the clause specifically conferring on them
eligibility to the House of Lords was cut out, contained,
nevertheless, important provisions in the direction of equality. It
allowed them to sit on juries, be Justices of the Peace, sworn in as
police officers, enter the legal profession and made it possible for
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to admit women to membership
and degrees on equal terms with men.
The only important advance in education after 1900 was the throwing
open to women by the Governing Body of Trinity College, Dublin, of
degrees, membership and all privileges pertaining thereto in 1903. All
the universities in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Oxford
and Cambridge, have been for many years open to women and in November,
1919, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into their financial
resources and into the administration and application of these
resources. On the commission, Miss Penrose of Somerville College,
Oxford, and Miss B. A. Clough of Newnham College, Cambridge, the
women's colleges, were appointed as members. An Act of Parliament
later enabled both universities to grant membership, degrees and all
privileges to women. Oxford availed itself of these powers without
delay. Cambridge in December, 1920, refused to do so by a large vote,
but it will ultimately have to open its doors.
FOOTNOTES:
[215] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Millicent
Garrett Fawcett, J.P., LL.D., who has been prominently connected with
the movement for women's suffrage in Great Britain for nearly fifty
years and was President of the National Association from 1904, when it
was re-organized, until after the victory was won in 1918.
[216] Accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the
interest of women enacted by the Parliament beginning in 1902,
prepared by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The lack of space
which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the State
chapters makes it necessary in this one. Three of importance
politically are given.--Ed.
CHAPTER LII.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN BRITISH COLONIES.
In granting the complete franchise to a part of her women in 1918
Great Britain followed all of her self-governing colonies, which, with
the exception of South Africa, had given the full suffrage on the same
terms as exercised by men. New Zealand, Australia and Canada gave
Municipal suffrage at early dates, extending from 1867 in New South
Wales to 1894 in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
NEW ZEALAND.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to give full suffrage
to women, its Parliament in 1893 conferring the franchise on all
persons over 21. In case of women, however, this did not include the
right to sit in Parliament, and, although efforts to secure this right
were made at intervals during all the following years, the bill for it
several times passing the Lower House, they were not successful until
1919. The unvarying record has been that the registration and vote of
women have nearly averaged those of men and in some instances have
exceeded them. In the election of 1919 the registration of men was
355,000; of women, 328,320. New Zealand is noted for its advanced
legislation.
AUSTRALIA.
In 1901 the six States of Australia federated in a commonwealth with a
National Parliament and one of its earliest acts in June, 1902, was to
confer the complete universal suffrage on women and eligibility to
this body. About 800,000 women were thus enfranchised. This action had
been preceded by the granting of the State suffrage by the
Legislatures in South Australia in 1894 and in West Australia in 1899
and this was done in New South Wales in August, 1902. Women received
the State suffrage in Tasmania and Queensland in 1905, Victoria in
1908. South Australia was the only one that gave the right to sit in
the Legislature with the State suffrage. This eligibility was not
conferred until 1919 in New South Wales and Victoria; 1920 in West
Australia and does not yet exist in Tasmania and Queensland. One must
be a property owner to be a municipal voter or office holder.
Australia has largely substituted advanced legislation for women for
the English Common Law. The statistics relating to the voting of women
follow closely those of New Zealand. There never has been a proposal
to take away the political privileges of women, which could be done by
an Act of Parliament. On the contrary during the years when the
contest for woman suffrage was being carried on in Great Britain its
Parliament was more than once urged by that of Australia to grant it.
In 1917, when the struggle was at its height, the strongest possible
memorial was adopted by the National Parliament of Australia, which
said:
Appreciating the blessings of self-government in Australia
through adult suffrage, and appreciating the desire of Your
Majesty's Government to vindicate the claims of the small nations
to self-government, we are confident that Your Majesty will
recognize the justice of the same claim in the case of the small
nation of women in Your Majesty's kingdom--women who, in this
great crisis in the history of the British Empire ... have proved
themselves as worthy soldiers as those on the battlefield, and as
worthy of the protection of the ballot, which is conceded to
men.... We are deeply interested in the welfare of the women of
the Empire and we again humbly petition Your Majesty to endow
them with that right of self-government for which they have
petitioned for nearly three-quarters of a century.
The most prominent statesmen of Australia and New Zealand in their
visits to Great Britain, Canada and the United States have given
testimony as to the benefits of woman suffrage.
DOMINION OF CANADA.
When Volume IV of this History was written in 1900 four pages sufficed
for an account of woman suffrage in Canada. It was confined to a
Municipal or School franchise or both in the Provinces for widows and
spinsters, and in some of them married women were included. This
privilege began in Ontario in 1884 and the situation remained
unchanged until 1916, when the World War, which brought the full
enfranchisement of women in many countries, began to have its effect
in Canada. For the large amount of valuable material from which the
following brief résumé is made the History is indebted to Dr. Augusta
Stowe Gullen, a leader of the woman suffrage movement. Its foundation
was laid in 1878 and following years by the mother of Dr. Gullen, the
pioneer woman physician, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, a friend and
contemporary of Susan B. Anthony[217]. Dr. Stowe was a founder and the
first president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association,
which secured many privileges for women.
The first woman suffrage society was organized in 1883 in the city
council chamber of Toronto with the Mayor in the chair. Mrs. Donald
McEwan was made president and other officers were Dr. Stowe, Miss Mary
McDonnell and Dr. James L. Hughes, afterwards Inspector of Schools.
Petitions were sent to the Dominion Parliament and bills presented but
when in the late 90's the Electoral Act was changed to make the
voters' list for its members coincide with the lists in the Provinces,
the latter became in a large measure the battle ground, although the
efforts for a national law were not discontinued. The movement for
Prohibition had a strong influence in the granting of woman suffrage
in the Provinces and it was hastened by the splendid war work of the
women.
The first Provincial Legislature to enfranchise women was that of
Manitoba, Jan 27, 1916. A convention of the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union as early as July, 1902, passed a resolution to press
the work for it and later in the year the Labor Party endorsed equal
suffrage through its paper, _The Voice_, and its officers affiliated
with the suffrage club. Dr. Amelia Yeomans was a devoted worker. In
1906 when there was a prospect that the Municipal vote would be taken
away from married women property owners, the Liberal party convention
made its retention a plank in their platform but the Conservative
Legislature abolished it. In 1907 it was restored. In 1913 the women
succeeded in getting a full suffrage bill before one House of the
Legislature, which was defeated by 21 to 14 votes. The next year the
Liberal Party pledged itself to give the complete franchise if it won
the election. It did so and the women rolled up a big petition as a
backing. Premier Norris and the Cabinet supported the bill. The
Executive Board of the Political Equality League were invited to seats
on the floor of the House the day of the third reading and the bill
giving women equal suffrage and eligibility was passed amid great
enthusiasm by unanimous vote.
The suffragists of Alberta began extensive work in 1910 to have the
Municipal franchise possessed by widows and spinsters extended to
married women and the agitation was continued to include the full
suffrage. Following the example of Manitoba Premier A. L. Sifton
announced on Feb. 24, 1916, before the Legislature opened, that the
Government would introduce a woman suffrage bill of the widest scope.
The bill passed in Alberta in March with the full approval of press
and people and the suffragists met at once in the home of Mrs. Nellie
McClung at Edmonton to arrange for taking up their new duties. Mrs. O.
C. Edwards had been a ceaseless worker here and in Saskatchewan. In
1914 the first woman Judge in Canada, Mrs. Jamieson, president of the
Local Council of Women of Calgary, was appointed by the Attorney
General as Commissioner of the Juvenile Court. In February, 1918, two
women, Mrs. L. M. McKinney and Miss Roberta McAdams, a Lieutenant on
the staff of the Canadian military hospital in Orpington, Kent, were
elected to the Legislature, the first women legislators in the British
Empire.
In 1910 the women of Saskatchewan sent in petitions, some of them
endorsed by city councils, asking Municipal suffrage for married
women, but the Government refused it. In opening the Legislature on
Mar. 14, 1916, Lieutenant Governor Lake said: "In future years the one
outstanding feature of your program will be the full enfranchisement
of women." The suffragists of the Province had been organized about
five years and the president of the Franchise Board, Mrs. F. A.
Lawton, had presented to Premier Scott a petition signed by 10,000
names to show that public sentiment was in favor of this action. He
answered that he could give them a definite answer and, as he had
already announced, their request would be granted. He said that
although Manitoba had been the first to give women the suffrage those
of Saskatchewan would be the first to have a chance to use it. At an
early and full meeting of the Legislature a number of members spoke in
favor of it and it passed practically without opposition. In 1919 Mrs.
M. O. Ramsden was elected to the Legislature.
In 1902 a petition for woman suffrage was presented to the Government
in British Columbia and refused. Another effort was made in 1903 but
the subject was not brought before the Legislature until 1906, when it
defeated a bill. In 1908 it took away the Municipal franchise from
women householders. The women's clubs in Victoria secured 1,000 names
in three days protesting against this action. Mr. Naden, Liberal
member from Greenwood, introduced a bill restoring it, supported by
his party, but it was defeated. The Council of Women, at its November
meeting, adopted a resolution "to do all in its power to promote the
woman suffrage cause." It was the first Local Council in Canada to
endorse this cause and later held two public meetings in its interest.
In 1910 extensive work was done to regain the Municipal franchise. In
1911 nine important amendments to the very reprehensible laws
concerning women and children were submitted to the Legislature by the
Council through the Attorney General and one was passed. In the autumn
the Political Equality Club was re-organized in Victoria, Mrs. Gordon
Grant, president, and in December at a Provincial Conference in
Vancouver she assisted in organizing one there; Mrs. Lashley Hall,
president--later Mrs. C. Townley--and Miss Lily Laverock, secretary.
The two societies organized a large deputation to wait upon the
Attorney General and solicit better property laws for women, equal
guardianship of children for mothers, the right taken away from
fathers to dispose of their guardianship by will and other equally
needed laws. They also memorialized the Legislature for the full
Provincial suffrage for women. On Feb. 15, 1913, fifty women in the
Province presented a petition of 10,000 names to the Premier, asking
that suffrage on equal terms with men be given to women and on the
19th he answered that as a matter of Government policy it was
impossible.
The agitation increased and continued until the full enfranchisement
of women in the three great Provinces to the east brought the
question to a climax. Even then, however, it was not allowed to be
settled by the Legislature, as it had been in those Provinces, but on
April 14, 1916, Premier Bowser stated that the Elections Act, which
provided for allowing a vote to soldiers over 18, would include women
and would be submitted to a referendum of the electors. This was done
by the Legislature, which met May 31, and the election took place
September 15. The amendment was carried by an immense majority in
every district, about two to one, and later this was increased by the
large favorable majority of the absent soldiers, who were entitled to
vote. It went into effect March 1, 1917. The area of Canadian
territory in which women were now enfranchised extended from Ontario
to the Pacific Ocean. In 1919 Mrs. Ralph Smith, widow of the Minister
of Finance, was elected to the Legislature and in 1921 she was made
Speaker, the first instance on record.
The struggle for woman suffrage in Canada was now centered in the
Province of Ontario, where it began in 1883, and it was largely
carried on during much of the time by the Dominion Women's
Enfranchisement Association, which had been incorporated in 1889. Dr.
Augusta Stowe Gullen became its president in 1903, after the death of
her mother, Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, and held it until 1911. While its
principal object was the Dominion or National franchise for all women
it was for years at the head of the effort for the Provincial suffrage
in Ontario. In 1905, in connection with the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, it organized a very representative deputation to
wait upon the Premier to ask that the Municipal vote possessed by
widows and spinsters be extended to married women. He said that
'neither he nor any other statesman had placed woman where she was;
that the Infinite was at work and woman being a part of the Divine
plan her place was assigned by a greater power.' In 1906 a deputation
from the association, headed by Dr. Stowe Gullen, with Dr. Margaret
Gordon and Mrs. Flora McDonald Denison as speakers, called on the
Mayor and Council of Toronto and asked them to pass a resolution for
the extension of this Municipal franchise. They did so and sent it by
this deputation to the Legislature. As a result a bill for it was
introduced and after a day's fun and sarcasm in the House it was
defeated by 69 to 2.
In 1907 the Dominion Association at its annual meeting changed its
name to the Canadian Suffrage Association. In 1908 it decided not to
memorialize the Government but to make greater efforts to organize and
for this purpose Mrs. Denison, vice-president and official organizer,
visited Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On March 24, 1909, the
association sent a deputation of 1,000 of its members to the House of
Parliament to ask for full suffrage for the women of Ontario. Dr.
Stowe Gullen presented with a strong argument a petition which
represented 100,000 names and many important organizations, among them
the Women's University Clubs, Women Teachers' Association, Medical
Alumnae of the University of Toronto, Progressive Club, Trades and
Labor Council, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Dominion Temperance
Association. There were prominent men and women speakers. Sir James
Whitney, the Premier, answered adversely. The crowds were so great
that Cabinet ministers could not gain admittance but all this
demonstration resulted in no action. Allan Studholme, Labor member
from East Hamilton, introduced a bill for woman suffrage, which was
defeated.
In 1910 all the members throughout the Province were written to or
interviewed by suffragists, but the woman suffrage bill of the labor
members was defeated. Through the efforts of Mrs. Denison, Mrs.
Emmeline Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England came to Toronto
and lectured in Massey Hall to immense audiences. Dr. Gordon attended
the annual meeting of the National Council of Women in Halifax and
presented a motion that "the Council place itself on record in favor
of the enfranchisement of women." This was seconded by Dr. Rachel Todd
in behalf of the Medical Alumnae, University of Toronto. After much
discussion it was carried and this large and influential organization
was brought into the movement. The Local Council of Toronto adopted a
resolution to the same effect.
In 1911 the association organized another deputation to wait upon the
Premier March 4, who were introduced by William Munns, the secretary.
The bill introduced by Mr. Studholme, seconded by W. Proudfoot,
Liberal from Center Huron after three days' discussion was lost.
Before the Provincial elections the association sent a letter to all
candidates and twenty-five answered that they would vote for woman
suffrage if elected. In June Dr. Stowe Gullen resigned the presidency
and Mrs. Denison was chosen in her place and Mrs. William Munns was
elected secretary. Mrs. Denison, who was an ardent suffragist, an
indefatigable worker and a fine organizer, edited a page in the
Toronto _Sunday World_ each week devoted to woman suffrage, which was
of immeasurable value. She represented the association at the meetings
of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen in 1906 and
in Budapest in 1913. This last year she organized a delegation and
went with them to take part in the suffrage parade in Washington, D.
C., March 3.
In 1912 three suffrage bills were introduced. A resolution was moved
by Mr. Marshall, Liberal, from Lincoln, seconded by Mr. Bowman,
Liberal whip, but no bill was passed. Bills were presented every year
only to be voted down by the Conservative Government. N. W. Rowell,
the Liberal leader, pledged the support of his party in a non-partisan
measure but in vain.
In 1912 Mrs. Denison secured for a deputation an interview with Sir
Robert L. Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, to ask that the Dominion
Parliament should grant a national franchise to women. He stated the
difficulties in the way, as the Election Act provided that the
Provincial lists of voters were in force for the election of the
members of the Dominion Parliament and if the Provinces did not first
grant the suffrage to women the cost and work would be required of
preparing new lists of the women voters. He said that each Province
must enfranchise its women before the Federal Government could act and
no Province had done so at this time.
In 1914 Dr. Gordon, president of the Toronto Suffrage Society,
organized an influential deputation from its members which asked the
city council to submit to the voters at the approaching local election
the question of extending to married women the Municipal franchise now
possessed by widows and spinsters simply to ascertain their opinion.
This was done and the measure was carried by a majority of 13,713.
During 1914, 1915 and 1916 Dr. Gordon sent a letter to the councils of
the other cities, towns, villages and rural communities asking them to
hold a referendum or to pass a resolution in favor of this extension
and send it to the Government. The letters were followed by a
successful campaign in the municipalities by the society. As a result
33 referenda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about 160
other municipal governments memorialized the Ontario Legislature in
favor. Dr. Gullen published an open letter describing these efforts.
They had no effect on the Legislature nor did it make any concessions
to the women even in the way of much needed better laws, for which
they petitioned.
At the annual meeting of the Canadian Suffrage Association, October 30
Mrs. Denison resigned the presidency and Dr. Gordon was elected. On
the 31st the members put on record the work of its beloved founder and
one of the originators of the National Council of Women by presenting
a bronze bust of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe to the city of Toronto. It was
officially received by the Mayor and placed in the main corridor of
Municipal Hall, the first memorial of this kind to any woman in
Canada.
This year the National Council of Women took a firm stand and urged
that each Province fully enfranchise its women and asked the Dominion
Parliament to grant the Federal vote to women. In 1915 the Ontario
society sent another deputation to the Legislature to ask for the
Municipal franchise and reminded the Premier, Sir William Hearst, of
the favorable verdict that had been given by the voters. He answered
that "it had not been proved that the influence of women for good
would be increased by the possession of the franchise." When asked if
he would submit the question of their full suffrage to the voters of
the Province he replied that this would mean only a vote by the men
and he was most desirous to ascertain the wishes of the women! No
attention was paid to either request. In 1916 the association again
went to the Legislature with a petition but Mr. Studholme's bill was
defeated. This year came the complete enfranchisement of women in all
the Provinces between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean. The women of
Canada had given their full share of the work and sacrifices demanded
by the war for two years but in the Province of Ontario not the
slightest recognition had been shown of their right to a voice in the
Government.
The franchise societies and the W. C. T. U. canvassed the whole
Province, circulating a monster petition for the full Provincial
franchise. A group of women in Toronto organized an Anti-Suffrage
Association and called a public meeting at which the suffragists were
denounced for "pressing their claims when all the thought and effort
of the Government should be given to the demands of the war." Up to
1917 neither the Liberal nor Conservative party had shown the least
favor to woman suffrage but now the former, which was out of power,
made it a plank of its platform and its leader, N. W. Rowell, on
February 20 at the opening of Parliament moved an amendment to the
speech from the throne providing for the full enfranchisement of women
in Ontario. It was declared out of order by Premier Hearst. A few days
later J. W. Johnson of Belleville, a private member, introduced a bill
for woman suffrage. On February 27 this bill was indorsed for the
Conservative Government by Premier Hearst, who said: "Having taken our
women into partnership with us in our tremendous task I ask, 'Can we
justly deny them a share in the government of the country, the right
to have a say about the making of the laws they have been so
heroically trying to defend?' My answer is, 'I think not.'"
Thus without discussion this act of justice for which women had
petitioned since 1903 was granted by a single word. Mr. Rowell and the
Liberals united with the Conservatives and the bill was passed Feb.
27, 1917. Although passed by a Union Government it was largely due to
the incessant efforts of the Liberal members in the past.
While in Quebec and a few of the small Provinces the suffrage was
still withheld from women it now so largely prevailed that their
national enfranchisement by the Dominion Parliament seemed the next
inevitable step. During 1917 Sir Robert Borden made a visit to England
and the war front. Although it was estimated that in some of the
Provinces one man in every fourteen had enlisted, he returned fully
convinced that "conscription" would be necessary and this would
require a referendum to the voters. Quebec would vote solidly against
it, as would certain elements in the other Provinces. A Fusion party
was formed in the Parliament and under tremendous pressure a War Time
Election Act was passed in September. It disfranchised during the war
Doukhobors and Mennonites, conscientious objectors, those born in
enemy countries not naturalized before 1902 and some others. It
enfranchised certain women in all the Provinces and Yukon and the
Northwest Territories, which send a member to the Parliament, in the
following words: "Every female who, being a British subject and
qualified as to age, race and residence as required of a male, is the
wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person, male or female,
living or dead, who is serving or has served without Canada in any of
the military forces, or within or without in any of the naval forces
of Canada or Great Britain in the present war...."
It was estimated that this Act would enable about 600,000 women to
vote when the question of "conscription" was submitted and leave about
1,000,000 unable to do so although having the Provincial franchise. It
raised a storm of protest from those who were not included and who
doubted that this arbitrary action would result in securing
conscription. Sir Robert Borden had no doubts but based his faith on
the belief that those women having relatives in the war would vote to
compel other men to go and he said at the time: "We are now verging on
the point at which women must be entitled to the same voice in
directing the affairs of this country as men, and as far as I am
concerned I commit myself absolutely to that proposition, but in
working it out it is necessary to take into account certain
considerations." With this concession the women had to be satisfied.
The general campaign came on in November 1917, with "conscription" the
issue on which the Government appealed for return to power. The
election took place in December and the Union Government carried the
four Western Provinces, Ontario and New Brunswick, receiving almost
the full vote of the women. The Opposition carried Quebec, Nova Scotia
and Prince Edward Island.
During the campaign the Premier several times pledged himself and his
Government to equal suffrage for women and it was generally recognized
that if they were re-elected this pledge would be redeemed at an early
date. This action was urged by the Labor members. On Feb. 15, 1918,
the Government announced the extension of the full suffrage to the
women of Canada as a part of its policy and its consideration of the
measure at the approaching session of Parliament. Later the War
Cabinet invited all of the large organizations of women in the
Dominion to send representatives to a conference with the Government
in Ottawa on March 1. There was a very large response and the
delegates were welcomed by the Governor General, the Duke of
Devonshire, with a tribute to the conduct of women during the war. The
President of the Privy Council, N. W. Rowell, outlined the work of the
Conference and the confidence felt by the Government in the continued
assistance of women. They were assured by various members of the
Government of the desire for their suggestions on all matters
connected with the carrying on of the war. The conference lasted for a
week and the women submitted their recommendations, the first of which
was that women should be permitted to take a fuller share in the
responsibilities of government. All of these were respectfully and
cordially received by the members of the Cabinet.
The Parliament opened on March 18. The Duke of Devonshire read the
speech from the throne to galleries crowded with women and said in the
course of it: "A bill for extending the franchise to women, with
suitable provisions respecting naturalization, will be submitted and
commended to your consideration."
Sir Robert Borden introduced the bill March 21 and an extended
discussion took place in the House on the 23rd. There was no real
opposition, although the members from Quebec were not friendly, saying
that it was not wanted there by men or women. Sir Wilfred Laurier
favored woman suffrage but thought it should be conferred only by the
Provinces. The Premier spoke at length in moving the second reading.
It passed without division and again on the third reading April 12,
1918, when the full Parliamentary or Federal suffrage was conferred on
every woman who fulfilled the following conditions: (1) Is a British
subject; (2) is of the full age of 21 years or upwards; (3) possesses
the qualifications which would entitle a male person to vote at a
Dominion election in the Province in which the woman is seeking to
vote, provided that a married woman or a daughter living at home with
her parents shall be deemed to have any necessary property or income
qualifications if her husband or either of her parents is so
qualified. A woman is banned if married to an enemy alien. This Act
superseded the War Time Election Act.[218] The following year
this Parliament passed an Act enabling a wife to retain her
nationality.[219]
In New Brunswick in 1908, led by Mrs. Fiske, Mrs. Hathaway and Miss
Peters, the suffragists memorialized the Legislature to extend the
full suffrage to women but a bill for this purpose was defeated. In
1909 a bill to give it to taxpaying widows and spinsters passed the
Upper House and after much discussion in the Lower House was
postponed. In 1915 married women were included in the Municipal
franchise possessed by widows and spinsters. These efforts were
continued from year to year and finally after the Dominion franchise
had been conferred, the Elections Act was amended by the Legislative
Assembly on April 17, 1919, to confer complete universal suffrage on
women.
On May 20, 1919, the Council of Yukon Territory amended its Election
Law to read: "In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise
requires, words importing the masculine gender include females and the
words 'voter' and 'elector' include both men and women ... and under
it women shall have the same rights and privileges as men."
Bills to give the full suffrage to women in Nova Scotia were many
times defeated. In 1916, when all the western provinces were
enfranchising their women, the Lower House of the Legislature passed a
bill for it and later rescinded it on the excuse that it was not
desired by the women. This put them on their mettle and they took
action to convince the lawmakers that they did want it. The suffrage
society was re-organized and a resolution was adopted by the executive
board of the Local Council of Women and sent to every member of the
Legislature. A joint independent committee was created with Mrs.
Charles Archibald chairman and suffrage groups were formed within many
organizations of women. All the members of the Government were
interviewed and many promised support and the two Government
newspapers were favorable. Before the committee had time to put in a
bill one was drafted by Supreme Court Justice Russell and introduced
by R. H. Graham. The women filled the galleries at its second reading
and it passed without opposition and was referred to the Law
Amendments Committee, of which the Attorney General was chairman. It
gave a public hearing and the women crowded the Assembly Chamber
upstairs and downstairs and nine short speeches were made by women.
The Premier and Attorney General said it was the best organized
hearing and best presented case that had come before a House Committee
in twenty-five years. The Bill was left with the committee with the
assurance that it would be well cared for--and then it was postponed
indefinitely! The excuse was that there had been no demand from the
country districts! By another year, however, it was too late for such
tactics and when Lieutenant Governor McCallum Grant opened the
Legislature with the speech from the throne on Feb. 21, 1918, he
announced that the electoral franchise would be given to women. The
amended Franchise Act went through the Lower House without opposition;
had its second reading in the Senate April 29 and the third May 3, and
received the royal assent May 23. This added the State suffrage to the
Federal, which had been conferred the preceding month.
Widows and spinsters in the Province of Quebec had Municipal and
School suffrage from 1892. In 1903 in the city council of Montreal an
amendment to the charter was moved to take it away. The Woman's
Christian Temperance Union held several large public meetings to
oppose such action addressed by prominent men. The press published
articles and letters of protest and it was voted down. In 1910 the
first suffrage society was formed in Montreal with Mrs. Bullock
president. In 1914 a deputation of Montreal women presented a petition
to the Premier, Sir Lorner Guoin, asking that women might sit on
school boards and that the Municipal franchise be extended to married
women. No action was taken. After the Federal Suffrage was granted in
1918 by the Dominion Parliament, which included the women of Quebec, a
bill was introduced in its Legislature to grant them the Provincial
franchise, which was voted down. Similar bills were defeated in 1918
and 1920 and Quebec remains the only Province in Canada where women
do not possess the State franchise in addition to the National.
NEWFOUNDLAND.
When the Provinces of Canada united in a Confederation Newfoundland
was the only one that declined to enter it and remained independent.
Therefore, when the Dominion suffrage was conferred by the Parliament
in 1918 it did not include the women of this island. This was keenly
felt by many of them and they made efforts to have its Legislature
grant them the Provincial franchise but without success. In 1921 the
Woman Suffrage League determined to make an organized effort and
collected a petition of 10,000 names, representing every district, and
presented it to the Legislature. From the first the Premier, Sir
Richard Anderson Squires, was hostile and this was the case with most
of the Cabinet, but Minister of Marine Coaker showed a friendly
spirit; Minister of Justice Warren introduced the bill and Mr.
Jennings, chairman of the Board of Public Works, agreed to bring it up
for action. After the sending of many deputations to the Executive
Members of the Government the women were astonished at being told one
day that these members had held a meeting and it had been arranged
that the Premier himself should introduce the bill as a Government
measure. Seven went with Mr. Jennings by pre-arrangement to the
Premier's office and meeting Mr. Coaker he said: "Your bill goes
through all right, the Premier has his orders." Some provisions had
been attached to the bill--non-eligibility to office, no voting power
until the next general election and an age limit of 30 years. The
Premier promised to have the Government reduce this to 25 and they
were compelled to agree. Then he impressed upon them that the bill
would go through as a Government measure, declaring: "I will pass it
this session, whether the House closes in one month or three--what I
say goes!"
Some time afterwards the women read in an account of the House
proceedings that the Premier had said in answer to a question that the
bill was not a Government measure. An official letter was at once sent
from the Woman Suffrage League, reminding him of his promise, to which
he made no answer. They obtained an interview with him at which he
treated them very discourteously and denied all responsibility for the
bill after its second reading. They could get no satisfaction from any
member of the Government. The bill was not reported from the committee
for weeks and when at last brought before the House in August it was
turned over to a Select Committee of five, three of them pronounced
anti-suffragists, and was not heard of again.
SOUTH AFRICA.
At the present time South Africa has the distinction of being the only
English-speaking nation that has not enfranchised its women. There
seems to have been some agitation for a vote by the Boer women in
early days but a "movement" for it was definitely begun in 1895, when
at the annual conference of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of
Cape Colony at Kimberley, woman suffrage was made one of their
official departments of work. In 1902 a Woman's Enfranchisement League
was formed in Durban, Natal, and in a few years one in Cape Town, Cape
Colony, followed by others in seven or eight towns. In 1904 M. L.
Neithling moved in the Legislative Council of Cape Colony a resolution
to enfranchise widows and spinsters with the required property and
educational qualifications, which was discussed but not voted on. In
1907 Dr. Viljoen presented one to extend the suffrage to women on the
same terms as to men. The division showed 24 in favor of it, twelve
from each party.
In 1909 the Enfranchisement Leagues of Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg
and Pretoria united in sending four delegates to the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance meeting in London. This year representatives
of Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State met in a
national convention to prepare a constitution for the Union of South
Africa and the suffrage leagues sent a numerously signed petition
asking that it include the franchise of women. This was rejected and
they were told to "await a more convenient season." The women were
much aroused and early in 1910 the Women's Citizen Club of Cape Town
and the Women's Reform Club of Johannesburg were formed. In the summer
of 1911 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance, accompanied by Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president
of the National Association of The Netherlands, made a tour of 4,000
miles in South Africa, remaining 76 days. They were present when the
delegates from eleven suffrage societies met and organized the Women's
Enfranchisement Association of the Union of South Africa and it soon
had twenty-two branches. The visits of the international president
with the suffragists of the different localities gave them much
courage and inspiration and thenceforth she was in close touch with
them, conferring and advising.
The new association presented a monster petition to the Parliament in
1912 and Mr. Andrews of the Transvaal introduced a woman suffrage
bill, which after two days' debate was defeated by 70 to 30 votes. In
1914 Mr. Wyndham's bill did not reach a vote. In 1917 Mr. Rockey's was
defeated by 63 to 28. In 1918 a woman suffrage clause in the new
Electoral Bill was defeated by 54 to 39. All this time the splendid
service and sacrifice of the women during the long years of the war
was being lauded, while St. Paul's definition of their "sphere" was
being quoted as a reason for not giving them the suffrage.
In January, 1919, a conference took place in Cape Town and it was
decided that the three suffrage associations unite immediately and
form a standing committee of their parliamentary secretaries through
which intensive work could be done with the Parliament. On April 1 Mr.
Wyndham introduced the following motion: "In the opinion of this House
the sex qualification for the exercise of the parliamentary franchise
should be removed." It simply affirmed the principle but was
strenuously debated without regard to party lines and finally carried
by a vote of 44 to 42. No further action was taken. Mrs. Laura Ruxton,
parliamentary secretary, attended the convention of the Government
Party to present the question, addressed it and the resolution to put
a woman suffrage plank in the platform was carried by 72 to 58. The
Unionist, Labor and South African parties accepted it, the Nationalist
Party alone refusing it. At a banquet in Bloemfontaine Premier Botha
appealed to the Parliament, saying that in view of the great services
of women during the war the men would be compelled to give them the
franchise. He died soon afterwards and petitions from the most
representative citizens then began to pour in upon his successor,
General Smuts.
In 1920 Daniel McLaren Brown presented a resolution that in the
opinion of this House the time has arrived when the right of voting
for members of Parliament and the Provincial Councils should be
extended to women. After a two days' debate it passed on May 3 by 66
ayes, 39 noes, a majority of 27 as against two a year before. Mr.
Brown then introduced a bill conferring this right. A deputation of
500 women carried an immense petition for it to the Parliament and it
passed first reading by 66 to 47. Although Premier Smuts had supported
it as "a great and necessary reform" and promised it every chance he
declined to make it a Government measure or give any facilities for
second reading. Mr. Brown and his House Committee and the Hon.
Secretary, Mr. Mullineux, worked valiantly for the bill but it got no
further, although eight of the Cabinet ministers were in favor of it
and the Government Party had endorsed it. It is the almost
insurmountable objection to the colored vote which is the chief factor
in preventing women's enfranchisement.
The Parliament of Rhodesia gave full State suffrage to women in April,
1919, and that of the British East African Protectorate in July, 1919.
In both this carried eligibility to office and a woman was elected to
the Parliament of Rhodesia in 1920. In several of the States women
have the Municipal franchise and have been elected to the city
council.
INDIA.
There has been remarkable progress in the enfranchisement of women in
India, although it has been for the most part since 1920, with which
this volume of the History closes. The Women's Indian Association
ranks with other women's organizations in the British Dominions and
has branches throughout the country. There are many political reform
organizations and almost without exception they are willing to include
women in any rights obtained. Increased opportunities for their
education have been opened and there are hundreds of women university
graduates. In several cities the limited municipal vote that men have
is shared by women and they are eligible to the council. In 1917
Great Britain announced that self-government would be given to the
people of India and the Women's Indian Association and other agencies
began a strenuous campaign to have women included. In 1918 the Women's
Indian Association had suffrage resolutions introduced in many
provincial conferences and national congresses of men and they were
usually passed by large majorities. The British Parliament sent a
committee to India to collect evidence as to the amount of franchise
that should be included in the proposed Government Bill and
distinguished men and women appeared before it in behalf of women,
among them Mrs. Annie Besant, president of the National Home Rule
League of India, which was strongly in favor of woman suffrage.
Contrary to all the evidence the committee reported against it. Mass
meetings of women in India were held in protest. In 1919 eminent women
and men were sent to London to present the case to Parliament. They
were cordially greeted by the British suffragists and given every
possible assistance. A petition was sent to the Government of India
Committee by the Women Citizen's Union of the British Dominions, where
in all but South Africa women were now fully enfranchised.
All were in vain and woman suffrage was not included in the India
Reform Bill but the question was left to the decision of the governing
bodies that had been created. The women then had to begin campaigns
throughout India, mass meetings, petitions, even processions and
lobbying. In May, 1921, the Madras Presidency, one of the largest
divisions of the country, gave the complete franchise to women and it
was followed soon afterwards by the great Bombay Presidency, whose
Legislative Council voted for it by 52 to 25, and by that of Burmah.
Each State has its Legislative Council and a number of these have
given the vote to women. The movement is active for it throughout
India.
FOOTNOTES:
[217] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, page 832.
[218] On Dec. 6, 1921, Miss Agnes McPhail was elected to the House of
Commons for Southeast Grey.
[219] This Act was heralded far and wide, as it was unprecedented. In
1920, giving as a reason that the Act had been only a war measure, it
was repealed bodily by the Parliament and the old Act substituted with
a few amendments that did not by any means give the privileges
afforded by the new one. It was generally believed that this was done
under the direct influence of England.
CHAPTER LIII.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN MANY COUNTRIES.
When Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage was written in 1900
four pages contained all the information that could be obtained in
regard to woman suffrage outside of the United States and Great
Britain and her colonies. At the time the first International Council
of Women was held in Washington, in 1888, under the auspices of the
National Woman Suffrage Association of the United States, Great
Britain was the only other country that had an organization for this
purpose. At the writing of the present volume in 1920 there are
comparatively few countries in the world having a constitutional form
of government where women are not enfranchised. The only two of
influence in Europe are France and Italy; the others are Switzerland,
Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey. Women do not vote in Oriental
countries. This is also true of Mexico, Central and South America.
FINLAND.[220]
The first country in Europe to give equal suffrage to women was
Finland in 1906, when it was a Grand Duchy of Russia with its own Diet
or Parliament, whose bills required the sanction of the Czar to become
laws. Girls were admitted to the full privileges of the university in
1878 and in the student organization they were on a footing of perfect
equality. Important positions and even places in the civic
administration were open to women. As early as 1863 the Diet gave the
local or Municipal vote to taxpaying women in the country and in 1872
to those in the towns, but not eligibility to office. In 1897 the
Finnish Women's Association presented a petition to the Diet for full
suffrage, which did not reach second reading. Its president, Baroness
Alexandra Gripenberg, had attended the World's Congress of Women
during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and become
intimately acquainted with Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. May Wright
Sewall and other noted suffragists in the United States. In 1899 the
sword of Russia descended, the constitution of Finland was wrecked and
her autonomy, religion, customs, language, everything sacred was
threatened.
The real movement for the full enfranchisement of women began in 1904,
when bills were introduced in the Diet. In the autumn the president of
the Woman's Alliance Union, Miss Annie Furuhjelm, returned from the
inspiration of the great International Council of Women in Berlin and
the forming of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. With the
political oppression now existing the women were feeling a strong
desire to share in the responsibility for the fate of the country.
Under the auspices of the Union the first public meeting for woman
suffrage was held in Helsingfors on November 7, attended by more than
a thousand women of all classes and all parties. Resolutions were
passed that the complete suffrage should be extended to every citizen
and a petition demanding it should be sent to the Diet. For the first
time the Union included eligibility to office in its demands.
Forty-seven addresses of sympathy signed by hundreds of women were
received from different parts of the country. From this time the Union
devoted all its energies to the movement for the franchise.
In another year the Russo-Japanese War was over and Russia was in the
midst of a revolution. In October, 1905, the long pent-up forces of
Finland broke the barriers and a "national strike" was inaugurated.
Women were members of the central committee elected at a mass meeting
to manage it. Those in the highest ranks of society had for the past
year been members of a secret organization extending over the country
raising funds, smuggling literature and daily risking their lives. For
five days not a wheel turned and no work was done except under the
most urgent necessity. There was perfect order and at intervals
deputations of men and women went to the Russian Governor General in
Helsingfors asking for the restoration of Finnish autonomy. At last
the Government at St. Petersburg yielded, as all its forces were
required in Russia. Meetings of women were then held in all parts of
the country to elect delegates to another mass meeting in Helsingfors
on December 7, where amid great enthusiasm a resolution was carried
demanding full suffrage and eligibility for every citizen twenty-four
years old.
On May 28, 1906, this reform was passed by the Diet without objection.
It was taken to the Czar by the eminent Senator Mechelin, who assured
him that the nation demanded it, and he gave his assent. The Diet
consisted of four chambers--nobles, clergy, burghers (taxpayers in
towns and cities) and peasants who were landowners. It was now
reorganized in a single chamber of 200 members. The first election
took place March 15, 16, 1907, and 19 women were chosen, among them
the Baroness Gripenberg by the Old Finnish Party. Miss Furuhjelm
belongs to the comparatively small National Swedish Party, which
elects few candidates. She was elected in 1913 and has been
continuously re-elected. Following are the numbers of women members of
Parliament: 1907--19; 1908--25; 1909--21; 1910--17; 1911--14;
1913--21; 1916--24; 1917--18; 1919--17. From the beginning the women
members have introduced bills for much needed reforms, for the care of
children, protection of wives and mothers, benefit of working women
and many for social welfare. While the Czar was in power these were
all vetoed. Since then, with their small number and the great
questions that have pressed upon the Parliament, they have found it
difficult to secure domestic legislation but they have united with the
men in passing many bills of a political nature.
In 1917 a law gave to every man and woman 21 years old Municipal
suffrage, without paying taxes, and eligibility to office and a number
of women have been elected to city and rural councils. The Czar had
hitherto vetoed this bill. In 1919, after a period of the greatest
strife and sorrow, caused by the World War, Finland severed all
connection with Russia and became an independent republic. In a new
constitution adopted at this time the word "citizen" was used instead
of "man" and all legal disqualifications of women were removed. Both
the men and women of Finland at last are free.
NORWAY.
The second country and the first independent Government in Europe to
enfranchise women was Norway. With characteristic caution and
conservatism this was done by degrees, beginning with the Municipal
vote for taxpayers, followed by the complete franchise, and then the
removal of the taxpaying qualification for the former and at last for
the full suffrage. The president of the National Association through
all the years has been Mrs. F. M. Qvam of Stenkjaer, county of N.
Trondhjem, to whom the women have given undivided allegiance. The
History is indebted to Mrs. Qvam for most of the following
information. In sending it she wrote: "The last twenty years are like
an Adventure of a Thousand Nights for suffragists. What was sown and
seemed lost has sprouted and brought the greatest victories around the
world. May women now be able to do at least a little of the good that
the workers for the suffrage have dreamt that it would bring to the
nations." Its results in Norway certainly have realized that dream, as
they have effected many beneficial changes in the laws.
The first demand for woman suffrage at a public meeting, so far as
known, was made in 1869 by Mr. Qvam, a barrister. The pioneer of the
organized movement was Miss Gina Krog, who, after having written and
lectured on the subject for years, founded the Christiania Woman
Suffrage Union in 1885. She was moved to do this by reading the early
volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, published about this time
and sent by Miss Susan B. Anthony to the university at Christiania.
Miss Krog edited _Nylande_, a monthly devoted to the interests of
women, and continued as president twelve years. She was succeeded by
Miss Rogstad. In 1886 bills were presented to the Parliament in
connection with an extension of the male suffrage. In 1888 the first
large public meeting was held. These were continued, petitions were
collected, bills were presented at every session, one in 1893
receiving a majority but not the necessary two-thirds. Women from
other parts of the country became interested and on Feb. 12, 1898, the
National Woman Suffrage Association was organized; Mrs. Qvam was
elected president. The association is still doing a vast amount of
work in the interest of women and children. There was never an active
working membership in the association of more than 2,500 but whenever
petitions were needed for an advanced step the signatures poured in by
the thousands and the Executive Committee was always assured of a
large support. In 1899 the names signed to a petition for equal
suffrage numbered 12,000.
As the grant of universal suffrage to men had been made only the
preceding year it was too much to expect it for women at once but
through the assistance of Liberals and Radicals with the help of many
Conservative members, and the efforts of women themselves, the
Municipal suffrage was given by the Parliament in May, 1901, to the
following: All who pay taxes to State or Municipality on an income of
400 kroner in the towns and 300 (about $71) in the country districts,
or have complete or partial joint property with a husband who pays
such tax. The amount was so small that a considerable proportion
received this vote. It carried eligibility to the municipal councils
and this year 98 women were elected and 160 "substitutes." The
National Executive Committee conducted an active campaign of
literature and lectures to rouse the women to exercise their new
privilege, and it continued to ask for the full suffrage. In 1905 the
momentous question arose of separation from Sweden. The women made
every effort to be permitted to vote in the referendum but in vain.
The National Suffrage Association then undertook the task of obtaining
the personal signatures of women to a petition in favor of separation
and on August 22 the Executive Committee presented it with an address
to the president of the Storthing with the statement that it was
signed by 300,000 women, a very large proportion of the adults. All
the members arose in tribute to the women.
As a result of this action by the National Association its petition in
1906 was received with much sympathy. During the summer before the
next Storthing was to be elected the Executive Committee carried on a
most strenuous campaign. The president and other members went to the
political meetings of all parties to secure endorsement. They called
attention to the granting of universal suffrage to women by the
Parliament of Finland in May of that year. The fifty branches
throughout the country held meetings and sent appeals. In August, when
the campaign was at its height, the International Woman Suffrage
Alliance held a most successful congress in Copenhagen, which was
enthusiastically commented on by the Danish press and that of Norway
adopted an entirely different attitude from this time. The Lefts and
the Socialists, who had put the plank in their platforms, elected a
majority of the Storthing but from January to June the women were in
the greatest suspense and those in the different constituencies were
working on their members. Finally on June 14, 1907, after only two
hours' debate, the complete franchise with full eligibility was
conferred on women by 96 to 23 votes, only 82 being needed.
This grant was made to the taxpaying women who had the Municipal
franchise and it was then the work of the National Association to have
it made universal. On June 7, 1910, it succeeded in having the
taxpaying qualification removed for the Municipal suffrage, and on
June 11, 1913, a paragraph was added to the constitution which
provided that "all men and women 25 years of age, who have been
domiciled in Norway five years shall be entitled to the complete
franchise and eligibility." Over half the total number of voters are
women. Women may be Premier, State officers, Judges, magistrates,
sheriffs, professors in the university, even the theological
department, and are eligible to all public offices with equal pay. The
constitutional arrangement for electing members of Parliament has been
an obstacle to the election of women but it has now been remedied.
Five had been elected as "substitutes" or "proxies" to take the place
of absent members. Hundreds have been elected to city councils and to
juries, which are elected for fixed periods. The only positions from
which they are excluded are those of a military character, the
Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, the clergy and officials of the State
church.
DENMARK.
Although Danish women had long had the highest educational advantages
and considerable freedom under the laws they had no suffrage up to the
time the International Woman Suffrage Alliance held its congress in
Copenhagen in 1906. The following women had gone to the meeting in
Berlin in 1904 when this Alliance was organized: Mrs. Johanne Münter,
Mrs. Charlotte Norrie, Mrs. Vibetha Salicath, Mrs. Charlotte
Eilersgaard, Misses Rasmussen, Eline Hansen and Anna Hude. They
reported its proceedings to the Woman Suffrage Association of Denmark,
formed in 1899, of which Mrs. Louise Norlund was president, and it
then affiliated with the Alliance and invited it to hold its next
congress in Copenhagen. At the time it met this association comprised
fourteen societies and they had worked chiefly for the Municipal
franchise. In 1906 the Kvindesamfund, organized in 1871 to work for
the general cause of women and advocating the franchise, adopted as
part of its regular program Municipal and full suffrage and joined the
Woman Suffrage Association. As early as 1888 it had presented to the
Rigsdag a petition by women all over the country asking the Municipal
franchise for single women, which the Lower House was willing to grant
but the Upper House ignored. The interest died out for awhile but in
1904 and 1905 the Lower House again favored this limited grant and in
the winter of 1906 both Houses received delegates from the society but
no action was taken.
The congress of the Alliance in 1906, which lasted over a week, was a
revelation of the size and strength of the movement for woman suffrage
and the great ability of women. It was cordially recognized by the
press and people and a great impetus was given to the work in Denmark.
That year a liberal Rigsdag was elected and a suffrage campaign was
made by the association. In 1907 the Parliament gave a vote to women
for public boards and the right to be elected to them and the Upper
House abandoned its opposition to enfranchising married women. A
strong movement was developed among women and many new suffrage
societies were formed. On April 20, 1908, the Parliament gave to
single women who pay taxes and to married women whose husbands are
taxpayers the Municipal franchise and eligibility. This was a
beginning and the Suffrage Association distributed 18,000 circulars to
women in Copenhagen before the elections the following March urging
them to go to the polls. Seventy per cent. of those entitled to vote
did so and seven were elected to the city council. In all districts
127 were elected.
There was a growing demand for a revision of the constitution and in
October the association sent in a petition that this should include
the complete enfranchisement of women. There was at this time national
agitation for election reforms, for direct election of the Upper
House, for lowering the voting age from 30 to 25, and this went in
with the other demands. By 1911 the National Association had 144
sections with 12,000 members and maintained a press bureau, supplying
60 papers. Another association, the Landsforbundet, had 100 branches
and 11,000 members, and published a paper, and there were many outside
groups. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International
Suffrage Alliance, stopped in Copenhagen on her way to its congress in
Stockholm in June and addressed a mass meeting under the auspices of
the two large associations.
With all parties in favor of giving the full suffrage to women and
public sentiment favoring it the bill was caught in the maelstrom of
agitation for a revised or new constitution and the Rigsdag refused to
consider it separately. Finally the bill for a new constitution
including woman suffrage passed the Lower House by a vote of 95 to 12.
It was sent to the Upper House, referred to a committee and there it
remained while the controversy raged over the constitution. This was
still the situation when the World War broke out in 1914 and it was
April, 1915, before an entire new constitution passed both Houses by
an enormous majority. It provided for universal suffrage with
eligibility for men and women, no taxpaying qualifications, the age to
be 29 with gradual reduction to 25. A general election at once took
place on this issue, the new Rigsdag immediately adopted the
constitution the required second time and on June 5 it was signed by
the King. The women voted for the first time at a general election in
1918 and nine, representing all parties, were elected to the Rigsdag,
five to the Upper and four to the Lower House. They voted a second
time in 1920 and eleven were elected. They have obtained laws for
equal pay, the opening of all positions to women and equal status in
marriage.
ICELAND.
Iceland was a dependency of Denmark with its own Parliament, the
Althing. In 1881 a bill was passed, presented by Skuli Thorvoddsen, a
member and an editor, giving to widows and spinsters who were
householders or maintained a family or were self-supporting, a vote
for parish and town councils, district boards and vestries, at the age
of 25, which became law in 1882. In 1895 the Woman's Alliance was
formed and a petition of 3,000 women was collected and sent to the
Althing asking it to consider suffrage for married women and increased
property rights, which it ignored. In 1906 Mrs. Briet Asmundsson, the
leader of the woman's movement, attended the congress of the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen, and, returning to
Reykjavik, the capital, organized in January, 1907, the Association
for Women's Rights. In four months 12,000 signatures had been obtained
to a petition for full suffrage for women and eligibility to all
offices. Mr. Thorvoddsen introduced the bill, which was not
considered, but one was passed giving the Municipal franchise and
eligibility to all women in the Reykjavik and one other district,
which became law Jan. 1, 1908. The association carried on a vigorous
campaign and four women were elected to the council of Reykjavik. Its
president then made a two months' tour of the country and organized
five branches. At all political meetings the women had resolutions
presented for equal suffrage and eligibility, which were usually
carried unanimously. On April 15 a law was passed extending Municipal
suffrage and eligibility to all women.
In 1911 women were made eligible to all State offices, including those
of the church, and a constitutional amendment was passed granting the
complete franchise. It had to pass a second Althing and political
questions arose which were all absorbing until 1914. Then the
amendment passed but a compromise had to be made fixing the age for
women at 40, to be lowered annually, under much protest, but Premier
Eggers refused to submit it to the King of Denmark for his sanction.
It had to wait until another took the office and finally was signed
June 19, 1915, two weeks after the women of Denmark were fully
enfranchised. In 1918 a referendum was taken, in which women voted,
on making Iceland an independent State having a personal union with
Denmark and the same King, which resulted favorably. A new Althing was
elected Nov. 15, 1919, and a new constitution adopted which gave to
women full suffrage at 25, the same age as to men.
SWEDEN.
The story of Sweden is especially interesting as the women were the
first in Europe to have the Municipal vote and among the last to have
the Parliamentary. In 1862 widows and spinsters who had paid taxes had
a vote for all officers except members of the Parliament. In 1909 they
were made eligible for the offices. Later this franchise was enlarged
to admit married women, and in 1918 it was made universal for men and
women of 23 without taxpaying requirements. This chapter is indebted
for much of the information in it to Mrs. Anna B. Wicksell, who was a
delegate from Sweden to Berlin in 1904, when the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance was formed and is now a vice-president. Mrs.
Wicksell gained international fame when her Government appointed her a
delegate to the League of Nations meeting at Geneva in 1920-21 and she
was placed on the Mandates Commission.
The first bill to give women full suffrage and eligibility was
presented in the Second Chamber by F. D. Borg, an enlightened member,
in 1884 and ridiculed by Parliament and press. In 1902 Carl Lindhagen
offered a bill calling on the Government to investigate the subject.
The first organized movement among the women was the forming of a
society in Stockholm this year and an address to Parliament with 5,641
signatures urging this bill. It was rejected by 111 to 64 in the
Second Chamber (Lower House) and without a division in the First. In
1904 his bill, endorsed by 30 members, received 115 noes, 93 ayes and
no vote in the First Chamber. In 1905, endorsed by 57, it had 89 noes,
30 ayes in the First Chamber and the Second rejected it by 109 to 88.
The suffrage societies had multiplied and now there were 63.
A National Suffrage Association was formed in 1904, which still
exists. It carried on the work for seventeen years, under the
presidency of Miss Anna Whitlock, Dr. Lydia Wahlstrom, Miss Signe
Bergman and Dr. Karolina Widerström. When success finally crowned its
efforts it had 240 branches and 15,000 members. With the great
difficulties of securing names in this country of widely scattered
people the petitions collected and sent to Parliament were remarkable,
the last one in 1914 having 350,000 signatures. Among the women who
were conspicuous in long and arduous service besides the presidents
were Mrs. Ann M. Holmgren, Dr. Gulli Petrini, Mrs. Frigga Carlberg and
Mrs. Gloria Hallberg. Miss Selma Lagerlöf assisted on great occasions.
Men who for years were most valuable workers were Stockholm's
burgomaster, Carl Lindhagen, and the three Prime Ministers, Karl
Staaf, Nils Edén and Hjalmer Brantung. Two of the most conspicuous
opponents were Mr. Lindeau and Mr. Trygger, through fear that the
Social Democratic Party would gain.
The years 1905-1906 saw much advance, as the separation from Norway
took place and the question of the enlargement of male suffrage was to
the fore. The women made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to have
the Parliament include women but the bill for men was rejected. It
did, however, by a majority even in the Upper House, order an
investigation of woman suffrage where it existed. Societies were
organized from the Sound to Lapland. King Oscar received a deputation
and in answer to the address of Miss Gertrud Adelborg expressed his
sympathy but said the Government could not endanger the desired
suffrage for men. In 1907 a petition from 142,128 women was presented
to the Parliament. The Labor Party made woman suffrage a part of their
program, the Lindhagen group supported it, a number of bills were
brought in but all was in vain. At a woman suffrage mass meeting in
1908 in Stockholm thousands were turned away. Meetings were held
throughout the country. The Liberals and Social Democrats put woman
suffrage in their programs. At the opening of Parliament the King's
speech contained a few favorable words. Leading members conferred with
the Executive Committee of the National Suffrage Association, with the
result that it arranged a meeting at the Grand Hotel with many members
of Parliament present, who were addressed by prominent women and
seemed much impressed, but all suffrage bills were lost.
The well-organized suffragists then went actively into the campaign
and worked to defeat their opponents. As a result a majority was
elected to the Second Chamber in favor of giving the suffrage to
women. A deputation of 35 was granted an audience by the new King,
Gustav V, and he expressed the hope that the time was near when their
claims could be regarded. In February, 1909, the Government's bill
embodying universal suffrage for men finally passed both Chambers and
it included eligibility to the municipal offices for the women who
could vote for them, which the suffrage association had worked for.
The next April the first woman suffrage bill was passed by the Second
Chamber. In 1910 37 women were chosen for the councils in 34 towns,
which partly elect the First Chamber.
The situation looked so favorable that the National Association
invited the International Woman Suffrage Alliance to hold its congress
in Stockholm in 1911 for the effect which this large and important
body would have on public sentiment. After this had been arranged, the
Swedish women learned to their disappointment and indignation that the
Government did not propose to introduce a woman suffrage bill this
year, as they wished first to see the effect of the new universal
franchise law for men. Besides, the investigation of woman suffrage
was not completed! A representative Men's League for Woman Suffrage
was formed. A new Second Chamber was to be elected and as the suffrage
bill would have to be acted upon by two Parliaments there would have
to be a wait of several years. A bill was presented and passed the
Lower House but all progressive legislation was blocked by the First
Chamber. During the campaign the women worked vigorously for the
election of Liberal and Social Democratic candidates, who had woman
suffrage on their program, 29 women speaking on their party platforms
at 217 meetings. They formed a large majority of the new Government
and a Liberal Cabinet was formed. The First Chamber was dissolved and
in the new one, instead of a negligible few, there were 64 Liberals
and Social Democrats to 86 Conservatives. In his speech on opening the
new Parliament in 1912 the King announced that he would present a bill
giving to women suffrage and eligibility on the same conditions as
possessed by men. On April 2 the Government brought in this bill
which was carried in the Lower House by 140 to 66; defeated in the
Upper by 86 to 58. This year 64 women councillors were elected. The
women strengthened their organization, added to their monster
petitions, held their mass meetings and then in 1914 came the War!
In the flood-tide of democracy which resulted the existence of the
kingdom itself was threatened. The First Chamber of nobles and landed
proprietors was forced to abandon its conservatism. The Reform Bill
proposed in December, 1918, at an extra session, abolished plural
voting, gave universal Municipal suffrage, made women eligible to
County Councils and provided for the Parliamentary franchise for them.
At the session of 1919 the bill was laid before the Parliament and on
May 24 it was passed by both Chambers without opposition. On the 29th
great celebrations were held in Stockholm and other cities and at the
old university town of Upsala the speakers were the Archbishop, Dr.
Selma Lagerlöf and Prime Minister Brantung.
It was not all ended, however, for the measure had to pass a second
Parliament, although this was a mere matter of form. The elections
took place in the autumn of 1920. On Jan. 26, 1921, without debate,
the law was sanctioned by the new Parliament and two days later it was
promulgated by the King. It gives complete, universal suffrage to
women. In September the election occurred in which women took part and
five were elected to the Parliament, one of them to the First Chamber,
which so many years stood between women and their political rights.
THE NETHERLANDS.
The story of woman suffrage in the Netherlands is one of intense,
unceasing work for a quarter of a century. The old constitution did
not specifically exclude women and in 1882 Dr. Aletta Jacobs, the
first woman physician, who had been studying in England and met the
suffrage leaders, applied to be registered for an election. This was
refused and she carried the case through the highest court with a
decision against her. It was in effect that by the letter of the law
she was eligible but the spirit of the law intended to exclude women.
In 1885 a new constitution was made which definitely excluded women
but made a further extension of the suffrage to men, who had not
asked for it. It required a long, hard effort to organize for woman
suffrage, as there was almost no sentiment for it, but on Feb. 5,
1894, the Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht was formed of women in
different places with Mrs. Versluys-Poelman, president. She held the
office eight years and then Dr. Jacobs, who had been president of the
Amsterdam branch during this time, was elected and served till the
contest was finished in 1918. It is to Dr. Jacobs this chapter is
indebted for the information it contains. This was the only
association of a national character until 1908, when the Bond voor
Vrouwenkiesrecht came into existence. When the work ended it had 80
branches and about 10,000 members. The former had 160 branches and
over 25,000 members and reorganized in the Netherlands Society of
Women Citizens to work for the legal and economic equality of women.
At first the press was hostile, all political parties were opposed
except a small group of Constitutional Democrats and no member of
Parliament would introduce the question. The work had to begin from
the bottom with personal interviews with the members, watching the
bills relating to women and children, showing the need of women's
influence, etc. In 1904 Dr. Jacobs, Misses Johanna W. A. Naber and E.
L. van Dorp, Mrs. von Loenen de Bordes, Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema and Mrs.
Hengeveld Garritson were present at the organization of the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin, as was Miss Martina
Kramers, who was elected Secretary, and the Dutch national association
became auxiliary. From that time it went into direct political work,
in 1905 presenting to the Queen and the Prime Minister its request
that in a proposed revision of the constitution the words men and
women be used after citizens. The Commission that drafted it in 1907
recommended suffrage and eligibility for women. The association,
expecting a campaign, had invited the International Alliance to hold
its congress in Amsterdam in June, 1908. It proved to be one of the
most brilliant and successful ever held and was enthusiastically
received by the press and the public. An active Men's League for Woman
Suffrage was formed.
From that time the question of woman suffrage was on a constantly
rising tide. A liberal Parliament had been elected and it was to
consider giving the vote to women. Appeals were made through the
members from the fifty branches of the association and through public
meetings and much outdoor propaganda was carried on in little boats.
There was no cessation of the work and as a result leaders of the four
political parties declared themselves in the Parliament in favor of
the enfranchisement of women, but in 1909 a Conservative Government
was elected and the revision was withdrawn. This year the Lutheran and
Mennonite churches gave women a vote on all matters. In 1913 the
Cabinet announced its own revision of the constitution. Early in 1914
the association memorialized the Premier and the Queen, sent letters
to all the electors and carried on the most strenuous work. Its
meetings in every town and city were crowded and in a short time a
petition signed by 165,000 women was presented to the Parliament. Then
the War broke forth and everything was at a standstill.
In 1915 the suffragists were roused by the announcement that the
constitution would positively be revised. In June they held a big
demonstration in Amsterdam, in which trade unions and political
parties participated. It was evident that the country was back of the
demand for woman suffrage. Although street processions were forbidden,
the burgomaster, a suffragist, allowed it. In The Hague a large one
took place in September, when the Parliament opened, the burgomaster
yielding to the entreaties of the women that if the Government was
going to bring in a new constitution in the midst of the War, which so
much concerned women, they should be allowed to express themselves. It
was preceded by an immense meeting and a resolution calling for woman
suffrage was passed; thousands of women massed in front of the
Parliament House and Dr. Jacobs and a deputation carried it in to the
Speaker, who promised to do all in his power for them. During all the
weeks while the discussion raged the members had to pass through two
rows of silent women wearing broad sashes with the name of the
association on them. Women filled the seats inside and the Speaker
offered his private box to Dr. Jacobs and her friends. Prime Minister
Cort van Linden threatened that if a vote were permitted on woman
suffrage he would withdraw the whole constitution. The members of
Parliament were so afraid they would lose universal male suffrage
that they gave up this amendment and the constitution was adopted
without it. It did, however, make the valuable concession that it
should be possible for the Parliament to grant the suffrage to women
at any time without submitting it to the voters as part of the
constitution. It also contained the remarkable provision that women
should be eligible to election to the Parliament and all
representative bodies, although they had not a scrap of suffrage.
The exclusion of women was received with the disapproval of the
country and in the election campaign of 1918 the demand of all the
non-clerical parties was for woman suffrage. At the opening of
Parliament H. P. Marchant, leader of the Constitutional Democrats,
introduced a bill for the complete enfranchisement of women. Early in
November, 1918, all Europe was alarmed by the revolution in Russia and
The Netherlands was threatened. There was a demand for woman suffrage
at once as a deterrent. The Government agreed and took up Mr.
Marchant's bill but the danger passed and nothing was done. By
February, 1919, the suffragists were obliged to hold another mass
meeting and demonstration at The Hague and assure the Government that
they would rouse the country. The Speaker then brought in the bill,
which was discussed in April, and on May 9 universal suffrage for
women on the same terms as possessed by men was accepted by a vote of
64 to 10 by the Second Chamber. The following July it passed the First
Chamber with five dissenting votes and was signed by the Queen on
September 8.
In 1918 a woman had been elected to the Second Chamber and in 1920 one
was elected to the First Chamber, and there were 36 on County Councils
and 88 on Municipal councils, chosen by men before women had yet
voted.
BELGIUM.
On November 23, 1918, five days after the armistice which ended the
World War the National Federation for Woman Suffrage in Belgium
resumed its activities with an open letter to the Labor Party,
referring to their manifesto for universal suffrage and reminding them
that this included women. A little later it addressed an appeal to the
newly established Government and started a petition. In the midst of
the war King Albert and Queen Elizabeth had expressed themselves in
favor of the enfranchisement of women but when he opened the first
Parliament after it was over he recommended only equal, universal
suffrage for men. Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions the
petition soon had 35,000 signatures and was sent to the Parliament. By
midwinter of 1919 the question was one of heated controversy among the
parties, which continued. By April the petition had reached 175,000.
The Catholics favored woman suffrage, the Liberals and Socialists
opposed it, fearing the influence of the church. To avoid a
dissolution of the Parliament a compromise was finally effected by
which the parliamentary vote was given to "all widows of soldiers and
civilians killed by the enemy, or, where there is no widow, to the
mother"; and to "all women condemned or imprisoned for patriotic acts
during the enemy occupation." This enfranchised about 30,000 women and
was only to be in effect until a Constituent Assembly should be
elected which would revise the electoral law.
Meanwhile a bill for the Municipal or Communal franchise for women was
introduced. Plural voting for men was abolished; a general election
took place November 16 and the new Parliament met in December. The
necessary two-thirds vote for the Parliamentary suffrage for women
seemed impossible but the three parties were virtually pledged to give
the Municipal. After three months of controversy and suspense this
Communal franchise was granted in the Chamber of Deputies on March 3,
1920, to all women 21 years of age, by vote of 120 to 37. All the
Catholics voted in favor; all the Liberals but two against
it--Burgomaster Max and Paul Hymans, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the
Socialist vote was divided, 45 of the 56 in favor. It was accepted in
the Senate April 14 by 60 to 33.
The commission on revising the constitution refused by 11 to 9 votes
to include the Parliamentary franchise for women but recommended
unanimously their eligibility to sit in both chambers. This was
accepted in June by the Deputies by 142 to 10 votes. On July 1 they
rejected by a vote of 89 to 74 a bill giving the complete suffrage to
women. On July 28 they voted by a large majority for a clause that
any future Parliament might do this by a two-thirds vote without a
revision of the constitution.
LUXEMBURG.
Under the Treaty of Peace after the war Luxemburg became an
independent government with its own Parliament. There was a temporary
Constituent Assembly and on May 8, 1919, without even an effort by
women, this body adopted universal suffrage, without distinction of
sex, by a vote of 39 to 11. All inhabitants 21 years of age are
electors and after 25 are eligible for the Parliament and Communal
Councils. On September 28 men and women voted on the country's future
form of government and decided by a four-fifths vote to have an
independent monarchy with an elected Parliament. A month later the
elections for it took place. One of the two women candidates was
elected.
RUSSIA.
It would be difficult to relate the story of woman suffrage in Russia.
In the villages and among the peasants women had long voted at the
local elections either as proxies of the husband or by right of owning
property, and among the nobility and wealthy classes they could vote
through male proxies. There was little national suffrage even among
men and the Revolution after the Russo-Japanese war was a struggle for
representation. In March, 1905, a Russian Union of Defenders of
Women's Rights was started in Moscow and spread among different
classes throughout Russia. It became a part of the general movement
for liberty, was well organized and its demands were many but the
first one was for a Constituent Assembly elected by universal, secret
ballot. It united with the great political Union of Unions, which
officially recognized the equal rights of women in all respects in
July, 1905, and before the end of the year this had been done by many
municipalities.
Everything was stopped by the Revolution and that was followed by the
establishment of the Douma. All that women hoped for from it was
wrecked when it was dissolved. Their Union at this time had 79
branches and 10,000 members and had collected and used $50,000 for
its work. The struggle was continued but two years later not 1,000
members could be found. In December, 1908, the first Women's Congress
in Russia was held in St. Petersburg, welcomed by the Mayor and
addressed by members of Parliament and eminent women, and was
favorably received. Many women's societies were formed but worked
under great difficulties. Woman suffrage bills came before the Douma
and it passed one giving the Municipal franchise, after striking out
eligibility, but the Czar did not sign it. A bill for adult suffrage
was taken up and Professor Miliukov made a brilliant plea for
enfranchising women but it was not passed and the suffrage had not
been granted to women at the beginning of the war in 1914.
In the second revolution in 1917 women took practically the same part
as men and in the Provisional Government which was the result there
was no question as to their equal rights in suffrage and office
holding. They were elected to the City Council of St. Petersburg and
put on all public committees. Then came the counter revolution and
chaos. From the beginning of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
in 1904 Russian delegates, women of great ability, had come to its
congresses with their reports but at the first meeting after the war,
in Geneva in 1920, there was no word. When Russia eventually secures a
stable government it probably will make no distinction between the
political rights of men and women.
GERMANY.
When the International Woman Suffrage Alliance met in Budapest in
June, 1913, delegates were present from affiliated societies in
twenty-one countries; national associations from several had applied
for admission and committees had been formed in several others. Over a
hundred fraternal delegates were sent from organizations in twelve
countries having woman suffrage as one of their objects or as the only
one. In every direction the prospect looked encouraging and then one
year later the great War burst upon the world! The first thought of
the suffrage leaders was that the work of years had been swept away
and after the War it would have to be commenced again. They did not
dream that as a result of the War would come victories for equal
suffrage that it would have required many years to win. These
victories began with the enfranchisement of the women of Great Britain
and Ireland in February, 1918, as described in another chapter, the
direct result of the War. On the Continent woman suffrage came first
where it had been least expected--in Germany and Austro-Hungary. In
some of the German States women landowners could vote by male proxies.
Each of the 22 States had its own King and Parliament and made its own
laws and all men of 25 could vote for the Reichstag or Lower House of
the Imperial Parliament but this privilege was largely nullified by a
system of plural voting. In Prussia and Bavaria, the two largest
States, women were not allowed to attend political meetings or form
political organizations, and those for suffrage came under this head.
The first attempt to form a suffrage society was made in Hamburg, one
of the three "free cities," in 1901 and it was followed by others in
the other two "free cities," Frankfort and Bremen, and in the southern
States, where these restrictions did not exist. In 1902 these
societies were united in a National Association, of which Dr. Anita
Augspurg was president. Its members kept up an agitation for the
Municipal vote, carrying the question into the courts, and they also
petitioned the Reichstag for the full suffrage.
The International Council of Women met in Berlin in 1904, the largest
meeting of women ever held in any country, and the organizing at this
time of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance aroused universal
interest. In the election of the new Reichstag in 1906 the suffrage
societies took an active part and in 1907 it repealed the old law
forbidding women to attend political meetings and form political
associations, the new law going into effect in May, 1908. The
suffragists celebrated with an immense meeting in Frankfort, addressed
by Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Miss Annie Kenney of England, who roused
great enthusiasm. Suffrage associations were then organized in the
various States, which began to work with their own Parliaments.
Through lectures, literature and organizing the effort was continued,
the women joining and working with the political parties, especially
the Social Democratic, which espoused their cause. In 1912 forty
petitions for the Municipal suffrage in Prussia were presented to its
Diet by women. A Woman's Congress was held in Munich and for the first
time in Germany a procession of women marched through the streets. In
1911 differences in questions of policy which had been increasing had
resulted in the forming of a second National Association. The two
united in 1916 under the presidency of Mrs. Marie Stritt, former
president of the National Council of Women of Germany and secretary of
the International Alliance. In March, 1918, Mrs. Stritt wrote to the
_International Suffrage News_: "We German women have at present no
reason to rejoice over the progress of our cause but we have followed
with all the greater joy the unexpected success of our sisters in
other countries."
In 1920 Mrs. Stritt, now a member of the city council in Dresden,
wrote for this History as follows: "Although throughout the more than
four years of war the women worked eagerly for the suffrage through
their organizations, demanding it in public meetings and petitioning
legislative bodies, they did not get it by their own efforts but by
the Revolution in November, 1918, at the end of the war. In August,
1919, their rights were confirmed unanimously by all parties in the
new constitution. They received the suffrage and eligibility for the
Reichstag, and for the Parliaments of the States and local
bodies--universal, equal, direct and secret and applied exactly on the
same terms as to men. Women are by the constitution eligible to all
State and Government offices. In the first elections, in January,
1920, 39 were elected to the National Assembly, 117 to the State
Parliaments in Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, etc., and 1,400 to local
bodies. Twenty were elected to the Diet of Prussia."
Dr. Alice Salamon, of Berlin, secretary of the International Council
of Women, wrote: "From the first day of the Revolution, when suffrage
was proclaimed for all men and women from the age of 20, it was
accepted as the most natural thing in the world. It was neither
questioned nor opposed by any political or professional groups. All
political parties resolutely accepted woman suffrage as a fact and
issued electoral platforms in which they declared themselves for the
full partnership of women in political life."
In the autumn of 1919 the National Union for Woman Suffrage held a
convention in Erfurt and by unanimous vote dissolved, considering that
its work had been accomplished. The members then devoted their efforts
to abolishing the many legal, civil and social discriminations against
women.
AUSTRIA.
The situation in Austria was much the same as in Germany except that
from a very early date women taxpayers had some small franchise
rights, but in 1906, when by a peaceful revolution men secured
universal suffrage for themselves, the new constitution took even
those away from women which they had. Although large numbers of women
had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Progressives and Social
Democrats in their struggle for suffrage, when the latter succeeded in
getting control of both branches of the Parliament they refused to
grant any voting rights to women. The Austrian Government had never
allowed women to attend political meetings or form suffrage societies.
It was not until 1905 that they dared even to form a Woman Suffrage
Committee and while the men were demanding their own rights it sent a
petition to the Parliament that these should be granted to women also.
In 1907, after the new régime was under way, they sent another
petition signed by 4,000 men and women asking for the repeal of the
above obnoxious law. It was refused and the Supreme Court sustained
the refusal.
The women did not relax their efforts. Mass meetings were held in
Vienna and the provincial capitals under the auspices of the Woman
Suffrage Committee and other committees were formed. They published a
monthly paper and many of the newspapers took up their cause. In 1910
they sent a deputation to the Premier and Minister of Internal
Affairs, which was sympathetically received, and the latter said that
not only ought the law to be repealed but women should have the
Municipal franchise. A Socialist Deputy brought the matter of the law
before the Constitutional Committee, which reported it to the Chamber,
where the sentiment was almost unanimous for its repeal. It went to
the Upper House but before it could be sanctioned the Parliament was
dissolved. In the autumn of 1913 a new Law of Assemblies was passed
from which the section so bitterly opposed was omitted and in fact the
women had been defying it. They began at once a nation-wide suffrage
organization, which affiliated with the International Alliance. The
next year the country was immersed in a World War which continued over
four years. At the end of it the Government passed into the hands of
the people. The new constitution provided that all women over 20
should have full suffrage and eligibility to all offices, national and
State, on the same terms as men. For the first elections the following
February the Austrian Union of Suffrage Societies and the National
Council of Women worked together and it was estimated that 2,000,000
women voted; eight were elected to the National Constituent Assembly,
twelve to the city council of Vienna and 126 to other municipal
councils.
HUNGARY.
Women were not prohibited from political activities in Hungary as in
Austria and when the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed
in Berlin in 1904 Rosika Schwimmer came from Budapest with a report
that in 1900 Francis Kossuth and Louis Hentaller were advocating woman
suffrage in the Parliament and in 1903 women were working with men for
political reforms. By 1905 a Woman Suffrage Association was formed,
auxiliary to the International, mass meetings were held and petitions
were sent to the Parliament. In 1906 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the
international president, and Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the
Netherlands National Association, visited Budapest and addressed
enthusiastic meetings. Later Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg of Finland
and Mrs. Dora Montefiore of England did the same. Strenuous agitation
was kept up, meetings, processions, demonstrations, and half a million
leaflets were distributed. The Government was to discuss a Reform Bill
in 1908 and a determined effort was made to keep the women out of the
House of Parliament as spectators. Mrs. Catt paid another visit that
year and gave ten lectures in eight cities. Eloquent women speakers
went to the aid of the Hungarian women from Berlin, Munich, Berne,
Turin and Rotterdam. In 1910 the conservative National Council of
Women added a woman suffrage committee and a Men's League for Woman
Suffrage of representative men was formed. There were suffrage
societies in 87 cities and towns composed of all classes. The women
were badly treated by all political parties and excluded from their
meetings, the Radicals and Social Democrats being their strongest
opponents. The struggle continued with sometimes a favorable and
sometimes an unfavorable Government and always the contest by men for
their own universal suffrage.
In 1913, through the remarkable efforts of Rosika Schwimmer, the
International Suffrage Alliance held its congress in Budapest with
delegates from all over the world. It was a notable triumph, welcomed
by the dignitaries of the State and city; its meetings for seven days
crowded to overflowing and every possible courtesy extended. The
demand that women should have the vote seemed to have become
universal. Then came the War and all was blotted out for years. When
it was over in 1918 internal revolution followed and out of it came a
Republic but without stability. A law was enacted giving suffrage to
all men of 21 but only to women of 24 who could read and write. Women
voted under it in 1919 and one was elected to the Parliament but the
law has not yet been written into a permanent constitution.
BOHEMIA.
Bohemian women suffered the disadvantages of those of Austria and
could not attend political meetings or form suffrage societies,
although by an old law taxpayers and those belonging to the learned
professions could vote by a male proxy for the members of the Diet of
the Kingdom, and were eligible themselves after the age of 30. They
had a Woman Suffrage Committee and petitioned the Diet to include
women in the new electoral law of 1907 but it received word from
Vienna that nothing must be done. By 1911 a Woman Suffrage Committee
was doing a good deal of active suffrage work and women's
organizations were being formed in the political parties but the
Social Democratic was the only one that favored equal suffrage. For a
number of years the women endeavored to secure the nomination of a
woman candidate for the Bohemian Diet but were always unsuccessful.
Finally in 1912 the Social Democratic and a section of the Liberal
party each nominated a woman and by the most heroic effort and a
combination of fortunate circumstances the latter, Mrs.
Vikova-Kuneticka, a prominent writer and suffragist, was elected on
June 13. The Governor of the district, doubting her eligibility,
delayed issuing the certificate; the Diet did not meet; the War came
on and after it ended Bohemia assumed her own government with equal
rights for women, and she took her seat.
In the newly organized country of Czecho-Slovakia woman suffrage
prevailed throughout and in 1920 thirteen women were elected to the
Lower and three to the Upper House of the National Parliament. The new
Parliament of Jugo-Slavia voted against woman suffrage.
* * * * *
It is practically impossible to give an accurate account of the
situation in regard to the suffrage and office-holding of women in the
re-alignment which took place in central and southeastern Europe after
the war. The States which were formed with new or changed boundaries
all began with the declaration of absolute democracy, equal suffrage
for men and women and eligibility to all offices. At their first
elections women in some of them were elected to the Parliaments and
city councils of the new régime. Poland, restored, gave universal
suffrage, and elected eight to the Parliament. Its women are strongly
organized and very capable. It is not possible to foretell the future
of these experiments in democracy. It has been reported from time to
time that the suffrage had been given to women in Bulgaria, Roumania
and Serbia and then denied but at present they do not seem to be
exercising it. (1920.)
SWITZERLAND.
Switzerland, like France, is a republic only in name, as women are
wholly disfranchised. It is now the only country where the question of
woman suffrage has to be submitted to the individual voters. To give
women the franchise for the Federal Council that body must submit the
question to all the voters, and to give it in each Canton of the 22
for its Council, this body must submit the question to all the voters
in the Canton. It never has been submitted by the Federal Council,
which holds that it must first be granted in the Cantons. Whenever
they have voted on it they have defeated it, the agricultural
population being especially hostile. There are many organizations of
women, the most important of which ask for the suffrage. The largest
of them, the National Council of Women, with 20,000 members from all
kinds of societies, was very slow to recognize the value of the vote
but in January, 1919, when a revision of the constitution was
expected, it took official action and unanimously adopted suffrage
work.
Mme. Chaponnière-Chaix (who is now president of the International
Council of Women), Mme. Saulner and Mlle. Camille Vidart were present
at the forming of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin
in 1904 to represent a group in Geneva. In May, 1908, a Central Woman
Suffrage Committee was formed in Berne of societies in seven cities
and it was admitted to membership in the Alliance. In January, 1909, a
National Association was organized with M. de Morsier, a Deputy of the
Council of the Geneva Canton, as president and lectures and organizing
commenced. The work was continued and small gains were made. Vaud,
Geneva, Neuchâtel, Bâle-Ville and Berne gave women a vote in the
State church. They can sit on school boards in these Cantons
and Zurich. They can vote for and serve on the tribunaux de
prud'hommes--industrial boards--in two or three Cantons, these rights
granted by the Councils. The universities and the professions are open
to women.
Work for woman suffrage was at an end during the War and after it was
over there was not the disposition to enfranchise women that prevailed
in other countries of Europe but it was taken up by the liberal
parties. The suffragists entered upon vigorous efforts to have the
rights of women included in the proposed revision of the national
constitution. On March 17, 1919, in response to large petitions, the
Council of Neuchâtel by a vote of 60 to 30 submitted the question of
woman suffrage to the voters. In June the National Suffrage
Association held its annual meeting in this Canton with a large
attendance and its president, Mlle. Emily Gourd, gave an account of an
active year's work. A petition signed by 157 women's societies asked
the Federal Council to put woman suffrage in the revised national
constitution. There was a spirit of hopefulness that a new régime was
at hand, as many Cantons were considering the question.
The vote was taken in Neuchâtel June 28, 29, 1919. A dishonorable
campaign had been made by the opponents, financed by the liquor trade,
and the result in the entire Canton was 12,017 noes, 5,346 ayes. In
the town it stood 1,647 noes, 831 ayes; in the industrial and
Socialist town of Chaux de Fonds it was 2,400 noes, 1,800 ayes. The
Federal Council refused all appeals to submit the question, although
it was discussed in the First Chamber. In October the Council of Basle
by 63 to 24 voted to submit the proposition. The Council of Zurich
also sent it to the voters, adding eligibility to office. On February
8, 1920, the vote in the Canton of Zurich was 88,249 noes; 21,608
ayes. In that of Basle it was 12,455 noes; 6,711 ayes. The peasants
were solidly opposed and the workingmen voted against it.
The suffragists then concentrated upon Geneva and set out to get a
petition from 2,500 electors, which would compel the Council of the
Canton to submit the proposition. In June, 1920, the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance held in Geneva its first congress after the
war. Delegates were present from all over the civilized world.
Twenty-one countries had now enfranchised women. From every point of
view it was one of the most successful it had ever held and it was
expected to influence the referendum on woman suffrage. The year was
crowded with work and the 2,500 names were not obtained until
November. It was February, 1921, before the Council of the Canton
discussed the petition and then it was referred to a Special
Commission, where it was held until September 21 before the proposal
to give full suffrage and eligibility to women was submitted to the
voters. The election took place October 17 and resulted in 14,166
noes; 6,629 ayes.
ITALY.
Woman suffrage in some form had been a number of times before the
Italian Parliament and it was advocated by many of the eminent
university women. At the first congress of the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen in 1906 Professor Teresa Labriola, a
lecturer on law in the University of Rome, came to tell of efforts
during the past year to awaken interest in the question of votes for
women, due largely to the demand of men for universal suffrage. Some
women had tried to have their names placed on the election lists, as
the electoral law did not prohibit it, but the courts decided against
them. A petition signed by a large number of women was presented to
the House of Deputies and some of these advocated a law to give women
the suffrage but Premier Giolitti held that full civil rights must
first be given to them. In 1908 congresses of women were held,
committees formed and a National Committee for Woman Suffrage was
sufficiently organized to send a delegate to the meeting of the
International Alliance in Amsterdam and be accepted as an auxiliary.
Later it became a National Federation for Woman Suffrage. By 1909
suffrage committees had been established in many cities, public
meetings held and propaganda work done. The National Committee had
taken a very active part in the elections of March to have Deputies
selected who favored giving the franchise to women, under the
direction of its president, Countess Giacinta Martini, and
vice-president, Professor Labriola. The press was obliged to take up
the question, led by the _Giornale d'Italia_. In 1910 a Men's League
for Woman Suffrage was formed with a membership of prominent men. A
bill was brought before the Chamber to abolish marital authority,
admit women to the legal profession and give them a vote in local
government. Premier Sonnino was in sympathy but his Cabinet fell.
The National Suffrage Union by 1912 had 10,000 members and took
vigorous part in the municipal elections. As a result many Municipal
Councils adopted resolutions calling on the Deputies to pass a woman
suffrage bill. In 1912 the Chamber was discussing a bill to extend the
vote to illiterate men and one was introduced to give it to women,
which was defeated through the influence of Premier Giolitti, but the
balloting showed that it was not a party question. His government was
continued in power by a large vote at the next election. The King in
opening Parliament promised a bill to give civil rights to women. The
breaking out of the War in 1914 ended all hope of favorable action but
agitation and organization did not cease. Large suffrage congresses
were held in Rome in 1916 and 1917, the latter opened with an
eloquent address by Keeper of the Seals Sacchi, who was to introduce
a Reform Bill for women but it was not done.
After the War Italy shared in the world-wide movement toward improving
the position of women. The long-delayed Sacchi bill was introduced. It
very largely removed the civil disabilities of women, which were many;
abolished the authority of the husband, which was absolute; gave women
the right to control their property, enter the professions, fill
public offices and have equal guardianship of their children. On March
25, 1919, the Senate Commission recommended the passing of the bill
without change, which was done in July by a vote of 58 to 17. On April
23, 29, 1920, an immense suffrage congress was held in Milan, opened
by Dr. Margherita Ancona and addressed by prominent men of all
parties. This was followed by others and there was a strong public
demand for the enfranchisement of women. A bill was presented July 30,
sponsored by sixteen prominent Deputies of all parties, to give women
the vote on the same terms as men but they were not to use it until
after the approaching general election, as there would not be time to
make new lists. This Martini bill was referred to a special committee
of Signor Martini, Signor Gasparotto and Signor Sandrini and it was
due to their excellent management that it went through with such speed
on September 6. It was favored by Premier Nitti, some brilliant
speeches were made and it passed by 174 ayes, 55 noes. Before the
great rejoicing was over, before the bill could be acted on by the
Senate, the Government was defeated and the Parliament was dissolved.
Italy soon, like other European countries, was threatened with
revolution. Ministers rose and fell; politics was in a chaotic state.
This situation has continued to a considerable degree and women are
still without the suffrage (1921).
FRANCE.
For many years there were detached groups in France working for
political rights for women but it was not until 1909 that any effort
at national organization was made. Then in February a National
Committee was formed of one member from each society with Mme. Jeanne
E. Schmahl, a well-known worker for the rights of women, as chairman.
The National Council of Women of France, an influential body, gave
its assistance. Mme. Schmahl went to the meeting of the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance in London the following April, which
recognized the committee as a National Association and accepted it as
an auxiliary. It immediately began organizing branches in the
Provinces, and received especial help from the universities.
Professional women, those in public service and wage-earning women
joined the association, which soon had over 3,000 members. The right
had been given to working women to vote in the election of Trade
Councils. As far back as 1906 M. Dussaussoy had proposed a bill to the
Chamber of Deputies giving to all women a vote for Municipal, District
and General Councils. In March, 1910, M. Buisson, chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee for Universal Suffrage, reported in favor of
this bill and added full suffrage. In June, at the request of the new
association, 163 Deputies signed a petition that the report should be
taken up at once. A remarkable sentiment in favor was disclosed.
Mme. V. Vincent, a pioneer in the woman movement, became president of
the association, which was called the French Union for Woman Suffrage.
By the time the International Alliance held its congress in Budapest
in June, 1913, Mme. Marguerite de Witt Schlumberger, a very capable
executive, had been elected president and the report of the secretary,
Mme. C. V. Brunschvicg, of the progress made along many lines filled
five printed pages. The Municipal suffrage bill had been taken up by
the Chamber of Deputies in December, 1912, and then, as usually
happened in all countries, some electoral reform in the interest of
men crowded it out. The Union now numbered 10,000 members and held a
national meeting each year. More requests came for speakers than could
be answered.
The War begun in 1914 put an end to all hope of parliamentary action
but after it ended the expectation throughout the world was that the
magnificent courage and efficiency of French women during the
four-and-a-half years would be rewarded with full enfranchisement. The
Union took up the question at once and met the fullest cooperation in
the Chamber of Deputies. The debate opened in May, 1919, and continued
through three sessions. It commenced with the bill for the Municipal
franchise but at the beginning of the third session this passed to an
amendment, conferring the same complete universal suffrage possessed
by men. The Chamber was undecided when M. Viviani and M. Briand,
former Prime Ministers, in strong speeches called for the amendment.
Their powerful influence turned the scale and on May 20 by 377 ayes,
97 noes, the Deputies voted for the amendment amidst the greatest
enthusiasm. It had to be ratified by the Senate, a non-progressive
body not elected by popular vote but by District and Municipal
Councillors in each Commune.
With much anxiety the women turned to the Senate and after interviews
with individual members succeeded in obtaining a hearing before the
Commission, or Committee, on Adult Suffrage, June 12. They presented
an eloquent appeal, signed officially by the Union of Suffrage
Societies with 80 branches; the National Council of Women with 150 and
several other large organizations of women, and gave a copy to each
member. It was received in cold silence and they knew that not more
than half-a-dozen of the 27 members were favorable. The elections were
approaching and the commission would not report the subject to be
discussed in the Senate. After the election the new Chamber of
Deputies considered in September a proposal to the Senate to hold a
discussion on the woman suffrage bill, which was passed by a vote of
340 to 95. It had no effect and the commission not only refused to lay
the measure before the Senate but rejected one to give the franchise
to woman relatives of the men who were killed in the war. The Radical
members fear that to give women a vote would strengthen the power of
the Catholic church; the Conservatives fear that the political
emancipation of women would diminish the influence of the clergy. Thus
the situation remains in the so-called Republic.
OTHER COUNTRIES IN EUROPE.
At the meeting of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Geneva
in 1920 the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, called attention in
her address to the fact that Greece and Spain in Europe, Argentina and
Uruguay in South America and the island of Cuba had made enough
progress in organization for woman suffrage within a few years to be
accepted as auxiliaries.
GREECE. While the Peace Treaty was being framed at Paris in 1919
Premier Venizelos received a deputation of leading suffragists from
many countries, expressed his sympathy with the movement and gave them
the names of women in Athens with whom to take up the question of
organization. On Jan. 23, 1920, he stated to the Parliament in Greece
that the Government was prepared to give the suffrage to women as soon
as they to some extent requested it. This was followed in March by the
forming in Athens of a League for the Rights of Women and later by
branches in Crete, Thessaly and Corfu. A petition for political and
civic rights, in which other societies of women joined, was sent to
the Parliament. The Lyceum Club, one of the oldest and most
influential in Greece, arranged a great congress of women to meet in
October to consider measures for the advancement of women along all
lines, including that of suffrage. Then the Venizelos Government was
overthrown by a plebiscite, the King returned and the congress was
deferred until April, 1921. At that time a hundred societies of women
sent delegates. It was opened by Premier Gounaris and the King and
Queen were present. Woman suffrage was the leading feature and several
Cabinet Ministers announced the intention of the Government to confer
it. Queen Sophia decorated Madame Parron, president of the congress,
and thanked her for devoting her life to the progress of Greek women.
There have been the usual delays but the women will probably be
enfranchised in the not distant future.
SPAIN. The women of Spain labor under great disadvantages in trying to
obtain the franchise, as the Catholic church, which is all-powerful,
is not in favor of it. The King and Queen are friendly and a number of
the statesmen are ready to assist. The Cabinet in 1919 proposed a bill
which would give a vote to all women over 23 years old and it was
placed on the program of the Republican party. There are eight or ten
suffrage societies in different cities united in a Supreme Feminist
Council, which holds congresses and has presented to the Parliament
petitions signed by thousands of women asking for complete political
and legal equality. It is an auxiliary of the International Alliance.
There have been attempts to organize for woman suffrage in Portugal.
Travellers in various districts of Turkey report that in some of them
women are permitted to vote and hold office.
Before the outbreak of the War there was some suffrage among the
property owning women in the Jewish colonization of Palestine. After
it was taken by General Allenby the Jewish Provisional Assembly called
to arrange for a National Constituent Assembly provided that women as
well as men should vote for it. There was opposition from the orthodox
but the liberal element prevailed. They vote and belong to the
political organizations and also have their own, which work for the
improvement of the civil and legal position of women. They have united
in a national organization and become auxiliary to the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance. Women have been elected to city councils and
even to the National Assembly.
When Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt visited China in 1912 she found that
women had taken part in the revolution and not only had voted for the
new Parliament but had been elected to it. These privileges were
afterwards taken away but they organized societies to get them again.
Mrs. Catt kept in touch with these societies and in 1913 they were
accepted as auxiliary to the Alliance. They are still keeping up the
struggle for political rights.
There is only the nucleus of a movement for woman suffrage in Japan
but some of the statesmen favor it and women's societies petition for
it. Under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union a
beginning has been made toward organization. Women are not allowed to
attend political meetings and their position is very restricted but
this year (1921) they have done a great deal of public work for peace.
The Japanese Government is progressing rapidly and the results will
eventually be seen in an improved status of women.
SOUTH AMERICA. Women occupy an advanced position in Argentina in
education, in business and in organized work. They have had during the
past twenty years an excellent training through the National Council
of Women and they have exercised much influence in public affairs.
They were slow in entering the movement for woman suffrage but by 1920
they were sufficiently organized under the presidency of Dr. Alicia
Moreau, to send a representative to the congress of the International
Alliance in Geneva in June and be received as an auxiliary. Large
meetings have been held in Buenos Aires. There is much favorable
sentiment in the Parliament, where bills have been introduced.
The woman suffrage movement is well advanced in Uruguay under the
presidency of Dr. Paulina Luisi, who attended the Geneva congress,
where her association entered the International Alliance. The
president of the Republic, Dr. Baltaser Brum, is an ardent advocate of
woman's enfranchisement and is using his best efforts for it. A bill
was introduced by Dr. Aralya for the complete emancipation of women,
which did not pass. Later one for the Municipal franchise was
presented by Deputy Alfco Brum, brother of the president, which it is
believed will ultimately be accepted. There is a suffrage society in
Chili, one in Paraguay and one in Brazil, where the Senate in 1920
defeated a bill.
The Central American Constituent Assembly, the legislative body of the
new Federation of Central American States, has approved woman
suffrage. There is to be a Pan American Suffrage Congress of Women in
the United States in 1922, which doubtless will give a great impetus
to the cause in the Central and South American countries.
MEXICO. The constitution made for Mexico after the last revolution
gave the suffrage to all citizens without distinction of sex and women
have voted in Yucatan but the elections throughout the country have
not been settled enough for them to exercise their right. There are
suffrage societies among the different classes of women and the
wage-earners are especially insistent on having a voice in the
Government. The President is quoted as having said that the time when
women will vote is near at hand.
FOOTNOTES:
[220] The History is indebted for the material in this division to
Miss Annie Furuhjelm of Helsingfors, member of Parliament,
vice-president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and
president of the Woman's Alliance Union of Finland formed in 1892.
CHAPTER LIV.
THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE.
An international association of the groups of women in various
countries who were working to obtain the suffrage was for many years
the strong desire of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B.
Anthony, two leaders of the movement in the United States. When,
however, in the early eighties the first steps were taken they found
that Great Britain was the only one with organizations for this
purpose. They visited there in 1883-4 and found so much sympathy with
the idea that a committee was appointed to cooperate with one in the
United States in arranging for an International Woman Suffrage
Association.[221] It was decided as a first step to hold an
International Suffrage Convention but after a correspondence which
extended through several years, because of the difficulty of getting
in touch with women in the different countries who were interested, it
was considered advisable to broaden the scope of the undertaking and
call an International Congress of Women engaged in all kinds of work
for the general welfare. This was held in Washington, D. C., in March,
1888, under the auspices of the National Suffrage Association and was
the largest convention of women which had ever taken place up to that
time. It resulted in a permanent International Council of Women, which
in a few years established a Standing Committee on Suffrage and Rights
of Citizenship with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw as chairman. The National
Councils in all countries formed auxiliary committees and made woman
suffrage a part of their program and it had a prominent place at the
National and International Congresses. The woman suffrage leaders in
the United States did not abandon the idea of an affiliation of the
societies which were forming in many lands for the specific purpose of
obtaining the franchise but no further steps toward it were taken.
From the time Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt became officially connected
with the National Association in 1905 a dominant thought with her was
that there should be an international suffrage association. Miss
Anthony resigned the presidency in 1900 and Mrs. Catt became her
successor. She presented her idea to Miss Anthony, who told her of the
early efforts and encouraged her to apply her great organizing ability
to the undertaking, feeling that she was fitted for it above all
others. Mrs. Catt at once began the preliminary work and after two
years of correspondence the officers of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association issued an invitation for an International
Conference to be held in Washington, D. C., at the time of its annual
convention in February, 1902. This conference took place and was
attended by delegates from many countries. A part of their interesting
and valuable addresses before the convention and committees of
Congress will be found in Chapter II of Volume V. The official
proceedings of the conference are condensed from the Minutes as
follows:
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association, called the meeting to order and gave a brief
history of the correspondence conducted with the officers of women's
associations of various kinds concerning an International Woman
Suffrage Conference. She reported that ten countries would be
represented by delegates--England, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden,
Germany, Russia, Turkey, Chile and the United States. She expressed
regret that unforseen circumstances at the last moment prevented the
attendance of the Canadian delegation but stated that James L. Hughes,
Inspector of Public Schools in Toronto, would attend and report on the
position of women in Canada.
The United States association had appointed four delegates and it had
been hoped that each country would send four but no country had sent
more than one. The meeting was asked to select a chairman and on
motion of Mrs. Fenwick Miller, seconded by Mrs. Drewson, Miss Susan B.
Anthony was unanimously chosen and took the chair. Miss Vida Goldstein
was elected recording secretary.
The following delegates responded to the roll call: Mrs. Florence
Miller, England; Miss Vida Goldstein, Australia; Mrs. Sofja Levovna
Friedland, Russia; Mrs. Gudrun Drewson, Norway; Miss Florence Fensham,
Turkey; Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the Rev. Anna
Howard Shaw, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, United States. Mrs. Catt
announced that a delegate from Germany, Miss Antonie Stolle; one from
Chile, Miss Carolina Huidobro, and one from Sweden, Mrs. Emmy Evald,
would arrive later. A committee of five was appointed to consider a
plan for international cooperation--Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Avery, Miss
Stolle, Mrs. Drewson, Miss Goldstein. At another session its
recommendations were read and adopted as follows:
1. That it is desirable to form an International Woman Suffrage
Committee for the purpose of acting as a central bureau for the
collection, exchange and dissemination of information concerning the
methods of suffrage work and the general status of women in the
various countries having representation on the committee.
2. That the delegates to the conference be instructed to ask their
respective societies to appoint three representatives to act on such a
committee.
3. That in the event of societies declining to cooperate, the
delegates be authorized to form a separate International Committee in
their respective countries.
4. That the secretary of the International Committee be instructed to
communicate with known suffragists in countries not represented in
this conference and to recommend cooperation with the international
organization....
The delegates were unanimously of the opinion that the above temporary
form of organization would result in most satisfactory international
cooperation. It was held that each nation should be given free
opportunity to aid in the forming of the permanent organization and
that the present needs would be best served by a temporary
International Committee. It was agreed that the next International
Woman Suffrage Conference should be called in Berlin in 1904, in
connection with the Quinquennial Meeting of the International Council
of Women, and that meantime each nation should be asked to consider
this movement and send delegates fully instructed as to the best form
of a permanent international organization.
Miss Anthony was elected permanent chairman; Mrs. Catt, secretary;
Mrs. Fenwick Miller, treasurer. Mrs. Catt moved that as an
International Association was not yet permanently organized, each
country should be asked to contribute something toward the general
working expenses of printing, postage, etc., but the financial
obligation should be left to its own discretion. It was decided that
the plan of organization adopted by the conference be read to the
convention of the National Suffrage Association then in session. To
make the conference still more international in character a
vice-chairman representing Germany was added and the appointment was
left to the German societies. It was arranged that the committee
should hold office till the meeting in Berlin. It was moved by Mrs.
Friedland, seconded by Miss Fensham, that the foreign delegates accord
their warmest thanks to the National American Suffrage Association for
inviting them to the International Conference and for the many
kindnesses shown them.
Mrs. Catt had sent out a list of twenty-eight questions to most of the
countries and she reported that answers had been received from
thirty-two. These questions covered property rights of women,
occupations, wages, education, guardianship of children, divorce,
office holding, suffrage and other legal and civil rights. The full
and comprehensive answers, some of them from Consuls and other
government representatives, were published in the official report of
the conference and formed an invaluable collection of facts and
statistics such as had never before been made. They gave a striking
object lesson in the strong necessity for women to have a voice in the
laws and the governments under which they live.
It had been suggested by Mrs. Catt that this conference should
consider issuing a Declaration of Principles, expressing briefly the
demand for independence and individuality which women are making
today. Mrs. Fenwick Miller warmly supported the suggestion and a
committee of three was appointed to draw it up--Mrs. Avery, Mrs. Evald
and Miss Fensham. As finally submitted, discussed and accepted it
formed the platform of the international organization and was adopted
at each meeting for some years afterwards. It was called a Declaration
of Principles and read as follows:
1. Men and women are born equally free and independent members of
the human race, equally endowed with intelligence and ability and
equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights
and liberty.
2. The natural relation of the sexes is that of inter-dependence
and cooperation and the repression of the rights and liberty of
one sex inevitably works injury to the other and hence to the
whole race.
3. In all lands those laws, creeds and customs which have tended
to restrict women to a position of dependence, to discourage
their education, to impede the development of their natural gifts
and to subordinate their individuality have been based upon false
theories and have produced an artificial and unjust relation of
the sexes in modern society.
4. Self-government in the home and the State is the inalienable
right of every normal adult and the refusal of this right to
women has resulted in social, legal and economic injustice to
them and has also intensified the existing economic disturbances
throughout the world.
5. Governments which impose taxes and laws upon their women
citizens without giving them the right of consent or dissent
which is granted to men citizens exercise a tyranny inconsistent
with just government.
6. The ballot is the only legal and permanent means of defending
the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
pronounced inalienable by the American Declaration of
Independence and accepted as inalienable by all civilized
nations. In any representative form of government, therefore,
women should be vested with all the political rights and
privileges of electors.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ALLIANCE.
The International Woman Suffrage Committee, which had been formed at a
conference in Washington, D. C., in February, 1902, and adjourned to
meet in Berlin in June, 1904, was called to order on June 3, in the
Prince Albert Hotel by the chairman, Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was
warmly greeted by the women of all countries. The following report of
this and subsequent meetings is condensed from the Minutes:
The program arranged by the officers was adopted as the order of
business. Dr. jur. Anita Augsburg of the German Suffrage Association
delivered a cordial address of welcome and Miss Anthony, in behalf of
the visiting delegates, responded. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt presented
a gavel from the women of Wyoming, who have enjoyed the right of full
suffrage longer than any other women in the world.
Dr. phil. Käthe Schirmacher of Germany was appointed official
interpreter; Miss Adelheid von Welczeck of Germany was made assistant
secretary and was also appointed on the committee on credentials with
Dr. Aletta Jacobs of Holland and Miss Edith Palliser of England. The
roll call of nations showed delegates from the United States, Great
Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary,
New Zealand and Germany.
Guests and delegates from countries where no organization was
affiliated with the International Committee were given the privileges
of the conference except the vote. The Declaration of Principles was
read and Dr. Schirmacher and Mlle. Camille Vidart of Switzerland were
appointed to translate it into German and French for discussion. Dr.
Augspurg read telegrams of greeting and good will from the French
delegates, who were prevented from attending the conference.
It was agreed that the name of the new association be the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance and a motion by Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw (U. S. A.) that Miss Anthony be declared its first member was
carried amid cheers. It was moved by Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of
Philadelphia and unanimously carried that Miss Mary S. Anthony be the
second member. It was voted that those delegates at the first
conference in Washington who were not now present be invited to stand
also as charter members of the permanent Alliance. The opportunity was
then given for the affiliation of honorary associates and the
following were accepted: Wilhelmine Sheriff Bain and Isabel Napier,
New Zealand; Miss Anna Hude, Mrs. Charlotte Norrie, Mrs. Johanne
Münter, Copenhagen; Mrs. Friederike von Mekler Traunwies, Austria;
Leopold Katscher, Hungary; Mme. Chaponniere-Chaix, Mlle. Vidart,
Switzerland.
The object of the Alliance was declared to be "to secure the
enfranchisement of the women of all nations and to unite the friends
of woman suffrage throughout the world in organized cooperation and
fraternal helpfulness," and a constitution was adopted. The roll of
nations was called and the delegates from Great Britain, Germany,
Netherlands, Sweden and the United States pledged affiliation. Mrs.
Catt made the pledge for Australia. Delegates from Denmark and Norway
asked for time to present the matter to their associations and a
little later became auxiliaries. All the suffrage associations in
existence that could be called national except that of Canada--eight
altogether--joined the Alliance. Mesdames Minna Cauer, Germany; Agda
Montelius, Sweden; Charlotte Norrie, Denmark; Mrs. Blankenburg, Dr.
Jacobs and Miss Palliser were appointed to consider designs for an
international badge.
Miss Anthony announced that as she had reached the age of 84 she could
not stand as candidate for the presidency and it was unanimously voted
that she be made honorary president. The following officers were
elected: President, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, New York; first
vice-president, Dr. jur. Anita Augspurg, Hamburg; second
vice-president, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, London; secretary,
Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Philadelphia; first assistant secretary, Dr.
Käthe Schirmacher, Paris (address temporarily); second, Miss Johanna
A. W. Naber, Amsterdam; treasurer, Miss Rodger Cunliffe, London.
(Later Miss Naber resigned and Miss Martina G. Kramers of Rotterdam
was appointed.)
The Executive Committee of the new Alliance met June 6 at the Palast
Hotel. It was arranged that fifty copies of the Declaration of
Principles, the Constitution and the Minutes be typed in Berlin and
sent to the presidents of the affiliated societies and the honorary
associates. It was decided to postpone application for auxiliaryship
to the International Council of Women for at least two years.
Correspondence with the countries requiring special information was
assigned as follows: "To Mrs. Catt, Australia; to Dr. Augspurg, Norway
and Austria; to Dr. Schirmacher, Italy and France; to Miss Naber,
Switzerland and Belgium. It was decided that the Alliance should meet
every five years for the election of officers, revision of the
constitution, etc., but that during this period executive meetings
and congresses might be held.[222]
THIRD CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The first Executive Meeting and Third Conference of the Alliance was
held at Copenhagen Aug. 7-11, 1906, in the Concert Palais, in response
to a Call from the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, and secretary,
Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, to the affiliated National Woman Suffrage
Associations, which said:
An especial invitation to send fraternal delegates is extended to
all societies known to be in sympathy with our movement.
Individuals of whatever race, nativity or creed, who believe in
the right of the woman citizen to protect her interests in
society by the ballot, are invited to be present. The
enfranchisement of women is emphatically a world movement. The
unanswerable logic upon which the movement is based and the
opposition which everywhere appears to combat that logic with its
array of traditions and prejudices are the same in all lands. The
evolution of the movement must proceed along the same lines among
all peoples. In union there is strength. Let international
cooperation, organization and work be our watchwords.
Two years of careful preparation, extended correspondence and close
attention to endless details by the president and officers of the
Alliance had brought to Copenhagen a congress of women prepared to
inaugurate a world movement for woman suffrage. Excellent arrangements
had been made by the Danish Association through four committees:
Finance, Miss Eline Hansen; Information, Miss Julie Laurberg; Press,
Miss Sophie Alberti; Entertainment, Mrs. Johanne Münter. The music was
in charge of Miss Bernberg. The entire expenses of the convention,
rent of hall, handsome decorations, silk badges, etc., were met by the
finance committee. The elaborate souvenir programs contained many
views of the city which were made by Miss Laurberg's camera. The
remarkable work of the press before and during the congress was due to
Miss Alberti's judicious and skilful management. The entertainments
under the capable direction of Mrs. Münter included a beautiful dinner
given by a committee of Danish ladies at the famous pleasure resort
Marienlyst; a reception by the directors at Rosenberg Castle; an
afternoon tea by the officers of the widely-known Women's Reading Club
of 3,200 members, of which Miss Alberti, a founder, was the president;
a reception and banquet by the Municipal Council in the magnificent
City Hall and a farewell supper by the Danish Suffrage Association at
Skydebanen, preceded by an interesting program of recitations and
costume dances. There were many private dinners, luncheons and
excursions to the beautiful and historic environs.
Two more national suffrage associations had united with the
Alliance--those of Hungary and Canada. Australia was ready to enter.
France had sent a delegate, Madame Maria Martin, and expected to form
a national association within a year. Professor Teresa Labriola was
present to promise the affiliation of Italy in another year. Six
highly educated, progressive delegates from Russia represented the
Union of Defenders of Woman's Rights, composed of 79 societies and
10,000 members, which applied for auxiliaryship. Fraternal delegates
were present from the International Council of Women and the National
Councils of Norway, Sweden, France, the United States and Australia;
from the International Council of Nurses and from organizations of
women in Finland and Iceland. Telegrams of greeting were received from
societies and individuals in twenty-five different cities of Europe.
About one hundred delegates and alternates from twelve countries were
present.
Several sessions were filled to overflowing with these greetings and
the reports from the various countries of the progress made by women
in the contest for their civil, legal and political rights. As
published in the Minutes, filling 55 pages, these reports formed a
remarkable and significant chapter in the world's history. Mrs. Catt
was in the chair on the first afternoon and a cordial welcome was
extended by the presidents of five Danish organizations of women: Miss
Alberti, Mrs. Louise Hansen, Mrs. Louise Norlund, Mrs. Jutta Bojsen
Moller and Miss Henni Forchhammer for the National Council of Women.
Dr. jur. Anita Augspurg of Germany, the first vice-president,
responded for the Alliance. She was followed by Mrs. Catt, who, in her
president's address, after describing in full the forming of the
Alliance, gave a comprehensive report of the progress toward
organizing suffrage associations in the various countries during the
past two years and the growth and future prospects of the
international movement. She touched a responsive chord in every heart
when she said:
Since we last met our cause has sustained a signal loss in the
death of our honorary president, Susan B. Anthony. She has been
the inspirer of our movement in many lands and we may justly say
that her labors belonged to all the world. She passed in the
ripeness of years and with a life behind her which counted not a
wasted moment nor a selfish thought. When one thinks of her it
must be with the belief that she was born and lived to perform an
especial mission. All who knew her well mourn her and long will
they miss her wise counsel, her hearty cheerfulness and her
splendid optimism. There has been no important national suffrage
meeting in the United States for half a century and no
international meeting of significance at any time in which she
has not been a conspicuous figure. This is the first to meet
without her. We must hope that her spirit will be with us and
inspire our deliberations with the same lofty purpose and noble
energy which governed all her labors.
Mrs. Catt reviewed the movement for woman suffrage, declaring that the
most ambitious should be satisfied with the general progress, and said
in conclusion:
We have been like an army climbing slowly and laboriously up a
steep and rocky mountain. We have looked upward and have seen
uncertain stretches of time and effort between us and the longed
for summit. We have not been discouraged for behind us lay fifty
years of marvelous achievement. We have known that we should
reach that goal but we have also known that there was no way to
do it but to plod on patiently, step by step. Yet suddenly,
almost without warning, we see upon that summit another army. How
came it there? It has neither descended from heaven nor made the
long, hard journey, yet there above us all the women of Finland
stand today. Each wears the royal crown of the sovereignty of the
self-governing citizen. Two years ago these women would not have
been permitted by the law to organize a woman suffrage
association. A year later they did organize a woman suffrage
committee and before it is yet a year old its work is done! The
act giving full suffrage and eligibility to all offices has been
bestowed upon them by the four Chambers of Parliament and the
Czar has approved the measure! Metaphorically a glad shout of joy
has gone up from the whole body of suffragists the world over.
Mrs. Catt presided at every public and every business meeting and hers
was the guiding spirit and the controlling hand. By her ability and
fairness she won the entire confidence of the delegates from twelve
countries and launched successfully this organization which many had
believed impossible because of the differences in language,
temperament and methods.
Throughout the meetings twenty-minute addresses were made by prominent
women of the different countries, some of them reports of the
organized work, others on subjects of special interest to women, among
them The Ideal Woman, Miss Eline Hansen; What Woman Suffrage Is Not,
Dr. Schirmacher; Women Jurors of Norway, Miss Mörck; Woman's Horizon,
Mrs. Flora MacDonald Denison, Canada; The Silent Foe, Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw; What Are Women to Do?, Dr. Jacobs; Our Victory, Miss Annie
Furuhjelm, Finland; Why the Working Woman Needs the Ballot, Mrs.
Andrea Brachmann, Denmark; Why the Women of Australia Asked for and
Received the Suffrage, sent by Miss Vida Goldstein and read by Mrs.
Madge Donohoe.
Others besides the officers and those above mentioned who spoke during
the convention were Cand. phil. Helena Berg, Elizabeth Grundtvig,
Stampe Fedderson, Denmark: Briet Asmundsson, Iceland; Mrs. F. M. Qvam,
Cand. phil. Mathilde Eriksen, Gina Krog and Mrs. L. Keilhau, Norway;
Dr. Ellen Sandelin, Anna Whitlock, Gertrud Adelborg, Huldah Lundin,
Ann Margret Holmgren, Frigga Carlberg, Anna B. Wicksell, and Jenny
Wallerstedt, Sweden; Baroness Gripenberg, Dr. Meikki Friberg, Finland;
Zeniede Mirovitch, Elizabeth Goncharow, Olga Wolkenstein, Anne
Kalmanovitch, Russia; Rosika Schwimmer, Vilma Glücklich, Bertha Engel,
Hungary; Lida Gustave Heymann, Adelheid von Welczeck, Regina Ruben,
Germany; Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema, Mrs. van Loenen de Bordes,
Netherlands; Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Lady Steel, Dora Montefiore,
Mrs. Broadley Reid, Great Britain; Miss Lucy E. Anthony, United
States; Mrs. Henry Dobson, Australia.
One afternoon session was devoted to memorial services for Miss
Anthony, with the principal address by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, her
biographer, and beautiful tributes by delegates of seven European
countries and Canada expressing the debt of gratitude which all women
owed to the great pioneer. Mrs. Harper briefly sketched the
subordinate position of women when Miss Anthony began her great work
for their emancipation in 1851; told of her efforts for temperance and
the abolition of slavery; her part in forming the International
Council of Women; her publication of the History of Woman Suffrage and
the many other activities of her long life. She described the advanced
position of women at present and closed by saying:
No one who makes a careful study of the great movement for the
emancipation of woman can fail to recognize in Miss Anthony its
supreme leader. After her death last March more than a thousand
editorials appeared in the principal newspapers of the country
and practically every one of them accorded her this distinction.
She was the only one who gave to this cause her whole life,
consecrating to its service every hour of her time and every
power of her being. Other women did what they could; came into
the work for awhile and dropped out; had the divided interests of
family and social relations; turned their attention to reforms
which promised speedier rewards; surrendered to the forces of
persecution. With Miss Anthony the cause of woman took the place
of husband, children, society; it was her work and her
relaxation, her politics and her religion. "I know only woman and
her disfranchised," was her creed.... May we, her daughters,
receive as a blessed inheritance something of her indomitable
will, splendid courage, limitless patience, perseverance,
optimism, faith!
Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with an eloquent unwritten peroration
which told of her last hours with Miss Anthony as the great soul was
about to take its flight and ended: "The object of her life was to
awaken in women the consciousness of the need of freedom and the
courage to demand it, not as an end but as a means of creating higher
ideals for humanity."
A resolution was adopted rejoicing in the granting of full suffrage
and eligibility to sit in the Parliament to the women of Finland the
preceding May. The delegates from Norway received a message from the
Prime Minister that it was the intention of the Parliament to enlarge
the Municipal franchise which women had possessed since 1901.
Designs for a permanent badge were submitted by several countries and
the majority vote was in favor of the one designed by Mrs.
Pedersen-Dan of Denmark, the figure of a woman holding the scales of
justice with a rising sun in the background and the Latin words Jus
Suffragii. It was decided to publish a monthly paper under the name of
_Jus Suffragii_ and in the English language. Afterwards Miss Martina
G. Kramers was appointed editor and the paper was issued from
Rotterdam. The invitation was accepted to hold an executive meeting
and conference in Amsterdam in 1908, as a new constitution was about
to be made for The Netherlands and there would be a strong effort to
have it include woman suffrage.
Mrs. Catt's closing words to the delegates were to encourage
agitation, education and organization in their countries. "The
enfranchisement of women is as certain to come as the sun is sure to
rise tomorrow," she said. "The time must depend on political
conditions and the energy and intelligence with which our movement is
conducted." Thus ended happily and auspiciously the first Congress of
the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
FOURTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The Executive Meeting and Fourth Conference of the International Woman
Suffrage Alliance was held in Amsterdam, June 15-20, 1908, in the
spacious and handsome Concert Hall, in response to the Call of Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, president, and Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery,
secretary. No one who was present can ever forget this meeting in the
most fascinating of countries, with every detail of its six days'
sessions carefully planned and nothing left undone for the comfort and
entertainment of the visitors who had come from most of the countries
of Europe, from Canada, the United States and far-away Australia and
New Zealand. The following account is condensed from the very full
report of the recording secretary, Miss Martina G. Kramers:
The arrangements for the congress were made by a Central Committee, of
which Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the Vereeniging voor
Vrouwenkiesrecht, the organization which had invited the Alliance to
Amsterdam, was chairman. Mrs. W. Drucker was chairman of the Finance
Committee, Mrs. Van Buuren Huys, secretary, and Miss Rosa Manus gave
much assistance. The Press Committee, Miss Johanna W. A. Naber,
chairman, did excellent work in conjunction with a committee from the
Amsterdam press association.... That the accounts throughout the world
were so complete is due to this painstaking, able committee's
assistance to the correspondents from far and wide.
The Committee on Local Arrangements, Mrs. van Loenen de Bordes,
chairman, performed well many duties, issued a dainty booklet, bound
in green and gold, which contained the program interspersed with views
of Amsterdam, and provided handsome silk flags to mark the seats of
each delegation, which were presented to the Alliance. A Bureau of
Information was presided over by young women who were able to answer
all questions in many languages. The back of the great stage was
draped with the flags of the twenty nations represented, those of
Norway, Finland and Australia being conspicuously placed in the
center, that especial honor might be done the full suffrage countries.
The front of the stage was a mass of flowers and plants, a magnificent
bust of Queen Wilhelmina occupying a conspicuous place.
The Committee on Reception, chairman, Mrs. Gompertz Jitta, and that on
Entertainments, chairman, Mrs. Schöffer-Bunge, provided many
pleasures. Chief among these was the musical reception on the first
afternoon. A grand welcome song with a military band playing the
accompaniment was sung by four hundred voices; a variety of children's
songs followed and the program was closed by a cantata called Old
Holland's New Time, which had been prepared especially for the
congress. All the music had been composed by Catherine Van Rennes, who
was also the conductor. The congress opened with a large reception
given by the Dutch Women's Suffrage Association at Maison Couturier,
with a greeting by Mrs. Gompertz-Jitta. It had as a unique feature a
little play written by Betsy van der Starp of The Hague. The gods and
goddesses with much feeling discussed the appeal of Woman, who had
asked their help in her effort to secure more rights on Earth.... On
Tuesday afternoon a reception was given by Burgomaster and Mrs. van
Leeuwen at their beautiful home, where refreshments were served in a
shaded garden and the hospitable and democratic freedom was greatly
enjoyed. On the same afternoon the Amsterdam branch of the National
Association took the foreign visitors for a delightful excursion on
the Amstel River. On Wednesday afternoon Dr. Jacobs had a most
enjoyable tea in the Pavilloen van het Vondelpark. Mrs. Gompertz-Jitta
opened her own luxurious home for tea on Friday. A house filled with a
rare art collection, a fine garden and a charming hostess gave an
afternoon long to be remembered. A farewell dinner on Saturday night
was held in the great Concert Hall. A gay assembly, a good dinner, the
national airs of all countries played by a fine band, furnished
abundant enjoyment and aroused enthusiasm to the utmost. The climax
came when a band of young men and women, dressed in the quaint and
picturesque costumes of the Dutch peasantry, to rollicking music
executed several peasant dances on the platform and around the big
room.
The day following at an early hour several car loads of suffragists
set forth for Rotterdam and near the station two steamers took their
cargo of happy people for a trip on the River Maas. They went as far
as Dordrecht, where opportunity was given to see this quaint town.
Luncheon had been served on the steamers and at Rotterdam the guests
proceeded to the Zoological Garden, which many people pronounce the
finest in the world. At 6:30 dinner was served in a large, fine
restaurant, followed by animated speeches until train time. It had
been a rare day, full of interest, for which the Congress was indebted
to the Rotterdam branch of the National Association and to Mrs. van
den Bergh-Willing, who supplied one of the steamers and invited over a
hundred of the delegates as her guests for the day. The next day was
spent under the direction of The Hague branch. An afternoon tea with
music was given at the Palace Hotel, Scheveningen, the famous seaside
resort, and later a dinner was served at the Kurhaus, followed by a
fine concert arranged in honor of the guests. Later came a special
display of fireworks with a closing piece which triumphantly flashed
the words "Jus Suffragii" across the sky.
Mrs. Catt was in the chair at the first afternoon session and Dr.
Jacobs welcomed the conference in an address given in perfect English
during which she said: "When so strong and energetic a body of earnest
women meets to deliberate on this greatest of modern world problems
the impression can not fail to be a powerful one, for the vision must
arise of the beauty and glory of future womanhood, of women who have
obtained proper place and power in the community, which shall enable
them to infuse their love, their moral perceptions, their sense of
justice into the governments of the world. We believe the moment has
now come to show our country the seriousness and extent of our
movement and its determination to gain political equality for women in
every civilized land. With the greatest appreciation we see among our
visitors many high officials, who have not hesitated to answer our
invitation favorably and to give us through their presence a proof of
sympathy with the work we do. We wish to welcome these gentlemen first
of all." Naming one country after another Dr. Jacobs mentioned the
particular achievement of each during the past two years and extended
a special welcome, saying: "May your presence here contribute to
augment the public interest in the movement for women's
enfranchisement in our country."
The address of the international president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
was a masterly effort and should be reproduced in full. In beginning
it she referred to the suggestive coincidence that the opening day of
the Congress commemorated the anniversary of the signing of the
immortal Magna Charta and said: "At no time since the movement for the
enfranchisement of women began have its advocates had so much cause
for self-congratulation as now. The Alliance met in Copenhagen
twenty-two months ago and in the brief time since then the progress of
our cause has been so rapid, the gains so substantial, the assurance
of coming victory so certain that we may imagine the noble and brave
pioneers of woman suffrage, the men and women who were the
torch-bearers of our movement, gathering today in some far-off
celestial sphere and singing together a glad pæan of exultation." Mrs.
Catt referred to the granting of full suffrage and eligibility to
women by Norway in 1907 and continued:
Within the past two years appeals for woman suffrage have been
presented to the Parliaments of eighteen European governments;
the United States Congress and the Legislatures of twenty-nine
States; the Parliaments of Canada and Victoria and the
Legislature of the Philippines--fifty-one independent legislative
bodies. The appeals were made for the first time, I believe, in
twelve of the European countries. In Spain and the Philippines
bills were introduced by friends of the cause quite unknown to
national or international officers. This activity has not been
barren of results and the delegates of six countries come to this
congress vested with larger political rights than they possessed
at the time of the Copenhagen meeting, namely, Norway, Denmark,
Sweden, Iceland, England and Germany. Each of the five
Scandinavian lands has won something. Norwegian women come with
full suffrage rights; Finnish delegates come as representatives
of the only nation which has elected women to seats in its
Parliament; Sweden and Iceland have gained a step in eligibility
and our Icelandic delegate of two years ago is now a member of
the city council of Reykjavik, the capital. The women of Denmark,
next to those of Norway, have made the largest gain, as Municipal
suffrage with liberal qualifications has been bestowed upon them.
English women have secured eligibility to become Mayors and
members of town and county councils. Germany has revised its law
and women are now free to join political associations and to
organize woman suffrage societies. The German association
affiliated with the Alliance is now a federation of State bodies.
In Sweden within two years the membership in the organization has
doubled and the 63 local organizations reported at Copenhagen
have become 127. A petition of 142,128 names has been presented
to Parliament; deputations have waited upon the Government and
been granted hearings.
A thorough analysis was made of the present status of woman suffrage
throughout the world and in summing up the speaker said: "Although
from Occident to Orient, from Lapland to sunny Italy and from Canada
to South Africa the agitation for woman suffrage has known no pause,
yet, after all, the storm center of the movement has been located in
England. In other lands there have been steps in evolution; in England
there has been a revolution. There have been no guns nor powder nor
bloodshed but there have been all other evidences of war.... Yet the
older and more conservative body of workers have been no less
remarkable. With a forbearance we may all do well to imitate, they
quadrupled their own activities. Every class, including ladies of the
nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, has
engaged in the campaign and not a man, woman or child has been
permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman
suffrage."
Mrs. Catt reviewed at length the "militant" movement in Great Britain,
showing how it had awakened interest in votes for women in all
quarters of the globe, and recalled the struggle of the barons in
wresting the Magna Charta from King John. She then passed to the
United States and to the persistent charge that its experiment in
universal male suffrage had been a failure, to which she replied:
"Although the United States has gathered a population which represents
every race; although among its people are the followers of every
religion and the subjects of every form of government; although there
has been the dead weight of a large ignorant vote, yet the little
settlement, which 150 years ago rested upon the eastern shores of the
Atlantic a mere colonial possession, has steadily climbed upward until
today it occupies a proud position of equality among the greatest
governments of the world.... The fact that woman suffrage must come
through a referendum to the votes of all men has postponed it but man
suffrage in the United States is as firmly fixed as the Rock of
Gibraltar...."
In an eloquent peroration Mrs. Catt said: "Within our Alliance we must
try to develop so lofty a spirit of internationalism, a spirit so
clarified from all personalities and ambitions and national
antagonisms that its purity and grandeur will furnish new inspiration
to all workers in our cause. We must strike a note in this meeting so
full of sisterly sympathy, of faith in womanhood, of exultant hope, a
note so impelling, that it will be heard by the women of all lands and
will call them forth to join our world's army."
The business sessions opened with all the officers present; over one
hundred delegates and alternates from the now sixteen auxiliary
countries; delegates sent by their governments and fraternal delegates
from the International Council of Women, ten National Councils, seven
non-affiliated national associations for woman suffrage and eleven
national organizations in sympathy with it. Mrs. Catt introduced Mrs.
Henry Dobson, sent by the Commonwealth of Australia; Miss Gina Krog,
sent by the government of Norway; Dr. Romania Penrose, Mrs. Helen L.
Grenfell and Mrs. Harriet Q. Sheik, appointed by the Governors of
Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, U. S. A.
The following countries had their full quota of six delegates:
Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,
United States, and nearly all had six alternates. Russia had five
delegates; Finland, Switzerland and South Africa two each; Italy,
Bulgaria, Australia and Canada one each. Miss Chrystal Macmillan of
Scotland represented the International Council of Women; Dr. C. V.
Drysdale, the Men's League for Women's Enfranchisement of Great
Britain; Mrs. Marie Lang, the Austrian Committee for Woman Suffrage;
Miss Franciska Plaminkova and Miss Marie Stepankova, the Czechish
Woman Suffrage Committee of Bohemia; Mrs. Alice M. Steele, New
Zealand--the last three countries not yet affiliated. All kinds of
organizations sent fraternal delegates, from the Union of Ethical
Societies in London, whose delegate was Stanton Coit, their leader, to
the Society of Peasant Women in Balmazujvaros, Hungary.
This was doubtless in many respects the most remarkable and important
gathering of women ever assembled up to that time. English, French and
German were adopted as the official languages. The wise and
sympathetic management of Mrs. Catt convinced those of all nations
that impartiality and justice would prevail without exception; a
common bond united them; they learned that in all countries the
obstacles to woman suffrage were the same and that in all women
were oppressed by the inequality of the laws and by their
disenfranchisement, and they understood the influence which could be
exerted through an international movement. There were occasional
misunderstandings on account of the varied parliamentary procedure in
different countries and because of the necessity for interpreting much
that took place but on the whole the delegates were satisfied. They
had intense admiration for the great executive ability of their
president and showed their confidence in her again and again.
Switzerland, Bulgaria and South Africa having announced through their
delegates that their suffrage societies had united in national
associations and desired to become affiliated, they were
enthusiastically accepted. Mrs. Stanton Coit of London, the new
treasurer, paid a tribute to her predecessor, Miss Rodger Cunliffe,
who had died since the last conference. Mrs. Pedersen-Dan reported
that 8,677 badges had been sold. Many interesting discussions took
place during the morning and afternoon sessions of which one of the
most valuable was on the methods of work for the suffrage pursued in
the various countries. These methods included debates in schools and
colleges, distribution of literature, petitions to the Parliament,
circulating libraries, courses of lectures, house-to-house canvassing,
protests against paying taxes, mass meetings to show the need of a
vote in matters of public welfare. In nearly all countries the
suffragists were taking political action, questioning candidates by
letter and in person and in some places working for or against them.
This was especially the case in Great Britain and Miss Frances
Sterling and Miss Isabella O. Ford told of the successful work at
by-elections, of having thousands of postal cards sent to candidates
by their constituents, of appealing to the workingmen. A report of the
speech of Miss Margaret Ashton, a member of the city council of
Manchester, quoted her as saying that, though the president of a large
body of Liberal women, she had decided that it was useless to work
further for her party unless it would enfranchise women. Women had
worked sixty years for this party and now, if they will gain their own
liberty, they must refuse to lift hand or foot for it until it
enfranchises them.
Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema of the Netherlands told of the efforts made to
have woman suffrage put in its new constitution; of winning six of the
seven members of the Government Commission and of the request of the
Prime Minister for favorable printed arguments. Miss Annie Furuhjelm
said in her report for Finland: "We got our suffrage through a
revolution, so we can not be an example for other lands as to methods.
We can say, however, that we used all methods in our work. In 1904 we
had a great public meeting for woman suffrage. We organized a 'strike'
against the conscription for the Russian Army and we found the mothers
interested in saving their sons. The Social Democrats had woman
suffrage in their platform before 1905 but the leading men of Finland
would not have helped the women to the suffrage if the women had not
shown that they understood the public questions of the day and taken
an active part in resistance to an unlawful régime." She told of the
election of nineteen women to Parliament in 1907. Mrs. Zeneide
Mirovitch said in her touching report: "The women of Russia have not
been able to work as those in other countries do, for their members
are often in danger of imprisonment or death. They have lecturers who
travel about to hold meetings; they publish a review of the work of
their Union; members of it have started clubs which carry on general
work for women's betterment. They have sold very cheaply 10,000
suffrage pamphlets; they have a committee in St. Petersburg which
watches the acts of the Douma and when a law is proposed which
concerns women and yet fails to consider them, this committee reminds
the members of their needs. It protests against the massacres and
outrages when women are assaulted and tortured. Now during the
reaction the Union is not permitted to work in any way."
Mrs. Dora Montefiore of England spoke in favor of "militant" methods.
An invitation to send fraternal delegates had been declined by Mrs.
Emmeline Pankhurst for the Women's Social and Political Union of Great
Britain, who said they had more important work to do. It had been
accepted by Mrs. Despard, president of the Womens' Freedom League, who
came with seven delegates. She explained that its methods consisted
only of trying to enter the House of Commons, holding meetings near
by, heckling Government candidates, refusing to pay taxes, chalking
pavements, etc. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson and Mrs. Billington Greig made
vigorous, convincing speeches and all were enthusiastically received.
The congress adopted a resolution of "protest against the action of
any government which classes the women suffragists imprisoned for
agitation for the vote as common law-breakers instead of political
offenders." It also expressed its "sympathy for the Russian women in
their struggle demanding so much sacrifice and its profound respect
for the women who under great trial do not hesitate to stand for their
rights." A message was received with applause during one session that
"the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church has resolved unanimously
to give a vote to women on the questions that have until now been
submitted only to the men of the congregation."
The evening meetings were largely given up to addresses and at the one
where Woman Suffrage in Practice was considered Mrs. Madge Donohue of
Australia, spoke on An Experiment Justified; Mrs. Steele, New Zealand,
Fifteen Years of Woman Suffrage; Miss Furuhjelm, A True Democracy. At
another evening session Miss Fredrikke Mörck gave the Results of Woman
Suffrage in Norway. In a symposium, Why Should Representative
Governments Enfranchise Women? the speakers were Miss Ashton, Mrs.
Minna Cauer, Germany; Miss Janka Grossman, Hungary; Mrs. Theo. Haver,
Netherlands; Mrs. Louise Keilhau, Norway; Mrs. Frigga Carlberg,
Sweden; Mrs. Olga Golovine, Russia; Mrs. A. Girardet, Switzerland;
Miss Macmillan, Great Britain. Here as at nearly all of the public
meetings Dr. Anna Howard Shaw made the closing speech, for if she was
not on the program the audience called for her. Mrs. Münter gave an
address on the Legal Position of Danish Women; Dr. Elizabeth Altmann
Gottheiner, Germany, Does the Working Woman Need the Ballot? Mrs.
Miriam Brown, Canada, Ideal Womanhood; others were made by Miss Rosika
Schwimmer, Hungary, and Miss Stirling, Great Britain. An afternoon
meeting for young people was addressed by Mrs. Millicent Garrett
Fawcett, chairman; Mrs. Ann M. Holmgren, Sweden; Dr. Anita Augspurg,
Mrs. Mirovitch; Miss Rendell, Great Britain; Miss Schwimmer; Mrs. Ella
S. Stewart, United States.
Much pleasure was expressed at the report of Mrs. Staatsministerinde
Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association of Norway,
who said in beginning: "Since we met in Copenhagen taxpaying women in
Norway have obtained full suffrage and eligibility to office by a vote
of 96 to 23 in the Parliament. About 300,000 women have become
entitled to vote. It is calculated that 200,000 are yet excluded,
although the tax is very small.... The object of our association is
suffrage for women on the same terms as for men. The men have
universal suffrage. We therefore will continue our work until the
women have gained this same right." Miss Eline Hansen gave an
interesting report of winning the Municipal franchise in Denmark.
Woman Suffrage from a Christian Point of View was presented one
afternoon by Mrs. Beelaerts von Blokland, chairman; Countess Anna von
Hogendorp and Mr. Hugenholtz, all of the Netherlands; Mrs.
Blauenfeldt, Denmark; Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, United States.
An address sent by Lady Frances Balfour was read by Mrs. C. H.
Corbett, Great Britain; one sent by Mrs. Aline Hoffmann, Switzerland,
was read by Miss Johanna W. A. Naber, Netherlands; one sent by Mme.
Mangeret, France, was read by Mrs. Heineken-Daum, Netherlands.
Greetings were given from the National Councils of Women of Germany
and The Netherlands by their presidents, Mrs. Marie Stritt and Miss
Elizabeth Baelde; from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Norway and
Sweden by fraternal delegates, Mrs. Fawcett, Miss Cecile Cahen, Miss
Ida La Fontaine, Miss Thea Holst, Dr. Lydia Wahlstrom; from national
organizations by Mrs. Elna Munck, Denmark; Dr. Phil. Käthe
Schirmacher, Germany; Miss Stepankova, Bohemia; Mrs. Lang, Austria;
Miss K. Honegger represented the newly affiliated national association
of Switzerland and Dr. Pateff and Miss Jenny Bojilowa that of
Bulgaria. Most valuable reports were read from all the affiliated
countries containing accounts of their political conditions and the
status of the movement for woman suffrage, which were printed in the
Minutes, filling over fifty pages.
The Resolutions Committee, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Ashton and
Mrs. van Loenen de Bores, reported strong resolutions, which were
fully discussed and adopted. The last one was as follows: "Resolved,
that the plain duty of women at the present hour is to secure the
support and cooperation of all the forces favorable to woman suffrage,
without question as to their political or religious affiliations; to
avoid any entanglement with outside matters; to ask for the franchise
on the same terms as it is now or may be exercised by men, leaving
any required extension to be decided by men and women together when
both have equal voice, vote and power."
The conference accepted with appreciation the cordial invitation of
the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies of Great Britain,
extended through its president, Mrs. Fawcett, to hold its next meeting
in London. At the public session on the last evening Mrs. van Itallie
van Embden, Netherlands, spoke on the subject, Does the Wife, Mother
and Homekeeper Need the Ballot? Mrs. Anna Kalmanovitch, Russia, on The
Final Aim of the Woman Movement;, addresses were made by Mrs. Emilia
Mariana, Italy; Mrs. Mirovitch, Dr. Wahlstrom and Dr. Shaw. Mrs. Catt
gave the final words of farewell and the delegates parted in
friendship to meet again as comrades in a great cause.
FIRST QUINQUENNIAL OF THE ALLIANCE.
The first Quinquennial and the Fifth Conference of the Alliance met in
St. James Hall, London, April 26-May 1, 1909, with the president, Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, in the chair. A cordial address of greeting was
made at the first morning session by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett,
president of the National Union of Women's suffrage Societies, the
hostess of the guests from many nations. Preceding chapters have given
an idea of the wide scope and the general character of these
international meetings and the names of those who earliest represented
their countries and their associations. Here at the end of the first
five years the list of delegates and alternates filled four and a half
printed pages and seventy-three fraternal delegates were present from
forty-one different organizations; in addition there were speakers on
the program who were not on these lists.
Among the organizations sending fraternal representatives, men and
women of distinction, were International and National Councils of
Women, Actresses', Artists' and Writers' Leagues, Women's Federation
of the British Liberal Party, Conservative and Unionist Women's
Franchise Associations, Men's Suffrage Leagues, Independent Labour
Party, International Women's Socialist Bureau, Ethical Societies,
Women's Trade Unions, Industrial Suffrage Societies, Women's National
Press Association, Women's Agricultural Clubs, Fabian Society,
National Committee against the White Slave Traffic--the list is almost
endless. Naturally all wanted to be heard and how to permit this and
leave any time for the regular proceedings of the convention became a
serious question. The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany,
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden sent their full quota of six delegates
and six alternates. Five were present from Finland, six from Hungary
and five from South Africa. The Government of Norway had sent as its
official delegate Mrs. Staatsministerinde F. M. Qvam, president of the
National Woman Suffrage Association. A National Association had now
been formed in France and its secretary, Madame Jane Misme, brought
its request for affiliation. A similar request was presented by Mlle.
Daugotte, delegate from a new association in Belgium, and both were
unanimously and joyfully welcomed.
At the first evening session the speakers were Mrs. Qvam, Miss Annie
Furuhjelm, Finland; Mrs. Isabel May, New Zealand; Armitage Rigby, Isle
of Man, all testifying to the good effects of woman suffrage in their
respective countries, and Mrs. Catt delivered her president's address,
a thorough review of the work of the Alliance. She said in part:
On a June day in 1904 the delegated representatives of seven
National Woman Suffrage Associations met in a little hall in
Berlin to discuss the practicability of completing a proposed
International Union. At that date there were in all the world
only ten countries in which woman suffrage organizations could be
found. Those of you who were present will well remember the
uncertainty and misgivings which characterized our deliberations.
The doubting delegates questioned whether the times were yet ripe
for this radical step; already over-taxed by the campaigns in
their respective countries they questioned whether the possible
benefits which might arise from international connection might
not be over-balanced by the burden it would impose. There were
delegates also who asked whether it was within the bounds of
possibilities that suffragists could work together in harmony
when they not only would represent differences of race and
character but widely different stages of development of the
movement itself. There were even more serious problems to be
considered. Some of our associations were pledged to universal
suffrage, some to Municipal, some to suffrage based upon a
property or educational qualification. How could such
differences, each defended as it was by intense conviction, be
united in a common platform?... Yet despite all these obstacles,
which at that time seemed to many well nigh insurmountable, our
International Alliance was founded "for better or worse" and I
think I may add "till death do us part."
Five years have passed away, prosperous, successful, triumphant
years; prosperous, for we have known no quarrel or
misunderstanding; successful, for the number of National
Associations in our Alliance has more than doubled; triumphant,
because the gains to our cause within the past five years are
more significant in effect and meaning than all which had come in
the years preceding. Indeed, when we look back over that little
stretch of time and observe the mighty changes which have come
within our movement; when we hear the reports of the awakening of
men and women to the justice of our cause all the way around the
world, I am sure that there is no pessimist among us who does not
realize that at last the tide of woman's enfranchisement is
coming in.
Mrs. Catt described the influence the Alliance had had in these
changes and said: "We have been baptised in that spirit of the 20th
century which the world calls Internationalism; it is a sentiment like
love or religion or patriotism, which is to be experienced rather than
defined in words. Under the influence of this new spirit we realize
that we are not enlisted for the work of our own countries alone but
that before us stretches the task of emancipating the women of the
civilized world...." The brilliant Congress of Women held in Russia in
spite of its reactionary government was described, and the women of
Finland were urged not to be discouraged because the iron rule of
Russia was again threatening their recently gained liberty. The
progress in other European countries was sketched and the address then
dealt unsparingly with the situation in Great Britain, where the women
for years had organized and worked for the candidates of the political
parties, and continued:
If the women of England have time enough to solicit votes for the
men of their party and intelligence enough to train men to vote;
if they do not neglect their homes and families when their
political parties direct them to act as catspaws to pull the
political chestnuts out of the fire and to put them into the
Conservative and Liberal baskets, the world wants to know how
these political parties are going to escape from the logic of the
situation when these same women ask some of the chestnuts for
themselves. Again, this nation was presided over for sixty years
by a woman, and she was accounted worthy to present an annual
Parliamentary Address in which she pointed out the duty of the
members of Parliament. Now the outside world wants to know how
that Parliament can consistently say that other British women are
not even worthy to cast a vote to elect that body. There is still
another reason why the world is watching England. The British
Colonies have enfranchised women; how is the Home Government to
explain the phenomenon of women, enfranchised in Australia, then
disfranchised in England; enfranchised in New Zealand and
disfranchised when they return to the mother country?
She called attention to the forming of the Anti-Suffrage Association
by women in Great Britain and said: "They are sending in a petition to
Parliament. It is well known that people by nature are opposed to new
things; before education people are anti-suffragists. If a petition
opposed to woman suffrage should be presented to the Hottentots, the
Afghanistans, the tribes of Thibet or to the interior of Turkey, every
individual would sign it and the longest petition 'opposed to the
further extension of rights to women' yet known could be secured
there. A petition for suffrage, however, carries a very different
meaning; every name represents a convert, a victory, an education of
the understanding, an answer to an appeal for justice. A woman
suffrage petition is a gain; an anti-suffrage petition merely shows
how much more must be gained. One is positive, the other negative.
Wait a little and you will find that England, and other countries as
well, will perceive the real truth, that the anti-suffrage women are
the most inconsistent products of all the ages."
The flaying did not stop here but Mrs. Catt called attention to the
fact that this convention celebrated the birthday of Mary
Wollstonecraft, referred to the position of women in her time and
said:
There have been women who have crucified their very souls and the
lineal ancestors of the present-day "antis" with withering scorn
and criticism opposed every step. Yet some of those modern
anti-suffragists possess a college degree, an opportunity which
other women won for them in the face of universal ridicule; they
own property which is theirs today as the effect of laws which
other women labored for a quarter of a century to secure; they
stand upon public platforms where free speech for women was won
for them by other women amid the jeers of howling mobs; they use
the right of organization which was established as the result of
many a heartache and many a brave endeavor when the world
condemned it as a threat against all moral order. They accept
with satisfaction every political right which has been accorded
by their Government; they even accept public office. They take
all as their birthright; and yet, endowed with this power of
education, of property, of organization, of free speech, of
partial political rights, they turn upon the last logical effort
in the movement which has given them so much and with supreme
self-satisfaction say: "Thus far shalt thou come and no farther."
It takes no logic to perceive the inconsistency of such a
position....
The changed position of women in the world of labor was sketched; the
old divisions were obliterated; a great army of women were now
competing with men in the open market and there were found not only
women but little children. Everywhere was cruel injustice to women,
barred out from the higher places, working for half the pay of men in
others, and discriminated against even by the labor unions. "They are
utterly at the mercy of selfish employers, of hard economic conditions
and unfair legislation," she said. "The only logical conclusion is to
give votes to working women that they may defend their own wages,
hours and conditions. We have worked to gain the suffrage because the
principle is just. We must work for it now because this great army of
wage-earning women are crying to us for help, immediate help.... You
and I must know no sleep or rest or hesitation so long as a single
civilized land has failed to recognize equal rights for men and women,
in the workshop and the factory, at the ballot box and in the
Parliament, in the home and in the church."
Here as at all meetings of the Alliance one of the most valuable
features was the reports from the various countries, reaching almost
from "the Arctic Circle to the equator," of the progress in the
movement for suffrage, juster laws for women, better industrial
conditions. Printed in fifty-seven pages of the Minutes they formed a
storehouse of information nowhere else to be found. As the struggle of
the "militants" in Great Britain was attracting world-wide attention
to the exclusion of the many years of persistent work by the original
association in educating not only women themselves but also public
opinion to see the necessity for woman suffrage, the report of its
president, Mrs. Fawcett, had a special interest:
The year which has just closed is the most strenuous and active
we have ever known since women's suffrage has been before the
country. The number of societies which combine to form the
National Union has more than doubled. The membership in several
societies has more than doubled and in others has largely
increased; in one important society it has been multiplied by
five. The number of meetings held throughout the year in
connection with the National Union alone has been unprecedented,
an average of at least four a day. The experience gained at
bye-elections confirms the Union in their view that by far the
most effective work can be done by acting strictly on non-party
lines and supporting that candidate whose record and declarations
on the subject of suffrage are the most satisfactory....
At the beginning of last November Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M.D.,
was elected Mayor of Aldeburgh; Miss Dove, M.A., the head
mistress of Wycombe Abbey School, came within two votes of being
chosen Mayor of the borough of High Wycombe. Several women at the
same time were elected as borough councillors, among whom we may
mention our colleague, Miss Margaret Ashton, the president of the
Manchester and North of England Society for Women's Suffrage. A
large Conservative and Unionist Association for women's suffrage
has been formed. Its president is Lady Knightley of Fawsley and
among its vice-presidents are the Duchess of Sutherland, the
Countess of Meath, Viscountess Middleton, Lady Robert Cecil, Miss
Alice Balfour, etc.
In December a weighty and closely reasoned statement of the case
for women's suffrage was presented to the Prime Minister by the
Registered Medical Women of the United Kingdom. The committee
were able to inform Mr. Asquith that out of 553 all but 15
support the extension of the Parliamentary franchise to women.
The case for women's suffrage was argued before the Judicial
Committee of the House of Lords in November last with great
ability by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The case was
raised on the plea of women graduates of the Scottish
Universities that they were entitled to vote in the election for
the members of Parliament representing the universities. The word
used in the Scottish University Act was "persons"--all "persons"
having passed such and such degrees and fulfilled such and such
conditions were entitled to vote in such elections. The case had
been heard before two Scottish Courts and adverse decisions had
been given. The House of Lords was appealed to as the highest
Court and it confirmed the decisions of the lower courts that the
word "persons" does not include women when it refers to
privileges granted by the State.
Mrs. Fawcett spoke of the work of the Union year after year for the
suffrage bill in Parliament; of the enrollment during the present year
of over 300 men eminent in literature, science, the arts, law, public
offices, churches, education, commerce, etc.; of its great procession
and the demonstration in Albert Hall. She said of the other
organization, which was yet in its early stages of aggressiveness:
"Opinions greatly differ in suffrage circles as to the effect produced
on the cause by what are known as 'militant' tactics. It is difficult
for one who is completely identified with constitutional methods to
judge aright the total result of unconstitutional forms of agitation.
That the 'militants' have been courageous and self-sacraficing no one
denies. That they have provoked discussion and aroused attention is
equally obvious and from these our cause always stands to gain. On the
other hand many of us feel a profound conviction, which experience
only strengthens, that women are adopting a mistaken course in
appealing to violence. Our business as women asking for justice is not
to rely upon physical force but in the eternal principles of right and
justice. Law abiding methods alienate no one while methods of violence
and disorder create anti-suffragists by the hundreds."
To this convention, as to the one of the preceding year in Amsterdam,
Mrs. Pankhurst refused to send any representatives of the Women's
Social and Political Union. A mass meeting under its auspices was held
in Albert Hall one evening and many of the delegates accepted an
official invitation to attend.
At an afternoon session ten minute addresses were made by Mrs. Betsy
Kjelsberg of Norway on Six Years' Experience in Municipal Work; by
Mrs. Madge Donohoe for Australia, The Latest Victory; by Dr. phil.
Gulli Petrini of Sweden, Suffrage Work on Both Sides of the Polar
Circle; by Mrs. Rutgers-Hoitsema, A Curious Football Game in Holland;
others by Mrs. Zeneide Mirovitch, Russia; Miss Theo. Daugaard,
Denmark; Mlle. Daugotte, Belgium; Mme. Auberlet, France; Mrs. Saul
Solomon, South Africa. The Dutch Men's League for Women Suffrage
was represented by E. J. van Straaten, LL.D. and F. F. W.
Kehrer-Gorinchens; the British by Herbert Jacobs and Dr. C. W.
Drysdale. Mrs. Anna M. Haslam, fraternal delegate from the Irish
Women's Suffrage Association, and her husband, Thomas J., the oldest
delegates, were most cordially received. The Bohemian delegate, Marie
Tumova, could not be present because making a campaign for election to
the Diet.
The delegates had a strenuous time trying to attend the business
meetings, listen to the excellent programs of prominent speakers, go
to the enjoyable social affairs and make the visits and excursions to
the many historical places in and around London which most of them had
always longed to see. The Executive Committee of the National Union,
Mrs. Fawcett, chairman, served as Reception Committee; its treasurer,
Miss Bertha Mason, expended the large fund subscribed for the use of
the convention; the Press Committee managed the newspapers through
Miss Compton Burnett; Mrs. Anstruther, Rutland House, Portland
Gardens, had the exacting but pleasant duties of chairman of the
Hospitality Committee.
A delightful reception on Sunday evening, April 25, at the Lyceum
Club, introduced the pleasures of the week, which ended with a
handsome reception given by the Men's League for Women's Suffrage on
Saturday evening. There was a brilliant official dinner at Prince's
Restaurant and there were teas and concerts and dramatic
entertainments. To most of the delegates the weeks were the richest in
experience ever known, with the specially conducted visits to famous
universities and schools; cathedrals and abbeys; galleries and
palaces; courts and gardens--every spot filled with historic
associations for English speaking people and with intense interest for
those of other countries. For delegates concerned with civic and
social work there was the keenest enjoyment in the specialized and
extensive developments along many lines. The Minutes of the convention
thus describe one of its leading events:
The mass meeting at the Royal Albert Hall under the auspices of
the London Society for Women's Suffrage afforded the delegates a
most impressive display of the earnestness of the British
suffragists. A procession of women engaged in various trades and
professions, carrying the emblems of their work, marched from
Eaton Square to the hall. It was a wonderful inspiration to the
brave bands of pioneers from other lands to see the long
procession march with fluttering flags and swinging lanterns
along the darkening streets, greeted now with sympathy, now with
jeers. As it entered the hall and trade after trade, profession
after profession filed past the platform on which were seated
women of all nations, the enthusiasm reached its height. It
would be impossible to give a list of the groups but especially
notable were the chain makers from Cradley Heath, who toil for
about four shillings per week of sixty hours. The common remark
that the suffrage movement is an amusement for rich women was
once for all disproved as the factory workers and cotton
operatives in their distinctive dress swung into the vast arena.
The group of women doctors in their gorgeous robes were loudly
cheered, as were the nurses and mid-wives who followed, while
teachers of all branches of the profession closed the long line.
There were notable speeches but the real effect of the meeting
lay in the wonderful gathering itself, women of all nations,
classes, creeds and occupations united for a common purpose,
together with men, filling one of the largest halls in Europe.
Mrs. Fawcett, LL.D., presided and the speakers were Ramsey
McDonald, M.P., Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Frances Sterling and
Mrs. Philip Snowden.
Twice during the convention it came in touch with royalty in an
interesting way. At the official dinner Mrs. Qvam, delegate from the
Norwegian Government and president of the National Suffrage
Association, brought greetings and wishes for the success of the
congress from Queen Maud of Norway, a daughter of King Edward and
Queen Alexandra, to which an appreciative response was sent. At a
morning session the birth of a daughter to the Queen of the
Netherlands was announced and at the request of Dr. Aletta Jacobs,
president of the National Suffrage Association of that country, a
telegram of congratulations from the Alliance was sent.
There was much discussion over the motion that all organizations
auxiliary to the Alliance must have woman suffrage as their sole
object. It was finally decided in the affirmative and a flood of
societies of every description was excluded. The number of delegates
permitted to each country was increased from six to twelve, with
twelve alternates. A resolution was adopted urging the National
Suffrage Association of each nation to prepare a comprehensive
statement of the laws which place women at a disadvantage in regard to
property, earnings, marriage, divorce, guardianship of children,
education, industrial conditions and political rights, and to explain,
when demanding their immediate enfranchisement from their respective
Parliaments, that they consider these injustices can be effectively
removed only through joint political action by men and women. This
was introduced at the request of Lady McLaren, who had prepared such a
charter for Great Britain. Many beautiful designs for a flag and
banner had been submitted and it was found that the one selected was
the work of Miss Branting of Sweden. The international hymn chosen
from a number which were submitted was written by Mrs. Theodora Flower
Mills.
As this was the quinquennial meeting officers were elected. Mrs. Catt
was unanimously re-elected and the following received large
majorities: Mrs. Fawcett, first, and Miss Furuhjelm, second
vice-presidents; Miss Martina Kramers, Netherlands; Mrs. Anna
Lindemann, Germany; Miss Signe Bergman, Sweden, first, second and
third secretaries; Mrs. Stanton Coit, treasurer. As the time of
holding the regular session of the Alliance was changed from five to
four years they were elected to hold office until 1913. Mrs. Catt
welcomed the new officers and warmly thanked the retiring officers for
their valuable services. The invitation to hold the congress of 1911
in Stockholm, if the political conditions were favorable, was accepted
with pleasure.
The Resolutions presented by the committee--Miss Frances Sterling,
Great Britain; Mrs. E. R. Mirrlees, South Africa; Mrs. Ida Husted
Harper, United States--and adopted, summarized the gains of the past
few years in Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Bohemia,
Cape Colony and the Transvaal and said: "This Congress, remembering
the lessons of history, urges the National Societies not to be
betrayed into postponing their claim for the enfranchisement of women
for any other object, whether it be the further extension of the
suffrage to men or the success of some political party." At the last
meeting of the delegates Mrs. Catt thanked them for their hearty
cooperation with their president; she urged them to demand the
suffrage upon the broadest basis, namely, that the government may rest
equally on the will of both men and women, and said the Alliance would
wield great influence if they remained united and they would secure
the enfranchisement of the women of the world for all future
generations. A public meeting in St. James Hall was held on the last
evening with Mrs. Catt in the chair and addresses of the highest order
were made by Miss Margaret Ashton, Men and Women; the Rev. Ivory
Cripps, the Nation's Need of Women; Miss Rosika Schwimmer, The
Hungarian Outlook; H. Y. Stanger, M.P., The Prospect of Franchise
Reform; Dr. Käthe Schirmacher, Woman Suffrage.
On the Sunday afternoon preceding the convention the Rev. Anna Howard
Shaw preached for a Men's Meeting at Whitefield's, Tottenham Court
Road, the most of the large and interested audience hearing for the
first time a sermon by a woman. On the Sunday following the convention
she preached in the morning for the West London Ethical Society in the
Kensington Town Hall and in the evening at the King's Weigh House
Chapel, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon
the Rev. Canon Scott Holland gave a sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral,
the national church, on the Religious Aspect of Women's Suffrage, with
two hundred seats reserved for the delegates, and they felt a deep
thrill of rejoicing at hearing within those ancient walls a strong
plea for the enfranchisement of women. They were invited to attend the
next evening a symposium by the Shakespeare League at King's College
on What Shakespeare Thought of Women.
SIXTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The Sixth Conference and Congress of the International Woman Suffrage
Alliance took place in the banquet hall of the Grand Hotel, Stockholm,
June 12-17, 1911. The coming of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of
the Alliance, had been widely heralded. She had been received in
Copenhagen with national honors by cabinet ministers and foreign
legations; the American flag run up for her wherever she went and the
Danish colors dipped and there was almost a public ovation. In
Christiania she was met with a greeting from a former Prime Minister
and an official address of welcome from the Government and was
received by King Haakon. At Stockholm she was met by deputations with
flowers and speeches. Dinners, receptions and concerts followed. The
American and Swedish flags waved together. The whole city knew that
something important was going to happen. In the midst of it all the
woman suffrage bill came up for discussion in both Houses of the
Parliament. The international president was escorted to the Lower
House by a body of women that crowded the galleries. After a stormy
debate the bill to enfranchise the women of Sweden received a majority
vote. In the midst of the applause Mrs. Catt was hurried to the Upper
Chamber, the stronghold of caste and conservatism. Her presence and
that of the flower of Swedish womanhood did not save the bill from the
usual defeat.
The congress opened with representatives from twenty-four affiliated
National Associations and two Committees, those of Austria and
Bohemia. The government of Norway sent as its official delegate Dr.
Kristine Bonnevie. The list of delegates filled seven printed pages,
the United States, the Netherlands and Sweden having the full quota of
twelve delegates and twelve alternates, Germany lacking only three of
the latter, while Great Britain, France, Denmark, Norway, Finland and
Hungary had twelve or more. Six were present from Russia; Bulgaria,
Servia, Switzerland, South Africa, Iceland and Canada had
representatives. Of fraternal delegates from other organizations there
was no end--about seventy men and women--among them members of five
Men's Leagues for Woman Suffrage--in the United States, Great Britain,
Netherlands, Hungary and Sweden. In addition to the spoken words
letters and telegrams of greeting were read from societies and
individuals in twelve different countries. The distinguished guests of
the occasion were Dr. Selma Lagerlöf of Sweden, who had recently
received the Nobel Literature Prize, and Miss Helena Westermarck of
Finland, the eminent writer and publicist. Among prominent speakers
were Mayor Carl Lindhagen and Ernest Beckman, M. P., the Rev. K. H. G.
von Scheele, Bishop of Visby, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Fries. The
ushers and pages were women students of the universities.
On the Sunday afternoon preceding the convention the precedent of all
past ages was broken when Dr. Anna Howard Shaw preached in the ancient
State Church of Gusta Vasa. When the Swedish women asked for the use
of the church they were told that this could be granted only to a
minister of the same denomination but they learned that when a
minister from another country was visiting Sweden the pastor of the
church might invite him to occupy his pulpit at his discretion. The
pastor said he would run the risk, knowing that he might incur the
displeasure of the Bishop, and Dr. Shaw, therefore, felt a double
responsibility. She could not enter the pulpit, however, but spoke
from a platform in front of it. It was a never to be forgotten scene.
The grand old church was crowded to the last inch of space, although
admission was by ticket. Facing the chancel were the thirty famous
women singers of Göteborg, their cantor a woman, and the noted woman
organist and composer, Elfrida Andrée, who composed the music for the
occasion. In the center of all was the little black-robed minister. It
was said by many to be the most wonderful sermon of her life and after
the service was over the pastor, with tears rolling down his cheeks,
went up to her with hands outstretched and taking both of hers said:
"I am the happiest man in Sweden." Sunday evening a reception was
given at the Restaurant Rosenbad to the officers, presidents of
national auxiliaries and Swedish Committee of Arrangements by its
chairman, Mrs. Bertha Nordenson. At six o'clock excursions of many
delegates had started to enjoy the long evening when the sun did not
set till nearly midnight.
The official report of the first executive session Monday morning
said: "Miss Janet Richards, delegate from the U. S. A., with an
admirable speech, presented to the Alliance from the State which had
recently given full suffrage to women a gavel bearing the inscription:
"To the International W. S. A. from the Washington Equal Suffrage
Association." It was announced that National Suffrage Associations had
been formed in Iceland and Servia and they were gladly accepted as
auxiliaries, bringing the number up to twenty-six. The municipality
had contributed 3,000 crowns to the congress, which proved to be the
largest ever held in Stockholm. Season tickets had been sold to 1,200
persons and other hundreds bought tickets to the various meetings.
During the entire week the flags of the nations represented at the
congress floated from the flagstaffs that lined the quay in front of
the Grand Hotel facing the royal palace, as far as the eye could
reach. All the time Mrs. Catt was in the city the American flag was
run up for her as a public guest wherever she went and the Swedish
colors dipped a salute.
The Congress was formally opened in the afternoon of June 12 with
addresses of welcome from Miss Anna Whitlock, acting president of the
National Suffrage Association of Sweden, and the Hon. Ernest Beckman,
M. P., president of the National Swedish Liberal Association, and
response from the Alliance was made by Miss Chrystal Macmillan of
Great Britain, proxy for Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, its first
vice-president. Miss Anna Kleman, president of the Stockholm suffrage
society, then presented the beautiful white satin, gold embroidered
Alliance banner, which was carried by six university students in white
dresses with sashes of the Swedish colors. Mrs. Catt announced that
the Alliance flag was now flying over the Grand Hotel where they were
assembled. The banner was the gift of Miss Lotten von Kroemer, a
pioneer suffragist of Sweden, and the flag of the resident Atlantic,
Gulf and Pacific Tea Co., U. S. A. A suffrage song written by K. G.
Ossian-Nillson and the music composed by Hugo Alfven for the occasion
was sung by the Women's Choir of Göteborg, after which an official
delegate of the Government extended its greeting while the audience
rose and the flags of the nations waved from the galleries. Mrs. Catt
received an ovation as she came to the front of the platform to make
her address. It filled twenty-three pages of the printed minutes and
was a complete resumé of the early position of women, the vast changes
that had been wrought and the great work which the Alliance was doing.
Only a few quotations are possible:
In the recent debate on the bill in the Swedish Parliament a
university professor said in a tone of eloquent finality: "The
woman suffrage movement has reached and passed its climax; the
suffrage wave is now rapidly receding." With patronizing air,
more droll than he could know, the gentleman added: "We have
permitted this movement to come thus far but we shall allow it to
go no farther." Thus another fly resting upon the proverbial
wheel of progress commanded it to turn no more. This man engages
our attention because he is a representative of a type to be
found in all our lands; wise men on the wrong side of a great
question, modern Joshuas who command the sun to stand still and
believe that it will obey.
Long centuries before the birth of Darwin an old-time Hindoo
wrote: "I stand on a river's bank. I know not whence the waters
come or whither they go. So deep and silent is its current that I
know not whether it flows north or south; all is mystery to me;
but when I climb yon summit the river becomes a silver thread
weaving its length in and out among the hills and over the
plains. I see it all from its source in yonder mountain to its
outlet in yonder sea. There is no more mystery." So these
university professors buried in school books, these near-sighted
politicians, fail to note the meaning of passing events. To them
the woman movement is an inexplicable mystery, but to us standing
upon the summit of international union, where we may observe
every manifestation of this movement in all parts of the world,
there is no mystery. From its sources ages ago, amid the protests
which we know barbaric women must have made against the cruel
wrongs done their sex, we clearly trace its course through the
centuries, moving slowly but majestically onward, gathering
momentum with each century, each generation, until just before us
lies the golden sea of woman's full liberty.
Mrs. Catt traced the progress of the ages until it culminated in the
demand for political rights for women, told of the beginning of the
Alliance and said: "Today, seven years later, our Alliance counts 26
auxiliary national associations. Are these evidences of a wave rapidly
receding? It would be more in accordance with facts should we adopt
the proud boast of the British Empire and say that the sun now never
sets upon woman suffrage activities. The subscribing membership in the
world has increased seven times in the past seven years and it has
doubled since the London congress two years ago. Even in Great
Britain, where the opposition declared at that time very confidently
that the campaign had reached its climax, the National Union, our
auxiliary, has tripled its individual membership, tripled its
auxiliary societies and doubled its funds since then, and twelve
independent suffrage societies have been organized. The membership and
campaign funds have likewise tripled in the United States and every
president of an auxiliary national society has reported increase in
numbers, funds and activity.... No human power, no university
professor, no Parliament, no government, can stay the coming of woman
suffrage. It is a step in the evolution of society and the eternal
verities are behind it.... Of the 24 nations represented in this
congress the women of 15 have more political rights than they had
seven years ago."
Mrs. Catt paid high tribute to the Scandinavian people and eulogized
Fredrika Bremer, Sweden's great pioneer. In speaking of the progress
in this country she said: "Municipal suffrage has now been extended
to married women and eligibility to office to all women. Organizations
exist in 170 towns, some of them north of the Arctic Circle; there is
a paying membership of 12,000 and 1,550 meetings have been held in the
last two years. Two political parties espouse the cause. Women may
vote for town and county councils, which elect the Upper House of
Parliament, and thirty-seven are serving on these councils." She
referred eloquently to the honored Selma Lagerlöf and to Dr. Lydia
Wahlstrom, the recent president of the National Suffrage Association,
who had been crowned with a laurel wreath for her wisdom by the
University of Upsala. She told of a questionnaire she had sent to the
presidents of the national suffrage associations in all countries
asking what were the indications that the woman suffrage movement was
growing and said: "Such volumes of evidence of progress were received
that it is quite impossible to give an idea of its far reaching
character....[223]
At the official reception given by the National Suffrage Association
of Sweden in the evening the guests were welcomed by Mrs. Ann Margret
Holmgren and their appreciative responses were made by Mrs. Margaret
Hodge, Australia; Miss Gabriella Danzerova, Bohemia; Mrs. Daisy Minor,
Austria; Miss Helen Clay-Petersen, Denmark; Miss Annie Furuhjelm,
Finland; Madam DeWitt Schlumberger, France; Dr. jur. Anita Augspurg,
Germany; Mrs. Olga Ungar, Hungary; Mrs. Philip Snowden, Great Britain.
These were followed by a cantata beautifully rendered by the Göteborg
choir, words and music by women.
During the convention Lieutenant Colonel W. A. E. Mansfeldt of Holland
made the report for its Men's League for Woman Suffrage; Dr. C. V.
Drysdale for Great Britain; Jean du Breuil for France; Dr. Alexander
Patai for Hungary; Frederick Nathan for the United States, and the
founding of an International Men's League was announced with Colonel
Mansfeldt secretary.
The reports of the work of the different branches and their
discussion, bringing before the Alliance the experience and opinions
of women from all parts of the world, were perhaps the most valuable
feature of the conference. The most animated and vital of these
discussions was the one of a political nature, divided into three
parts: 1. What political work have the women of the enfranchised
countries done, what is their relation to the different parties and
how do these treat them? Have they any advice to offer? led by Miss
Hodge, Mrs. Louise Keilhau, Norway; Dr. Tekla Hultin, M. P., Finland.
2. How can woman's political influence be brought to bear most
effectively on Parliaments and governments? Led by Mrs. Snowden; Mrs.
Anna B. Wicksell, Sweden; Dr. Käthe Schirmacher, Germany; Miss
Richards. 3. What should be the relation of the suffrage movement to
political parties in the unenfranchised countries? Led by Miss Eline
Hansen, Denmark; Miss Rosika Schwimmer, Hungary; Madame Pichon,
France; Mrs. Zeneide Mirovitch, Russia. There was a wide divergence of
opinion but at last a resolution was unanimously adopted that "woman
suffrage societies do their best work when organized in a non-partisan
manner." In order to remove persistent misunderstanding a statement
presented by Mrs. Catt was adopted explaining the wording of the
resolution demanding "the franchise for women on the same terms as it
is or may be exercised by men." It declared that the Alliance had on
no occasion taken a position for or against any special form of
suffrage but that the affiliated societies were left entirely free to
determine for themselves which form they would demand. The Alliance
did not express an opinion as to what should be the qualifications for
enfranchisement, its sole object being to establish the principle that
sex should not be a disqualification.
No more eminent group of women speakers ever appeared before an
audience than those who spoke in the Royal Opera House of Stockholm on
the second evening of the convention. Mrs. Catt presided and addresses
were made by Miss Westermarck, Dr. Augspurg, Mrs. Snowden, Miss
Schwimmer, Dr. Shaw and Sweden's best beloved Selma Lagerlöf. The last
named moved the audience to tears during her address on Home and State
by her impassioned plea for the enfranchisement of women. It was said
by delegates from the various countries who had attended many of these
international gatherings that this meeting surpassed all others.
Another which differed from all that had gone before was the great
gathering in Skansen, the magnificent park, where at 7 o'clock, from
two platforms, noted speakers from ten countries addressed an audience
of thousands. A dinner followed in the park house, Högenloft, with
fine music, and then in the open air the visitors saw the famous
national dances and processions by the young people in the picturesque
costumes of the country.
Although the official languages of the Alliance were French, German
and English a crowded meeting was held one evening in the People's
House with the speeches in the northern tongues, understood by all the
Scandinavian people. It was opened by Mayor Lindhagen, an ardent
advocate of woman suffrage. At another session the Woman Question in
the Russian Parliament was considered by the noted woman leader, Dr.
Shiskin-Yavein; the Suffrage Outlook in Bohemia by Miss Maria Tumova,
recent candidate for Parliament; the Future of South African Women by
Miss Nina Boyle. A special meeting was held one afternoon in the hall
of the Young Women's Christian Association. Mrs. Marie Stritt,
Germany; Mme. Maria Verone, France, and Miss Macmillan were appointed
to compile a pamphlet of information about woman suffrage in all lands
to be used for propaganda work.
A delegate from the United States, Professor Mary Gray Peck,
officially connected with its national suffrage headquarters, gave the
following description in a letter to the press:
The ball room of the Grand Hotel where the meetings were held is
a palatial apartment, its walls richly gilded and adorned with
long mirrors between the windows, while from the ceiling hang
great crystal chandeliers, which were always lighted while the
congress was in session. The platform for officers and
distinguished guests was placed between gilded pillars at one end
of the hall, draped and canopied with the national colors of
Sweden, blue and yellow, and the international suffrage colors,
yellow and white. Then there is the memory of other places where
the delegates assembled, the ancient State Church, with its
reminder of St. Paul's in London; the splendid Academy of Music,
with the heraldic banners of the nations suspended around the
gallery; the Royal Opera House with its tiers of balconies and
the rising of the curtain to show the beautiful stage picture of
the speakers and the arch of flowers beneath which they spoke;
the Moorish court in the Royal Hotel, where the reception was
held, with the delightful Birgitta cantata, recalling the heroic
in Swedish womanhood; the open air meeting at Skansen with the
native songs and dances; the farewell in the garden at
Saltsjöbaden, given by the Stockholm society; the peasant singing
and the wonderful ride back to the city by late northern twilight
and moonlight together.
The closing speech of the congress made by the international
president at the close of the dinner at Saltsjöbaden was
something indescribable. She stood on a balcony facing the sunset
sky and blue sea, with pine trees forming an amphitheater in the
background. It was like a triumphant recessional, with
benediction for the past and challenge for the future, and when
the speaker descended from the balcony and went down to the boat
landing followed by the singing of the peasants, the crowd
divided, leaving a wide path, and stood gazing after her as
though she were too imperial to be followed by anything but
music.
On the Sunday following the congress an excursion was arranged on
beautiful Lake Malaren to the ancient Castle of Gripsholm, where
evening dinner was served. The city council and the State railways
financially assisted the Entertainment Committee. At all of the
Alliance congresses the social entertainments were a marked feature.
The hospitality was boundless and each country had its historic places
and beautiful resorts which differed so much from those of all others
as to give them an indescribable charm and interest. Following is part
of the report of this one by Mrs. Anna Lindemann, secretary of the
Alliance:[224]
The official entertainments were most appropriately opened by the
truly international greeting which Mrs. Holmgren, one of the
founders of the Swedish suffrage movement, addressed to the
guests at the reception in the Grand Hotel Royal. Her words which
gave a hearty welcome to the French and German-speaking guests
and to our Swedish sisters in their several languages; the
beautiful cantata written by Sigrid Leijonhufvud, the music
composed by Alfrida Andree specially for this occasion, and last
but not least the presence of the woman all of us had long known
and loved before we saw her, Selma Lagerlöf, made us feel at home
in Sweden at once. This feeling deepened as time went on and
Wednesday evening at Skansen a new note was added. All we saw of
Swedish nature and Swedish life in that beautiful open air
museum, the national dances, the characteristic art of Sven
Scholander and his daughter Lisa, gave us a deeper understanding
of the people whose guests we were and showed us some of the
roots from which it draws its strength. Another aspect also, the
refined culture of modern Sweden, was the dominant note of the
dinner at Hasselbacken with the heartfelt speech of the venerable
Bishop Scheele of Visby.
On a background of lovely scenery this week will stand out in our
memory as one long summer day with a long, long evening full of
silver light.... During the carriage drive generously provided by
Miss Lotten von Kraemer our hearts were gladdened by the many
expressions of sympathy we met on our way, from the dear old
women, who waved their handkerchiefs and their aprons, down to
small girls by the side of their mothers.... Especially the day
at Upsala, by invitation of its suffrage society, will not be
forgotten. The warm-hearted reception, the gay flags all through
the town, at once lifted up the spirit of the whole gathering,
which found a charming expression in the improvised festive
procession from the botanical garden to the cathedral. The
presence and eloquence of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave an added
dignity to this as to many others of our social gatherings.
Schools, hospitals, museums, exhibitions of all kinds of women's
art and women's work, were visited.... [The many private
invitations were referred to.] The thirty-six delegates, who
accepted Mrs. Caroline Benedick-Bruce's invitation to the Island
of Visby, have told us that words failed to describe this
beautiful day.
Looking back on the time that lies behind us, we, the women who
have come here from all over the world, thank our Swedish sisters
for the inspiration their kindness and their loving reception
have been to us. We thank Sweden for the splendid women it has
produced. We have seen the many elements that have worked
together to attain this result; we have learned to admire and
respect Swedish history, Swedish culture, Swedish art; and as,
besides the many other things this congress has done for us, it
has most specially taught us to love the Swedish women, we can
express no better wish for our future conventions than that every
new country which receives us may in the same way widen our
hearts by a new love.
SEVENTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The International Woman Suffrage Alliance held its Seventh Conference
and Congress in Budapest June 15-21, 1913. As had been the case with
all that had preceded, the place of meeting had been chosen with
reference to the situation in regard to woman suffrage where the
prospect for it seemed favorable and it was desired to influence
public sentiment by showing that the movement for it was world-wide.
When it had been announced at the congress in Stockholm that the next
one would be held in the capital of Hungary it had seemed very far
away and that country was not associated with representative
government. It proved to be, however, one of the largest and most
important of the conventions and its efforts were widespread, as the
delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in
Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Twenty-two countries were
represented by 240 delegates and alternates. The full quota of 24 were
present from Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, the United
States and Hungary; Finland sent 15; Denmark and Norway 11 each;
Switzerland 9: Italy 8; Russia 5; Belgium and Austria, 4 each; from
South Africa came 4, from Iceland, 2; from Canada, 3; from Bohemia
one.
It was indeed a cosmopolitan assemblage. The government of Australia
had an official delegate, Mrs. Frederick Spencer, and that of Norway
two, the president of the National Suffrage Association, Mrs. F. M.
Qvam, and the president of the National Council of Women, Miss Gina
Krog. The Governors of California, Oregon and Washington had appointed
representatives. Written or telegraphed greetings were received from
nineteen countries, encircling the globe. The question of fraternal
delegates reached its climax, as 163 were present from twelve
countries, all wishing to offer their greetings and a large number
intending to advocate the particular object of their organizations. A
resolution was finally adopted that no credentials should be accepted
until the society presenting them should be approved by the National
Suffrage Association of its country and no fraternal delegate should
speak except by invitation of the president of the Alliance and with
the consent of the congress. This checked a torrent of oratory and
allowed the convention to carry out its program. The Chinese Woman
Suffrage Society was admitted, for which Mrs. Catt had sowed the seeds
at the time of her visit to that country, and the beautifully
embroidered banner they had sent was presented to the Alliance by Dr.
Aletta Jacobs, president of the Netherlands Association, who had
accompanied her. She said in part:
It is difficult to speak to an audience which certainly does not
know the Chinese women in their own land, an audience of which
only a few have had the privilege to hear from the lips of those
feet-bound women what an important part they have taken in the
revolution of their country and in the political reform which has
resulted from it; to make you clearly understand the spirit of
these Chinese women when they offered this banner to Mrs. Catt,
as president of the Alliance, in gratitude for what it is doing
for the uplifting of womanhood, and when they expressed their
hope that it would take the Chinese women under its care. You
have not been, as Mrs. Catt and I have, in the south of the
country, where we saw Chinese women sitting in Parliament but
from whom the vote is now taken away. You have not heard, as we
did, in many towns, the Chinese women speak in crowded meetings
to a mixed, enthusiastic audience with an eloquence none of us
can surpass. You can not imagine how hard is the struggle for
liberty which they have to make. In every town we found
intelligent women with the same love for freedom as inspires us,
who hunger after righteousness just as we do and who devote not
only all their money but their entire life to the struggle for
the improvement of the position of the women of their country.
Many of the Chinese women have already been decapitated for the
truth they have told while fighting their battle for freedom and
all the leaders of the woman movement know that their life is
uncertain and that any day the men may find a reason to silence
them when their eloquence and enthusiasm make too many converts.
In translating the words which they embroidered upon this bright
red satin you will learn what is going on in the minds of the new
Chinese women: "The Mutual Helping Society to the International
Alliance. Helping each other, all of one mind." In the name of
these Chinese women I ask you to accept this banner in the same
loyal spirit in which it is offered and to welcome the Chinese
suffragists into our Alliance.
A handsome banner was presented by the delegation from Galicia. The
president of the Belgian Association reported that Roman Catholic,
Conservative, Socialist and Progressive women had united in a
non-partisan federation to work only for woman suffrage. South Africa,
Roumania and Portugal associations were received in full membership
and also a committee from Galicia, where women were not allowed to
form an association. Greetings came by cable from the women of Persia.
No tribute can do justice to the genius of Rosika Schwimmer in
arranging for this remarkable convention, the first of the kind ever
held in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both the government and the
municipality made liberal contributions, which the citizens
supplemented with more than enough to pay the entire expenses of the
congress, that was conducted on a liberal scale. A sale of 2,800
season tickets was made. Through the assistance of capable committees
every effort possible was made for the comfort and pleasure of the
delegates, who were cared for from the moment they arrived at the
station. English speaking university students and others of education
helped to overcome the extreme difficulties of the language. So many
delightful expeditions into the wonderful country had been provided
through the courtesy of the railroads and navigation company that it
required a strong sense of duty for the delegates to attend to the
business of the convention. A reception given Saturday evening by the
National Suffrage Association at the Gerbaud Pavilion enabled
officers, delegates and members of the committees to begin
acquaintance and friendship.
According to the custom of the country the convention was opened on
Sunday afternoon. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw had conducted religious
services in the morning at the Protestant church in Buda, assisted by
the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, by courtesy of its minister, the Rev.
Benno Haypal. At four o'clock a large and cordial audience assembled
in the grand Academy of Music for the official welcome, which began
with an overture by the orchestra of the National theater, composed
for the occasion by Dr. Aladar Renyi. A special ode written by Emil
Abranyi was beautifully recited in Hungarian by Maria Jaszai and in
English by Erzsi Paulay, both actresses from the National Theater.
Greetings were given by Countess Teleki, chairman of the Committee of
Arrangements, and Miss Vilma Glücklich, president of the National
Suffrage Association. The official welcome of the Government was
extended by His Excellency Dr. Bela de Jankovics, Minister of
Education, in an eloquent speech, and that of the city by Dr. Stephen
de Barczy, the Burgomaster, who was very imposing in the robes and
insignia of his high office. The response for the Alliance was made by
its secretary, Dr. Anna Lindemann, in German and French. Dr.
Alexander Geisswein, a prominent member of Parliament, made a strong
address in favor of woman suffrage. These ceremonies were followed by
the president's address of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, a summing up of
the world situation in regard to woman suffrage, during which she
said:
When the organization of the Alliance was completed in 1904, it
was decided that national woman suffrage associations only should
be admitted to membership and a nation was defined as a country
which possesses the independent right to enfranchise its women.
At that time eight such nations had woman suffrage associations.
Now, nine years later, with the exception of the Spanish American
Republics, there are in the entire world only seven without an
organized woman suffrage movement. Only three of these are in
Europe--Greece, Spain, and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. The
remaining four are not well established self-governing nations,
and Japan, which is more autocratic than democratic. We shall
admit to membership the Chinese Woman Suffrage Association and
the standard of the Alliance will then be set upon five
continents. Twenty-five nations will be counted in its
membership. Organized suffrage groups also exist on many islands
of the seas. Like Alexander the Great, we shall soon be looking
for other worlds to conquer! The North Star and the Southern
Cross alike cast their benignant rays upon woman suffrage
activities. Last winter when perpetual darkness shrouded the land
of the Midnight Sun, women wrapped in furs, above the Polar
Circle, might have been seen gliding over snow-covered roads in
sledges drawn by reindeer on their way to suffrage meetings, from
whence petitions went to the Parliament at Stockholm. At the same
moment other women, in the midsummer of the southern hemisphere,
protected by fans and umbrellas and riding in "rickshas," were
doing the same thing under the fierce rays of a tropical sun;
while petitions poured into the Parliament asking suffrage for
the women of the Union of South Africa from every State and city
of that vast country.
Since our last Congress not one sign has appeared the entire
world around to indicate reaction. Not a backward step has been
taken. On the contrary a thousand revelations give certain,
unchallenged promise that victory for our great cause lies just
ahead.... During the past winter woman suffrage bills have been
considered by seventeen national Parliaments, four Parliaments of
countries without full national rights and in the legislative
bodies of twenty-nine States.... The largest gains for the past
two years have been in the United States. Five western States and
the Territory of Alaska have followed the example of the four
former equal suffrage States and have enfranchised their women.
Now 2,000,000 women are entitled to vote at all elections and are
eligible to all offices, including that of President.... If
France, Germany, Great Britain, Austria and Hungary could be set
down in the middle of this territory, there would be enough left
uncovered to equal the kingdom of Italy in size.
Mrs. Catt spoke of the trip of Dr. Jacobs and herself around the world
and said: "We held public meetings in many of the towns and cities of
four continents, of four large islands and on the ships of three
oceans and had representatives of all the great races and
nationalities in our audiences. We are now in touch with the most
advanced development of the woman's movement in Egypt, Palestine,
India, Burmah, China, Japan, Java and the Philippine and Hawaiian
Islands, and also in Turkey and Persia, which we did not visit."
In telling of the momentous changes taking place in the East she said:
"Behind the purdah in India, in the harems of Mohammedanism, behind
veils and barred doors and closed sedan chairs there has been
rebellion in the hearts of women all down the centuries.... We spoke
with many women all over the East who had never heard of a 'woman's
movement,' yet isolated and alone they had thought out the entire
program of woman's emancipation, not excluding the vote...." She
reviewed at length the position of women in Persia, in India and in
Asia, the influence of the various religions and the signs of
progress, paying a tribute to Mrs. Annie Besant, to the teachings of
theosophy and especially to those of the Bahais. The terrible
conditions for wage-earning women, the child labor and the nearly
unrestricted white slave traffic in the far East were feelingly
described and the address, which had been heard with almost breathless
interest, concluded:
The women of the western world are escaping from the thraldom of
the centuries.... Their liberation is certain; a little more
effort, a little more enlightenment and it will come. Out of the
richness of our own freedom must we give aid to these sisters of
ours in Asia. When I review the slow, tragic struggle upward of
the women of the West I am overwhelmed with the awfulness of the
task these Eastern women have assumed. They must follow the
vision in their souls as we have done and as other women before
us have done. My heart yearns to give them aid and comfort. I
would that we could strengthen them for the coming struggle. I
would that we could put a protecting arm around these heroic
women and save them from the cruel blows they are certain to
receive. Alas! we can only help them to help themselves. Every
Western victory will give them encouragement and inspiration,
for our victories are their victories and their defeats are our
defeats. For every woman of every tribe and nation, every race
and continent, now under the heel of oppression we must demand
deliverance.
On the Sunday evening after the opening of the convention the Royal
Opera, a State institution, gave a special gala performance of
Mozart's Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, with Cupid's Tricks, by the full
ballet. This was complimentary to the visitors, as the regular season
had closed, and the magnificent spectacle and splendid music were
highly appreciated by the large audience, by none more than by a group
of peasant women, who sat in one of the galleries with shawls over
their heads, having walked fifty miles to attend the congress.
Provision was made for their return home by train.
The formal organization for business took place Monday morning in the
Redoute, a large, handsome convention hall, but hardly were the
preliminaries over and luncheon finished when a long row of gaily
decorated carriages was ready for a three hour drive around the
beautiful city and its environs. At 7:30 the municipality gave an open
air fête on Fisher Bastion, that noble piece of architecture which is
the pride of Budapest. A writer describing the procession of officers
and delegates, headed by Mrs. Catt, passing up the steps to receive
the greetings of the city's high officials, said: "The entrance up the
wide steps, between lines of attendants in picturesque uniforms, with
the soft sunset glow and the lights coming out one by one in the city
and on the river below, was like passing from real life into a land of
enchantment." After the reception all assembled in the Court of Honor,
where sparkling five-minute speeches were made by representatives from
a dozen countries.
It was soon evident that the business of the convention would have to
be confined to the morning hours, as the afternoons and evenings had
to be given over to public speech making and social functions. There
was long discussion in several sessions on establishing international
headquarters and a press bureau, enlarging the monthly paper, _Jus
Suffragii_, and changing the place of its publication. After most of
the delegates had expressed opinions the whole matter was left to the
board of officers. Miss Martina Kramers, Netherlands, declined to
stand for re-election to the office of recording secretary and the
editorship of the paper and a standing vote of thanks was given "for
her seven years' hard work, with the hope that her name will never be
forgotten in the International Suffrage Alliance and that she will
always be appreciated as the founder of _Jus Suffragii_.[225] Miss
Chrystal Macmillan, Mrs. Marie Stritt and Mme. Marie Verone reported
that the book Woman Suffrage in Practice, which they had been
requested at the Stockholm meeting to prepare, was finished and the
English edition ready for this convention; the French and German
editions would be published in a few weeks.
The treasurer, Mrs. Stanton Coit, made a detailed and acceptable
report and said that, with new headquarters, a paid secretary, an
enlarged newspaper and many publications, 2,000 pounds would be
necessary for the next two years. Pledges were made for 2,510 pounds
($12,350)[226].
Mrs. Catt having served as president nine years earnestly desired to
retire in favor of a woman from another country but at a meeting of
the presidents of all the auxiliaries she was unanimously and strongly
urged to reconsider her wish. She reluctantly did so and was elected
by acclamation. The delegates decided that the ten persons receiving
the highest number of votes should constitute the officers of the
Alliance and the board itself should apportion their special offices.
Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Coit, Miss Furuhjelm, Miss Bergman and Mrs.
Lindemann were re-elected. The five new officers selected were Mrs.
DeWitt Schlumberger, France; Miss Schwimmer, Hungary; Miss Macmillan,
Great Britain; Mrs. Stritt, Germany; Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick,
United States.
The persistent requests that the Board should and should not endorse
the "militant" movement in Great Britain, which had assumed serious
proportions, caused it to recommend the following resolution which
was adopted without dissent: "Resolved: That as the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance stands pledged by its constitution to strict
neutrality on all questions concerning national policy or tactics, its
rules forbid any expression favoring or condemning 'militant' methods.
Be it further resolved: That since riot, revolution and disorder have
never been construed into an argument against man suffrage, we protest
against the practice of the opponents of woman suffrage to interpret
'militancy' employed by the minority in one country as an excuse for
withholding the vote from the women of the world." At another time
Mrs. Cobden Sanderson of Great Britain, speaking as a fraternal
delegate, eulogized the self-sacrifice of the "militants" as the
principal factor in the movement, and Mrs. Catt, speaking from the
chair, said that she would like to answer the assertion that it was
only the "militant" women who were the martyrs. To the women who had
made such protests had come the glory, whereas there were thousands
who had given their lives to the cause whose names had never been
heard. All down the centuries there had been heroines and martyrs and
many of them had stood alone. She believed the movement owed a great
debt to the "militant" women of Great Britain but they were only a
part of it.
Mrs. Catt introduced and urged a resolution "to send from this
congress a request to the Governments of all countries here
represented to institute an international inquiry into the cause and
extent of commercialized vice, and to ask the woman suffrage
organizations in each country to petition their own Government to
institute a national inquiry and to include women in the Commission."
The resolution was unanimously adopted. Mrs. Catt was appointed to
represent the Alliance at the approaching International White Slave
Traffic Congress in London. A very able address, showing a thorough
study of the question, was made by Mrs. Fawcett, who presided at the
meeting held to discuss What Women Voters Have Done towards the
Solution of this Problem.
The usual important reports of the progress in all the affiliated
countries were presented and ordered published in the Minutes, where
they filled over sixty pages. Miss Schwimmer in reporting for Hungary
said:
At the time of the founding of the International Woman Suffrage
Alliance there was nothing even approaching a feminist movement
in Hungary, yet the recent Reform Bill which has just passed the
two Houses includes a long and thorough explanation of the
usefulness and need of woman suffrage and apologies on the part
of the Government for not being able (owing to the present
precarious political situation) to grant it. The marked
inclination of the Government in favor of woman suffrage and the
discussion which took place in the House afterwards, together
with the fact that an amendment to include woman suffrage
received more votes than any other moved, has given the whole
question such an importance that it is no longer a matter of
discussion as to whether our claims are justified or not, but
only when shall they be granted?
The work accomplished by us since the Stockholm Congress has been
in the main, as before, educational; propaganda by meetings,
lectures at all seasons and in all places; the distribution of an
immense quantity of leaflets and other printed matter and
lectures by famous foreign suffragists. The most valuable and
effective part of our work was that we took advantage of the
meetings arranged by the coalition opposition parties, which
include the Social Democratic and the Bourgeois-Radicals. They
held hundreds in all parts of Hungary, many attended by six or
eight thousand people, and in one in Budapest gathered an
audience of 15,000. We tried to get a speaker of ours on every
program. In spite of the militant opposition of the Social
Democratic party and Radical leaders, we succeeded nearly every
time in getting the floor, where we presented amendments to their
resolutions, which, when the chairman was honest enough to put
them to be voted on, were always enthusiastically carried....
About sixty societies for various purposes have declared their
position by taking part officially in several of our public
demonstrations.
A list was given of distinguished men who had become converted to
woman suffrage. Men took a more prominent part in this convention than
in any which had preceded, due principally to the very active
Hungarian Men's League for Woman Suffrage, which included a number
well known in political and intellectual life. The International
Alliance of Men's Leagues conducted an afternoon session in the Pester
Lloyd hall with the Hon. Georg de Lukacs of Hungary, its president, in
the chair. What can Men Do to Help the Movement for Woman Suffrage?
was discussed by Dr. C. V. Drysdale, Great Britain; Major C. V.
Mansfeldt, Netherlands, and Dr. Andre de Maday, Hungary. On Thursday
evening this International League held a mass meeting in the Academy
of Music with rousing speeches for woman suffrage by Hermann Bahr,
Austria; M. Du Breuil de St. Germain, France; Major Mansfeldt; Keir
Hardie, Great Britain; Senator Mechelin, Finland; Dr. Vazsonyi, M. P.,
Hungary; Professor Wicksell, Sweden; Professor Gustav Szaszy-Schwartz,
Hungary.
A crowded mass meeting addressed by women took place one evening in
the Academy of Music, with Mrs. Catt presiding. Mrs. Stritt, president
of the National Suffrage Association of Germany, spoke on Woman
Suffrage and Eugenics; Mme. Maria Verone, a well known lawyer of
Paris, made her impassioned address in French, and Dr. Gulli Petrini
of Sweden spoke in French on Woman Suffrage and Democracy; Miss
Schwimmer inspired the audience with Hungarian oratory; Miss Jane
Addams of the United States gave a forceful address on Why the Modern
Woman Needs the Ballot, and Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with an
eloquent interpretation of the demand of women for the vote. One
afternoon from 4 to 6 o'clock was devoted to a Young People's Meeting,
addressed by delegates from eight countries. A forenoon was given to
the discussion of the always vital question, What Relation Should
Suffrage Organizations Bear toward Political Parties, led by Mrs. Anna
B. Wicksell, Sweden, and Miss Courtney, Great Britain. A large
audience heard one evening the Benefits of Woman Suffrage related by
those who had been sent as official delegates from Governments that
had given the vote to women, Mrs. Qvam, Miss Krog and Mrs. Spencer,
and in supplementary speeches by Mrs. Jenny Forselius, member of
Parliament from Finland; Miss A. Maude Royden, Great Britain; Mrs.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, United States, whose topic was New Mothers
of a New World. A resumé of all these addresses was made in Hungarian
by Vilma Glücklich. During the convention much of the interpreting in
English, French and German was done by Mrs. Maud Nathan of the United
States, who also made an address in the three languages.
On the last day it seemed almost as if the men had taken possession of
the congress, for they had secured the convention hall for the
afternoon meeting, but the women did not like to discourage such
exceptional interest. Woman Suffrage and Men's Economic, Ethical and
Political Interest in it was discussed by Professor Emanuel Beke,
Hungary; Dr. Emil von Hoffmansthal, Austria; Frederick Nathan and
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, United States. Vigorous speeches were made by
Malcolm Mitchell, Great Britain; Leo Gassman, Germany; the Rev. Benno
Haypal, and Alexander Patay, Hungary. The hall was restored to the
women at 5 o'clock for their final program under the general topic,
How may women still bound by ancient custom, tradition and prejudice
be awakened to a realization that these new times demand new duties
and responsibilities? How to Reach the Home Woman, Mrs. Gisela Urban,
Austria; Mrs. Irma V. Szirmay, Mrs. von Fürth, Hungary; How to Reach
the Church Woman, Mme. Jane Brigode, Belgium, Mme. Girardet-Vielle,
Switzerland; How to Reach the Society Woman, Miss Royden, Mme.
Schlumberger; How to Reach the Woman of Higher Education, Mrs. Crystal
Eastman Benedict, United States; How to Reach the Wage-earning Woman,
Miss Isabella O. Ford, Mrs. Clinny Dryer, Great Britain; How to Reach
the Woman Social Worker, Miss Addams.
At the last business session the convention placed on record its
appreciation of the unsurpassed hospitality shown by the Hungarians.
The delegates from this country expressed the pleasure it had been to
welcome the women of all nations and the inspiration that had been
received. The president, Mrs. Catt, asked them to part with the
intention of coming to the next conference, each with a victory in her
own country to celebrate.
There were many luncheons, teas and dinners in beautiful private
homes. The social entertainment which will be longest remembered was
the evening trip down the Danube with supper and music on board, a
happy, congenial party with three hours of the exquisite scenery along
the shores. Usually suffrage conventions closed in a burst of oratory
at a grand mass meeting but not so in this pleasure loving Hungarian
city. The last evening was given over to a banquet which taxed the
capacity of the big convention hall. There were toasts and speeches
and patriotic songs, and the presentation of the international pin,
set with jewels, by the ladies of Budapest to Miss Schwimmer. She said
in a clever acceptance that the women had done what the men never had
succeeded in doing; it was the desire of all Hungarians to make this
city the resort of the world and the women of the world had been the
first to come. "These ambassadors," she said, "who came, to quote the
words of Mazzini, 'in the name of God and humanity,' will report to
their countries the friendly reception they have met and will surely
help the cause of international good feeling."
Several countries competed for the honor of the conference of the
Alliance in 1915 and its regular convention in 1917. Mrs. May Wright
Sewall, honorary president of the International Council of Women,
presented an official invitation from the managers of the Panama
Pacific Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915, endorsed by
the California Suffrage Association; the executive committee of the
National Suffrage Association of Germany extended an urgent request
for the conference and that of France for the congress. The answer was
referred to the board, and it later accepted the invitations to Berlin
and Paris. This had been the largest meeting of the Alliance. Never
had the prospects seemed so favorable for accomplishing its objects;
never had the fraternity among the women of the different nations
seemed so close. When they parted with affectionate farewells and the
bright hope of meeting two years hence in Berlin they little dreamed
that it would be seven long years before they came together again;
that during this time the world would be devastated by the most
terrible war in history and that the task must be once more commenced
of developing among the women of the nations the spirit of confidence,
friendship and cooperation.
EIGHTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
On call of its president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of the United
States of America, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was
summoned to its Eighth congress June 6-12, 1920, in Geneva,
Switzerland, seven instead of the usual two years after the last one.
The reason for the long interim was given in the opening sentences of
the president's address on the first day: "It is seven years since
last we met. In memory we live again those happy days of friendly
camaraderie in Budapest. All the faces were cheerful. On every side
one heard joyous laughter among the delegates and visitors. Every
heart was filled with buoyant hopes and every soul was armored with
dauntless courage. We had seen our numbers grow greater and our
movement stronger in many lands and here and there the final triumph
had already come.... Alas, those smiling, shining days seem now to
have been an experience in some other incarnation, for the years which
lie between are war-scarred and tortured and in 1920 there is not a
human being in the world to whom life is quite the same as in 1913....
So we do not come smiling to Geneva as to Budapest."
On Sunday morning, June 6, for the first time in the history of Geneva
a woman spoke in the National Church, the Cathedral of St. Peter, and
standing in the pulpit of Calvin Miss A. Maude Royden of Great Britain
preached in French and English to an audience that filled the ancient
edifice to the doors. That morning at 9 o'clock Father Hall, sent by
the Catholic ecclesiastical authorities from England for the purpose,
delivered a sermon to the congress at a special mass in Notre
Dame.[227] In the afternoon a reception was given by Mlle. Emilie
Gourd, president of the Swiss National Suffrage Association, in the
lovely garden, Beau Sejour. At a public meeting in the evening at
Plainpalais, M. J. Mussard, president of the Canton of Geneva; Mme.
Chaponnière Chaix, president of the Swiss National Council of Women,
and Mlle. Gourd gave addresses of welcome, to which responses were
made by Miss Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Mme. De Witt Schlumberger,
France, and Mrs. Anna Lindemann, Germany, officers of the Alliance.
Mrs. Catt then delivered her president's address. She described the
physical, mental and moral chaos resulting from the war, the immense
problems now to be solved, and said: "For the suffragists of the world
a few facts stand forth with great clarity. The first is that war, the
undoubted original cause of the age-old subjection of women the world
around; war, the combined enemy of their emancipation, has brought to
the women of many lands their political freedom!"
Mrs. Catt showed how the suffrage had come in some countries where no
effort had been made for it, while in others where women had worked
the hardest they were still disfranchised, and she gave a scathing
review of the situation in the United States, where it had been so
long withheld. She paid eloquent tributes to Susan B. Anthony, a
founder of the Alliance, and to Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, who had helped
to found it and had attended every congress but had died the preceding
year. She pointed out to the enfranchised delegates the great
responsibility that had been placed in their hands and through it the
vast power they would have in re-creating the world and said: "I
believe had the vote been granted to women twenty-five years ago,
their national influence would have so leavened world politics that
there would have been no world war." Among the many objects for the
Alliance to accomplish she named the following: (1) Stimulate the
spread of democracy and through it avoid another world war; (2)
Discourage revolution by demonstrating that change may be brought
about through peaceful political methods; (3) Encourage education and
enlightenment throughout the world; (4) Keep the faith in
self-government alive when it fails to meet expectations. Methods for
achieving these results were suggested and it was impressed on the
younger women that this would be their task, as the older ones had
practically finished their work. This address of surpassing eloquence
closed with these words:
God's order will come again to the world's stricken, unhappy,
much-suffering people. It will come because the divine law of
evolution never ceases to operate and the destiny of the race
leads eternally on without pause. So much sacrifice and sorrow as
the war has cost the world can not have been endured in vain....
As I view world politics the only possible hope for the
happiness, prosperity and permanent peace of the world lies in
the thorough democratization of all governments. There can be no
democratization which excludes women and no safe or sound
democracy which is not based upon an educated, intelligent
electorate. Nor is it enough to establish democracy in individual
nations--it must be extended to world politics. The old
militarism must go and with it the old diplomacy, with its secret
treaties, distrust and intrigues. No League of Nations can
abolish war unless every government in the world is based on
democracy.
In our home countries we should urge support of every movement
for the extension of popular education, foster every agency which
helps men and women to think for themselves, promote every
endeavor to maintain honest elections, judicially conducted
campaigns and high ideals in parties and parliaments, for
democracy succeeds when and where independence and intelligence
are greatest.
A few of the delegates wished to disband the Alliance; a few others
desired to change the character of its objects, but by an overwhelming
majority it was voted to continue it along the original lines,
although broadened, until the women of all countries were
enfranchised. The Congress was held in the Maison Communale de
Plainpalais, the large town hall in a suburb of Geneva, and here one
evening its municipality gave a reception to the members. The shady
gardens and sunny terrace were the scene of many social
gatherings.[228] The congress opened with a roll call of the suffrage
victories and the responses showed the almost unbelievable record that
twenty countries had enfranchised their women during the years of the
war! The Official Report was edited by Miss Chrystal Macmillan,
recording secretary of the International Alliance, and the
Introduction was a graphic review, which said in part:
"Despite the difficulties of travel and the fact that only three
months' notice had been given the gathering at Geneva was more widely
representative than any previous meeting. Women were present from
thirty-six countries. Of the twenty-six affiliated with the Alliance
at the time of the last meeting, in 1913, the auxiliaries of nineteen
showed their continued vitality by sending fully accredited delegates
to Geneva. Representatives were also present from the former
auxiliaries in Austria and Germany, who were accorded full membership
rights. The Russian national president, a fugitive from her country,
was unable to come but sent her greetings. The Belgian society
abstained from taking part and from the Polish and Portuguese
auxiliaries no answer was received.
"Four countries, Greece, Spain, Argentina and Uruguay, sent delegates
from newly formed National Suffrage Societies, which were accepted in
the Alliance. In addition there were present women from Armenia, the
Crimea, Lettonia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey
and Ukrainia. For the first time women from India and Japan came to
tell of the beginnings of the organized movement among the women of
the East. It was only the difficulties of travel which prevented the
delegates who had started on their journeys from China, Egypt and
Palestine from arriving in time for the congress. For the first time
more than half the voting delegates represented countries in which
women had the full suffrage. The consequent increased political
importance of the congress was recognized by the governments of the
world, of which eighteen in Europe appointed official representatives,
and the United States of America and Uruguay of South America. The
Secretariat of the League of Nations also sent a representative....
"The outstanding feature of the first business session was the
announcement of particulars by representatives of the many nations
which had given the political and suffrage and eligibility to women
between 1913 and 1920--Austria, British East Africa, Canada, Crimea,
Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Esthonia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary,
Iceland, Lettonia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland,
Rhodesia, Russia, Sweden, Ukrainia and six more of the United States.
It was announced that women sit as members of Parliament in the
majority of these countries, while large numbers are members of
municipal councils. In the United States of America the Federal
Suffrage Amendment had passed both Houses of Congress and had been
ratified by thirty-five of the necessary thirty-six States. Serbia,
Belgium and Roumania had granted Municipal suffrage to women and the
Zionists of Palestine and the Commune of Fiume had given to them full
equal suffrage and eligibility.... It was decided to arrange at the
next congress a session at which only enfranchised women should
speak.... The Catholic Woman Suffrage Society of Great Britain was
accepted as a member of the Alliance....
"Each of the three evening meetings, besides that of Sunday, which
were all crowded and enthusiastic, was characteristic of a different
aspect of the present development of the suffrage movement. On Monday,
a special feature was the speeches of five women members of
Parliament--Helen Ring Robinson (State Senate), Colorado; Elna Münch,
Denmark; Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Lady Astor, Great Britain; Tekla
Kauffman, Wurtemberg. In all, nine women members of Parliament
attended the Congress. The others, who spoke at later meetings, were
Frau Burian and Adelheid Popp of Austria; Mme. Petkavetchaite of
Lithuania and Adele Schrieber-Krieger, whose election to the German
Reichstag was announced during the Congress. On Wednesday at the great
meeting in the Hall of the Reformation, three-minute speeches were
given by representatives of each of the enfranchised countries in the
Alliance. Yet another new aspect was illustrated by the meeting of
Thursday, addressed by women from India and China. The speeches showed
how similar are the difficulties of the women of both the East and the
West and how much new ground has still to be broken before the object
of the Alliance is achieved."
The forenoons were devoted to business meetings relating to the future
work of the Alliance and they were in session simultaneously in
different rooms in the great building--Women and Party Politics, Legal
Status of Women, Civil Equality, Economic Value of Domestic Work of
Wives and Mothers, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Single Moral Standard,
Protection of Childhood--questions affecting the welfare of all
society in all lands, pressing for solution and in all practically the
same. The afternoons were given largely to the reports from many
countries.[229] _The Woman's Leader_, organ of the National Union of
Societies for Equal Citizenship of Great Britain, in its account of
the Congress said:
The effect of these reports was intensely dramatic, mingled, as
it inevitably was, with the memories of the strange and bitter
conditions under which the change had come. In some of the
countries that had been at war enfranchisement came in the midst
of revolution, riot and disaster; in others it came fresh and new
with the beginning of their independent national life and almost
as a matter of course. "Our men and women struggled together for
our national freedom," said delegate after delegate from the new
States of Europe, "and so when any of us were enfranchised we
both were." The report on the election of women to national or
municipal bodies was deeply interesting and in many respects
surprising. Germany easily surpassed other countries in this
respect, having had 39 women members in the last National
Assembly, 155 in the Parliaments of the Federated States and
4,000 on local and municipal bodies. In Denmark the record of
success that followed the election of women was astonishing. "We
have done," said the spokeswoman, "what we set out to do; we have
introduced equal pay and equal marriage laws; our equality is a
fact."
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the Alliance, welcomed
each new representative in the name of all the countries, and,
although the victories had been won in times of stress and war,
the rejoicing was without rivalry, for in the Congress from the
first day until the last no sign or mark of ill-feeling or enmity
was to be found. Not that the delegates forgot or disregarded the
recent existence of the war; no one who saw them would suppose
for a moment that they were meeting in any blind or sentimental
paradise of fools. Their differences and their nations'
differences were plain in their minds and they neither forgot nor
wished to forget the ruined areas, the starving children and the
suffering peoples of the world. They met differing perhaps
profoundly in their national sentiment, their memories and their
judgments but determined to agree where agreement was to be
found; to understand where understanding could be arrived at and
to cooperate with the very best of their will and their
intelligence in assuring the future stability of the world.
An important report was that of the Headquarters Committee, consisting
of Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, first vice-president of
the Alliance, Mrs. Adela Stanton Coit, treasurer, and Miss Macmillan.
Mrs. Coit was chairman the first two years and Mrs. Fawcett the rest
of the time. After the Congress at Budapest in 1913 the official
monthly paper _Jus Suffragii_ was removed from Rotterdam to London and
the international headquarters established there. For the next seven
years the three members of the committee resident in London held
regular meetings, seventy altogether, consulting Mrs. Catt by letter
or cable when necessary. Miss Mary Sheepshanks was editor and
headquarters secretary. "She occupied that post with great acceptance
till 1919," said the report, "when it was with much regret that her
resignation was accepted. Mrs. Elizabeth Abbott was appointed to the
place, where in connection with the preparations for the present
Congress her organizing capacity has been of special value." Miss
Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary was appointed press secretary to furnish
the news to the international press but her work had hardly begun
when the war broke out and she resigned the position to take up work
for peace.
The report told of the meeting of the international officers and a
number of the national presidents which took place in London in July,
1914, to make arrangements for the Congress in Berlin the next year.
Among the many social receptions given were one in the House of
Commons and one at the home of former Prime Minister Balfour. Mrs.
Catt had just started on her homeward voyage when the war began. The
officers in London at once issued a Manifesto in the name of the
Alliance and presented it to the British Foreign Office and the
Ambassadors and Ministers in London, which after pointing out the
helplessness of women in this supreme hour said: "We women of
twenty-six countries, having banded ourselves together in the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance with the object of obtaining the
political means of sharing with men the power which shapes the fate of
nations, appeal to you to leave untried no method of conciliation or
arbitration for arranging international differences which may help to
avert deluging half the civilized world in blood." They decided to
cooperate with the British branch of the Alliance in a public meeting,
which was held August 3 with Mrs. Fawcett in the chair, and a
resolution similar to the above was adopted. In the next issue of the
_International News_, when war had been declared, Mrs. Fawcett in her
official capacity wrote:
We are faced by the disruption, the animosity, the
misunderstanding caused by war but notwithstanding the cruel
strain we must firmly resolve to hold our International Alliance
together. We must believe all through that good is stronger than
evil, that justice and mercy are stronger than hatred and
destruction, just as life is stronger than death. We women who
have worked together for a great cause have hopes and ideals in
common; these are indestructible links binding us together. We
have to show that what unites us is stronger than what separates
us. Between many of us there is also the further link of personal
friendship cemented by many years of work together. We must hold
on through all difficulties to these things which are good in
themselves and must therefore be a strong help to us all through
these days of trial.
"In this spirit the Headquarters Committee has endeavored to carry out
its task," said its report, "and it has so far succeeded that it is
in a position today to lay down its work without any society having
been lost to the Alliance and with a considerable group of countries
never before associated with it now seeking affiliation." The great
difficulty of getting the paper into the various countries was
described but it was accomplished; the paper never missed an issue; it
remained absolutely neutral and the number of subscribers largely
increased. It was the one medium through which the women of the
warring nations came in touch during the four and a half years of the
conflict. All through the war it had news of some kind from the
various countries showing that their women were still engaged in
organized work for many useful purposes. It was evident that in
practically all of them they were demanding that women should have a
voice in the government.
The headquarters cooperated with other international organizations in
forming the International Woman's Relief Committee and the work was
conducted in its rooms. More than a thousand foreign girls were sent
or taken to their countries and hundreds of British, French and
Belgian women brought from Germany and Belgium to London. The work
among Belgian refugees would require many pages to describe.
Mrs. Fawcett and Mrs. Catt were preparing to send a deputation from
the Alliance to the Peace Conference to ask for a declaration for
woman suffrage when the National Woman Suffrage Association of France,
through its president, Mme. DeWitt Schlumberger, took the initiative
and called for the national associations of the allied countries to
send representatives to Paris to bring pressure on it. They were
cordially received by the members of the Conference and a
pronouncement in favor of the political equality of women and
eligibility to the secretariat was placed in the constitution of the
League of Nations, which attracted the attention of the world.
When the plan of holding the Congress of the Alliance at Berlin in
1915 had to be given up Holland sent an urgent invitation for that
year but its acceptance was not considered feasible. The Swedish
Auxiliary wanted it held at the time and place of the Peace Conference
but this was found to be inadvisable. The majority of the officers and
auxiliaries in the various countries wished to have a congress the
next spring after the Armistice but there proved to be insurmountable
obstacles. Toward the end of 1919 an invitation was accepted from the
suffrage societies in Spain to come to Madrid in 1920. Preparations
were under way when local opposition developed which made it necessary
to abandon the plan. Switzerland had already invited the congress and
it gladly went to Geneva.
In the report of Mrs. Coit, the treasurer, she said:
You will remember that at Budapest in 1913 a sum of about 2,000
pounds was raised, mostly by promises of yearly donations for the
period of two years. This sum was to finance headquarters and the
paper till we met in Berlin in 1915. In August, 1914, not even
all the first instalments had been received, and from then on,
owing to war conditions, it became impossible for some of our
biggest donors to redeem their pledges. By the beginning of 1917
we found ourselves with an empty exchequer and facing the
possibility of closing down our work. It was then that help came
from our auxiliary in the United States. Mrs. Catt, with the help
of her many devoted friends, raised a sum of $4,333, which was
placed at our disposal and has enabled the Alliance to keep
going. When speaking of the United States' help I wish to make
special mention of the splendid work for the Alliance by Miss
Clara M. Hyde, private secretary for Mrs. Catt. To her incessant
interest and energy it is due that the number of honorary
associates in the U. S. A. now is at least three times as high as
in any other country; also she has quite trebled the number of
subscribers to the _International News_ in the States. Her
devoted work is an example of what can be done by a single
national auxiliary to further the development of the Alliance,
and I recommend her example for universal imitation.
The United States Auxiliary continued to add to the above sum and from
May, 1916, to May, 1920, it sent in membership dues, subscriptions to
the paper and donations $9,337. Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, president of
the Pennsylvania Suffrage Association, was responsible for collecting
over $5,000 of this amount.
The money for the Congress in Geneva, about $3,500, was raised by a
British committee of which Miss Rosamond Smith was chairman and Mrs.
Pethick Lawrence treasurer. To this fund the United States, which had
not suffered from the war to the extent of European countries, was a
large contributor. At the close of the congress there were no funds on
hand for the coming year and the delegates from all countries were
feeling the effects of the war financially. At this critical moment
Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick of the United States, corresponding
secretary of the Alliance, made a contribution of $5,000, and a little
later the Leslie Commission added $4,000. This with individual
subscriptions raised the amount of about $15,000 and guaranteed the
expenses for resuming and continuing the work of the Alliance.
From the organization of the Alliance in Berlin in 1904 Mrs. Catt had
been the president and at no election had there been another
candidate. Her strong desire to relinquish the office was overruled at
Budapest. She went to Geneva with the positive determination not to
accept it again but she faced an equally determined body of delegates.
Not only was she supported by all from the Allied Countries, as they
were known during the war, but she was equally acceptable to those
from the Central Countries. She was literally compelled to retain the
office.
Nominations for the other officers were made by ballot and submitted
to the convention and the ten receiving the highest number of votes
constituted the board. They were as follows: Mme. DeWitt Schlumberger
(France), Miss Chrystal Macmillan (Great Britain), Mrs. Anna B.
Wicksell (Sweden), Mrs. Corbett Ashby (Great Britain), Dr. Margherita
Ancona (Italy), Mrs. Anna Lindemann (Germany), Miss Eleanor Rathbone
(Great Britain), Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick (U. S. A.), Mme.
Girardet-Vielle (Switzerland), Mrs. Adele Schreiber-Krieger (Germany).
Most of them were officers of the National Association in their own
countries. Miss Rathbone was also a member of the city council of
Liverpool.
Among the twenty-two sent as Government delegates were Viscountess
Astor, member of the British House of Commons; Mrs. Marie Stritt, city
councillor of Dresden, and Mrs. Josephus Daniels, wife of the
Secretary of the Navy, U. S. A. Invited members were present from nine
countries, including ten from India, one from Japan and the wife of
the Tartar president of the Parliament of Crimea. There were fraternal
delegates from six international associations; from associations in
nearly every country in Europe (fourteen in Great Britain) and from
South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Uruguay. Greetings were sent
from associations in many countries including China.
A number of the resolutions adopted have been foreshadowed in this
report of the proceedings. Others were for the equal status of women
with men on legislative and administrative bodies; full personal and
civil rights for married women, including the right to their earnings
and property; equal guardianship of their children by mothers; that
the children of widows without provisions shall have the right to
maintenance by the State paid to the mothers; that children born out
of wedlock shall have the same right to maintenance and education from
the father as legitimate children, and the mother the right of
maintenance while incapacitated. Resolutions called for the same
opportunities for women as for men for all kinds of education and
training and for entering professions, industries, civil service
positions and performing administrative and judicial functions, and
demanded that there shall be equal pay for equal work; that the right
to work of women, married or unmarried, shall be recognized and that
no special regulations shall be imposed contrary to the wishes of the
women themselves. A higher moral standard for both men and women was
called for and various resolutions were adopted against traffic in
women, regulations of vice differentiating against women and State
regulation of prostitution.
The Congress took a firm position on the League of Nations and its
recognition of women in the following resolution: "The women of
thirty-one nations assembled in congress at Geneva, convinced that in
a strong Society of Nations based on the principles of right and
justice lies the only hope of assuring the future peace of the world,
call upon the women of the whole world to direct their will, their
intelligence and their influence towards the development and the
consolidation of the Society of Nations on such a basis, and to assist
it in every possible way in its work of securing peace and good will
throughout the world."
A resolution was adopted that a conference of representative women be
summoned annually by the League of Nations for the purpose of
considering questions relating to the welfare and status of women; the
conference to be held at the seat of the League, if possible, and the
expenses paid by the League. The Board instructed Mrs. Ashby Corbett
to arrange a deputation to the League of Nations to present
resolutions and to ask for the calling of the conference as soon as
possible.[230]
On the last day of the Congress from 5 to 7 o'clock the State Council
of the Canton and the Municipal Council of Geneva gave an official
reception and tea to the delegates and visitors. The resolutions of
thanks for the assistance and courtesies received from committees and
individuals filled two printed pages. The _Woman's Leader_ thus closed
its account: "The immense hospitality of Geneva and of the Swiss
Consulate, the superb weather and the beautiful excursions by land and
lake were above all praise.... Taking the Conference as a whole, with
its concrete work and its general spirit, it is clear that it marks a
new step forward. A new force has come into the politics of almost all
the world. It is a force inspired at present with good will, a
humanitarian and an internationalizing force, drawing together the
thoughtful and disinterested women of all countries. It is a force
that the world has need of and no Government should be so blind as to
ignore it."
FOOTNOTES:
[221] _History of Woman Suffrage_, Volume IV, page 124.
[222] Delegates and alternates present besides those already mentioned
were Misses L. G. Heymann and Marta Zietz, Germany; Mrs. Stanton Coit,
Great Britain; Mrs. Henrietta von Loenen de Bordes, Mrs. Hengeveld
Garritson, Miss C. C. A. Van Dorp, Netherlands; Mrs. Vibetha Salicath,
Miss Eline Hansen, Mrs. Charlotte Eilersgaard, Miss Rasmussen,
Denmark; Mrs. Anna B. Wicksell, Mrs. Frigga Carlberg, Miss Jenny
Wallerstedt, Sweden; Miss Fredrikke Mörek, Miss Marie Scharlenberg,
Norway; Mrs. Saulner, Switzerland; Mrs. Henry Dobson, Australia; Miss
Rosika Schwimmer, Hungary; Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Miss Belle Kearney,
Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Lucy E. Anthony, Miss Nettie Lovisa
White, Mrs. Lydia Kingsmill Commander, United States.
[223] The reports from the various countries prepared for this
congress filled fifty-seven pages of the printed report and fully
justified Mrs. Catt's statement.
[224] The committee which had been appointed to prepare for the
congress and had been working for many months beforehand consisted of
the Executive Committee of the central board of the National Suffrage
Association and the presidents of sub-committees formed for different
purposes. Miss Signe Bergman acted as president, Miss Axianne
Thorstenson as vice-president, Miss Anna Frisell as treasurer, Miss
Nini Kohnberger and Miss Elise Carlson as secretaries. Mrs. Virgin was
at the head of the Finance Committee. The work of the Press Committee
was directed by Mrs. Else Kleen. Mrs. Lily Laurent was at the head of
the Committee on Localities. Mrs. Lizinski Dyrssen headed the
Committee for Festivities. Mrs. Ezaline Boheman was the head of the
Information Bureau. Miss Lamm and Miss Anden directed the work of the
thirty university students who served as pages and whose kindness and
swift and silent service none will ever forget. At the head of the
Travelling Committee was Dr. Malin Wester-Halberg, who arranged the
journey to Lapland, gave information about all excursions, etc.
[225] International headquarters were established in London, the paper
was greatly enlarged and published there under the title, _Jus
Suffragii, International Woman Suffrage News_, and Miss Mary
Sheepshanks was appointed editor, a post which she filled most
satisfactorily during the following six troubled years.
[226] Because of the war which devastated Europe for the next five
years these pledges could not be kept and the Alliance did not meet
again until 1920. Meanwhile the United States contributed enough so
that the London headquarters were kept open and the paper did not miss
an issue.
[227] The English church of Geneva also for the first time admitted a
woman to its pulpit, which was occupied on the following Sunday, June
13, by Miss Edith Picton Turberville of Great Britain.
[228] Among the many entertainments during the congress were a
reception given by the British delegation; a motor excursion by
invitation of Mrs. McCormick and the American delegates; a dinner
party at Hotel Beau Rivage by Lady Astor for British and American
delegates; a delightful "tea" by the French delegation and a garden
party by M. and Mme. Thuillier-Landry. Excursions were arranged by the
Geneva Committee and visits to the schools, museums, parks and endless
points of attraction in this most interesting city.
[229] These valuable accounts of the status of women in the various
countries were published in full in the 252-page Report of the
Congress.
[230] They called on Sir Alec Drummond, head of the Secretariat, in
London. He received them cordially but said it would be impossible for
the League to undertake such expenses and advised them to appoint a
committee to act as a source of communication between the League and
the Alliance. Thenceforth the League recognized the Alliance as an
authority and accepted its recommendation to place Mrs. Anna B.
Wicksell on its Mandates Commission and Miss Henni Forchhammer on its
White Slave Traffic Commission. These women had already been sent to
the League meetings by Sweden and Denmark as alternate delegates.
APPENDIX.
NEBRASKA MEN'S ASSOCIATION OPPOSED TO WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
To the Electors of the State of Nebraska:
At a meeting of men lately held in the city of Omaha the following
resolution was unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That it is the sense of
this meeting that a Manifesto be prepared, issued and circulated,
setting forth the reasons for our opposition to the pending
constitutional amendment providing for equal (woman) suffrage and
requesting the cooperation of the voters of the State, and that such
Manifesto be signed by all the men present."
We yield to none in our admiration, veneration and respect for woman.
We recognize in her admirable and adorable qualities and sweet and
noble influences which make for the betterment of mankind and the
advancement of civilization. We have ever been willing and ready to
grant to woman every right and protection, even to favoritism in the
law, and to give her every opportunity that makes for development and
true womanhood. We have a full appreciation of all the great things
which have been accomplished by women in education, in charity and in
benevolent work and in other channels of duty too numerous to mention,
by which both men and women have been benefited, society improved and
the welfare of the human race advanced. We would take from women none
of their privileges as citizens but we do not believe that women are
adapted to the political work of the world.
The discussion of all questions growing out of the social and family
relations and local economic conditions has no direct relationship to
the right of women to participate in the political affairs of
government. The right of suffrage does not attach of right to the
owners of property, for, if so, all other persons should be
disfranchised. It is not a fundamental right of taxpayers, for a great
body of men are not taxpayers, and nine-tenths of the women who would
become voters, if woman suffrage were adopted, would be non-taxpayers.
It is not an inherent right of citizenship, for the time never was in
the whole history of the world when the franchise was granted to all
citizens.... Franchise is a privilege of government granted only to
those to whom the Government sees fit to grant it. As a law-abiding
people men and women alike should recognize once and for all that the
right of suffrage is not a natural or inherent right of citizenship
but can only come by grant from the Government. [Legal authorities
quoted.]
We must also recognize that woman suffrage is inconsistent with the
fundamental principles upon which our representative government was
founded and to accept it now involves revolutionary changes. The
framers of the Federal Constitution, a body of the wisest men the
country has ever produced, did not recognize or provide for woman
suffrage. No one of the original thirteen States which adopted it
provided in their constitutions for woman suffrage. True it was
permitted in New Jersey from 1776 to 1807, a period of thirty-one
years, when it was taken away by statute, by reason of unsatisfactory
conditions and results. After the close of the Civil War, the southern
States which had gone into rebellion were admitted back into the
Union under constitutions limiting suffrage to men. These precedents
in our governmental history were never departed from until in recent
years.
The greatest danger to the Republic of the United States today, as it
always has been in governments where the people rule, is in an
excitable and emotional suffrage. If the women of this country would
always think coolly and deliberate calmly, if they could always be
controlled and act by judgment and not under passion, they might help
us to keep our institutions "eternal as the foundations of the
continent itself"; but the philosophers of history and the experience
of the ages past and present tell us in unanswerable arguments and
teach us by illustrations drawn from actual experience, that
governments have been overturned or endangered in periods of great
excitement by emotional suffrage and the speech and writings of
intolerant people....
Open that terrible page of the French Revolution and the days of
terror, when the click of the guillotine and the rush of blood through
the streets of Paris demonstrated to what extremities the ferocity of
human nature can be driven by political passion. Who led those
bloodthirsty mobs? Who shrieked loudest in that hurricane of passion?
Woman. Her picture upon the page of history is indelible. In the city
of Paris, in those ferocious mobs, the controlling agency, nay, not
agency but the controlling and principal power, came from those whom
God had intended to be the soft and gentle angels of mercy throughout
the world....
It has been said that if woman suffrage should become universal in the
United States, in times of great excitement arising out of sectional
questions or local conditions this country would be in danger of State
insurrections and seditions and that in less than a hundred years
revolutions would occur and our republican form of government would
come to an end. The United States should guard against emotional
suffrage. What we need is to put more logic and less feeling into
public affairs. This country has already extended suffrage beyond
reasonable bounds. Instead of enlarging it there are strong reasons
why it should be curtailed. It would have been better for wise and
safe government and the welfare of all the people if there had been
some reasonable standard of fitness for the ballot.
During the intense feeling and turbulent conditions growing out of the
Civil War, suffrage was so extended that many of the southern States
were turned over to the political control of those not sufficiently
informed to conduct good government. It has taken half-a-century of
strenuous effort to correct that mistake. The granting of universal
woman suffrage would greatly increase the existing evil and put it
beyond the possibility of correction except by an ultimate revolution.
We hear it frequently stated that there is no argument against woman
suffrage except sentiment. We can reply with equal force that there is
no argument for woman suffrage except sentiment, and that often
misguided and uninformed. Some suffragists insist that if woman
suffrage became universal "it would set in motion the machinery of an
earthly paradise." It was a woman of high standing in the literary and
journalistic field who answered, "It is my opinion it would let loose
the wheels of purgatory." ... Suffragists frequently ask the question,
"If we want to vote why should other people object?" If it is wrong
they should not ask it any more than they should ask the privilege of
committing a crime. If it is a wrong against the State every other
man and woman has a right to object and it is their duty to object....
There are spheres in which feeling should be paramount. There are
kingdoms in which the heart should reign supreme. That kingdom belongs
to woman--the realm of sentiment, the realm of love, the realm of
gentler and holier and kindlier attributes that make the name of wife,
mother and sister next to the name of God himself, but it is not in
harmony with suffrage and has no place in government.
We submit these considerations in all candor to the men of this State.
Ultimately the decision of this question at the polls is a man's
question. We ask your cooperation....
Omaha, July 6, 1914.
JOSEPH H. MILLARD, ex-U. S. Senator and president Omaha National Bank.
(Largest creditor of Willow Springs Distillery.)
JOHN A. MCSHANE, ex-Congressman and retired capitalist.
JOHN LEE WEBSTER, lawyer, representing Omaha Street Railway.
LUTHER DRAKE, president Merchants' National Bank.
JOHN C. COWIN, prominent lawyer.
WILLIAM F. GURLEY, prominent lawyer.
WILLIAM D. MCHUGH, lawyer representing Standard Oil Company.
FRANK T. HAMILTON, president Omaha Gas Co. and officer Street
Railway Co.
WILLIAM WALLACE, former cashier Omaha National Bank.
JOHN A. MUNROE, vice-president Union Pacific Railway Company.
FRANK BOYD, employee Omaha National Bank.
GERRIT FORT, Union Pacific Railway official.
_Joseph Barker_, insurance official.
EDWARD A. PECK, general manager Omaha Grain Elevator Company.
HENRY W. YATES, president Nebraska National Bank.
MILTON C. PETERS, president Alfalfa Milling Co.
WILLIAM H. KOENIG, of firm of Kilpatrick & Co., dry goods merchants.
W. H. BOCHOLZ, vice-president Omaha National Bank.
FRED H. DAVIS, president First National Bank.
BENJAMIN S. BAKER, lawyer.
L. F. CROFOOT, lawyer for Omaha Smelting Co. and Chicago & Milwaukee
R. R.
E. E. BRUCE, wholesale druggist.
GEORGE W. HOLDREGE, manager Burlington & Missouri River R. R. Co.
FRED A. NASH, President Omaha Electric Light Co.
NELSON H. LOOMIS, General Attorney Union Pacific R. R.
EDSON RICH, assistant attorney Union Pacific R. R.
FRANK B. JOHNSON, president Omaha Printing Co.
THOMAS C. BYRNE, president Wholesale Dry Goods Co.
REV. THOMAS J. MACKAY, Minister All Saints' Church (Episcopal).
REV. JOHN W. WILLIAMS, Minister St. Barnabas' Church (Episcopal).
* * * * *
This Manifesto with the signatures is given almost in full because in
language and in the business interests of the signers it is thoroughly
typical of the open opposition to woman suffrage. The other classes
who were opposed--the "machine" politicians, the liquor interests and
those directly or indirectly connected with them--for the most part
worked more secretly.
INDEX
The contents of this volume are so arranged that the reader will have
little difficulty in finding the references desired. The first
forty-nine chapters are devoted exclusively to the work for woman
suffrage which was done in the various States of the Union through
annual conventions, effort with the Legislatures for the submission to
the voters of an amendment to the State constitutions which would
fully enfranchise women and campaigns to secure a majority vote for
it. There was also an attempt to obtain from the Legislatures laws
which did not have to be approved by the voters, giving women the
right to vote at Municipal elections and every four years for
Presidential electors. In addition the women in every State constantly
assisted the National American Woman Suffrage Association in its
supreme effort to obtain from Congress the submission to the
Legislatures for the ratifying of three-fourths of them of an
amendment to the Federal Constitution which would give the complete
franchise to all the women of the nation.
These State chapters are arranged alphabetically and near the end of
each an account is given of the action taken on Ratification, and also
of the forming of a League of Women Voters. It is manifestly
impracticable to index the names of all the thousands of women who
gave devoted service in these States. Only a comparatively few of
those who worked longest and most prominently or are mentioned in
other parts of the books can be listed. The names of many more will be
found in the various chapters. This is also true of the many members
of Congress and Legislatures and of other men who were sympathetic and
helpful in this long contest.
In the chapters on the effort for woman suffrage in the Territories
and possessions of the United States the principal points and workers
are indexed. This is the case in the chapter on Great Britain and her
Colonies and on the countries of the world, each listed under its
proper head. The long chapter on the International Woman Suffrage
Alliance forbids an accurate index, as it contains the names of scores
of workers for woman suffrage in most civilized countries. Some but
not all of the most prominent are noted and in the well indexed
chapters on its seven congresses the reader will find a satisfactory
roster.
The Table of Contents will act as a trustworthy guide.
A
Abbott, Frances M, in N. H., 400.
Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 291; 401.
Aberdeen, Lord and Lady, 572.
Adams, Gov. Alva (Colo.), 62.
Adams, Annette Abbott, 58; 112.
Adams, John T, 191.
Adams, Lida Stokes, 88; 559-60.
Addams, Jane, speaks for wom. suff.
in Ga, 127; 146; 184;
in Kans, 198;
Mass, 271, 274;
Mo, 356;
Neb, 376;
Nev, 387, 397;
S. Dak, 590;
Wis, 700-1-2;
Budapest, 857, 858.
Aked, Rev. Chas. F,
in Calif, 48-49;
Nev, 387;
N. Y., 457;
Ore, 548.
Alabama, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action; see St.
chapter, 3.
Alaska, Legis. grants wom. suff, status of women, 713-715.
Alberta, gaining of wom. suff, 755.
Alberti, Sophie (Denmark), 812-13.
Aldrich, George W, 483.
Aldrich, Margaret Chanler, 454; 462; 466.
Algeo, Sara M, 568-9; 572-3; 658.
Allen, Florence E, 453;
appointed Judge, 514.
Allen, Gov. Henry J, 202; 204; 351;
see Kans. chap.
Allen, Mrs. Henry Ware, 203-4.
Allen, Mrs. J. D., 596-7; 607-8; 613.
Amendments, State,
in Ariz, 14;
Ark, 26;
Calif, 37;
vote on it, 50;
Colo, 59;
Iowa, 186;
vote, 189;
Kans, 196;
vote, 201, 205;
Ky, 211-12-13;
La, 223;
vote, 228;
Me, 238;
vote, 243, 244;
Mass, vote, 287;
Mich, 306;
vote, 307;
second, 308;
vote, 309;
third, 311;
vote, 314;
Miss, 339;
vote, 341;
Mo, 347, 354-5;
vote, 356;
Mont, 363;
vote, 367;
Neb, 369;
vote, 377;
Nev, 385-387;
vote, 389, 398-9;
N. H., 400;
vote, 402;
N. J., 421, 423, 431;
vote, 426;
N. Mex, prohibits, 439;
N. Y., 458, 460 et seq;
vote in City, 464;
in State, 474-5;
second campaign, 465, 468, 471, 476-7;
vote, in State, 482;
in City, 467;
Me, 238, 242;
vote, 243;
effect on N. Y., 479;
N. Dak. (law), 502;
vote, 503, 506-7;
Ohio, 509-10;
vote, 511;
second, 512;
vote, 513;
Okla, 524;
vote, 526;
second, 528-9 et seq.;
vote, 529, 535;
Ore, 539, 541;
vote, 544, 548;
Penn, 554;
vote, 557; 560, 562;
R. I., 575;
S. Dak, 587;
second, 588;
vote, 590;
third, 591;
vote, 594;
Texas, 639-40;
vote, 642;
Va, 672;
Wash, 675;
vote, 682;
W. Va, 688;
vote, 692, 698;
Wis. (law), 700, 707;
vote, 703.
See Federal Wom. Suff. Amend.
American Constitutional League (anti suff.), 621; 625.
Ames, Marie B, 204; 351; 358-9; 690.
Ammons, Prof. Theodosia, 60.
Anderson, Frances B, 113; 115.
Anderson, Chief Justice John C, 7.
Anthony, Lucy E, 87; 442; 542-3; 812; 816.
Anthony, Mary B, 570-1-2; 577.
Anthony, Mary S
in N. Y., 442;
memorial, 443;
in Ore, 542-3; 570-1-2; 577;
Berlin, 810.
Anthony, Susan B,
greetings to Calif, 29; 30;
entertained in Calif, 32;
S. B. A. Club, 52;
in Del, 86;
Life and Work, 87;
Memorial Fund, 88;
birthday celebr, 90;
in Wash, 105, 109;
memorial service in Ga, 123;
honored in Md, 248;
memorial, 249;
in Minn, 317;
memorial, 318;
birthday, 320;
Mont, 360;
memorial in Neb, 371;
in Nev, 384;
in N. J., 414,
memorial, 415;
in N. Y., 440; 443
memorial, 443;
birthdays celebr, 449; 454; 455;
letter to Okla, 520;
in Ore, 540-1;
in Phila, 551;
in R. I., 565;
memorial in Vt, 652;
urges suff. for Hawaiian women, 716;
for Filipino women, 719; 772; 774;
work for Intl. Suff. Assn, 805;
presides at first conf. for it in Wash, 806-808;
at second in Berlin, 809-811;
memorial service in Copenhagen, 816;
tribute at Geneva, 861.
Anti Suffragists,
in Ala, 7;
Ariz, 15;
Calif, 36, 43;
Natl. Assn, work in Calif, 44;
falsehoods denied in Colo, 62;
in Conn, 85;
Del, 96, 99, 102-3;
Ga, Macon _Telegraph_, 138;
in Legis, 139;
Ind, 176;
Iowa, 188;
Kans, 201;
La, 232;
Maine, 242-3, 245, 247;
Md, 254-255, 258-260;
Men's Assn, 261;
Mass, 273, 280;
Men's League, 288; 291-2, 294, 296, 301;
Mich, 307;
Men's League, 308;
Miss, 335, 338;
Mont, 365;
Neb, 375;
Men's League Manifesto, 376;
in full, 873;
headqrs, 376;
German Amer. Alliance, 377;
at Legis, 379;
petitions, 380;
Nev, 397;
N. H., 401, 404, 407, 409;
N. J., 424, 431;
N. Y., 454-457, 466;
N. Dak, 506-7;
Ohio, 509, 511;
work with liquor interests, 513, 515;
Okla, 528, 537;
Ore, 543, 547;
Penn, 562, 564;
R. I, 567, 574-5;
S. Dak, 591;
Tenn, 602, 604, 619;
Mrs. Catt's comment, 621;
Texas, Legis. rebukes, 641; 642;
Vt, 661-2;
Wash, 681;
Wis, 705;
Gr. Brit, 726-747;
Lord Curzon's speech, 748;
Mrs. Catt flays, 831;
in Canada, 761;
Men's Assn. in Neb, 873.
For names see above references.
Argentina, effort for wom. suff, 803.
Arizona, efforts for wom. suff. legis. action, Gov. Brodie vetoes,
amendment carries; see St. chap, 10.
Arkansas, efforts for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, Primary suff;
see St. chap, 16.
Arnold, Ethel M, 263; 275; 343; 403.
Arthur, Clara B, see Mich. chap, 303; 310 et seq.
Ashton, Margaret, on Liberal party in Great Brit, 824; 826; 833; 837.
Asquith, Herbert H, anti suff. action in Great Brit, 727, 730 et seq;
receives suffs, 732,
anti suffs, 734;
converted, 743; 744.
Astor, Viscountess, urges ratif. in Va, 671;
Govt. delegate to Intl. Alliance cong. in Geneva, 862, 864, 869.
Atkinson, Mrs. W. D, 198.
Augsburg, Dr. jur. Anita (Germany), 809, 814; 826; 843-4.
Australia, wom. suff. in, 752;
urges it in Great Brit, 753.
Austria, women vote; in Legislature, 792.
Avery, Dr. Alida C, 30; 52.
Avery, Rachel Foster, 87; 88; 250;
in N. Y, 443;
Penn, 551-2;
Wis, 701-2;
at intl. suff. conf. in Wash, 807-8;
Berlin, 811;
Copenhagen, 812.
Avery, Susan Look, 682.
Axtell, Frances C, 112; 684.
Aylesworth, Dr. B. O, in Ind, 168;
Md, 250;
Neb, 372;
N. Y, 447.
B
Bacon, Elizabeth D, 69; 70.
Bagley, Mrs. Frederick H, 573.
Bailey, U. S. Sen. Joseph W, opp. wom. suff. in Texas, 633, 641;
women defeat, 641.
Baird, U. S. Sen. David, 428.
Baldwin, Isabel A, 45; 52.
Balentine, Katharine Reed, in Calif, 33, 53;
Wash, 106-7;
Maine, 238, 243, 245.
Balfour, Arthur J. (Great Brit.), on wom. suff, 730; 866.
Ball, U. S. Sen. L. Heisler, 93; 97; 100.
Bamberger, Gov. Simon (Utah), 649-50.
Bankhead, U. S. Sen. John H, 5; 8.
Barkley, Edna M, 373; 378-9; 381-2.
Barnes, Prof. Earl, 344; 417.
Barrett, Kate Waller, 572; 668-9; 671.
Barrows, Isabel C, 268; 275.
Bartlett, Gov. John H. (Vt.), 408-9; 657.
Bass, Mrs. George, in Ala, 8;
Del, 94;
Ills, 155, 162;
La, 233.
Bass, John P, Bangor (Me.), _Commercial_, 241.
Bates, Mrs. Arthur L, 247.
Bates, Helen N, 236-7; 241; 243.
Bates, Gov. John L. (Mass.), 293.
Beadle, Robert Cameron, secy. Men's League, 485.
Beard, Mary R, officer Congressl. Union, 109.
Beauchamp, Frances E, 209.
Beckham, U. S. Sen. J. C. W, 213.
Beeckman, Gov. R. Livingston (R. I.), 575-6-7.
Behrman, Mayor Martin (N. O.), 225-6; 228; 231; 233.
Belgium, grants Munic. franchise, 786, 788.
Belmont, Mrs. Oliver H. P, 198;
at Southern Conf, 219, 610;
helps Nev, 387;
enters suff. movement, 445;
in N. Y, 447, 456, 469;
in R. I, 567-8.
Benbridge, Helen, 172-3; 179; 180.
Benedict, Crystal Eastman, 109; 701; 703; 858.
Benedict, Elsie, 377.
Benet, U. S. Sen. Christie, 581.
Benners, Helen J, see Ala, chap, 3, 4.
Bennett, Mrs. M. Toscan, 71; 74.
Bennett, Sarah Clay (Mrs. James), 209; 596.
Benton, Pres. Guy Potter, 655.
Besant, Annie, 770; 852.
Beveridge, Edna Annette, in Ala, 6;
in Md, 254;
Okla, 530, 535;
Tenn, 621;
W. Va, 693.
Bickett, Gov. Thomas W. (N. C.), 495, 499.
Bidwell, Annie K, 28; 32; 39.
Biggers, Kate H, 521-527.
Bilbo, Gov. Theodore G. (Miss.), 338.
Bingham, Judge Robert, brings out _Courier Journal_ for wom. suff,
208.
Bird, Mrs. Charlotte Sumner, 280-1-2; 301.
Bishop, Emily Montague, 702.
Bissell, Emily P, 103; in N. H, 401.
Black, Gov. James D. (Ky.), 213.
Blackwell, Alice Stone, 30;
natl. and State officer, work in Mass, 267 et seq; 281; 393;
N. H, 400;
N. J, 414, 424; 441;
Okla, 525;
Ore, 540, 544;
R. I, 565-6, 571;
S. C, 579;
Vt, 654, 661, 682.
Blackwell, Rev. Antoinette Brown, in Mass, 272;
birthday, 280;
see N. J, chap, 412.
Blackwell, Dr. Emily S, 415.
Blackwell, Henry B, 30;
memorial in Del, 88; 198; 204;
memorial in Md, 250;
work in Mass, 267 et seq;
birthday, 271;
memorial in
Boston, 275;
marriage, 278;
in Minn, 317;
N. H, 400;
N. J, 414-15, memorial, 416;
in Okla, 525;
Ore, 540, 544;
R. I, 565;
for Pres. suff, 573-4;
S. C, 579;
Vt, 651, memorial, 653; 682.
Blair, Edna S, 309.
Blair, Emily Newell, 346; 348-9.
Blair, U. S. Sen. Henry W, 400; 402; 405.
Blake, Katharine Devereux, work in Mont, 364;
N. Y, 471;
West Va, 691.
Blake, Lillie Devereux, 456.
Blankenburg, Lucretia L, 160;
in N. J, 414;
Penn, 550 et seq;
Berlin, 810-11.
Blanton, Annie Webb, 638-9.
Blatch, Mrs. Harriot Stanton, in N. H, 401;
N. J, 414, 416;
Seneca Falls, 444; 450;
N. Y, 454, 468-9;
founds Wom. Polit. Union, 486.
Blinn, Nellie Holbrook, 29; 31; 52-3.
Bloch, St. Sen. Jesse A, in West Va, 695.
Blount, Dr. Anna E, 149; 702.
Bohemia, suffrage for women, 795.
Booth, Elizabeth K, work in Ills. Legis, 150 et seq.
Borah, U. S. Sen. William E, 253; 287.
Boswell, Helen Varick, 106; 455; 547.
Bowen, Mrs. Joseph T, 159; 165.
Boyer, Ida Porter, in La, 219, 220;
Mich, 309, 312;
Okla, 522-526;
tribute to from St. leaders, 526;
Ore, 542;
Vt, 652.
Brackenridge, M. Eleanor, 631.
Bradford, Mary C. C, in Ariz, 11;
Colo, 61; 64; 67;
Kans, 194;
Neb, 371;
Okla, 522;
Ore, 542.
Brady, Gov. James H. (Wash.), 683.
Braly, John Hyde, work in Calif, 36, 38, 40-1, 51, 56; 198.
Brandegee, U. S. Sen. Frank B, 81.
Brandeis, Louis D, speaks for wom. suff, in Mass, 288, 298.
Brandenburg, Prof. S.J, 200.
Breckinridge, Desha, his _Herald_ for wom. suff, 208.
Breckinridge, Mrs. Desha, in Mo, 356;
N. C, 491;
Ore, 547;
S. C, 580;
Va, 669;
West Va, 688;
see Kentucky chapter, 207.
Breckinridge, Prof. Sophonisba, 202; 701.
Breshkovsky, Catharine, addresses suff. meetings, 272.
British Colonies, See chapter, 752-770.
British Columbia, gains woman suffrage, 756.
Bronson, Minnie, in Calif, 44;
Ind, 176;
Mich, 308;
Mo, 357;
Mont, 366;
Neb, 375, 379;
Nev, 397;
Vt, 662.
Brooks, Mrs. Charles H, 203; 204; 529; 573.
Brooks, John Graham, 269.
Brotherton, Belle, see Mich. chapter, 303; 312; 315.
Brough, Gov. Charles H. (Ark.), 20; 643.
Brown, Frances Fort, 610.
Brown, Rev. Olympia, in Kans, 198;
Md, 254, 256-7;
work in Wis, see State chapter, 699; 701; 704.
Brown, Mrs. Raymond, in Del, 92;
N. J, 419;
N. C, 494;
R. I, 571;
Vt, 658;
see N. Y. chapter, 468.
Brumbaugh, Gov. Martin G. (Penn.), 561.
Bryan, William Jennings, urges ratification in La, 233;
Miss, 340;
Mo, 349;
Neb, 376;
N. C, 493, 497;
Tenn, 603;
Va, urges Fed. Amend, 670.
Bryan, Mrs. William Jennings, speaks for suff. in Fla, 119;
Neb, 378;
Tenn, 603.
Bryce, (Lord) James, on wom. suff, 727; 747.
Buck, Rev. Florence, 700.
Bulkley, Mary, in Conn, 83; Nev, 398.
Burdette, Mrs. Robert J, 51.
Burn, Harry T, in Tenn. Legis, 623-4.
Burns, Lucy, 109; 251.
Burr, Frances Ellen, 68; 70.
Butt, Hala Hammond, 326.
Bynner, Witter, 404.
Byrd, Clara Booth, see N. C. chapter, 490, 494.
Byrne, Gov. Frank M. (S. Dak.), 589.
C
Calder, U. S. Sen. William M, 489.
California, effort for wom. suff, names of workers, legis. action,
campaign, see St. chapter, 27.
Calloway, James P, 138.
Campaigns, in Ariz, 13;
Calif, 38-50;
Iowa, 186;
Kans, 196;
La, 224, 228;
Maine, 238;
Mass, 283;
Mich, 306;
Mo, 347, 355;
Mont, 363;
Neb, 375;
Nev, 387, 394;
N. J, 423;
N. Y, City, 460;
second, 465;
State, 468;
second, 475;
N. Dak, 502;
Ohio, 510;
second, 512;
Okla, 525;
second, 528;
Ore, 539, 541; 544-5;
Penn, 554, 558;
S. Dak, 587, 589, 591-2;
Tenn, 601, 611, 619;
Texas, 640;
Wash, 675;
West Va, 688;
Wis, 701.
Campbell, Jane, in Del, 86, 87;
Penn, 550.
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 727-8.
Canada, efforts for wom. suff, 753-766;
Dominion suff. granted, Sir Robert Borden's work for, Sir Wilfred
Laurier objects, 761-763;
see Provinces;
nationality of wives, 764.
Cannon, St. Sen. Martha Hughes, 646.
Capper, Arthur, 200-2-3.
Carey, Gov. Robert D. (Wyo.), 709-10.
Carr, Gen. Julian S, 491, 497.
Carruth, Prof. W. H, 202.
Castleman, Mrs. Samuel, 215.
Caswell, Mrs. George A, 37, 44.
Cates, Attorney General Charles T, Jr, 602; 621.
Cathcart, Mrs. W. C, work in S. C, 579, 580.
Catholic, St. Catherine's Welfare Assn. work in N. Y, 487.
Catt, Carrie Chapman, work in Ariz, 10;
visits Ark, 18;
Calif, 28; 30; 46;
assists Conn, 76-7;
Del, 86, 91, 95-96;
criticizes Seth Low, 107;
in Atlanta, 122;
Chicago, 161;
work in Iowa, 187;
speaks in Kans, 203;
Ky, 208; 216;
in Maine, 236, 238, opp. campaign, 239, speaks in it, 242;
work in Md, 248-9, 253, 265;
speaks in Boston, 280-1, 291;
work in Mich, 309, 311, 313;
speaks in Minn, 317;
Miss, 326;
St. Louis, 342, at natl. suff. conv, 351;
work in Mont, 360;
Neb, 368-9, 370, 378;
Nev, 390-1;
N. H, 400-1-2, 407-8;
N. J, 413-14, 429;
N. Mex, 435-6;
New York, 442, organizes Wom. Suff. Party, 445; 450;
at legis. hearing, 454; 456;
pres. Inter-Urban Council, 459;
manages first campaign, 462 et seq;
second, 469 et seq; 465; 474-5;
great work, 483;
in Okla, 532;
Ore, 540;
Penn, 558;
R. I, 568, 570, 571;
speaks in Tenn, 596, 598, 612;
work for Fed. Amend, urges special session, 617;
begins campaign, 619;
U. S. Sen. Harding and Gov. Cox write, 620;
her opinion of opponents, 621;
in Texas, 630, 636;
visits Utah, 644, speaks in Tabernacle, 649;
women congratulate, 650;
work in Vt, 651, 655-6;
scores Gov. Clement, 659;
addresses Legis, 664;
in Va, 669;
addresses Legis, 671;
helps Wash., 682;
in West Va, 691;
urges special session, 694;
in Wis, 705;
in Wyo, 710;
receives doctor's degree from Wyo. Univ, 712;
visits Hawaii, 716;
urges suff. for its women, 717;
visits Manila and organizes women, 720;
tours S. Africa, helps organize suff. assn, 767;
visits Copenhagen, 778;
speaks in Hungary, 793;
in Geneva, 801;
calls conf, in Wash, D. C, to organize Intl. Wom. Suff. Alliance and
opens it, 806;
work for and in conf, 806-8;
at Berlin conf, presents gavel, 810;
elected pres, 811;
calls conf. at Copenhagen, 812;
presides, tribute to Miss Anthony, 813; 815;
closing words, 817;
calls conf. at Amsterdam, 817;
address, 820-822;
wise management, 823;
presides at quinquennial in London, 828;
address, 829-832;
speaks in Albert Hall, 836;
re-elected pres, 837;
calls conf. at Stockholm, honors in Copenhagen, ovation in Sweden,
visits Parliament, 838; 839, 840, 846;
address, 841-843;
presides in Royal Opera House, 844;
address at Budapest, 851;
received by officials, 853;
re-elected, 854;
on "militancy," 854;
on "white slave" traffic, 855;
presides in Academy of Music, 857;
farewell, 858;
calls Alliance conf. in Geneva after the war, 859;
address, memorial tribute to Dr. Shaw, plea for democracy, 860-1;
welcomes delegates, 865;
raises money, 868;
re-elected, 869.
Catt, George W, 249.
Cauer, Minna (Germany), 826.
Central America, 804.
Chace, Arnold Buffum, 566; 571.
Chace, Elizabeth Buffum, 565; 571.
Chapman, Mariana W, 441.
Chaponniere-Chaix, Mme. (Switz.), 810-11.
Chase, Mary N, in N. H, 400 et seq; 404;
Ore, 541;
Vt, 651.
Cheney, Edna D, 272.
Cherdron, Margaret Zane, 648.
Chilton, U. S. Sen. W. E, 696-7.
China, effort for wom. suff, Mrs. Catt visits, 803;
suff. assn. joins Intl. Alliance, sends banner, 848.
Churchill, Winston, 401
Churchill, Mrs. Winston, 404.
Clapp, U. S. Sen. Moses E, 319; 405.
Clark, Adele, 665; 667-70.
Clark, Speaker Champ, speaks for wom. suff in La, 234.
Clark, Gov. George W. (Iowa), 183.
Clark, Jeannette Drury, writes Alaska chapter, 713.
Clark, Mrs. Orton H, 310-11.
Clark, Chief Justice Walter (N. C.), 491-2; 494.
Clarke, Grace Julian, 171-2; 175.
Clay, Laura, work in Ariz, 12;
speaks in Atlanta, 123;
Ind, 169;
work in Kans, 200;
in Ky, see St. chapter, 207 et seq.;
ambulance named for, 211;
opp. Fed. Amend, 212;
at Dem. natl. conv, 220;
in Md, 251;
Mich, 309;
Okla, 522, 525;
Ore, 540, 544;
R. I, 572;
Tenn, 596, 598, 608-9, 612;
opp. ratification in Tenn, 622; 665.
Clement, Gov. Percival W. (Vt.), opp. wom. suff. in Vt, 656;
women visit, demand special session, 657-8;
calls on Pres. Harding, attacks Fed. Amend, 658;
Mrs. Catt scores, 659;
vetoes Pres. suff, 659, 664.
Clendening, Grace, 503-4; 506.
Clergy, for wom. suff, names in State chapters.
Clopton, Virginia Clay, 3; 608.
Coats, Sarah Chandler, 342.
Coffin, Lillian Harris, 27; 29; 33; 36; 53; 56.
Coggeshall, Mary J, 181; bequests, 183.
Cohen, Elizabeth M, 645-9.
Coit, Stanton, 276; 342.
Coit, Mrs. Stanton, 812; 824; 837; 854; 865;
Intl. Alliance treas. report, 868.
Colby, Secy. of State Bainbridge, to Ga. women, 132;
proclaims Fed. Suff. Amend, 625.
Colby, Clara Bewick, in Md, 248, 251, 254;
Mich, 309;
Wash, 679;
Wis, 700-1.
Colby, Everett, 418; 429; 431.
College Equal Suffrage League, work in Calif, 47, 51;
D. C., 105, 107;
Mass, 274, 279;
Mich, 305; 307;
Minn, 318-19;
Neb, 372, 374;
Nev, 396;
N. Y, 469;
Ore, 546;
R. I, 566, 567, 569;
Wash, 676;
Wis, 700.
Colorado, second victory; see St. chapter, 59.
Colt, U. S. Sen. LeBaron B, 569, 576.
Colvin, Prof. Caroline, work in Me, 236.
Congressional Union (see National Woman's Party), in Colo, 64;
Conn, 72;
Del, 89 et seq;
organized, 109;
in Mass, 290;
Minn, 321;
N. Mex, 436;
protest against in N. C, 491-2;
Penn, 557.
Connecticut, effort for woman suff, workers, legis. action; see
State chapter, 68.
Connor, Mabel, see Maine chapter, 236, 243, 245.
Conventions, Constitl, in Ariz, 12;
Ark, 20;
Ills, 162;
Ind, 175;
Mass, 299;
Mich, 304;
Neb, 383;
N. H, 400;
N. Mex, 438;
Ohio, 509;
Okla, 522;
R. I, 575;
Tenn, 611.
Cooley, Roselle C, 113; 118.
Coolidge, Gov. Calvin (Mass.), for wom. suff, 302.
Coolidge, Mary Roberts, 48-9; 52.
Corbin, Hannah Lee, 665.
Cornwall, Gov. John J. (West Va.), 694-5-6.
Costello, Ray, 329.
Cotnam, Mrs. T. T, work in Ark, 16-23;
in N. Y, 20; 208;
in Me, 238; 311; 529; 692.
Court decisions, on Pres. suff, in Ills, 158, 163;
Ind, 177-8;
referendum in Maine, 245;
Fed. Amend., in Md, 261;
Pres. suff. in Ohio, 514;
Pres. suff. referendum, 516;
on ratification, 519;
Pres. suff. in Tenn, 605;
poll tax for women, 616;
right to ratify Fed. Amend, 617;
U. S. Sup. Ct. on referring ratification to voters, 617;
in Tenn., on ratif, 624;
Texas Primary law, 637.
Cowles, Edith Clark, see Va. chapter, 665.
Cox, Gov. James M. (Ohio), urges Fed. Suff. Amend. in La, 234;
telegraphs N. C, 499;
helps ratification in Tenn, 620-1.
Cox, Gov. John I. (Tenn.), 608.
Cox, Lenore Hanna, see Ind. chapter, 171.
Craft, Ida, 364; 398; 448;
"hikes," 451-2;
West Va, 688-9.
Craigie, Mary E, 314; 401; 454; 456; 688.
Crane, Rev. Caroline Bartlett, 311; 316.
Cranston, Martha S, 86; 88-9; 90; 92-3; 102-3.
Creel, George, secy. Men's Suff. League, 485.
Crooker, Rev. Florence Kollock, 268; 270; 403.
Crossett, Ella Hawley, see N. Y.
chapter, 440-448;
legis. report, 454; 455-6-7.
Crowley, Teresa A., see Mass. chapter, 267 et seq;
in campaign, 284-5; 302.
Culberson, U. S. Sen. Charles A, 642.
Cummings, Fannie Leake, 673; 680.
Cummings, Homer S, urges ratif. of Fed. Amend, in Ala, 8;
La, 234;
Miss, 340;
Tenn, 618; Va, 671.
Cunningham, Minnie Fisher, work in Texas, see St. chapter, 630;
Fla, 117;
Miss, 334;
Nev, 390;
West Va, 692.
Curtis, Alice B, in Iowa, 187;
Okla, 532;
West Va, 691;
Wis, 704.
Curzon, Lord (Great Brit.), on wom. suff, 747-8.
Czecho-Slovakia, gives wom, suff, 795.
D
Damrosch, Walter, 467.
Daniels, Secy. of the Navy Josephus, urges Fed. Amend, in Ala, 7;
Del, 96;
Miss, 340;
N. C, 493, 497.
Daniels, Mrs. Josephus, in N. C, 493-4, 498;
in Geneva, 869.
Darrow, Clara L, 501-2-3; 505.
Davis, Gov. Westmoreland (Va.), 668.
Day, Mrs. George, 102; 393.
Day, Lucy Hobart, 236.
Dean, Dr. Maria M, 360.
Decker, Sarah Platt, 60; 291.
Deering, Mabel Craft, 33; 45-6.
Delaware, effort for wom. suff, workers, struggle over ratification,
see St. chapter, 86.
Democratic National Committee, urges ratif. of Fed. Amend, in Ga, 142;
La, 234;
Tenn, 618, 620;
West Va, 694.
Democratic State Committees and Conventions, action on wom. suff.
in Ala, 8;
Ark, 21;
Calif, 53-4, 56;
Conn, 85;
Del, 93, 99;
Ky, 210-11-12;
Mass, 295, 298;
Minn, 322;
Mo, 348;
N. Y, 446, 451;
N. C, 493, 495, 500;
S. C, 580;
Tenn, 599, 613, 618;
Texas, 639;
Va, 667;
West Va, 691.
Denison, Flora McDonald, work in Canada, 757, 760; 815.
Denmark, work for wom. suff, entertains Intl. Alliance, wom. suff.
gained, women officials, 776, 778;
Mrs. Catt visits, 778.
Dennett, Mary Ware, 89; 276; 294.
DeVoe, Emma Smith, 254;
work in Wash, see St. chapter, 673;
ad. Legis, 685;
in Wis, 700.
De Vou, Mary R, work in Del, 86, 88, 101.
Dewey, Prof. John, 485.
Dewing, Ardelia Cooke, 565-6-7.
De Young, M. H, 46.
Dietrich, Mrs. Charles H, 381; 383.
Digges, Annie L, 248.
Dillingham, U. S. Sen. William P, 408; 655-6.
District of Columbia, helps States get wom. suff, entertains natl.
convs, works with Congress, names of workers, see D. C. chapter,
104.
"Dix, Dorothy," letter to Tenn, 596.
Dobson, Mrs. Henry, 812; 816; 823.
Dodge, Mrs. Arthur M, pres. Anti Suff. Assn, in Neb, 375;
N. Y, 454.
Dorsett, Mrs. John W, work in Hawaii, 716-17-18.
Dorsey, Gov. Hugh M. (Ga.), 139; 142.
Douglas, Judith Hyams, 217; 330.
Drew, U. S. Sen. Irving, 401; 406.
Dudley, Mrs. Guilford, work in Tenn, 597 to 619;
at Dem. natl. conv. and in Wash, 599, 600, 606, 619.
Dundore, Lavinia C, pioneer suffragist, 248.
Duniway, Abigail Scott, work in Ore, 538 et seq;
honored, 548;
in Wash, 679.
Dunlap, Flora, see Iowa chapter, 181.
Dunne, Gov. Edward F. (Ills.), 146; 152; 157; 159.
DuPont, T. Coleman. Pierre, Alfred I, 93-4-5; 98; 100.
Dye, Eva Emery, 541.
E
Eacker, Helen N, 196; 201-2.
Eastman, Max, 276; for Men's League, 484-5; 702.
Eaton, Cora Smith, in Md, 248;
Minn, 317, 320;
N. Dak, 501;
Wash, 674, 678. See King.
Eddy, Sarah J, in R. I, 570, 578.
Edge, U. S. Sen. Walter E, 429; 430.
Edson, Katharine Philips, 36, 41.
Edwards, Betsy Jewett, 95; 172; 409.
Edwards, Gov. Edward I. (N. J.), 429, 430.
Edwards, Mrs. Richard E, 173; 180.
Elkins, U. S. Sen. Stephen B, 697.
Ellicott, Mrs. Charles E, 257; 264-5-6.
Ellicott, Elizabeth King, 263-4.
Ellington, Mrs. O. F, see Ark. chapter, 16-20, 23-25;
in Va, 220.
Elliott, Albert H, 30; 48-9.
Elliott, John Lovejoy, 342.
Elliott, Maud Howe, 274; 280; 291; 578.
Elliott, Sarah Barnwell, 597-8; 608-9-10.
Engle, Lavinia, 4; 114; 579; 633; 690.
Equal Guardianship, in Mass, 291;
Utah, 647.
Erwin, Margaret, 333; 607. See Ford.
Evans, Mrs. Glendower, in Maine, 238;
Mass, 277;
Mich, 309;
R. I, 570;
Wis, 702.
Evans, Sarah A, see Ore. chapter, 538, 541, 545.
Ewing, Robert, in La, 224; 226.
F
Fallows, Bishop Samuel, 148.
Farmer, Eugenia B, 318.
Farrell, Mrs. Percy J, 312; 315-16.
Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, pres. Brit. Natl. Suff. Assn, writes chap,
for History, 725;
on "militancy," 728;
heads deptn. to Asquith, 733;
work completed, 749;
elected vice-pres. Intl. Alliance, 811; 816; 826; 827;
invites Alliance to London, greets, 828;
suff. work of her assn, 833;
on "militancy," 834; 835;
presides in Albert Hall, 836;
re-elected, 837; 854;
on "white slave" traffic, 855;
manifesto at beginning of war, work on Headqrs. Com, 865; 867.
Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment, Ala. women demand, 5;
endorsed in Ark, 20;
petition from Calif, 34,
Legis. appeals for, 57;
Colo. Legis. demands, 63;
work for in Conn, 73 et seq;
Del, 88 et seq;
Fla, 119;
Ga, 123-4-5, 127, 130;
members of Cong. vote for, 131; 136;
Ills, 164;
Ind, 178-180;
Iowa, 185;
Kans, 203-4, 206;
Ky, 211;
La, 218, 227-8;
Maine, 237-8;
Md, 257-261;
Mass, 280-1, 290, 300;
Mich, 305, 309;
Minn, 319, 321;
Miss, 331, 334;
Mo, 353, 357;
Neb, 372;
Nev, 390;
N. H, 408;
N. J, 415, 429;
N. Mex, 436-7;
N. Y, 488-9;
N. C, 493, 495;
N. Dak, 504, 507;
Ohio, 517;
Penn, 552, 562;
R. I, 566, 570-1;
S. C, 580-1, 584;
Tenn, 599, 600, 606-7, 609, 612-13-14, 625;
Texas, 635-6, 639, 640, 642;
Utah, 645, 649;
Vt, 656-660;
Va, 665, 668, 670;
Wash, 685;
West Va, 693-4;
Wis, 700, 708;
Wyo, 709;
U. S. Sup. Ct. decision, 617;
Solicitor Genl. Frierson's, 617;
proclaimed by Secy. of State, 625.
Federations of Labor, for wom. suff, Ala, 8;
Calif, 54;
give hall for suff. meet. in Atlanta, 125, 127;
for wom. suff. in Maine, 237;
Md, 251,
refused, 253;
Mass, 273, 295;
Nev, 396;
N. H, 402;
N. J, 415;
Okla, 523;
Ore, 546;
Penn, 552-3;
S. C, 581;
Tenn, 597-9;
Vt, 660;
Va, 669.
Federation of Women's Clubs, record in each State chapter. Genl. Fedn.
declares for wom. suff, 160;
applauds it in Boston, 274.
Feickert, Lillian F, 418-19;
work in N. J; see St. chapter, 420 et seq.
Fels, Mrs. Joseph, in Mass, 300;
Nev, 387.
Felton, Rebecca Latimer, 126; 128; 131.
Ferguson, Gov. James E, opp. wom. suff. in Texas, 633;
at Dem. Natl. Conv, 633;
women work against, 634-5, 638.
Fernald, U. S. Sen. Bert, 242; 245.
Fernald, Fannie J, 236-7; 402-3.
Fess, Simeon D, chmn. Rep. Congrssl. Com, 94.
Fessenden, Susan S, in Del, 87;
Mass, 270, 273;
N. H, 400;
Vt, 660.
Field, Sarah Bard, 398;
in Ore, 548.
Finland, great "strike," wom. suff. granted, women in Parliament,
771-773; 824.
Finnegan, Annette, work in Texas, 630-1-2.
FitzGerald, Susan W, 274; 282; 294; 297; 301; 309; 406; 655.
Fitzhugh, Gen. G. T, in Tenn, 602.
Fletcher, U. S. Sen. Duncan U, 117.
Florida, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, see State
chap, 113.
Foley, Margaret A, in Mass, 276-7, 296, 301;
Nev, 397;
R. I, 572.
Foltz, Clara Shortridge, 30.
Forchhammer, Henni (Denmark), on League of Nations, 814; 871.
Ford, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, 313.
Ford, Margaret Ervin, work in Tenn; see St. chapter, 604, 607 et seq.
Fordyce, Mrs. William C, 348; 354; 357.
Fort, Gov. John Franklin (N. J.), 418.
Foster, J. Ellen, 401.
Foulke, William Dudley, 267.
France, U. S. Sen. Joseph I, 257-8.
France, effort for wom. suff, 799.
Frazier, Helen, 351.
Frelinghuysen, U. S. Sen. Joseph S, 429; 430.
French, Mrs. L. Crozier, 598; 600; 607; 609; 610; 621.
Frick, St. Sen. George Arnold (Md.), suit against Fed. Suff. Amend,
261.
Frierson, U. S. Solicitor Genl, 617.
Fuller, Minnie Rutherford, 16; 18; 22.
Funck, Emma Maddox, see Md. chapter, 248;
in Wis, 701.
Funck, Dr. J. William, 249; 250-1; 256; 701.
Funk, Antoinette, in Ills, 154;
Mont, 364;
Nev, 398;
N. H, 405:
N. J, 432;
Penn, 561,
West Va, 691.
Furman, Eleanor, 265.
Furuhjelm, Annie, work in Finland, 772;
in Parliament, 773; 815;
report on wom. suff. in Finland, 824; 826; 829;
elected vice-pres. Intl. Alliance, 837; 843; 854; 860; 863.
G
Gale, Zona, in N. H. 405;
in Wis, 704; 706.
Gallinger, U. S. Sen. Jacob, 400;
death, 406.
Gannett, Mrs. William C, 442; 457.
Gardener, Helen H, 105; 110; 112.
Garesché, Marie R., see Mo. chapter, 342-3.
Garrett, Mary E, 249.
Garrison, Francis J, 275.
Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, memorials, 88, 416;
work in Mass, 267 et seq.
Garwood, Omar E, 62; 198; 330.
Gates, Susa Young, see Utah chapter, 644; 648; 650.
Gay, U. S. Sen. Edward J, 229.
Gay, Dr. Ruth A, 524-7.
Gellhorn, Mrs. George, 346; 350-1-2-3-4; 358.
George, Mrs. A. J, in Neb, 376;
Ohio, 513;
N. H, 401;
R. I, 575;
Vt, 661, 663.
Georgia, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, see St.
chapter, 121.
German American Alliance, in Neb, 377;
Ohio, 510;
Wis, 708.
Germany gives wom. suff, elects women, 789-92.
Geyer, Rose Lawless, 187; 241; 243; 690.
Gillett, Emma M, 106-7; 249.
Gillmore, Inez Haynes, 268.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 208; 250; 276; 387; 414; 540; 630;
Budapest, 857.
Glasgow, Ellen, 655; 668.
Glass, U. S. Treasurer Carter, 671.
Goldstein, Vida (Aus.), in Calif, 29;
Mass, 269;
intl. suff. conf, 806-7; 815.
Goodrich, Ellen Knox, 28.
Goodrich, Gov. James P. (Ind.), on ratif. of Fed. Amend, 176.
Goodwin, Grace W, 103.
Gordon, Anna A, 437.
Gordon, Rev. Eleanor, 182.
Gordon, Jean, in Atlanta, 123;
in La, 216-17; 221; 225; 232;
in Miss, 328.
Gordon, Kate M, proposes Primary suff, 24, 222;
in Fla, 115:
Atlanta, 122;
work in La.: see St. chapter, 216;
brings natl. conv. to New Orleans, 218;
org. South. Conf, 219;
Dem. natl. conv, 220;
opp. Fed. Amend, 232, 622;
in Miss, 328-9, 336; 338;
Okla, 524, 526;
Ore, 540, 542-3;
S. C, 580;
Tenn, 609;
West Va, 688.
Gordon, Laura de Force, 33.
Graham, Gov. Horace F. (Vt.), 663.
Grand Army of the Republic, endorses wom. suff, 87, 522.
Grange, Natl. and State, endorsement of wom. suff. in many St.
chapters.
Great Britain (United Kingdom), lone effort for wom. suff;
action of Parliament; see chapter, 727 et seq;
work of Natl. Union, 730 et seq;
great pilgrimage, 737;
war work, 739;
society changes form, 749;
Labor Party for wom. suff, 730-1, 737;
war work of women, 738;
Coalition Govt, 742;
Conference formed, Commons passes bill, 744 et seq;
Lords accept, 748;
women vote, 749;
favorable laws for women, 750;
elected to Commons, 750;
universities opened, 751; see 833.
Greece, organizes for wom. suff, King, Queen and Venizelos favor, 802.
Greeley, Helen Hoy, 46; 48; 90; 546.
Gregg, Laura, in Ariz, 12; 318;
Mont, 360;
Neb, 368, 370;
Nev, 397;
Okla, 520-1;
Ore, 542.
Grenfell, Helen Loring, 61; 64.
Grey, Sir Edward, on wom. suff, 735.
Griffin, Frances A, suff. pioneer in Ala, 3;
in Ga, 121.
Griggs, Prof. Edward Howard, 278.
Grim, Harriet, 148-9.
Gripenberg, Baroness Alexandra, work in Finland, 772;
in Hungary, 793; 815.
Grossman, Leonard J, 126.
Guise, Mrs. John A, 317; 322.
Gullen, Dr. Augusta Stowe, work in Canada, see chapter, 754; 757.
H
Hackstaff, Priscilla D, 309; 401; 417; 459.
Haines, Dr. Blanche M, 310; 312.
Hale, U. S. Sen. Frederick, 247.
Hale, Mrs. Forbes-Robertson, 86; 91; 208; 309-10; 654; 692; 702.
Haley, Margaret A, 46; 48; 145.
Hall, Florence Howe, work in N. J, see St. chapter, 412; 578.
Hallam, Julia Clark, 182.
Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton, 145.
Hardie, Keir, help in Great Brit, 730; 857.
Harding, U. S. Sen. and Pres. Warren G, app. wom. Judge, 104;
opposes anti-suff. referendum, 516;
votes for Fed. Amend, 517;
for ratification in Tenn, 620;
Gov. Clement of Vt. visits, 658.
Hardwick, U. S. Sen. Thos. W, 127; 136.
Hardy, Jennie C. Law, 306; 316.
Harper, Ida Husted, speaks in Md, 263;
writing in Rochester, 442;
in New York, 450-7;
Ore, 540; 812;
memorial address for Miss Anthony in Copenhagen, 816;
resolutions com. in Amsterdam, 827;
in London, 837.
Harriman, Mrs. J. Borden, 86; 91.
Harris, U. S. Sen. Wm. J, votes and works for Fed. Amend, 131, 142.
Harris, U. S. Commissioner of Education, William T, 344.
Harrison, Gov. Genl. Francis Burton, 722.
Harrison, U. S. Sen. Pat, 341.
Hart, Prof. Albert Bushnell, 298.
Hart, Gov. Louis F. (Wash.), 684-5.
Hartness, Gov. James (Vt.), 660.
Harvey, Col. George, 418; 485.
Haskell, Gov. Charles W. (Okla.), 523-4.
Haskell, Oreola Williams, work in New York, see St. chapter, 459, 461.
Haslam, Thomas J. and Anna M. (Ireland), 834.
Hauser, Elizabeth J, in Ohio, 509;
West Va, 688.
Havemeyer, Mrs. H. O, 424.
Haver, Jessie R, 391.
Hawaii, effort for wom. suff, action of U. S. Congress, 715-17;
status of women, Mrs. Catt visits, 716;
Mrs. Pitman assists, 717-18;
action of Hawaiian Legis, 718.
Hawk, George, carries referendum on Fed. Suff. Amend. to U. S. Supreme
Court, 519, 617.
Hay, Mary Garrett, work in Ariz, 10;
Del, 86-7;
speaks in Chicago, 161;
in Mass, 281;
work in New York, 446, 455;
chmn, N. Y. City, first campaign, 461 et seq; 465;
second, 469 et seq;
in Ore, 547.
Hays, Natl. Chmn. Will H, interviewed by Conn. wom, 79;
assists ratification in Del, 94;
in Tenn, 620;
in Vt, 657-8.
Hayward, St. Sen. Elizabeth A. (Utah), 645-9.
Hayward, Prof. H. H, 87-8-9.
Hayward, Mary Smith, 368-9.
Headquarters, Natl. Suff, opened in New York City, 445.
Hearst, William R, 158.
Heaslip, Chas. T, in Penn, 555; 692.
Hebard, Dr. Grace Raymond, work in Wyo, 709, 712.
Hemphill, Robert R, in Atlanta, 122.
Henderson, Arthur (Gt. Brit.), 730.
Heney, Francis J, 38.
Henrotin, Mrs. Charles, 146.
Henry, Alice, 146.
Henry, Josephine K, 207, 596.
Hepburn, Katharine Houghton; see Conn. chapter, 68 et seq;
in Del, 103;
in N. H, 404.
Higgins, Gov. Frank M. (N. Y.), 454.
Higgins, Gov. James H. (R. I.), 574.
Higginson, Col. Thomas W, work in Mass, 269;
memorial, 278.
"Hikes" for wom. suff, 451.
Hill, Mrs. Homer M, 673; 676; 686.
Hilles, Mrs. Bayard, 90; 91; 96; 102.
Hipple, Ruth B, see S. Dak. chapter, 585; 588.
Hirsch, Mrs. Solomon, 547.
Hirschberg, Rabbi Emil, in Wis, 702.
History of Woman Suffrage, 344;
Miss Anthony gives to Norwegian library, 774.
Hitchcock, U. S. Sen. Gilbert H, 383.
Hitz, Justice William, 111.
Hobby, Gov. William P. (Tex.), 636-7-8-9.
Hoch, Gov. Edward W. (Kans.), 195; 205.
Hodges, Gov. George H. (Kans.), 202; 205.
Hodges, Justice William, proposes Primary suff. for women, 24.
Hoffman, Catharine A, 195-6-7; 200; 204.
Holcomb, Gov. Marcus A. (Conn.), opp. Fed. Amend, 73, 75, 77, 81-2.
Hollis, U. S. Sen. Henry F, 405-6.
Holmes, Lydia Wickliffe, see La. chapter, 226;
in Tenn, 621.
Holmgren, Ann Margret (Sweden), 815; 826;
greets Alliance congress, 843, 846.
Holt, Hamilton, 485.
Hooker, Mrs. Donald, 257-260; 263.
Hooker, Isabella Beecher, 68-9.
Hooper, Mrs. Ben, in Nev, 390;
in Wis, 705-6.
Hooper, Gov. Ben W. (Tenn.), 599; 608; 619.
Hosmer, Katharine Tipton, see Colo. chapter, 59; 60; 63; 65.
Howard, Prof. George W, 379.
Howard, H. Augusta, 121; 123.
Howe, Julia Ward, memorials, in Del, 88;
Boston, 278;
N. J, 417;
work in Mass, 267 et seq; 274;
R. I, 566;
birthday celebr, 281, 571, 578.
Howe, Marie Jenney, 443; 448.
Howells, William Dean, 485.
Howland, Emily S, 442.
Hubbs, Harriet L, see Penn. chapter, 550; 561.
Hughes, Gov. Charles E. (N. Y.), 457.
Hughes, Dr. James L. (Canada), 754; 806.
Hughes, Rev. Kate, 146.
Hughes, U. S. Sen. William, 428.
Hughston, Augusta, in Me, 238;
Mich, 314;
Vt, 655-6;
West Va, 693.
Hull, U. S. Rep. Harry E. (Iowa), 185.
Hultin, Rev. Ida C, 250; 267, 269, 403.
Hundley, Mrs. O. R, 4.
Hungary, struggle for wom. suff, entertains Intl. Alliance;
Mrs. Catt speaks in eight cities, 793; 856.
Hunt, Alice, 265.
Hunt, Augusta M, 238; 242.
Hurd, Dr. Ethel E, 318; 320.
Hurst, Sadie D, 388; 390-1-2.
Hussey, Cornelia C, 413.
Hussey, Dr. Mary D, work in N. J, see St. chapter, 412.
Hutson, Ethel, see La. chapter, 226.
Hutton, May Arkwright, 676.
I
Iceland, gives suff. to women, elects to office, 776.
Idaho, 25 years of wom. suff, 143.
Ijams, Martha A, 52.
Illinois, effort for wom. suff., workers, legis. action, campaigns,
see St. chapter, 145.
India, efforts for wom. suff, 769.
Indiana, effort for wom. suff., workers, legis. action, see St.
chapter, 166.
Initiative and Referendum, used for wom. suff. in Ariz, 14;
Mo, 347, 355-6;
Neb, 372, 373;
petitions, 379;
fraudulent, carried into court, 380, 382;
in Ohio, 511;
courts reject, 515;
to refer ratif. of Fed. Amend, 518;
attacked, 519;
in Okla, 524;
Ore, 539, 544-5;
S. Dak, 585.
International Council of Women, meets in Berlin, 790;
Standing Com. on Wom. Suff, 805; 822.
International Woman Suffrage Alliance, inception, founding and eight
Congresses, 805-871;
preliminary meeting and Intl. Com. formed in Washtn, names of
delegates, decl. of principles, 805;
organized in Berlin, names of delegates, officers elected, 809;
conf. and cong. in Copenhagen, 812;
in Amsterdam, 817;
quinquennial in London, 828;
congress in Stockholm, 838;
Budapest, 847;
Geneva, after the war, 859;
names of delegates and speakers, Mrs. Catt's president's address,
extracts from speeches, reports, resolutions, action taken,
entertainments given, under each heading;
women in pulpits, Dr. Shaw in London, 838,
in Stockholm, 839,
in Budapest, 850;
A. Maude Royden and Edith Picton Turberville in Geneva, 860;
object of Alliance, 807, 810, 822, 830, 832, 844, 861, 864, 866;
non-partisanship, 827, 833, 844;
growth, 821, 829, 842, 851, 863;
financial help of U. S, 854, 868-9;
of Great Brit, 868;
action on "social evil," 855; 870;
attitude toward war, 861, 866;
work during war, 867;
position on League of Nations, 870;
future of Alliance, 861-2, 871.
Iowa, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign;
see St. chapter, 181.
Ireland, Archbishop, for wom. suff, 317.
Irish, Col. John P, in Calif, 48;
Iowa, 188.
Italy, organizes for wom. suff, efforts with Parliament, civil rights
granted, 797.
Ivins, William M, 485.
Ivins, Mrs. William M, 446; 448.
J
Jackson, Alice Day, 398.
Jacobs, Dr. Aletta, in S. Africa, 768;
work in Netherlands, 783; 785;
in Hungary, 793;
at Berlin conf, 810; 815;
brings Alliance to Amsterdam, 818;
address, 820;
presents Chinese banner, 849; 852.
Jacobs, Pattie Ruffner, work in Ala, see St. chapter, 3;
in Miss, 333;
N. C, 492;
West Va, 691.
James, Ada L, 701-2; 704-5, 707-8.
Jameson, Mrs. Ovid B, 172.
Janney, Dr. O. Edward, 249; 250-1.
Janney, Mrs. O. Edward, 254; 263.
Japan, prospect for wom. suff, 803.
Jeffreys-Myers, Dr. Annice, 538-9; 540-1.
Jenks, Agnes M, work in N. H, 403-4; 410;
R. I, 569, 571;
Vt. 662.
Jennings, Mrs. Chester, 16; 22.
Johnson, Adelaide, 450.
Johnson, Gov. Hiram (Calif.), elected, 36;
has suff. amend. submitted, fails to speak for it, 37; 57.
Johnston, Mary, in R. I, 568;
Tenn, 598, 608-9;
Va, 655; 668-9;
West Va, 687, 698.
Johnston, Ch. Justice William A, 197-8.
Johnston, Mrs. William A, work in Kans, see St. chapter, 193.
Jones, U. S. Sen. Andrieus A, 435.
Jones, Anna Maxwell, 90; 631.
Jones, Dr. Effie McCollum, in Iowa, 187;
Minn, 321;
N. H, 406;
West Va, 692.
Jones, Dr. Harriet B, work in West Va, see St. chapter, 687.
Jones, Jenkin Lloyd, 148.
Jones, Rosalie Gardiner, 89; 356; 364; 376; 398;
organizes suff. "hikes," 451.
Jordan, David Starr, helps wom. suff. in Calif, 29, 31, 34.
Jordan, Secy. of State, Frank, 50.
_Jus Suffragii_, official organ Intl. Alliance, begun, 817;
moved to London, 853;
during the war, 854, 865.
K
Kansas, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign, see
St. chapter, 193.
Kearney, Belle, in Md, 256;
work in Miss, 326 et seq;
in Tenn, 596; 812.
Keith, Mary McHenry (Mrs. William), work in Calif, see St. chapter,
27 et seq;
contributions, 32-35; 45; 51-2.
Keith, William, gives picture to suff. bazaar, 28; 29;
paints portrait of Miss Anthony, 32.
Keller, Dr. Amelia, 171-2-3.
Kelley, Florence, in Calif, 36;
Ga, 123;
Md, 253;
N. Y, 443, 456;
Vt, 660;
Wis, 702.
Kelly, Dr. Howard, 263.
Kelly, Marion Booth, 282; 654.
Kendall, Dr. Sarah A, 673; 682.
Kenney, Annie (Gt. Brit.), speaks in Nev, 398;
in Germany, 790.
Kenny, Mrs. John M, see Tenn. chapter, 596; 616;
work for ratification, 619.
Kent, Mrs. Carrie E, 105-6.
Kent, U. S. Rep. and Mrs. William, in Del, 103;
in Nev, 398.
Kentucky, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see St.
chapter, 207.
Ketcham, Emily Burton, 303.
Keyes, Gov. Henry W. (N. H.), 406.
Kilbreth, Mary G, in Tenn, 621.
Kimball, Martha S, 403-4-5; 409-10.
Kimber, Helen, 193-4.
Kimbrough, Mrs. D. T, 599; 600-1;
poll tax refused, 616.
King, Dr. Cora Smith, see Wash. chapter, 673;
see Eaton.
Kirby, U. S. Sen. W. F, 21, 24.
Klatschken, Martha, 416; 452-3.
Koch, Dr. Margaret, 318-19-20-22.
Kollock, Alice G; see Fla. chapter, 113.
Kramers, Martina G, intl. secy, 811;
edits official paper, 817;
report of conf. in Amsterdam, 818; 837;
Alliance thanks, 854.
Krog, Gina, work in Norway, 774; 815; 823; 848; 857.
L
Labor party (Gt. Brit.), on wom. suff, 730;
women support, 737;
in Manitoba, 754.
Labriola, Prof. Teresa (Italy), 797-8; 813.
Laddey, Clara S, in Mich, 309;
work in N. J, see St. chapter, 412;
Wis, 701.
LaFollette, Fola, 347.
LaFollette, U. S. Sen. Robert M, 708.
LaFollette, Mrs. Robert M, speaks in Md, 251;
in R. I, 572.
Lagerlöf, Selma, assists wom. suff. in Sweden, 781, 783; 839, 843;
great speech, 844; 847.
Laidlaw, James Lees, in Calif, 46;
pres. Natl. Men's Suff. League, 62; 126;
in Mont, 364;
Nev, 387;
N. Y, 467; 469;
work for Men's League, 485.
Laidlaw, Mrs. James Lees, in Calif, 46;
Mont, 364;
Nev, 387;
N. Y, 450, 462, 464, 475-6-7; 488.
Lamar, Mrs. Walter D, 138-9.
Langhorne, Orra, 665.
Langley, U. S. Rep. John W. (Ky.), 213.
Larch-Miller, Aloysius, 536.
Lathrop, Julia C, chief Federal Children's Bureau, 112.
Laughlin, Gail, work in Calif, 30, 39, 49;
Colo, 61;
Minn, 318;
Mont, 360-1;
Neb, 369, 370-1;
Nev, 398;
Ore, 540-1, 543.
Lawrence, Mrs. Pethick (Great Brit.), 208; 704; 790; 868.
Laws, for women and children much improved, 1.
Lawther, Anna B, 184; 187.
Lea, U. S. Sen. Luke, 603; 606; 608.
Leach, Antoinette D, 167; 169.
League of Nations, attitude toward of Intl. Wom. Suff. Alliance,
870-1.
League of Women Voters, organized, chairmen, see each St. chapter
near close.
Leckenby, Ellen S, 673-4.
Leech, Mrs. James A, 215.
Legislatures, action on wom. suff, listed in each St. chapter;
women members, see Officers.
Leighty, Mrs. John R, 348; 352; 357-8-9.
Lenroot, U. S. Sen. Irvine L, 708.
Leonard, Gertrude Halliday, 282; 285-6-7; 299.
Leser, Judge Oscar (Md.), 261.
Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, assists Ala, 5;
Me, 243;
Vt, 660;
West Va, 692;
Intl. Suff. Alliance, 869.
Lewis, Mrs. George Howard, contribution, 444; 456.
Lewis, Mrs. Lawrence, 109.
Lexow, Caroline, 456; 487.
Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, 87, 253, 418.
Lindemann, Anna (Germany), 837;
report of Alliance cong. in Stockholm, 846;
Budapest, 850, 854;
Geneva, 860, 869.
Lindsey, Judge Ben, in Kans, 198;
Mass, 276;
Wash, 678.
Lindsey, Gov. Washington E. (N. M.), 436; 438.
Lindsey, Mrs. Washington E, see N. Mex. chapter, 434, 436.
Lindsey, Mrs. Z. T, 373-4-5.
Lippitt, U. S. Sen. Henry F, 569.
Liquor interests, opposed to wom. suff. in Ariz, 10, 14;
Calif, 27;
Fla, 119;
Ills, 154, 158, 163;
Iowa, 188-9;
Kans, 203;
Ky, 210;
Md, 261;
Mass, 293;
Mich, 307-8-9;
Minn, 325;
Mont, 365;
Neb, 376;
Nev, 394;
N. J, 424-5;
N. Y, 483;
N. Dak, 506;
Ohio, 510-11, 513;
work with women "antis," 513, 515, 519;
Okla, 524;
Ore, 543;
Penn, 561;
S. Dak, 586;
Wis, 703, 708.
Livermore, Mrs. Arthur L, in Md, 265;
N. H, 407;
N. Y, 448, 468, 476.
Livermore, Mary A, see Mass. chapter, 267 et seq;
pres. from 1893; birthday, 268;
tribute to Mr. Blackwell; death, 271;
memorial in N. J, 414;
Vt, 652.
Livingston, Deborah Knox, work in Me, 238-9, 242-3;
N. H, 405;
West Va, 689.
Lloyd George, action on wom. suff. in Gt. Brit, 733, 736, 744;
receives deputation, has bill drafted, 745.
Lockwood, Belva A, 105; 250; 700.
Lodge, U. S. Sen. Henry Cabot, anti suff. work in N. H, 406, 408.
Loines, Mary H, 454.
London, Mary Parke, 6.
Lord, Eliza H, 253.
Lore, Ch. Justice Charles B, 88.
Lore, Emma, 88-9.
Louisiana, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
Southern Conf,
see State chapters, 216, 226.
Low, Seth, ignores women, 107.
Lowden, Gov. Frank C. (Ills.), 162; 164.
Ludington, Katharine, see Conn. chapter, 74;
issues manifesto, 77;
interviews Natl. Com. Chmn. Hays, 78; 82;
in N. H, 657.
Luxemburg, grants wom. suff, 788.
M
Mack, Mrs. O. H, work in Nev, see St. chapter, 384.
Mackay, Mrs. Clarence, encourages Nev. women, 384-5;
society in N. J, 416;
organizes Equal Franchise Society, work in N. Y, 444-5, 456-7.
McAlarney, Emma L, 242; 265; 692.
McCallum, Jane Y, see Texas chapter, 630, 637.
McClung, Nellie, 321; 322;
in Minn, 321-2;
West Va, 691-2;
Wis, 704;
Canada, 755.
McComas, Alice Moore, 30; 40.
McCormack, Mrs. James M., 598; 610-11-12; 615.
McCormick, Katharine Dexter, in Mass, 276, 295;
elected vice-pres. Intl. Alliance, 854;
in Geneva, 862;
contributes to Alliance, re-elected, 869.
McCormick, Medill, 162; 374.
McCormick, Mrs. Medill, 114;
work in Ills. Legis, 154, 157;
assists Mo. campaign, 355;
heads deleg. to Pres. Wilson, 609.
MacCracken, Pres. Henry Noble (Vassar), 485.
McCrea, Mrs. Willis S, 149.
McCulloch, Catharine Waugh, work in Ills, see St. chapter, 145;
Calif, 39, 41, 46;
Ind, 176;
Md, 248;
Mich, 305;
Ore, 540;
S. Dak, 590;
Wis, 700-1;
Amsterdam, 827.
McDougald, Emily C, work in Ga, see St. chapter, 134.
McFarland, Henry B. F, 105.
McGraw, Mrs. J. W, work in Ills, see St. chapter, 145.
McKellar, U. S. Sen. Kenneth, assists ratif. in Del, 96;
Md, 258;
Tenn, 599, 603, 614; 621-2;
secures suff. plank in natl. Dem. platform, 618.
McKelvie, Gov. Samuel R. (Neb), 383.
McLendon, Mary L, work in Ga, see St. chapter, 121;
tries to vote, 132.
McMahon, Mrs. Albert, in Ala, 6;
Del, 92, 94;
Fla, 117, 119;
Minn, 321;
report on S. Dak, 592.
Macmillan, Chrystal, makes digest of British laws for women,
750; 823; 826;
addresses Judic. Com. of House of Lords, 833; 841; 845; 854;
report of Alliance conf, in Geneva, 862; 865; 869.
McNaughton, Dr. Clara, 106.
McNeel, Mrs. John D, 6.
McPike, Sara, work in N. Y, 487.
McWhirter, Mrs. Felix T, 170-1-2; 175.
McWhorter, Judge J. C. (West Va.), 689; 691.
Maddox, Etta, in Md, 253; 255; 257.
Maine, efforts for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, campn,
see St. chapter, 236.
Malone, Dudley Field, 257.
Manitoba, work for wom. suff, 754.
Mann, Gov. S. A. (Utah), 644; 650.
Mansfield, Mrs. Howard, 469; 480.
Marble, Amanda J, 369; 370-1-2.
Marbury, William F, opp. wom. suff. in Md, 258; 260;
brings suit, 261.
Martin, Anne, in Del, 103;
see Nev. chapter, 386, 392;
N. Mex, 436.
Martin, U. S. Sen. George B, 213.
Martine, U. S. Sen. James E, 123; 421.
Maryland, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, great
opposition, see St. chapter, 248.
Massachusetts, effort for wom. suff, New England Assn, legis. action,
campaign, workers, see St. chapter, 267.
Maud, Queen, greetings to suff. cong, 836.
Mead, Edwin D, 275; 295.
Mead, Lucia Ames, in Me, 242;
work in Mass, 269 et seq;
in Mo, 344.
Men's Advisory Committee, in N. C, 493;
West Va, 689.
Men's Leagues for Woman Suffrage, in Ala, 6;
Calif, 35, 40;
Conn, 75, 81;
Fla, 115;
Ga, 126;
Ills, 147;
Iowa, 187;
Kans, 200-1;
La, 227;
Me, 237, 242;
Md, 251, 263;
Harvard, 278;
Mass, 283, 287;
Mich, 306, 313, 314;
Mo, 345;
Mont, 364, 366;
Neb, 372, 374;
Nev, 387, 394, 397;
N. J, 417-18, 423;
N. Y, 447, 469, 476;
full account of, 484;
in Penn, 552, 557;
Tenn, 611;
Texas, 632;
Wis, 702;
Sweden, 782;
Netherlands, 784;
Hungary, 794, 856;
Italy, 798;
Gt. Brit, 835;
Intl. League founded, 843.
Meredith, Ellis, in Colo, 61;
N. J, 414.
Meriwether, Lide A, work in Tenn, 596-7; 615.
Merrick, Caroline E, 216; 596.
Mexico, grants wom. suff, 804.
Michigan, effort for wom. suff, campaigns, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 303.
Miles, General Nelson, 317.
Milholland, Inez, speaks in Wis, 702.
"Militancy," 342;
effect in N. Y, 466, 478;
in Gt. Brit, 727; 734;
analysis of by Mrs. Fawcett, 728, 834;
Mrs. Catt's comment, 822, 855;
attitude of Intl. Alliance, 825, 854.
Miller, Alice Duer, 702.
Miller, Anne Fitzhugh, 443; 454; 456; 682.
Miller, Elizabeth Smith, 272; 443; 682.
Miller, Florence Fenwick (Gt. Brit.), 414;
at intl. suff. conf. in Washtn, 806-808.
Miller, Mrs. John O, 558; 564.
Miller, Josephine, 6; 17; 19; 22; 530; 604; 670.
Miller, Mrs. Walter McNab, in Miss, 333;
work in Mo, see St. chapter, 345 et seq.;
N. C, 492;
N. Dak, 504.
Milliken, Gov. Carl E. (Me.), 242; 244; 246.
Mills, B. Fay, 29.
Mills, Harriet May, in Del, 87, 89;
Md, 249;
N. J, 414;
work in N. Y, see St. chapter, 441-3-4; 448; 468; 476;
edits _Club Letter_, 449.
Millsaps, Major R. W, 341.
Milton, George Fort, 602; 611.
Milton, Mrs. George Fort, work in Tenn, see State chapter,
596 et seq.
Minnesota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see State chap, 317.
Minor, Virginia L, 342.
Mirovitch, Zeneide (Russia), 815; 825-6; 834.
Mississippi, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 326;
telegram of Legis. to Del. Legis, 96.
Missouri, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign,
see St. chapter, 342.
Mitchel, Mayor John Purroy (N. Y.), 465; 479; 485.
Mitchner, Lilian, 196-7; 198; 206.
Mondell, U. S. Rep. Frank W. (Wyo.), 575;
offers bill for wom. suff. in Alaska, 713.
Montana, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers,
see St. chapter, 360.
Montefiore, Dora B. (Gt. Brit.), 277; 793; 816; 825.
Moore, Laura, 652.
Moore, Mrs. Philip, 160.
Morgan, St. Rep. W. Y. (Kans.), 200; 202.
Morgan, Mrs. W. Y, 197; 203.
Morrisson, Mrs. James W, 155; 159; 161.
Morrow, Gov. Edwin P. (Ky.), 210; 213-14.
Moses, U. S. Sen. George H, 401; 406-7-8.
Moses, Judge Jacob M, 251; 253; 262-3.
Moss, Mrs. Robert, 257; 259; 266.
Mott, Lucretia, 550.
Munds, Frances W, see Ariz. chapter, 10;
elected Senator, 15.
Municipal Suffrage, in Del, 89;
in Fla, 120;
action on in Ga, 122, 128, 129;
Atlanta, 131, 136, 138;
Ills, 146-7;
Chicago, 149;
work in Ills. Legis, 150;
gained, 156;
in Ind, gained, 176,
adverse court decis, 177;
bill to repeal in Kans. Legis, 204;
in Mass, 291, 293;
Mich, 310, 316;
Neb, 379;
N. H, 410-11;
N. Mex, 438;
N. Dak, 506;
Ohio, 513;
S. Dak, 590;
Tenn, gained, 602, 616;
Vt, gained, 660, 663-4;
West Va, vote on, 688;
in Finland, 773;
Norway, 775-6;
Denmark, 777;
Iceland, 779;
Sweden, 783;
Belgium, 787.
Mussey, Ellen Spencer, 106; 108; 166; 250.
Myers, Dr. Annice Jeffreys, see Ore. chapter, 538.
Myers, Jefferson, 540.
N
Nash, Prof. Henry S, 567.
Nathan, Maud, in Md, 250-1;
N. Y, 456;
Wis, 702;
Budapest, 857.
National American Woman Suffrage Association, assists Ala, 4, 6;
Ariz, 10;
Ark, 20;
Calif, 31;
Conn, 68, 76;
Del, 91-2, 95, 101-2;
Fla, 114, 117, 119;
Kans, 199;
Me, 238, 243;
Md, 265;
Okla, 280;
Mich, 312, 314;
Minn, 318, 321;
Miss, 334;
Mont, 365;
Neb, 377;
Nev, 394;
N. H, 406, 408, 410;
N. J, 414;
N. Mex, 435;
N. Y, 478;
N. C, 492, 497;
N. Dak, 502, 504;
Okla, 530 et seq;
Ore, 541-2;
S. C, 579; 581-2;
S. Dak, 589, 592-3-4;
Texas, 640;
Vt, 655, 660;
Va, 667, 670;
Wash, 682, 692-3;
West Va, 690;
Wis, 701;
urges suff. for and assists Hawaiian women, 716;
Filipino women, 719;
Porto Rican women, 723-4.
National Council of Women Voters, 683-4.
National Woman's Party (see Congressional Union), Colo. objects to,
61;
in Conn, 75, 82;
Ga, 142;
Mass, 301;
N. Y. repudiates, 466, 478;
in Tenn, 621;
Va, 670;
Wis, 705.
Nebraska, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
petitions, see St. chapter, 368;
Omaha Men's Anti-suff. Manifesto, 873.
Negro women vote in Tenn, 606.
Nelson, Julia B, in Minn, 318; 322.
Nesbitt, W. D, 7, 8.
Netherlands, effort for wom. suff, eminent women, entertains Intl.
Alliance, suff. granted, 783.
Nevada, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers,
see St. chapter, 384.
New Brunswick, work for wom. suff, 764.
Newfoundland, work for wom. suff, 766.
New Hampshire, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 400.
New Jersey, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 412.
Newlands, U. S. Sen. Francis G, 389; 394.
New Mexico, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 434.
Newspapers, listed in each State chapter.
New York, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
see St. chapter, 440.
New Zealand, wom. suff. in, 752.
Neymann, Clara, speaks in Wis, 702.
Nicholes, Anna, 147.
Nicholson, Meredith, speaks for wom. suff., 176.
Noble, Harriet, 167; 172-3.
Noland, Anna Dunn, work in Ind, see St. chapter, 166.
Norbeck, Gov. Peter (S. Dak.), 591; 594.
Nordica, Lillian, sings for wom. suff. in Calif, 49;
in New York, 450.
Norris, U. S. Sen. George W, 383.
North Carolina, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
memorial to Dr. Shaw, see St. chapter, 490.
North Dakota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
see St. chapter, 501.
Northrup, Dr. Cyrus, 323.
Norway, work for wom. suff, petitions, success, women in office,
774; 826.
Nova Scotia, work for wom. suff, 764.
Nozaleda, Archbishop, 719-20.
Nugent, James R, 424-5; 430.
O
Obenchain, Eliza Calvert, 207.
Oddie, Gov. Tasker H. (Nev.), 389.
Odell, Gov. Benjamin F. (N. Y.), 454.
Officers, Women, in Calif, 58;
Colo, 64-66;
D. C. (National), 108, 110-11-12;
Mont, 367;
Nev, 390;
Okla, 537;
Tex, 638;
Utah, 646, 648;
Wyo, 710-11-12;
Gt. Brit, 750-1;
Canada, 755-6-7, 764;
Finland, 773;
Norway, 776;
Denmark, 778;
Iceland, 779;
Sweden, 782-3;
Netherlands, 786;
Luxemburg, 788;
Russia, 789;
Germany, 791, 864;
Austria, 793;
Hungary, Bohemia, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, 794-5;
Palestine, 803; 863.
Ogden, Esther G, before Natl. Dem. Com, 620.
Ohio, effort for wom, suff, legis. action, campaigns, law suits,
see St. chapter, 508.
Oklahoma, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
see St. chapter, 520.
Oliver, U. S. Rep. Wm. B. (Ala.), 8.
Olzendam, Lilian H, 655-8; 660.
O'Neil, Mrs. David, 346; 351-2; 354; 357.
Ontario, work for wom. suff, 757.
Ordway, Evelyn, 216.
Oregon, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
see St. chapter, 538;
Mass. contributes to campaigns, 268, 278.
O'Reilly, Leonora, 276; 456; 461.
Organizations of Women, endorsement of wom. suff, in every State
chapter.
Organizers, lists of, 554; 692.
Orr, Pauline V, 333-4.
Osborn, Gov. Chase S. (Mich.), 306-7; 315.
Osborne, Eliza Wright, 442-3; 448; 456.
Osborne, Thomas Mott, 442; 572.
Otis, Harrison Gray, 46.
O'Toole, Mary, work in D. C, app. Judge, see chapter, 104.
Overman, U. S. Sen. Lee S, 493; 496.
Owen, U. S. Sen. Robert L, for wom. suff. in Okla, 522-3, 537.
Owens, Helen Brewster, 198.
P
Page, U. S. Sen. Carroll S, 652; 655-6.
Page, Mary Hutcheson, see Mass, chapter, 267;
in N. H, 403.
Palestine, women vote and hold office, 803.
Palmer, Attorney General A. Mitchell, urges Fed. Amend. in Del, 96;
Md, 257;
Miss, 340;
N. J, 430;
Va, 671.
Palmer, U. S. Sen. Thomas W, 306.
Pankhurst, Christabel, in La, 220;
Tenn, 610.
Pankhurst, Mrs. Emmeline, in Conn, 70;
D. C, 107;
Ky, 208, 214;
Md, 252;
Mass, 275, 285;
Harvard refuses, 283;
in Mo, 344;
Neb, 372;
N. J, 419;
N. Y, 486;
R. I, 567;
Wis, 701;
organizes "militant" suff. society in Great Brit, 727;
its work, 728-9, 732, 734;
war work, 739;
in Toronto, 758;
refuses to send delegates to Intl. Alliance cong, 825, 834.
Pankhurst, Sylvia, in Calif., 47;
Md, 252;
Mass, 285, 295;
Mo, 344;
N. H, 404;
N. Dak, 501;
Wis, 702.
Parades for Woman Suff, in Ala, 9;
Calif, 54;
Conn, women, 73;
Del. women, 89, 91, 98, 102-3;
D. C, 108;
Ga, 129;
Chicago, in 1913, 157,
in 1914, 159,
in 1916, 161;
Iowa, 182;
Kans. women, 203;
Ky, 210;
Md. women, 252, 265;
Mass, 275, 279, 285-6-7, 295;
Minn, women, 320-1-2;
in Miss, 332;
Mo, 347, 349;
Mont, 366;
Neb, 376;
N. H, 405;
N. J. women, 417-8, 421, 426;
in N. Y, 450, 470, 474;
first men marched, 485;
R. I. women, 570;
Tenn. women, 599, 609, 612;
in Utah, 650;
West Va, 689;
Wis. women, 705;
Canadian women, 759;
in Holland, 785.
Pardee, Gov. George C. (Calif.), 31.
Park, Alice, in Ariz, 14;
Nev, 398;
see Calif, chapter, 27.
Park, Maud Wood, in Calif, 33;
Del, 86; 91;
Me, 238;
see Mass. chap, 267; 281;
in Mich, 309;
Minn, 319;
Neb, 372;
Nev, 387;
N. H, 401, 406;
N. Dak, 495;
Ore, 540;
R. I, 566;
Vt, 661;
Va, 668;
Wis, 700;
helps wom. suff. in Hawaii, 717-18.
Parker, Adella M, 674-7; 679; 681; 686.
Parker, Gov. John M, see La. chapter from 230.
Parker, Dr. Valeria H, 391; 649.
Parkhurst, Gov. Frederick H. (Me.), 247.
Parmelee, Annette W, work for wom. suff. in Vt, see St. chapter, 651.
Parsons, Herbert, 483; 485.
Partridge, Mary, 2; 3.
Patterson, Hannah J, work in Penn, 553-4; 560;
West Va, 690-1.
Paul, Alice, chmn. Congressl. Com, 108;
org. Congressl. Union, 109; 394;
N. C. objects to, 491.
Peabody, George Foster, 457;
pres. N. Y. Men's League, 484-5.
Peck, Mary Gray, 318;
describes Alliance meeting in Stockholm, 845.
Peet, Mrs. Sturtevant, 34.
Penfield, Jean Nelson, in Nev, 391;
Utah, 649.
Pennsylvania, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers,
see St. chapter, 550.
Pennybacker, Mrs. Percy, 160.
Penrose, U. S. Sen. Boies, promises help, does not give it, 561; 563.
Petition, of National Assn. for Fed. Amend, in Mass, 281-300;
Mich, 305;
Minn, 319, 322;
Neb, 372;
N. Y, 447, 465, 480;
Penn, 552;
R. I, 566;
Utah, 645;
Wis, 700;
for wom. suff. in Philippines, 719.
Pettyjohn, Dr. E. S, 198.
Philippines, The, effort for wom. suff; Natl. Suff. Assn. petitions
for, Gov. Genls. and Archbishop recommend, action of U. S. Congress,
of Filipino Congress, Mrs. Catt visits Manila, Philippine Commssr.
De Veyra and wife urge it, status of women, 719.
"Picketing," Colo, objects, 61;
New York protests, 466, 478;
President Wilson on, 479.
Pidgeon, Mary E, 494; 497; 592; 670; 693.
Pierce, Emma S, see N. Dak. chapter, 501.
Pierce, Katherine, see Okla. chapter, 520, 536.
Pinchot, Mrs. Gifford, 563.
Pinckard, Mrs. James S, in Ala, 7;
Tenn, 621.
Pitman, Mrs. B. F, work in Mass, 279-80, 284;
in Hawaii, 717-8.
Pittman, U. S. Sen. Key, 389.
Pleasant, Gov. Ruffin G. (La.), 223-4; 230; 233.
Pleasant, Mrs. Ruffin G, in Tenn, 622.
Poland, grants wom. suff, elects women, 795.
Pollock, U. S. Sen. William P, 582.
Pomerene, U. S. Sen. Atlee, 517.
Porritt, Annie G, see Conn. chapter, 68; 83.
Porto Rico, efforts for wom. suff, action of U. S. Cong; of its
Legis, 722.
Portugal, 802.
Post, Mrs. Edmund M, 215.
Post, Louis F, in Wis. campaign, 701.
Post, Mrs. Louis F, in Md, 251.
Potter, Prof. Frances Squire, speaks in Calif, 36;
Mass, 276; 318;
Mo, 344;
N. J, 416;
N. Y, 446;
Ore, 547.
Presidential Suffrage, legis. action, in Ills, 149, 150 et seq;
gained, 156;
in court, 158;
women's first vote, 162;
in Ind, 176;
law suits, 177;
re-passed, 178;
Iowa, 191;
Kans. Legis, 204-5;
in Ky, 214;
Me, 245;
Md, 257;
Mass, 291;
Mich, 311, 316;
Minn, 324-5;
Mo, 351, 357-8-9;
Neb, 379;
N. H, 410-11;
N. J, 427, 432-3;
N. Mex, 438;
N. C, 500;
N. Dak, 506;
Ohio, in court, 514, 519;
Okla, 523;
Penn, 562;
R. I, 570, 573-4, 576;
S. C, 583;
S. Dak, 590;
Tenn, 601-5;
in court, women vote, 605; 616;
Texas, 634;
Vt, 660;
vetoed by Gov, 664;
West Va, 697;
Wis, 707-8.
Primary Suffrage, Ark. Legis. grants, 19-25;
legis. action in Fla, 117, 119;
Iowa, 191;
Miss, 339;
S. C, 581;
Texas Legis. grants, 634; 638.
Progressive State conventions, in Ky, 211;
Mass, 297-8.
Prohibition, women's votes for, in Mich, 315;
Wash, 686;
Alaska, 714; 754.
Prouty, Gov. George H. (Vt.), 653.
Pyle, Mrs. John L, work in S. Dak, see St. chapter, 587 et seq.
Q
Quebec, work for wom. suff, 765.
Quinby, Gov. Henry B. (N. H.), 403.
Qvam, Mrs. F. M, work in Norway, 774; 815;
reports on wom. suff, 826; 829;
brings message from Queen, 836; 848; 857.
R
Raker, U. S. Rep. John E, at La. Legis, 234;
for wom. suff. in Hawaii, 718.
Rankin, Jeannette, 46;
in Fla, 118;
Md, 257;
work in Mont, see St. chapter, 360;
elected to Congress, 367;
in N. H, 405;
N. C, 493;
R. I, 577;
Wash, 679.
Rathbone, Eleanor (Gt. Brit.), 740; 869.
Ratification of Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment, account near end of
each State chapter;
see especially Ala, 7;
Conn, 75;
Del, 93;
Ga, 140;
La, 225, 230;
Md, 257;
Miss, 337;
N. C, 495;
Tenn, 616;
West Va, 694.
Reed, U. S. Sen. James A, 358, 641.
Reedy, William Marion, 350.
Reid, Mrs. Ogden Mills, 475; 482.
Reports, to Intl. Suff. Cong, 808, 813, 864.
Republican National Committee, 78; 79; 80;
assists ratification in Del, 94; 100;
N. H, 409;
Tenn, 621;
West Va, 694.
Republican State conventions and committees, in Calif, 33, 53-4, 56;
Conn, 76, 78, 85;
Del, 93-4, 98;
Ills, 146;
Iowa, 186;
Ky, 210-11-12;
Mass, 295, 298;
Minn, 322;
Mo, 348;
N. Y, 446, see 483;
N. C, 493, 495, 500;
R. I, 576;
Tenn, 599, 613;
Vt, 657;
Va, 667;
West Va, 691.
Reynolds, Minnie J, in Colo, 61;
N. J, 416, 418; 420-1; 432; 449;
Wash, 680.
Rhode Island, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 565.
Richards, Emily S, see Utah chapter, 644 et seq.
Richards, Janet, in Del, 91;
Md, 263;
N. J, 415; 488;
Wash, 679, 682;
Stockholm, 840, 844.
Riddle, State Sen. Agnes, 64; 67; 202.
Ridgely, Mrs. Henry, 93-4; 96; 101.
Riggs, St. Rep. John A. (Ark.), 23-4-5-6.
Ringrose, Mary E, 39; 200; 398.
Roark, Mary C, 209.
Roberts, Gov. Albert H. (Tenn.), 605;
Mrs. Catt asks to call extra session, 617;
confers with Pres. Wilson, urged by Dems, 618;
calls it, threatened with defeat, 619;
message to Legis, 622;
upholds ratif. and forwards certificate, 623-4.
Roberts, Caroline, 265-6.
Roberts, Margaret S, see Idaho chapter, 143.
Robertson, U. S. Rep. Alice, 528, 537.
Robertson, Sir Forbes, 548.
Robinson, State Sen. Helen Ring, in Ga, 29;
in Col, 67;
Ky, 208;
Mass, 285;
N. H, 404;
Geneva, 863.
Robinson, Lida P, 10.
Roessing, Mrs. Frank M, see Penn. chap, 553 et seq;
in West Va, 689;
assists Intl. Alliance, 868.
Roosevelt, President Theodore, appealed to for Fed. Amend. from Calif,
34;
faint praise for wom. suff, 44;
Del. women petition, 88;
urges wom. suff. in Me, 241; 280;
petitioned by Mich. women, 303;
enrolls for wom. suff, 317;
appeals to U. S. Sen. Moses for Fed. Suff. Amend, 408;
N. J. women petition, 415;
speaks for wom. suff. in New York, 450;
advice as Governor, 454.
Root, Elihu, 483.
Roraback, John Henry, 76, 78, 80.
Rowe, Charlotte, in Del, 96;
La, 232;
N. H, 407, 409;
Okla, 529;
Texas, 641-2.
Royden, A. Maude (Gt. Brit.), in Md, 250;
Budapest, 857-8;
preaches in Geneva, 860.
Ruhl, Mrs. John L, 687; 693-4; 697.
Rumsey, Mrs. Dexter P, 444; 448; 456; 468; 475.
Russell, Gov. Lee M. (Miss.), 339.
Russia, efforts for wom. suff, Prof. Miliukov assists, women hold
cong, elected, 788-9; 825.
Ruutz-Rees, Caroline, 70.
Rye, Gov. Tom C. (Tenn.), 599; 601; 603; 616.
S
Sacajawea, unveiling of Statue in Ore, 540-1.
Safford, Rev. Mary A, work in Fla, 115, 119;
Iowa, 183;
Mass, 270.
Salamon, Dr. Alice (Germany), 791.
Sanderson, Annie Cobden (Gt. Brit.), 252; 273; 825;
on "militants," 855.
Sanford, Prof. Maria, 322.
Sapp, Bernice A, 674; 686.
Sargent, Ellen Clark, see Calif. chap, 27 et seq; 52.
Saskatchewan, work for wom. suff, 755.
Schlingheyde, Clara, work in Calif, 28, 31, 50;
for Intl. Suff. Alliance, 868.
Schlumberger, Mme. DeWitt, pres, natl. suff. assn. of France,
800; 843; 854; 858; 860;
appeals to League of Nations for wom. suff, 867.
Schmidt, Prof. Nathaniel, 344; 444; 456.
Schools for Citizenship, in Me, 246;
Mo, 352;
N. H, 408; S. C, 582;
Wis, 706.
Schools for Woman Suffrage, in Ala, 6;
Fla, 116;
Atlanta, 129, 130;
Ind, 174;
Iowa, 185;
Kans, 204;
Me, 238;
Md, 265;
Mich, 310;
Neb, 379;
N. J, 421;
R. I, 570;
S. C, 581;
Va, 667;
West Va, 688;
Wis, 704.
Schoonmaker, Nancy, 74; 245-6; 572; 706.
Schurman, Pres. Jacob G, 485.
Schwimmer, Rosika, in Ky, 208;
Wis, 704; 812; 815; 826; 838; 844;
Intl. Suff. Alliance Cong, in Hungary, 793; 849; 854;
report for Hungary, 855; 857;
countrywomen honor, 858, 865.
Scott, Mrs. William Force, 44.
Sellers, Kathryn, 109; 111.
Seton, Mrs. Ernest T, 73-4.
Severance, Caroline, M, 30-1; 40.
Severance, Sarah, 34.
Sewall, May Wright, lectures in Calif, 28;
organizes in Ind, 171;
work in Wis, 701; 772;
at cong. in Budapest, 859.
Sexton, Minola Graham, see N. J. chapter, 412 et seq.
Shafroth, Gov. and U. S. Sen. John F, 5;
assists wom. suff. in Kans, 198;
Md, 257;
at Dem. Natl. Conv, 349;
N. J, 431;
Hawaii, 717;
Porto Rico, 723.
Shaw, Dr. Anna Howard, letter to Ala, 4;
visits Ark, 20;
in Ariz. campaign, 14;
entertained in Calif, 32;
speaks in Del, 86, 91;
memorial, 92; 102; 110;
in Fla, 116-7;
Ga, 122-3, 135;
Iowa, 182, 187;
letter to Kans, 198;
speaks in Ky, 208;
in southern States, 218;
Md, 249, 253, 256;
Mass, 270 to 294;
Mich, 305, 309;
Minn, 317-18-19;
Miss, 326, 329, 333;
Mo. 349;
at natl. suff. conv. 1919, 351;
memorial, 354;
before Legis, 355;
Mont, 364;
Neb, 370-1, 373-4, 376;
work in Nev, 384, 387, 397;
N. H, 401-2-3;
N. J, 413-14-15, 417, 420, 424, 431;
N. Y, 441-2-3, 450, 455, 464, in campaign, 483;
wants Men's League, 484;
in N. C, 492-3;
memorial bldg, 495;
N. Dak, 502;
Okla, 520;
Ore, 540, 542-3, 545;
R. I, 567-8;
memorial in S. C, 581;
in S. Dak, 589;
Tenn, 597, 607, 613;
Texas, 630, 632;
Vt, 652-3;
Va, 666;
West Va, 688, 691, 697;
work for Wis, 701-2-3;
for wom. suff. in Hawaii, 718;
chmn, suff. comn. Intl. Council of Women, 805;
at Berlin conf. Intl. Suff. Alliance, 810;
at Copenhagen, 815,
memorial to Miss Anthony, 816;
at Amsterdam, 826, 828;
speaks in Albert Hall, 836;
preaches in London, 838;
great sermon in Stockholm, 839;
in Budapest, 850; 857;
memorial tribute in Geneva, 861.
Shaw, Mrs. Quincy A, work in Mass, 268; 269; 270; 279;
in Nev, 394.
Sheepshanks, Mary, 865.
Sheldon, Rev. C. M., 202.
Sheppard, U. S. Sen. Morris, 638; 642.
Sherwood, Dr. Mary, 263.
Shields, U. S. Sen. John K, opp. wom. suff, 605;
writes Pres. Wilson, 613; 614.
Shippen, Rev. Eugene R, 306.
Shuler, Marjorie, in Del, 95;
Fla, 117;
Nev, 391;
N. H, 408;
N. C, 494;
Okla, 531, 536;
S. C, 582;
Tenn, 619-20;
Utah, 649;
Vt, 655, 658;
West Va, 694.
Shuler, Nettie Rogers, work in Me, 238, 242;
Md, 265;
Mass, 280;
Mich, 311;
N. H, 410;
N. Y, 441, 448, 456, 470;
Okla, report on campaign, 529;
R. I, 570;
S. Dak, 593;
West Va, 693-4.
Simmons, U. S. Sen. F. M, 493; 496-7.
Simons, Mrs. Seward A, work in Calif, 41-2; 52.
Simpson, Mrs. David F, 317; 321.
Sims, Rear Admiral and Mrs. William S, 578.
Slosson, Dr. and Mrs. Edwin A, 417.
Smith, Gov. Alfred E. (N. Y.), 489.
Smith, Mrs. Draper, 373; 375; 379; 381.
Smith, Ethel M, 90.
Smith, U. S. Sen. Hoke, 127; 136.
Smith, U. S. Sen. John Walter, 257.
Smith, Dr. Julia Holmes, 146; 700.
Smith, Mrs. Thos. Jefferson, 207; 215.
Snowden, M. P. Philip, 276; 285; 344;
in Gt. Brit, 730.
Snowden, Mrs. Philip, in D. C, 107;
Ky, 208;
Md, 252;
Mass, 274, 276, 285;
Mo, 344;
Neb, 372;
Toronto, 758;
London, 836;
Stockholm, 844.
Somerville, Nellie Nugent, work in Miss, see St. chapter, 327;
in N. C, 491.
South, Mrs. John Glover, 208; 215.
South Africa, effort for wom. suff, Premiers' action;
Mrs. Catt and Dr. Jacobs visit, 767.
South Carolina, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers;
see St. chapter, 579.
South Dakota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers;
see St. chapter, 585.
Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference, 218, 610.
Spain, efforts for wom. suff, 802.
Spargo, John, in N. Y. Legis, 546.
Spencer, Rev. Anna Garlin, in Mass, 269;
R. I, 565-6, 571;
Wis, 702.
Spencer, U. S. Sen. Selden P, 358.
Sperry, Dr. Mary, 50; 398.
Sperry, Mary S, see Calif. chap, 27 et seq; 52.
Spring, Rebecca, 30.
Springer, Elmira E, 147.
Sproul, Gov. William C. (Penn.), 562-3.
Stanford, Mrs. Leland, for wom. suff, 28.
Stanislawsky, Mrs. Henry, in Calif, 46;
Nev, 384-5-6; 393.
Stanley, Gov. A. O. (Ky.), 211.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, birthdays, 30, 90, 109;
100th, 487;
memorial in Neb, 370;
pioneer, 440;
memorial in Seneca Falls, 444;
for Intl. Suff. Assn, 805.
Starbuck, Kathryn H, 459.
Starrett, Helen Ekin, 549.
Stearns, Sarah Burger, 40.
Steinem, Pauline, 508.
Stephens, Adelia C, work in Okla, see St. chapter, 520.
Stephens, Gov. William D. (Calif.), 57.
Stevens, Doris, 309; 407.
Stevens, Isaac N, 60; 62.
Stevens, Dr. Mary Thompson, 305-6; 316.
Stewart, Ella S, in Calif, 36;
Ills, 146; 149;
Ind, 167;
Md, 251;
Mich, 309;
S. Dak, 590;
Wis, 702;
Amsterdam, 826.
Stimson, Henry L, 483.
Stimson, Mrs. S. C, 170.
Stockwell, Maud C, work in Minn, see St. chapter, 317.
Stone, Lucy, birthdays celebr, in Del, 90;
Mass, 269, 273, 278, 280;
marriage, 275, 278;
work in N. J, 412, 417; 423;
in R. I, 565.
Stone, U. S. Sen. William R, 357-8.
Stoner, Mrs. Wesley Martin, 105;
at Dem. conv, 220;
in Tenn, 609;
West Va, 689.
Stowe, Dr. Emily Howard, suff. pioneer in Canada, 754;
memorial in Toronto, 760.
Strachan, Grace C, 254.
Stritt, Marie (Germany), 827; 845; 854; 857.
Strong, Rev. Josiah, 456.
Stuart, Gov. Henry Carter (Va.), 666.
Stubbs, Pres. J. E, 385; 389.
Stubbs, Gov. W. R. (Kans.), 195-6; 198; 202; 205.
Stubbs, Mrs. W. R, 195-6; 202; 206.
Sulzer, Gov. William (N. Y.), 451-2.
Sumner, Dean Walter T, 410.
Sutherland, U. S. Sen. Howard, 696.
Suttner, Baroness von, speaks in Wis, 702.
Sweden, efforts for wom. suff, great petitions, entertains Intl.
Alliance, women in Parliament, 780, 783.
Swift, Mary Wood, see Calif. chap, 27 et seq; 52;
in Denmark, 812.
Switzerland, effort for wom. suff, entertains Intl. Alliance, 795.
T
Taft, President William Howard, 108;
appoints Miss Lathrop, 112;
Tenn. women petition, 607;
advises wom. suff. in Philippines, 720.
Taxes, Mrs. Sargent sues for in Calif, 27;
women protest against in Atlanta, 122, 124;
Dr. Shaw's car sold for, 129;
women pay in Mass, 269;
Miss Daniels of Vt, refuses, 654;
women's poll tax refused in Tenn, 616.
Taylor, Lucretia Watson, 29; 39; 45.
Tennessee, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, ratification;
see St. chapters, 596, 607.
Territories of the United States, wom. suff. in, 713 et seq.
Territt, Amelia, 596; 615.
Terry, Mrs. D. D, 22.
Texas, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers,
see St. chapter, 630.
Thomas, Mary Bentley, 249; 254; 596.
Thomas, Pres. M. Carey, work for natl. suff. conv, 249;
in R. I, 567.
Thompson, Ellen Powell, 105.
Thompson, Lily Wilkinson, work in Miss, see St. chapter, 326.
Tiffany, Mrs. Charles L, 350; 469; 573.
Tindall, Helen Rand, 105-6.
Tindall, Dr. William, 105-6; 248.
Todd, Helen, in Calif, 46;
Conn, 72;
Mass, 283;
Mo, 356.
Tolhurst, Mrs. Shelley, 36; 40; 42.
Topping, Lucile Dyas, see Mont. chapter, 360.
Tours for wom. suff, "yellow flier," "prairie schooner," 110;
in Ills, 148-9;
Iowa, 183;
Mass, 276-7, 283-4-5;
Minn, 321;
Neb, 376;
N. J, 422;
N. Y, 470;
Ohio, 513;
Wis, 702.
Townsend, Gov. John G, in Del, 91-2; 94-5; 97; 100.
Trax, Lola, 6; 91; 581.
Treadwell, Harriette Taylor, 155; 157-8.
Trinkle, Gov. E. Lee (Va.), 671-2.
Trout, Grace Wilbur, work in Ills, see St. chap, 145 et seq;
in Wis, 702.
Tumulty, Joseph P, 425.
Turkey, 802.
Tyler, Pres. Lyon G, 666; 671.
U
Ueland, Mrs. Andreas, tribute to, 320; 323-4.
Underwood, U. S. Sen. Oscar W, 7, 10.
U. S. Supreme Court, decision on Fed. Wom. Suff. Amend, 262.
Untermeyer, Samuel, 457; 485.
Upshaw, U. S. Rep. W. D. (Ga.), 131.
Upton, Harriet Taylor, in Calif, 29; 30;
Del, 89;
Ind, 166;
Iowa, 184;
work in Ohio, see St. chapter, 508;
political position, 519;
helps ratific, in Tenn, 519, 619, 621;
in West Va, 688.
Uruguay, effort for wom. suff, 804.
Utah, half century of wom. suff, first women voters, Council of Women,
good laws, women in office, see St. chapter, 644.
V
Valentine, Lila Mead, in N. C, 490;
S. C, 580, 583;
work in Va, see St. chapter, 655.
Vanderlip, Frank A, 485.
Vanderlip, Mrs. Frank A, 86; 476; 489.
Van Sant, Gov. Samuel R. (Minn.), 317.
Van Winkle, Mina C, police lieut, 112;
in N. J, 416; 421-2; 424.
Vardaman, Gov. and U. S. Sen. (Miss.), 328; 331.
Vermont, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 651.
Vernon, Mabel, in Del, 89, 102;
Nev, 387, 394-5; 398;
N. Mex, 436.
Vertrees, Judge John J. (Tenn.), 604-5.
Vessey, Gov. Robert S. (S. Dak.), 587.
Villard, Fanny Garrison (Mrs. Henry), in Mass, 295;
N. Y, 443, 448, 455-6; 682.
Villard, Oswald Garrison, work in N. Y, 456-7;
for Men's League, 484-5.
Vincent, Dr. George E, declares for wom. suff, 321.
Virginia, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers,
see St. chapter, 665.
W
Wadsworth, U. S. Sen. James W, opp. wom. suff. in N. H, 408;
in N. Y, 455, 483, 489;
in Texas, 641.
Wadsworth, Mrs. James W, pres. Anti-Suff. Assn, in Me, 242;
Texas, 641.
Waite, Clara Turnbull, see Md. chapter, 262.
Walker, Lola, 243-4; 435; 530.
Walker, Speaker Seth M, telegram to N. C. Legis, 499;
opp. ratific, in Tenn, 605, 623-4;
goes to Washington and Conn, to opp. 625.
Walsh, Gov. and U. S. Sen. David I, 280; 285; 286; 300.
War Work of Suffragists, see record in each State chapter and
Chap. XXIV, Vol. V.
Ward, Mrs. Humphry, in Great Brit, 726.
Ward, Lydia A. Coonley, 146.
Warner, Mrs. Leslie, 598; 600; 604; 613; 614; 619.
Warwick, Countess of, speaks in Wis, 702.
Washington, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers,
see St. chapter, 673.
Watkins, Gertrude, 19; 22; 334; 435; 492; 530; 593.
Watson, Elizabeth Lowe, work in Calif, see St. chapter, 34 et seq;
rep. on campaign, 38; 55;
in Wis, 702.
Watson-Lister, Mrs. A. (Aus.), 277.
Watterson, Col. Henry, 208.
Way, Amanda, 31.
Weaver, U. S. Rep. Zebulon (N. C.), 493.
Webb, U. S. Rep. Edwin Y. (N. C.), 493.
Weeks, Anna Ross, 692.
Weeks, U. S. Sen. John W, women defeat, 300; 408.
Wells, Emmeline B, see Utah chap, 644 et seq.
Wells, Gov. Heber M. (Utah), 650.
West, Bina M, 313.
West Virginia, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns,
workers, see State chap, 687.
Wester, Catharine J, 608-9; 611; 615.
Wheeler, Mrs. Benjamin Ide, 44.
Wheeler, Everett P, in Md, 261;
Tenn, 621.
Wheeler, Grace M, see Neb. chapter, 368.
White, Gov. Albert B. (West Va.), 696-7.
White, Armenia S, 400-1; 405.
White, Mrs. Edward F, 170; 176.
White, Mrs. Lovell, 28.
White, Nettie Lovisa, in D. C, 106;
in Denmark, 812.
White, Sue S, 598; 601-2; 621.
Whitehead, Judge Reah M, 684;
digest of laws for women, 686.
Whitehouse, Mrs. Norman deR, work in N. Y, see St. chapter from 469;
in Switzerland, 488;
R. I, 578.
Whitehouse, Judge Robert Treat, 237; 243.
Whitehouse, Ch. Justice William Penn, 243.
Whiteside, Frances Smith, 128; 134.
Whitlock, Anna (Sweden), 815.
Whitman, Gov. Charles S. (N. Y.), 478-9; 483; 485.
Whitney, Charlotte Anita, work in Calif, 47;
Nev, 398;
Ore, 546.
Wickersham, George W, 483.
Wicksell, Anna B, work in Sweden, member League of Nations,
780; 812; 815; 844; 857; 869;
on Mandates Commission, 871.
Wier, Prof. Jeanne Elizabeth, 384; 386.
Wilbour, Charlotte B, 566.
Wiley, Dr. Harvey W, 654.
Wiley, Mrs. Harvey W, 105; 108.
Wilfley, U. S. Sen. Xenophon P, 358.
Wilhelmina, Queen, 818; 836.
Wilkes, Rev. Eliza Tupper, in Calif, 31; 40;
in Budapest, 850.
Willard, Mabel Caldwell, in Del, 91;
Mass, 285.
Williams, Charl, in Tenn, 619, 620-1.
Williams, U. S. Sen. John Sharp, 332; 341.
Williams, Mary H, see Neb. chap. from 368.
Williams, Mrs. Richard, 444.
Williams, Gov. Robert L. (Okla.), 528; 535; 537.
Willis, Gwendolen Brown, 257; 699; 701; 706.
Wills, M. Frances, 27.
Wilson, Miss B. M, work in Nev, 387, 392, 394.
Wilson, Rev. Clarence True, 201; 547.
Wilson, Mrs. Halsey W, in Del, 91-2;
Fla, 117;
Me, 238;
Md, 265;
Mich, 311;
N. H, 406;
S. Dak, 593;
Vt, 655-6, 658, 663.
Wilson, J. Stitt, work for suff. in Calif, 35, 48, 49;
in Nev, 398.
Wilson, President Woodrow, urges Ala. Legis. to ratify Fed. Suff.
Amend, 9, 10;
urges Del. Legis, 96, 100;
appoints women to office, 108, 111-12;
urges Ga. Legis. to ratify, 142;
same, La, 233;
urges St. Suff. Amend. in Me, 241; 280;
Miss. women petition, 331;
to N. J. women, 422;
votes for wom. suff, 425;
assists N. Y, campn, 479;
refers to "picketing", 479; 493;
urges ratification in N. C, 497;
in Okla, 537;
Pres. suff in Tenn, 604;
women call on, 609;
writes Sen. Shields for Fed. Amend, 613;
assists ratification, 617;
telegraphs Gov. Roberts for special session in Tenn, 618;
Texas women appeal to for Fed. Amend, 635;
urges State amend, 640;
urges ratification in Va, 671;
in West Va, 694.
Wisconsin, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers,
see St. chapter, 699.
Wise, Rabbi Stephen S, for Men's League, 484;
in R. I, 569;
in Budapest, 858.
Wolcott, U. S. Sen. Josiah O, 92-3; 99.
_Woman Citizen_, natl. suff. assn. official paper, 130; 314.
Woman Suffrage in Many Countries, manner and time of gaining,
see chapter on, 771;
also on British Colonies, 752.
Woman Suffrage Party, in Calif, 50;
Ga, 127;
La, 224-226;
Md, 251;
Mass, 281;
N. J, 418;
organized in New York, 445, 460;
work in city, 461 et seq; 468 et seq;
org. in State, 475; 477;
in Penn, 553;
R. I, 568, 572, 577.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, work for wom. suff. referred to
in each State chapter.
_Woman's Journal_, its founding, 275; 279; 285; 329.
Women's Political Union, work in N. J, 420, 424;
in N. Y, 486.
Wood, Mary I, 402; 404; 406-7-8-9.
Wood, Judge William H, 419.
Woodall, Amelia R, 126; 129; 132.
Woods, Dr. Frances, in Ariz, 11;
Okla, 521-2.
Works, U. S. Sen. John D, 575.
Worrell, Emma, 87-8; 89; 90.
Wright, Edna, 408; 705.
Wright, Harriet G. R, 60-1.
Wyoming, see St. chapter, 709;
university confers doctor's degree on Mrs. Catt, 712.
Y
Yaggy, Laura Reed, 202-3.
Yates, Elizabeth Upham, 242;
work for wom. suff. in R. I, see St. chapter, 568;
tribute to, 577.
Yorke, Judge Waldo M, 31; 40-1.
Yost, Mrs. Ellis A, work in West Va, see St. chapter, 687; 697.
Youmans, Theodora W, work in Wis, see St. chapter, 704 et seq.
Young, Brigham, 645; 647.
Young, Clara A, 368-9; 371-2.
Young, Rose, in New York, 469, 473, 481.
Young, Virginia Durant, 579; 582.
Younger, Maud, 38; 45; 55; 398.
Yukon Territory, grants wom. suff, 764.
Z
Zueblin, Prof. Charles, 567; 660; 702.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
The transcriber made these changes to the text to correct obvious
errors:
1. p. 105 Assocation --> Association
2. p. 110 acompanied --> accompanied
3. p. 110 Washingon --> Washington
4. p. 135 affiliat??? --> affiliated
5. p. 145 Assocation --> Association
6. p. 150 memberehip --> membership
7. p. 223 enthusiatic --> enthusiastic
8. p. 266 Fn #78, mentiond --> mentioned
9. p. 319 typwritten --> typewritten
10. p. 340 committe --> committee
11. p. 378 specificed --> specified
12. p. 429 over held --> ever held
13. p. 531 acount --> account
14. p. 537 joint --> join
15. p. 538 ratianal --> rational
16. p. 541 Christion --> Christian
17. p. 578 ocasion --> occasion
18. p. 581 progagandists --> propagandists
19. p. 585 activites --> activities
20. p. 605 Footnote anchor #168 missing;
placed at most appropriate place.
21. p. 641 acompanied --> accompanied
22. p. 648 ocasionally --> occasionally
23. p. 706 thoughout --> throughout
24. p. 753 ristory --> history
25. p. 787 shoud --> should
26. p. 795 reportd --> reported
27. p. 805 geting --> getting
28. p. 834 sacraficing --> sacrificing
29. p. 839 demonination --> denomination
30. p. 840 annnounced --> announced
31. p. 842 beginnning --> beginning
32. p. 843 Annnie --> Annie
33. p. 843 Colocel --> Colonel
34. p. 845 magnificest --> magnificent
35. p. 858 responsibilties --> responsibilities
36. p. 859 adress --> address
37. p. 863 elibility --> eligibility
38. p. 891 Milsaps --> Millsaps
39. p. 893 Parmalee --> Parmelee
End of Transcriber's Notes]
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