XLVII. MINNESOTA
Girls in State University--Sarah Burger Stearns--Harriet E. Bishop the First Teacher in St. Paul--Mary J. Colburn Won the Prize--Mrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm, St. Cloud--Fourth of July Oration, 1866--First Legislative Hearing, 1867--Governor Austin's Veto--First Society at Rochester--Kasson--Almira W. Anthony--Mary P. Wheeler--Harriet M. White--The W. C. T. U.--Harriet A. Hobart--Literary and Art Clubs--School Suffrage, 1876--Charlotte O. Van Cleve and Mrs. C. S. Winchell Elected to School Board--Mrs. Governor Pillsbury--Temperance Vote, 1877--Property Rights of Married Women--Women as Officers, Teachers, Editors, Ministers, Doctors, Lawyers.
Minnesota was formally admitted to the Union May 11, 1858. Owing to its high situation and dry atmosphere the State is a great resort for invalids, and nowhere in the world is the sun so bright, the sky so blue, or the moon and stars so clearly defined. Its early settlers were from New England; hence, the church and the school-house--monuments of civilization--were the first objects in the landscape to adorn those boundless prairies, as the red man was pushed still westward, and the white man seized his hunting-ground.
This State is also remarkable for its admirable system of free schools, in which it is said there is a larger proportion of pupils to the population than in any other of the Western States. All institutions of learning have from the beginning been open alike to boys and girls.
Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, was one of the first young women to apply for admission to the Michigan University.[431] Being denied, she finished her studies at the State Normal School, and in 1863 married Mr. O. P. Stearns, a graduate of the institution that barred its doors to her. Mr. Stearns, at the call of his country, went to the front, while his no less patriotic bride remained at home, teaching in the Young Ladies' Seminary at Monroe and lecturing for the benefit of the Soldiers' Aid Societies.
The war over, they removed to Minnesota in 1866, where by lectures, newspaper articles, petitions and appeals to the legislature, Mrs. Stearns has done very much to stir the women of the State to thought and action upon the question of woman's enfranchisement. She has been the leading spirit of the State Suffrage Association, as well as of the local societies of Rochester and Duluth, the two cities in which she has resided, and also vice-president of the National Association since 1876. As a member of the school-board, she has wrought beneficent changes in the schools of Duluth. She is now at the head of a movement for the establishment of a home for women needing a place of rest and training for self-help and self-protection. Mrs. Stearns has the full sympathy of her husband and family, as she had that of her mother, Mrs. Susan C. Burger, whose last years were passed in the home of her daughter at Duluth. Mrs. Stearns writes:
The advocates of suffrage in Minnesota were so few in the early days,[432] and their homes so remote from each other, that there was little chance for cooeperation, hence the history of the movement in this State consists more of personal efforts than of conventions, legislative hearings and judicial decisions. The first name worthy of note is that of Harriet E. Bishop. She was invited by Rev. Thomas Williamson, M. D., a missionary among the Dakotas, to come to his mission home and share in his labors in 1847, where she was introduced to the leading citizens of St. Paul. She was the first teacher of a public school in that settlement. She lectured on temperance, wrote for the daily papers, and preached as a regular pastor in a Baptist pulpit. She published several books, was one of the organizers of the State Suffrage Association in 1881, and in 1883 rested from her labors on earth.
The first lecture in the State on the "Rights and Wrongs of Woman," was by Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, in the village of Champlin, in 1858, the same year that Minnesota was admitted to the Union. In 1864, the State officers promised two prizes for the first and second best essays on "Minnesota as a Home for Emigrants," reserving to the examining committee the right to reject all manuscripts offered if found unworthy. The first prize was accorded to Mrs. Colburn. Most of the other competitors were men, some of them members of the learned professions. Mrs. Colburn says, in writing to a friend, "I am doing but little now on the suffrage question, for I will not stoop longer to ask of any congress or legislature for that which I know to be mine by the divine law of nature."
In 1857, Mrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm settled at St. Cloud, where she lived until 1863, editing the St. Cloud Democrat, the organ of the Republican party, and making a heroic fight for freedom and equality. In 1860 she spoke in the Hall of Representatives, on Anti-slavery; in 1862 she was invited to speak before the Senate on woman's rights, and was listened to with great respect.[433]
In 1866, at a Fourth of July celebration, Mrs. Stearns accepted an invitation to respond to the sentiment, "Our young and growing State; may she ever be an honor to her citizens." This offered her an opportunity for an off-hand woman suffrage speech, which elicited hearty cheers, and gave, as an old gentleman present said, "something fresh to think of and act upon." About this time the friends of equality began petitioning the legislature for an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male." Through the efforts of Mr. A. G. Spaulding--the editor of the Anoka Star--and others, these petitions were referred to a special committee which granted a hearing to Mrs. Colburn and Mrs. Stearns in 1867. Mrs. Colburn read a carefully prepared argument, and Mrs. Stearns sent a letter, both of which were ordered to be printed. In 1868 a bill was introduced proposing to submit the desired amendment, but when brought to a vote it was defeated by a majority of one.
In March, 1869, The Revolution copied from the Martin County Atlas the following:
Show us the man who from the bottom of his heart, laying aside his prejudices and speaking the unbiased truth, will not say that women should have the same rights that he himself enjoys, and we will show you a narrow-minded sycophant, a cruel, selfish tyrant, or one that has not the moral courage to battle for a principle he knows to be just. Equal rights before the law is justice to all, and the more education we give our children and ourselves, as a people, the sooner shall we have equal rights. May the glorious cause speed on.
In 1869, a suffrage society was organized in the city of Rochester, with fifty members, and another at Champlin; the homes of Mrs. Stearns and Mrs. Colburn. Petitions were again circulated and presented to the legislature early in the session of 1870. It had not then been demonstrated by Kansas, Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska and Oregon, that the votes of the ignorant classes on this question would greatly outnumber those of the intelligent. The legislature granted the prayer of the petitioners and passed a bill for the submission of an amendment, providing that the women of the State, possessing the requisite qualifications, should also be allowed to vote upon the proposition, and that their votes should be counted as legal. The governor, Hon. Horace Austin, vetoed the bill, saying it was not passed in good faith, and that the submission of the question at that time would be premature. In a private letter to Mrs. Stearns, the governor said: "Had the bill provided for the voting of the women, simply to get an expression of their wishes upon the question, without requiring their votes to be counted as legal in the adoption or rejection of it, the act would not have been vetoed, notwithstanding my second objection that it was premature."
In 1871, petitions to congress were circulated in Minnesota, asking a declaratory act to protect the women of the nation in the exercise of "the citizen's right to vote" under the new guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. During that year the National Woman Suffrage Association appointed Mrs. Addie Ballou its vice-president for Minnesota.
In 1872 a suffrage club was formed at Kasson. Its three originators[434] entered into a solemn compact with each other that while they lived in that city there should always be an active suffrage society until the ballot for women should be obtained. Their secretary, Mrs. H. M. White, writes:
Although our club was at first called a ladies' literary society, the suspicion that its members wished to vote was soon whispered about. Our working members were for some years few in number, and our meetings far between. But our zeal never abating, we tried in later years many plans for making a weekly meeting interesting. The most successful was, that every one should bring something that had come to her notice during the week, which she should read aloud, thus furnishing topics of conversation in which all could join. This never failed to make an interesting and profitable meeting. And still later we invited speakers from other States. In our various courses of lectures, Kasson audiences have enjoyed the brave utterances of Anna Dickinson, Julia Ward Howe, Susan B. Anthony, and others. The pulpit of Kasson we have found about evenly balanced for and against us; but those claiming to be friendly generally maintained a "masterly inactivity." Our editors have always shown us much kindness by gratuitously advertising our meetings and publishing our articles. Our members were all at the first meeting after school suffrage was granted to women, and one lady was elected director for a term of three years. The next year another lady was elected. While they were members of the board, a new and beautiful school house was erected, though some men said, "nothing in the line of building could be safely done until after the women's term of office had expired." Our co-workers have always treated us with great courtesy. In this respect our labors were as pleasant as in any church work.
At a temperance convention in 1874, a woman suffrage resolution was ably defended by Mrs. Julia Ballard Nelson and Mrs. Harriet A. Hobart; Mrs. Asa Hutchinson, of beloved memory, also spoke at this meeting.
As the women in several of the States voted on educational matters, the legislature of 1875 wished to confer the same privilege upon the women of Minnesota. But instead of doing so by direct legislation, as the other States had done, they passed a resolution submitting a proposition for an amendment to the constitution to the electors of the State, as follows:
An amendment to the State constitution giving the legislature power to provide by law that any woman of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, may vote at any election held for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools; or upon any measure relating to schools; and also that any such woman shall be eligible to hold any office pertaining solely to the management of schools.
No effort was made to agitate the question, lest more should be effected in rousing the opposition than in educating the masses in the few months intervening between the passage of the bill and the election in November. Mrs. Stearns, however, as the day for the decision of the question approached, wishing to make sure of the votes of the intelligent men of the State, wrote to the editor of the Pioneer Press, the leading paper of Minnesota, begging him to urge his readers to do all in their power to secure the adoption of the amendment. The request was complied with, and the editor in a private letter, thanking Mrs. Stearns, said he "had quite forgotten such an amendment had been proposed."
At this last moment the question was, what could be done to secure the largest favorable vote. Finding that it would be legal, the friends throughout the State appealed to the committees of both political parties to have "For the amendment of Article VII. relating to electors--Yes," printed upon all their tickets. This was very generally done, and thereby the most ignorant men were led to vote as they should, with the intelligent, in favor of giving women a voice in the education of the children of the State, while all who were really opposed could scratch the "yes," and substitute a "no." When election day came, November 5, 1875, the amendment was carried by a vote of 24,340 for, to 19,468 against. The following legislature passed the necessary law, and at the spring election of 1876, the women of Minnesota voted for school officers, and in several cases women were elected as directors.
I have given these details because the great wonder has been how the combined forces of ignorance and vice failed to vote down this amendment, as they always have done every other proposition for the extension of suffrage to women in this and every other State where the question has been submitted to a popular vote. I believe our success was largely, if not wholly, attributable to our studied failure to agitate the question, and the affirmative wording of all the tickets of both parties, by which our bitterest opponents forgot the question was to be voted upon, and the ignorant classes who could not, or did not read their ballots, voted unthinkingly for the measure.
In the cities the school officers are elected at the regular municipal elections usually held in the spring, while in the rural districts and smaller villages they are chosen at school meetings in the autumn. In East Minneapolis, Hon. Richard Chute, chairman of the Republican nominating convention, having, without their knowledge, secured the nomination of Mrs. Charlotte O. VanCleve[435] and Mrs. Charlotte S. Winchell[436] as school directors, called a meeting of the women of the city to aid in their election. It was a large and enthusiastic gathering. Mrs. Mary C. Peckham presided, Mrs. Stearns of Duluth, and Mrs. Pillsbury, wife of the governor, made stirring speeches, after which the candidates were called upon, and responded most acceptably. When election day came, the names of Mrs. VanCleve and Mrs. Winchell received a handsome majority of the votes of their districts. A correspondent in the Ballot-Box said:
The women of Minnesota are rejoicing in the measure of justice vouchsafed them,--the right to vote and hold office in school matters. Two hundred and seventy women voted in Minneapolis, the governor's wife among others. Although it rained all day they went to the polls in great numbers.
Including both East and West Minneapolis, fully 1,000 women voted; and while the numbers in other cities and villages were not so great, they were composed of the more intelligent. In St. Charles, where Dr. Adaline Williams was elected to the school-board, some of the gentlemen requested her to resign, on the ground that she had not been properly elected. Her reply was, "If I have not been elected, I have no need to resign; and if I have been elected, I do not choose to resign." But to satisfy those who doubted, she proposed that another election should be held, which resulted in an overwhelming majority for the Doctor.
As the law says women are "eligible to any office pertaining solely to the management of schools," one might be elected as State superintendent of public instruction. There have been many women elected to the office of county superintendent, and in several counties they have been twice reelected,[437] and wherever women have held school offices, they have been reported as doing efficient service. Although the law provided that women might "vote at any election for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools," the attorney-general gave an opinion that it did not entitle them to vote for county superintendent; hence "an act to entitle women to vote for county superintendent of schools," was passed by the legislature of 1885.
The ladies' city school committee. Miss A. M. Henderson, chairman, secured the appointment of a committee of seven women in Minneapolis, to meet with a like number of men from each of the political parties, to select such members of the school-board as all could agree upon. Having thus aided in the nominations, women were interested in their election. In 1881 Mrs. Merrill and Miss Henderson stood at the polls all day and electioneered for their candidates. It was said that their efforts not only decided the choice of school officers, but elected a temperance alderman. In many cities of the State the temperance women exert a great influence at the polls in persuading men to vote for the best town-officers. At the special election held in Duluth for choosing school officers, one of the judges of election, and the clerks at each of the polling places have for the last two years been women who were teachers in our public schools.
The early homestead law of Minnesota illustrates how easily men forget to bestow the same rights upon women that they carefully secure to themselves. In 1869, the "protectors of women" enacted a law which exempted a homestead from being sold for the payment of debts so long as the man who held it might live, while it allowed his widow and children to be turned out penniless and homeless. It was not until 1875 that this law was so amended that the exemption extended to the widow and fatherless children.
In 1877, a law was passed which gave the widow an absolute title--or the same title her husband had--to one-third of all the real estate, exclusive of the homestead, and of that, it gave her the use, during her lifetime. So that now the widow has the absolute ownership, instead of the life use of one-third of whatever she and her husband may have together earned and saved. That is, should there be any real estate left, over and above the homestead, after paying all the husband's debts, she now has, not merely the difference, as heretofore, between the amount of the tax and the income on one-third, but she may avoid the tax and other costs of keeping it, by selling her third, if she prefers, and putting the money at interest. The law still puts whatever may be left of the other two-thirds, after payment of debts, into the hands of the probate judge and others, and the interest thereof, or even the principal, may go to reward them for their services, or, if falling into honest hands, it may be left for the support and education of the children.
The legislature of 1877 submitted a constitutional amendment giving women a vote on the temperance question. This seemed likely to be carried by default of agitation, as was that of school suffrage, until within a few weeks of the election, when the liquor interest combined all its forces of men and money and defeated it by a large majority. The next year the temperance people made a strong effort to get the proposition re-submitted, but to no purpose.
In 1879, acting upon the plan proposed to all the States by the National Association, we petitioned for the adoption of a joint resolution asking congress to submit to the several State legislatures an amendment to the National constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of woman. Mrs. Stearns and others followed up the petitions with letters to the most influential members, in which they argued that the legislatures of the States, not the rank and file of the electors, ought to decide this question; and further, that the same congress that had granted woman the privilege of pleading a case before the Supreme Court of the United States would doubtless pass a resolution submitting to the legislatures the decision of the question of her right to have her opinion on all questions counted at the ballot-box. The result was a majority of six in the Senate in favor of the resolution, while in the House there was a majority of five against it.
Since 1879, our legislature has met biennially. In 1881 the temperance women of the State again petitioned for the right to vote on the question of licensing the sale of liquor. Failing to get that, or a prohibitory law, they became more than ever convinced of the necessity of full suffrage. The annual meetings of the State Union[438] have ever since been spoken of by the press as "suffrage conventions," because they always pass resolutions making the demand.
Mr. L. Bixby, editor of the State Temperance Review, gives several columns to the temperance and suffrage societies. Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger, the editor of these departments, is a lady of great ability and earnestness. Mr. Charles H. Dubois, editor of The Spectator, gives ample space in his columns to notes of women. Miss Mary C. Le Duc is connected with The Spectator. Other journals have aided our cause, though not in so pronounced a way. Mrs. C. F. Bancroft, editor of the Mantorville Express, and Mrs. Bella French, of a county paper at Spring Valley, Mrs. Annie Mitchell, the wife of one editor and the mother of another, for many years their business associate, have all given valuable services to our cause, while pecuniarily benefiting themselves. The necessity of finding a voice when something needed to be said, and of using a pen when something needed to be written, has developed considerable talent for public speaking and writing among the women of this State.[439]
All our State institutions are favorable to coeducation, and give equal privileges to all. The Minnesota University has been open to women since its foundation, and from 1875 to 1885 fifty-six young women were graduated with high honor to themselves and their sex.[440] Miss Maria L. Sanford has been professor of rhetoric and elocution for many years. The faculties of the State Normal Schools are largely composed of women. Hamline University and Carlton College are conducted on principles of true equality. At Carlton Miss Margaret Evans is preceptress and teacher of modern languages. Of the Rochester High School, Miss Josephine Hegeman is principal; of Wasioga, Miss C. T. Atwood; of Eyota Union School, Miss Adell M'Kinley.[441]
For many years Mrs. M. R. Smith was employed as State Librarian. Mrs. H. J. M'Caine for the past ten years has been librarian at St. Paul, with Miss Grace A. Spaulding as assistant. Among the engrossing and enrolling clerks of our legislature, Miss Alice Weber is the only lady's name we find, though the men holding those offices usually employ a half dozen women to assist them in copying, allowing each two-thirds of the price paid by the State, or ten cents per folio.
In this State the suffrage cause has had the sympathy of not a few noble women in the successful practice of the healing art; thus lending their influence for the political emancipation of their sex, while blessing the community with their medical skill. To Doctors Hood and Whetstone is due the credit of establishing the Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children, and training school for nurses, of which they are now the attending physicians; and Dr. Hood also attends the Bethany Home, founded by the sisterhood of Bethany, for the benefit of friendless girls and women. In the town of Detroit may be seen a drug store neatly fitted up, with "Ogden's Pharmacy" over the door, and upon it, in gilt letters, "Emma K. Ogden, M. D." While the doctor practices her profession, she employs a young woman as prescription clerk. The Minnesota State Medical Society has admitted nine women to membership.[442]
Conspicuous among evangelists in this State are Mrs. Mary C. Nind, Minneapolis, Mrs. Mary A. Shepardson, Wasioga, Mrs. Ruth Cogswell Rowell, Winona, and Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Rochester.
Thus far this chapter has been given mainly to individuals in the State, and to the home influences that have aided in creating sentiment in favor of full suffrage for woman. United with these have been other influences coming like the rays of the morning sun directly from the East where so many noble women are at work for the freedom of their sex. Among them are some of the most popular lecturers in the country.[443]
In September, 1881, representative women from various localities met at Hastings and organized a State Woman Suffrage Association[444] auxiliary to the National. During the first year one hundred and twenty-four members were enrolled. During the second the membership more than doubled. In October, 1882, the association held its first annual meeting. The audiences were large, and the speakers[445] most heartily applauded. Mrs. Nelson presided. In her letter of greeting to this meeting, from which ill-health obliged her to be absent, the president urged the association to firmly adhere to the principles of the National Association. Let us not ask for an amendment to the State constitution, and thus put it in the power of ignorance and prejudice to deny the boon we seek; while we are auxiliary to the National let us work according to its plans. Mrs. Stearns was unanimously reelected president, and her views heartily endorsed.
In the spring of '83, at the request of the State society, and with the generous consent of Mr. Bixby, the editor of the State Temperance Review, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger commenced editing a woman suffrage column in that paper. This has been a very convenient medium of communication between the State society and the local auxiliaries which have since been organized by Mrs. L. May Wheeler, who was employed as lecturer and organizer,[446] in the summer and fall of 1883. Auxiliary societies had previously been organized by Mrs. Stearns, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Kasson society, formed in 1872, also became auxiliary to the State.
During the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition, held in Minneapolis August, 1883, a woman suffrage headquarters was fitted up on the fair-grounds, in a fine large tent, made attractive by flags, banners and mottoes. The State and local societies were represented, officers and members being there to receive all who were in sympathy, to talk suffrage to opposers, to pass out good leaflets, and to exhibit copies of the Woman Suffrage History. At the annual convention this year we were honored by the presence of Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Marianna Folsom of Iowa, and many of the clergymen[447] of Minneapolis. Rev. E. S. Williams gave the address of welcome, and paid a beautiful tribute to the self-sacrificing leaders in this holy crusade. Mrs. Howe not only encouraged us with her able words of cheer, but she presided at the piano while her Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung, and seemed to give it new inspiration. In the course of her remarks the president said:
Should congress finally adopt that long-pending amendment in the winter of 1883-4 enfranchising women, we should still have work to do in 1885 to secure the ratification of this amendment by our State legislature. But should congress still refuse, let us be thankful that the way is opening for women to secure their freedom by the power of the legislature independent of all constitutional amendments, as there is nothing in ordinary State constitutions to prevent legislators from extending suffrage to women by legislative enactment. The constitution of the State of Minnesota simply enfranchises men, and does not even mention women; we have clearly nothing to do but to convince our legislators that they are free to give educated women full suffrage.
With this view the society adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That we accept with joy the argument that comes to us from the east and from the west declaring suffrage amendments to State constitutions unnecessary, because the word "male," occurring as it does in most State constitutions, in no wise restrains legislatures from extending full suffrage to women, should they feel inclined to do so. Be it also
Resolved, That it therefore becomes our duty to talk with all men and women who are friendly to our cause, and ask them to examine the argument, and if it commends itself to their judgment, to give us the benefit of their convictions.
Though passing the above resolutions at that time, the State Association of course waits to see what may be done, in view of this new idea, by older and stronger States whose constitutions are similar to ours. Although failing health induced Mrs. Stearns, in the fall of 1883, to resign her suffrage work into other hands, and ask to be excused from any office whatever, she has, with improving health lately accepted the presidency of an Equal Rights League in Duluth. Dr. Ripley was not present herself at the convention[448] which chose her for president for the ensuing year, being then at the East, but immediately after returning, she entered upon her new duties with enthusiasm. As there was to be no legislature in 1884, there could be no petitioning, except to continue the work commenced as long ago as 1871, of petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment. The work was carried on with vigor, and many hundreds of names obtained in a short time. Early in 1884 Mrs. L. May Wheeler continued to lecture in the interests of the suffrage cause. While so engaged she issued her "Collection of Temperance and Suffrage Melodies."
In 1884 a woman suffrage headquarters was again fitted up in Newspaper Row, on the grounds of the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition. The large tent was shared by the State W. C. T. U., and appropriately decked within and without to represent both of the State organizations and their auxiliaries. A large amount of suffrage and temperance literature was distributed among the many who were attracted by the novelty of the sight and sentiments displayed on banners and flags.
As Minneapolis had already become headquarters for the suffrage work of the State, it was thought best to again hold the annual meeting in that city. This was in October, continuing two days, and was both interesting and encouraging. Dr. Martha G. Ripley presided. Many interesting letters were read, and cheering telegrams received.[449] Miss Marion Lowell recited "The Legend," by Mary Agnes Ticknor, and "Was he Henpecked?" by Phebe Cary, Mrs. A. M. Tyng of Austin, made a good speech, also recited a poem entitled "Jane Conquest." Mr. Lars Oure of Norway, spoke well upon the "Claims of Woman." Dr. L. W. Denton of Minneapolis, gave a very good address. Dr. Martha G. Ripley spoke on suffrage as a natural right, and in support of this view read extracts from a pamphlet entitled, "Woman Suffrage a Right, and not a Privilege," by Wm. I. Bowditch; Eliza Burt Gamble of St. Paul, read a very able paper on "Woman and the Church"; Mrs. Stearns spoke upon the new era to be inaugurated when women have the ballot. Miss Emma Harriman read a bright and entertaining paper. The fine address of the occasion was given by Rev. W. W. Satterlee, showing the nation's need of woman's vote. Judge and Mrs. Hemiup, of Minneapolis, just returned from a visit to Wyoming Territory, were present. The judge made several speeches, and was enthusiastic in his praise of the workings of woman suffrage there. He and his wife are now active members of the State and city (Minneapolis) suffrage societies. The judge is also a member of the State executive committee.
Wishing to give honor to whom honor is due, we would mention the brave young women who have formed the Christian Temperance Unions, the leading spirits[450] in this grand movement in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Winona and St. Cloud. Their names will be usually found as delegates to the annual meetings of all the State Unions. The small army of noble girls who have helped to make the Good Templars' lodges attractive and worthy resorts for their brothers and friends, have done an inestimable work in elevating the moral tone of the community all over the State. They have also done their full share in petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment, in which they have received most untiring help from the young men of the lodges. In 1884 Miss Frances Willard again visited the State, advocating the ballot as well as the Bible as an aid to temperance work. Her eloquent voice here as elsewhere woke many to serious thought on the danger of this national vice to the safety and stability of our republican institutions. It was through Miss Willard's influence, no doubt, that the friends of temperance established a department of franchise for the State, and made Mrs. E. L. Crockett its superintendent.
The women of Minnesota seem thus far to have no special calling to the legal profession. Mrs. Martha Angle Dorsett is the only woman as yet admitted to the bar. She was graduated from the law school at Des Moines, and admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Iowa in June, 1876. She was refused admission at first in Minnesota, whereupon she appealed to the legislature, which in 1877 enacted a law securing the right to women by a vote of 63 to 30 in the House, and 26 to 6 in the Senate.
In some of the larger cities and towns the literary, musical and dramatic taste of our women[451] is evidenced by societies and clubs for mutual improvement. Many are attending classes for the study of natural history, classic literature, social science, etc. There is an art club in Minneapolis, composed wholly of artists, both ladies and gentlemen, which meets every week, the members making sketches from life. Miss Julie C. Gauthier had on exhibition at the New Orleans Exposition, a full-length portrait, true to life, of a colored man, "Pony," a veteran wood-sawer of St. Paul, which received very complimentary notices from art critics of that city, as well as from the press generally.
In the Business Colleges of Mr. Curtis at St. Paul and Minneapolis, many women are teachers, and many more are educated as shorthand reporters, telegraphers, and book-keepers. These have no difficulty in finding places after completing their college course. Nearly fifty young women are employed in the principal towns of the State as telegraphers alone. Miss Mary M. Cary has been employed for seven years as operator and station agent at Wayzata, for the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba R. R. Her services are highly valued, as well they may be, for during her absence from the station two men are required to do her work. By her talents and industry she has acquired a thorough education for herself, besides educating her two younger sisters. Mrs. Anna B. Underwood of Lake City, has for many years been secretary of a firm conducting a large nursery of fruit trees, plants and flowers. Her husband being one of the partners, she has taken a large share of the general management. The orchard yields a profit of over $1,000 a year.
From the list of names to be found in the Appendix, we see that Minnesota is remarkable for its galaxy of superior women actively engaged as speakers and writers[452] in many reforms, as well as in the trades and professions, and in varied employments. One of the great advantages of pioneer life is the necessity to man of woman's help in all the emergencies of these new conditions in which their forces and capacities are called into requisition. She thus acquires a degree of self-reliance, courage and independence, that would never be called out in older civilizations, and commands a degree of respect from the men at her side that can only be learned in their mutual dependence.
FOOTNOTES:
[431] The names of the young women who applied for admission to the classical course of the Michigan State University, in 1858, were Sarah Burger, Clara Norton, Ellen F. Thompson, Ada A. Alvord, Rose Anderson, Helen White, Amanda Kieff, Lizzie Baker, Nellie Baker, Anna Lathrop, Carrie Felch, Mary Becker, Adeline Ladd and Harriet Patton.
[432] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., note A.
[433] For further account of Mrs. Swisshelm's patriotic work in Minnesota see her "Reminiscences of Half a Century": Janson, McClurg & Co., Chicago, Ill.
[434] The three women were, Mrs. Almira W. Anthony (whose husband was a cousin of Susan B. Anthony), Mrs. Mary Powell Wheeler and Mrs. Hattie M. White.
[435] In a volume of Minnesota biography, Mrs. VanCleve is reported as a woman of great force of character, strong in her convictions of what is right, and fearless in following the dictates of her conscience. She was one of the original founders of the Sisterhood of Bethany, a society for the reformation of unfortunate women, and has held the position of president since its formation. Through the medium of lectures and social influence, she has enlisted the sympathy of a large number of the community. She has served faithfully as a member of the East Minneapolis board of education, and has always improved every opportunity to advocate the right of suffrage for women. She is a member of the State Suffrage Society, and has been for many years honorary vice-president for this State, of the National Suffrage Association. The following interesting fact is told of her, on the authority of Major-General R. W. Johnson. It was given in an address delivered by that gentleman before the old settlers' association of Hennepin county, at a reunion in the city of Minneapolis: Many years ago a soldier at Fort Snelling received an injury to his feet, and mortification ensued. Amputation became necessary and the case could not be postponed until a surgeon could be sent for, because there was none nearer than the post-surgeon at Prairie du Chien. No gentleman in the garrison was willing to undertake so difficult an operation. Equal to any emergency, Mrs. VanCleve, on hearing of the case, resolved to make the attempt. She performed the operation skillfully, and saved the soldier's life.
[436] Mrs. Charlotte S. Winchell was a graduate of Albion College, Michigan, and came to this State in 1873, with her husband, Prof. Newton H. Winchell, widely known as Minnesota's State geologist. Mrs. Winchell has always been an advocate of suffrage for woman, and cheerfully accepted the position on the school board, serving as clerk. She took an active part in the nominations and elections of school officers. She was chairman of the committee for introducing temperance text books into the schools, secretary of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, a member of the State and City Suffrage Societies, and of the Association for the Advancement of Women.
[437] For names of women elected as school directors and county superintendents, see Appendix to Minnesota, Chapter XLVII., Note B.
[438] The officers of the Minnesota State W. C. T. U. are: President, Mrs. H. A. Hobart; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Mary A. Shepardson, Mrs. E. J. Holley, Mrs. R. C. C. Gale, Mrs. H. C. May, Mrs. L. M. Wylie; Recording Secretary, Mrs. D. S. Haywood; Corresponding Secretaries, Mrs. E. S. Wright, Miss M. E. Mclntyre; Treasurer, Miss A. M. Henderson. Editor W. C. T. U. department of Temperance Review, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger.
[439] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note C.
[440] During the same decade 138 young men were graduated from the different departments of the University.
[441] For names of graduates and professors, see Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note D.
[442] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.
[443] Miss Anna Dickinson, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe, Miss Alice Fletcher, Miss Frances Willard, Mrs. Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Sarah B. Chase, M. D. In the years 1875-6, Mrs. Stanton favored our State with a series of lectures that awakened much interest. In 1878-9, Miss Anthony came, and spoke in the principal cities. From Iowa came Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Matilda Fletcher, and Marianna Folsom, and from Missouri, Miss Phoebe Couzins.
[444] President, Sarah Burger Stearns; Vice-President, Julia Bullard Nelson; Recording Secretary, Mrs. C. Smith; Treasurer, Mrs. H. J. Moffit; Executive Committee, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. L. H. Clark, Mrs. R. Coons; Corresponding Sec'y, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter. The following were the charter members: Mrs. Harriet E. Bishop, Mrs. Martha Luly, St. Paul; Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. H. J. Moffit, Mrs. C. Smith, Minneapolis; Mrs. Harriet A. Hobart, Julia Bullard Nelson, Mrs. R. Coons, Red Wing; Sarah Burger Stearns, Duluth; Mrs. L. C. Clarke, Worthington; Mrs. L. G. Finen, Albert Lea; Mrs. K. E. Webster, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. M. A. VanHoesen, Hastings.
[445] Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Hobart, Mr. Satterlee, Mrs. Charlotte O. Van Cleve, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter, Mrs. Viola Fuller Miner.
[446] The societies organized were at Wayzata, Farmington, Red Wing, Mantorille, Excelsior, Rochford, Lake City, Shakopee, and Jordan: committees for suffrage work were also formed in the following places: Anoka, Armstrong, Blakely, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Frontenac, Long Prairie, Long Lake, and Wabashaw.
[447] Rev. W. W. Satterlee, Rev. H. M. Simmons, Rev. F. J. Wagner, whose church we occupied, and others. The speakers at this convention were Mr. and Mrs. Dubois, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. Hobart, Mrs. Carpenter, Miss Harriman. Letters were received from Mrs. Devereux Blake, Dr. Clemence Lozier, Rev. J. B. Tuttle, H. B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone and Col. T. W. Higginson.
[448] The officers elected at this convention were: President, Martha G. Ripley, M. D., Minneapolis; Vice-President, Mrs. Lizzie Manson, Shakopee; Recording Secretary, Mary T. Emery, M. D., St. Paul; Corresponding Secretary, Emma Harriman, Minneapolis; Treasurer, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger, Minneapolis; _Executive Committee_, Mrs. S. K. Crawford, Anoka; Mrs. M. A. Warner, Hamline; Mrs. F. G. Gould, Excelsior; Rev. E. S. Williams, Prof. W. A. Carpenter, Mrs. A. T. Anderson and Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter, Minneapolis.
[449] From John G. Whittier, Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (teaching school in Tennessee) and Henry B. Blackwell.
[450] Miss Carrie Holbrook, Miss Eva McIntyre, Miss Harriman.
[451] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.
[452] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note G.
XLVIII. DAKOTA
Influences of Climate and Scenery--Legislative Action, 1872--Mrs. Marietta Bones--In February, 1879, School Suffrage Granted Women--Constitutional Convention, 1883--Matilda Joslyn Gage Addressed a Letter to the Convention and an Appeal to the Women of the State--Mrs. Bones Addressed the Convention in Person--The Effort to Get the Word "Male" Out of the Constitution Failed--Legislature of 1885--Major Pickler Presents the Bill--Carried Through Both Houses--Governor Pierce's Veto--Major Pickler's Letter.
Philosophers have had much to say of the effect of climate and scenery upon the human family--the inspiring influence of the grand and the boundless in broadening the thought of the people and stimulating them to generous action. Hence, one might naturally look for liberal ideas among a people surrounded with such vast possessions as are in the territory of Dakota. But alas! there seems to be no correspondence in this republic between areas and constitutions. Although Dakota comprises 96,595,840 acres, yet one-half her citizens are defrauded of their rights precisely as they are in the little States of Delaware and Rhode Island. The inhabitants denied the right of suffrage by their territorial constitution are, the Indians not taxed (a hint that those who pay taxes vote), idiots, convicts and women. But from records sent us by Mrs. Marietta Bones, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, there seem to have been some spasmodic climatic influences at work, though not sufficiently strong as yet to get that odious word "male" out of the constitution. Our Dakota historian says:
The territorial legislature, in the year 1872, came within one vote of enfranchising women. That vote was cast by Hon. W. W. Moody, who, let it be said to his credit, most earnestly espoused the cause in our constitutional convention in 1883, and said in the course of his remarks: "Are not my wife and daughter as competent to vote as I am to hold office?" which question caused prolonged laughter among the most ignorant of the delegates, and cries of, "You're right, Judge!" Although it is deeply to be regretted that through one vote twelve years ago our women were deprived of freedom, yet we must forgive Judge Moody on the ground that "it is never too late to mend."
In February, 1879, the legislature revised the school law, and provided that women should vote at school meetings. That law was repealed in March, 1883, by the school township law, which requires regular polls and a private ballot, so, of course, excluding women from the small privilege given them in 1879. That act, however, excepted fifteen counties[453]--the oldest and most populous--which had districts fully established, and therein women still vote at school meetings.
In townships which are large and have many schools under one board and no districts, the people select which school they desire their children to attend. The persons who may so select are parents: first, the father; next, the mother, if there be no father living; guardians (women or men), and "persons having in charge children of school age." These persons hold a meeting annually of their "school," and such women vote there, and one of them may be chosen moderator for the school, to hold one year. This office is a sort of responsible agency for the school, and between it and the township board.
Since the legislation upon the subject of school suffrage there has not been much work done for the promotion of the cause. The wide distances between towns and the sparsely settled country make our people comparative strangers to each other. We lack organization; the country is too new; in fact, the most and only work for woman suffrage has been done by Matilda Joslyn Gage and myself, and, owing to disadvantages mentioned, that has been but little. Mrs. Gage reached Dakota just at the close of the Huron convention, held in June, 1883, to discuss the question of territorial division. The resolutions of the convention declared that just governments derived their powers from the consent of the governed; that Dakota possessed a population of 200,000, women included; that the people of a territory have the right, in their sovereign capacity, to adopt a constitution and form a State government. Accordingly, a convention was called for the purpose of enabling those residing in that part of Dakota south of the forty-sixth parallel to organize a State. Mrs. Gage at once addressed a letter to the women of the territory and to the constitutional convention assembled at Sioux Falls:
To the Women of Dakota:
A convention of men will assemble at Sioux Falls, September 4, for the purpose of framing a constitution and pressing upon congress the formation of a State of the southern half of the territory. This is the moment for women to act; it is the decisive moment. There can never again come to the women of Dakota an hour like the present. A constitution is the fundamental law of the State; upon it all statute laws are based, and upon the fact whether woman is inside or outside the pale of the constitution, her rights in the State depend.
The code of Dakota, under the head of "Personal Relations," says: "The husband is the head of the family. He may choose any reasonable place, or mode of living, and the wife must conform thereto." Under this class legislation, which was framed by man entirely in his own interests, the husband may, and in many cases does, file a preemption claim, build a shanty, and place his wife upon the ground as "a reasonable place and mode of living," while he remains in town in pursuit of business or pleasure.
Let us examine this condition of affairs a little closer. If the wife is not pleased with this "place and mode of living," but should leave it, she is, under this law of class legislation, liable to be advertised as having left the husband's bed and board, wherefore he will pay no debts of her contracting. And how is it if she remains on this until her continued residence upon it has enabled her husband to prove up? Does she then share in its benefits? Is she then half owner of the land? By no means. Chapter 3, section 83, article V. of the Code, says: "No estate is allowed the husband or tenant by courtesy upon the death of his wife, nor is any estate in dower allowed to the wife upon the death of the husband."
This article carries a specious fairness on its face, but it is a bundle of wrongs to woman. By the United States law, only "the head of the family" is allowed to enter lands--either a preemption, homestead or tree claim. In unison with the United States, the law of Dakota (see chapter 3, section 76) recognizes the husband as the head of the family, and then declares that no estate in dower is allowed to the wife upon the death of her husband. Neither has she any claim upon any portion of this land the husband, as head of the family, may take, except the homestead, in which she is recognized as joint owner. The preemption claim upon which, in a comfortless claim-shanty, she may have lived for six months, or longer, if upon unsurveyed land, as "the reasonable place and mode of living" her husband has selected for her, does not belong to her at all. She has no part nor share in it. Upon proving, her husband may at once sell, or deed it away as a gift, and she has no redress. It was not hers. The law so declares; but she is her husband's, to the extent that she can be thus used to secure 160 acres of land for him, over which she has no right, title, claim or interest. I have not space to pursue this subject farther, but will assure the women of Dakota that reading the code, and the session laws of the territory will be more interesting to them than any novel. If they wish to still farther know their wrongs, let them look in the code under the heads of "Parent and Child," "Crimes Defined," "Probate Court," etc., etc.
Every woman in Dakota should be immediately at work. Inasmuch as the constitution is the fundamental law of the State, it should be the effort of the women of Dakota to prevent the introduction of the restrictive word "male." The delegates to the Sioux Falls convention have now largely been elected. Address letters of protest to them against making the constitution an organ of class legislation. In as far as possible have personal interviews with these delegates, and by speech make known your wishes on this point. These are your only methods of representation. You have in no way signified your desire for a constitution. You have not been permitted to help make these laws which rob you of property, and many other things more valuable. Many women are settling in Dakota. Unmarried women and widows in large numbers are taking up claims here, and their property is taxed to help support the government and the men who make these iniquitous laws.
I have not mentioned a thousandth part of the wrongs done woman by her being deprived of the right of self-government. Every injustice under which she suffers, as wife, mother, woman, child, in property and person, is due to the fact that she is not recognized as man's political equal--and her only power is that of protest. Lose not a moment, then, women of Dakota, in objecting to the introduction of the word "male" into the proposed new constitution. Besides seeing and writing to delegates, make effort to be present at Sioux Falls during the time of the convention, to labor with delegates from distant points, and to go before committees, and the convention itself, with your protests. Above all, remember that now is the decisive hour.
MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE, Vice-President-at-Large, National Woman Suffrage Association.
Mrs. Gage also addressed the following to the constitutional convention:
Gentlemen of the Convention: The work upon which you are now engaged is an important one in the interests of liberty, that of framing a constitution for a proposed new State. As a constitution is the fundamental law, its provisions should be general in their character, equally recognizing the rights of all its citizens by its protective powers. Our National principle, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, is becoming more and more widely recognized.
At an early day suffrage was restricted by qualifications of property and education in many of the States, and the removal of such restrictions has been left entirely to the States, except in the one instance of color. Within the last two decades, by amendments to the national constitution, all States are forbidden to exclude citizens from the ballot upon that account.
As "sex" is now the only remaining disqualification, on behalf of the National Woman Suffrage Association I ask you to omit the word "male" from your proposed constitution, and leave the women of Dakota free to exercise the right of suffrage. We simply ask you to make your State a true republic, in which all your citizens may stand equal before the law. While foreign men of every nation are welcomed to your magnificent prairies as equals, it is humiliating to the women of the territory, who are helping you to develop its resources, who have endured with you all the hardships of pioneer life, to be treated as inferiors, outside the pale of political consideration. It should be the pride of Dakota to take the initiative step in the legislation of the period, now steadily growing more liberal, and by one generous and graceful act accord to the women of this territory all the rights, privileges and immunities that men claim for themselves.
MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE, Vice-President-at-Large, N. W. S. A.
Aberdeen, Dakota, Sept. 3, 1883.
It is to be regretted that the argument presented by Mrs. Gage could not convince that honorable body of the injustice of laws towards woman. To me was given the privilege of addressing the convention. I said:
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: The honor conferred on me, of being allowed to address you on this important occasion is fully appreciated. I am here in behalf of the women of our territory, who are opposed to being left in the State organization with no more authority in the government than paupers, lunatics and idiots. We are willing to do one-half of the manual labor in this country, and will promptly pay our portion of the taxes. As sober and peaceful citizens, we compare favorably with the other sex. I have the honor to present to you a petition signed by hundreds of Day county voters, praying your honorable body not to allow the word "male" to be incorporated within our State constitution. There is no doubt that this petition speaks the honest sentiment of the people throughout the territory. In but a single instance was I refused a name, and in a second case a man hesitated, saying, "Well, now, if it's as many rights you're wantin' es I hev got fur meself, you'll be after signin' my name fur me--fur I niver do any writin' at all fur meself." And yet that man whose name I had to write has more rights in this, his adopted country, than I and all other women have in this our native land. The right of franchise, which has heretofore been regarded as a privilege, should more properly be considered a right--a right to be exercised by every citizen for the public good. If there is not another woman in Dakota who wants to vote, I do! There is no doubt that many women are indifferent upon this subject, but when once given the ballot you will see that their progress will equal, if not exceed, that of the emancipated slaves in the South. Look at Wyoming Territory, where woman suffrage has a fair test; no one will deny it has proved a marked success. Elections there now are quiet and more orderly than they are elsewhere. Before the enfranchisement of the women of Wyoming, election days were a terror generally, being both boisterous and riotous. It is really true that Dakota men are the most energetic and enterprising anywhere to be found, and in number they largely exceed our women. Gentlemen, make this the most advantageous State for women, and they will soon be wending their way hither. Women have been granted select committees in both Houses of congress, and better still, each of those committees has given us a majority report in favor of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, prohibiting the disfranchisement of citizens on account of sex. Gentlemen, delegates of this State constitutional convention, I now appeal to your highest sense of honor and justice to give us the right to vote--give it to us, not because we possess any particular merit, but give it to us because it is our right! Then Dakota will in fact be "a home of the free"--honored by all nations, and the Banner State of the Union [applause].
But, after all our work and pleading, they turned a deaf ear--infinitely worse, they were dishonest; at least this was true of the committee on elections. I was present at every meeting of that committee. At their last, I was with them three hours (the entire session) to answer objections. One member made the motion, "that the word 'male' be not incorporated within our State constitution." The vote on the motion was a tie, when the chairman cast his vote in the affirmative. After weeks of hard work I had reached the goal! and with eyes brim full of tears, thanked that committee. They then adjourned, to report in open convention the next morning to my utter surprise, that "Women may vote at school elections and for school officers." No words of mine can express the disappointment and humiliation this defeat of justice caused me.
Among the hundreds of questions asked me by that committee were these: "Do you want a prohibitory plank in our State constitution?" Answer: "No; prohibition should be settled by the people; it cannot be with one-half our citizens disfranchised, and that half its most earnest advocates." "Do you think prohibition prohibits?" "No; man's prohibitory laws are good enough, but he does not enforce them; women have not the authority to do so; but if you will give us the power, we will soon have prohibition that will prohibit." A voice: "I believe it!" "Do you think the majority of women want to vote?" "I do not; but is that any reason why you should deprive the one who does? You do not force men to vote; women, as a rule, have not given this subject the attention they should; many of them are as ignorant of the advantages the ballot would secure as were the negroes when John Brown raised the insurrection at Harper's Ferry."
There is a trite saying: "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." The day cannot be far distant when Dakota's women will be free; for the most intelligent men, and those occupying the most prominent positions in our territory, are avowed friends of suffrage. Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court for Dakota, Hon. A. J. Edgerton, said in his Fourth of July oration here: "How necessary it is for us to elect only good and honest men to office! To do this, woman likewise must act her part in the labor of arresting the advance of crime and corruption, although through timidity the politician is slow to invest her with the higher duties and obligations of American citizenship."
This same just judge has appointed a woman (Mrs. Washburn of Chamberlain) stenographer of his judicial district--the best salaried office in his gift.[454] With the assistance of this grand man (occupying the highest position in our territory), and many others equally efficient, it is not to be supposed that our most intelligent women will be obliged to wait for the education of the most ignorant men to consent to their enfranchisement.
In the last legislature (1885) Major John A. Pickler introduced a bill enfranchising the women of the territory, which, after full discussion, passed the House by 29 to 18,[455] and the Council by 14 to 10. The hopes of the friends were soon disappointed by the governor's veto:
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, BISMARK, D. T., March 13, 1885.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
I herewith return House file No. 71, with my objections to its becoming a law. A measure of this kind demands careful and candid consideration, both because of its importance and because of the acknowledged sincerity and high character of those who favor it. There are certain reasons, however, why I cannot approve such a measure at this time, and other reasons why I cannot approve this particular bill. It is desirable, in my judgment, that we act, so far as possible, as if we were governed, restrained and guided by a constitution adopted by ourselves. If we had a constitution modeled after those of the States, an extraordinary proposition like this would be submitted to the people. If congress thinks woman suffrage wise, it has the power to establish it. It is unfair to shift the responsibility on the territory and then hold it responsible for alleged imprudent legislation. I am assured the enactment of this law will delay our claims to statehood, and in so critical a period it is better that no pretext whatever be given for such postponement. It is doubted by many if a majority of the women of Dakota want the franchise. The point is made, and a very good one, that the fact that one woman does not want a right is not a justifiable reason for refusing it to another who does, yet it must not be forgotten that the enfranchisement of women confers not only a privilege but a grave burden and responsibility. We condemn the man who neglects to vote as recreant to his duty. If women are enfranchised, the right conferred becomes an obligation as imperious to them as to men; on those opposed as on those who favor the act. I think the women of Dakota should have a voice in determining whether they should assume this burden or not. So much for the general proposition. There are two other features of this bill which I can scarcely think satisfactory to the advocates of woman suffrage themselves. I am satisfied that they should appear in a measure claiming to advance the rights of women. If the vote of a woman is needed anywhere, it is in our cities. In many existing city charters a distinct clause appears, providing that males alone shall possess the qualifications of electors. In this bill the word "male" is only stricken out of one chapter of the code, leaving the disability still standing against hundreds of women equally entitled to recognition. The women of Sioux Falls, the women of Mitchell, the women of Brookings, the women of Chamberlain, of Watertown and a great many of the more important cities in southern Dakota, would be disqualified from voting under these special enactments, even though this bill became a law at this very session. Charters have been created with that provision retained, and they would make this bill abortive and largely inoperative. A still more objectionable feature, and one deliberately inserted, is the clause debarring women from the right to hold office. If the word "male" had been stricken out of the code, and no other action taken, they would have been eligible, and I believe there is a wide feeling that many offices, particularly those connected with penal and benevolent institutions, could be most appropriately filled with women, but this clause practically forbids their appointment. If women are good enough to vote they are good enough to be voted for. If they are qualified to choose officials, they are qualified to be chosen. I don't say that I would approve this measure were it otherwise worded, but I certainly would not indorse a bill which thus keeps the word of promise to the ear and breaks it to the hope, which deliberately and avowedly debars and disqualifies women while assuming to exalt and honor them. These objections are apart from the abstract right of women to the ballot, but they show how necessary it is to approach such a subject with deliberation. If women are to be enfranchised, let it be done, not as a thirty days' wonder, but as a merited reform resulting from mature reflection, approved by the public conscience and sanctioned by the enlightened judgment of the people.
[Signed:] GILBERT A. PIERCE, Governor.
An effort was promptly made to carry the measure over the governor's veto, which failed by a vote of 18 to 26.
During the last session of the legislature a large public meeting was held in Bismarck, at which many of the members spoke strongly in favor of the woman suffrage amendment, the chief-justice and a majority of his associates advocating the measure. Mrs. Gage, in a letter from Dakota, said:
An acquaintance of mine, the owner of a green-house, sent each of the members voting "aye" a buttonhole bouquet, a badge of honor which marked our friends for a few hours at least. It is a pertinent fact that, while the opposition insist that women do not want to vote, in a single county of this sparsely settled territory 222 women did vote in the midst of a severe storm. In a series of articles signed "Justice," published in the Bismarck Tribune, we find the following:
The women of Dakota do desire the power to vote. One year ago a majority of the commissioners of Kingsbury county signed a request that at an election to be held March 4, 1884, the women should, with the men, express their wishes by vote upon a specified question of local policy. The women immediately responded, prepared their separate ballot-boxes, placed them in charge of the election officers by the side of the men's boxes upon the same table at De Smet and other towns, and voted all day side by side with the men, casting throughout the county 222 votes. A more orderly election was never known. No self-respect was lost and no woman was lowered in public esteem. Clergymen, lawyers, merchants, farmers, all voted with their wives, the ballots going into different boxes. One thousand men voted in the county. The day was stormy and snow deep on the ground. If 222 women in one county would without previous experience spring forward to vote on a week's notice, is it to be supposed they do not appreciate the right?
JUSTICE.
Mr. Pickler, who had taken an active part in the discussion on the amendment, received many letters of thanks from the friends of woman suffrage throughout the nation, and made his acknowledgments in the following cordial letter to Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage:
FAULKTON, D. T., April 20, 1885.
Matilda Joslyn Gage, Syracuse, N. Y.:
DEAR MADAM: Your kind letter addressed to me on the Woman Suffrage bill, at Bismarck, would have been earlier acknowledged had it not been that I suffered quite a severe illness upon my return from the legislature. I beg to assure you that words of encouragement from such able and distinguished personages as yourself have been highly appreciated in my effort to secure suffrage for women in Dakota. I am half inclined to think that your indication as to a coming political party, with woman suffrage as one plank in its platform, may not be without foundation.
I introduced the bill in the Dakota legislature, having previously supported a like measure in the Iowa legislature, really without consultation with any one, or without knowledge as to the sentiment of the members upon the question. I have had my convictions since my college days that simple justice demands that woman should have the ballot, and in this opinion I am warmly seconded by my wife, who desires to vote, as I think all sensible women should. I was pleased with the favor the bill received, and after a week or two believed it possible to have it pass the House, with constant exertion and watchfulness. Those who at first laughed at the idea, learning I was very much in earnest, stopped to consider and to discuss, and finally came to vote for it.
It passed the House, and after considerable difficulty in getting it out of the hands of an adverse committee in the Council, who insisted on having it referred to them, it passed with an amendment "to submit to a vote of the people." I managed to have the House refuse to concur in this amendment, which resulted in a conference committee, five out of six of whom reported in favor of the Council receding from their amendment, which they did, and yet, after all, and when we thought it safe, it was vetoed. Few, if any, supposed that Governor Pierce, a governor only appointed over us less than six months, would place himself a barrier in the way of the will of the people, and opposed to the advancement of human rights. I deeply regret that he did not rise to the grandest opportunity of his life, but he failed to do so.
Your words were particularly encouraging, being personally interested in Dakota as you are, and I dare say you will bear witness that we have an intelligent people, and a great many good women, land-owners and property-holders, who should have a voice in the taxation of their property, real and personal. We shall not give it up; we shall continue in the work, not doubting that success will finally crown our efforts. Our constitution is not yet formed, and if ever the political parties cease to exercise their tyranny over us, by allowing us to be admitted as a State, we shall endeavor at least to secure it so the legislature may grant or prescribe the qualifications of voters without requiring a change in the constitution.
Will you visit Dakota again? In another contest we would be much aided by your presence and assistance, confidently believing that "Heaven will one day free us from this slavery." If your children[456] reside in this section of the territory, I should be pleased to form their acquaintance. Again thanking you for your kind words, I am,
Yours truly, J. A. PICKLER.
As Dakota has thus deliberately trampled upon the rights of one-half her people, it is to be hoped that congress will not admit her into the Union until that odious word "male" is stricken from her constitution.
FOOTNOTES:
[453] These counties are Union, Lincoln, Clay, Minnehaha, Moody, Deuel, Codington, Cass, Walsh, Grand Forks, Pembina, Barnes, Lawrence and Hutchinson.
[454] Since 1882 Mrs. Bones has held the office of deputy-clerk of the District Court of Day county; Mrs. Washburn was appointed to her office in 1884; Miss Elizabeth M. Cochrane, appointed by Judge Seward Smith, is clerk of the District Court of Falk county; Mrs. Virginia A. Wilkins is deputy-clerk of the District Court of Hand county; Mrs. Dutton, deputy county-clerk, and Mrs. Hanson deputy-sheriff of Day county; and Mrs. Pease is deputy-receiver of the Watertown Land-office.
[455] Yeas--Barnes, Blackmore, Coe, Bayard, Clark, Dermody, Gregg, Hutson, Johnson, Miller, McCall, Parshall, Pierce, Roach, Southwick, Smith, Stebbins, J. P. Ward, Huntington, Hutchinson, Langan, Martin, Morgan, Pickler, Riddell, Steele, Stevens, Sprague, Stewart--29. Nays--Davison, Hobart, Larson, McCumber, Oliver, Pugh, Ruger, Strong, Eldridge, Helvig, Myron, McHugh, Runkle, Swanton, Van Osdell, Williams, Mark Ward, Mr. Speaker--18.
[456] Mrs. Gage has a son and daughter residing in Dakota, both well educated, superior young people, whose influence will, no doubt, be felt in every progressive movement in that State. Mrs. Gage's children sympathize with their mother in her broad, liberal views on all questions.--[E. C. S.
XLIX. NEBRASKA
Clara Bewick Colby--Nebraska Came into the Possession of the United States, 1803--The Home of the Dakotas--Organized as a Territory, 1854--Territorial Legislature--Mrs. Amelia Bloomer Addresses the House--Gen. Wm. Larimer, 1856--A Bill to Confer Suffrage on Woman--Passed the House--Lost in the Senate--Constitution Harmonized with the Fourteenth Amendment--Admitted as a State March 1, 1867--Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony Lecture in the State, 1867--Mrs. Tracy Cutler, 1870--Mrs. Esther L. Warner's Letter--Constitutional Convention, 1871--Woman Suffrage Amendment Submitted--Lost by 12,676 against, 3,502 for--Prolonged Discussion--Constitutional Convention, 1875--Grasshoppers Devastate the Country--Inter-Ocean, Mrs. Harbert--Omaha Republican, 1876--Woman's Column Edited by Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks--"Woman's Kingdom"--State Society formed, January 19, 1881, Mrs. Brooks President--Mrs. Dinsmoore, Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Brooks, before the Legislature--Amendment again Submitted--Active Canvass of the State, 1882--First Convention of the State Association--Charles F. Manderson--Unreliable Petitions--An Unfair Count of Votes for Woman Suffrage--Amendment Defeated--Conventions in Omaha--Notable Women in the State--Conventions--Woman's Tribune Established in 1883.
Clara Bewick Colby, the historian for Nebraska, is of English parentage, and came to Wisconsin when eight years of age. In her country home, as one of a large family, she had but scant opportunities for attending the district school, but her father encouraged and assisted his children to study in the winter evenings, and in this way she fitted herself to teach in country schools. After a few terms she entered, the State University at Madison, and while there made a constant effort to secure equal privileges and opportunities for the students of her sex. She was graduated with honors in 1869, and at once became a teacher of history and Latin in the institution. She was married to Leonard W. Colby, a graduate of the same university, and moved to Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1872. Amidst the hardships of pioneer life in a new country, the young wife for a season found her family cares all-absorbing, but her taste for study, her love of literature and her natural desire to improve the conditions about her, soon led her to work up an interest in the establishment of a library and course of lectures. She afterwards edited a department in the Beatrice Express called "Woman's Work," and in 1883 she started The Woman's Tribune, a paper whose columns show that Mrs. Colby has the true editorial instinct. For several years she has been deeply interested in the movement for woman's enfranchisement, devoting her journal to the advocacy of this great reform. In addition to her cares as housekeeper[457] and editor, Mrs. Colby has also lectured extensively in many States, east and west, not only to popular audiences, but before legislative and congressional committees.
In her description of Nebraska and the steps of progress in woman's civil and political rights, Mrs. Colby says:
Nebraska makes its first appearance in history as part of Louisiana and belonging to Spain. Seized by France in 1683, ceded to Spain in 1762; again the property of France in 1800, and sold to the United States in 1803; the shifting ownership yet left no trace on that interior and inaccessible portion of Louisiana now known as Nebraska. It was the home of the Dakotas, who had come down from the north pushing the earlier Indian races before them. Every autumn when Heyokah, the Spirit of the North, puffed from his huge pipe the purpling smoke "enwrapping all the land in mellow haze," the Dakotas gathered at the Great Red Pipestone Quarry for their annual feast and council. These yearly excursions brought them in contact with the fur traders, who in turn roamed the wild and beautiful country of the Niobrara, returning thence to Quebec laden with pelts. With the exception of a few military posts, the first established in 1820 where the town of Fort Calhoun now stands, Nebraska was uninhabited by white people until the gold hunters of 1849 passed through what seemed to them an arid desert, as they sought their Eldorado in the mountains beyond. Disappointed and homesick, many of the emigrants retraced their steps, and found their former trail through Nebraska marked by sunflowers, the luxuriance of which evidenced the fertility of the soil, and encouraged the travelers to settle within its borders.
Nebraska became an organized territory by the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, including at first Dakota, Idaho and Colorado, from which it was separated in 1863. The early settlers were courageous, keeping heart amid attacks of savages, and devastations of the fire-demon and the locust. Published history is silent concerning the part that women took in this frontier life, but the tales told by the fireside are full of the endurance and heroism of wives whose very isolation kept them hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, and thought to thought with their husbands. It is not strange then that the men of those early days inclined readily to the idea of sharing the rights of self-government with women who had with them left home and kindred and the comforts of the older States. But it is remarkable, and proof that the thought belongs to the age, that, thirty years ago, when the discussion of woman's status was still new in Massachusetts and New York, and only seven years after the first woman-suffrage convention ever held, here--half way across a continent, in a country almost unheard of, and with but scant communication with the older parts of the Republic--this instinctive justice should have crystalized into legislative action.
In December, 1855, an invitation was extended by the territorial legislature to Mrs. Amelia Bloomer of Council Bluffs, to deliver an address on woman's rights, in the Hall of the House of Representatives. This invitation was signed by twenty-five members of the legislature and was accepted by Mrs. Bloomer for January 8. The following pleasing account of this address and its reception was written by an Omaha correspondent of the Council Bluffs Chronotype of that date:
Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, who had been formally invited by members of the legislature and others, arrived at the door of the state-house at 7 o'clock, P. M., and by the gallantry of Gen. Larimer, a passage was made for her to the platform. The house had been crowded for some time with eager expectants to see the lady and listen to the arguments which were to be adduced as the fruitage of female thought and research. When all had been packed into the house who could possibly find a place for the sole of the foot, Mrs. Bloomer arose, amid cheers. We watched her closely, and saw that she was perfectly self-possessed--not a nerve seemed to be moved by excitement, and the voice did not tremble. She arose in the dignity of a true woman, as if the importance of her mission so absorbed her thoughts that timidity or bashfulness were too mean to entangle the mental powers. She delivered her lecture in a pleasing, able, and I may say, eloquent manner that enchained the attention of her audience for an hour and a half. A man could not have beaten it.
In mingling with the people next day, we found that her argument had met with much favor. As far as property rights are concerned, all seemed to agree with the lady that the laws of our country are wrong, and that woman should receive the same protection as man. All we have time to say now is, that Mrs. Bloomer's arguments on woman's rights are unanswerable. We may doubt it is policy for women to vote, but who can draw the line and say that naturally she has not a right to do so? Mrs. Bloomer, though a little body, is among the great women of the United States; and her keen, intellectual eye seems to flash fire from a fountain that will consume the stubble of old theories until woman is placed in her true position in the enjoyment of equal rights and privileges. Her only danger is in asking too much.
ONEIDA.
Eight days after Mrs. Bloomer's address, Hon. Jerome Hoover, member for the counties of Nemaha and Richardson, introduced in the House a bill to confer suffrage equally upon women. The bill was put upon its third reading, January 25, and was earnestly championed by General William Larimer of Douglas county, formerly of Pittsburgh, Pa. It passed by a vote of 14 to 11.[458] The result of the passage of the bill by the House was graphically described by the Chronotype of January 30:
On Friday afternoon and evening quite an excitement took place, which resulted in offering an insult to one of the ablest members of the legislature, but which, while it reflected no dishonor upon the person against whom it was aimed, should cover the perpetrators with lasting shame. We will state briefly the facts as we have heard them.
The bill giving woman the right to vote came up at 11 o'clock, by a special order of the House. A number of ladies entered the hall to listen to the proceedings. General Larimer spoke eloquently and ably in favor of the bill, making, perhaps, the best speech that could be made on that side of the question. On the vote being taken, it stood--ayes 14, nays 11. The bill was then sent to the Council, where it was referred to the Committee on Elections. Its passage by the House of Representatives created a great deal of talk, and several members threatened to resign. At the evening session J. S. Morton, W. E. Moore, A. F. Salisbury and L. L. Bowen came into the House and proposed to present General Larimer with a petticoat, which did not tend much to allay the excitement. The General, of course, was justly indignant at such treatment, as were also the other members. The proposal was characteristic of the prime mover in it, and we are astonished that the other gentlemen named should have been willing to associate themselves with him in offering this indignity to the oldest and most respected member of the body--a man who was elected to the station he has so ably filled by the unanimous vote of the people of Douglas county. General Larimer had a perfect right to advocate or oppose the bill according to his own sense of duty, and any man, or set of men, who would attempt to cast insult or ridicule upon him for so doing, is worthy only of the contempt of decent people. In saying this we, of course, express no opinion on the merits of the bill itself.
The bill was taken up in the Council, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Elections, whose chairman, Mr. Cowles, reported it back without amendment, and recommended its passage. This being the last day of the session, the bill could not come up again. The Chronotype, after the adjournment, commented as follows:
The bill granting women the right to vote, which had passed the House, was read the first and second time in the Council and referred to the Committee on Elections, where it now remains for want of time to bring it up again. A gentleman who was opposed to the passage of a bill to locate the seat of justice of Washington county, obtained the floor, and delivered a speech of many hours on some unimportant bill then under consideration, in order to "kill time" and prevent the Washington county bill from coming up. The hour for adjournment sine die arrived before he concluded, and the Woman Suffrage bill, and many others of great importance, remained upon the clerk's table without being acted upon. It is admitted by every one that want of time only defeated the passage of the bill through the Council. The citizens of Nebraska are ready to make a trial of its provisions, which speaks volumes for the intelligence of the free and independent squatters of this beautiful territory.
Mrs. Bloomer says that assurance was given by members of the Council that the bill would have passed that body triumphantly had more time been allowed, or had it been introduced earlier in the session. The general sentiment was in favor of it, and the gentlemen who talked the last hours away to kill other bills were alone responsible for its defeat. Mrs. Bloomer followed up her work by lectures in Omaha and Nebraska City two years later.
The exigencies attending the settlement of the territory and the absorbing interests of the civil war occupied the next decade. The character of the settlers may be inferred from the fact that, with only about 5,000 voters, Nebraska gave over 3,000 soldiers for the defense of the Union and of their home borders, where the Indians had seized the occasion to break out into active hostilities. The war over, Nebraska sought to be admitted as a State, and a constitution was prepared on the old basis of white male suffrage. Congress admitted Nebraska, but provided that the act should not take effect until the constitution should be changed to harmonize with the fourteenth amendment. After some discussion the condition was accepted, and Nebraska was thus the first State to recognize in its constitution the sovereignty of all male persons. Some of the debates of this time indicate that the appreciation of human rights was growing, nor were allusions wanting making a direct application of the principle to women. The debates and resolutions connected with the ratification of the fourteenth amendment are historically and logically connected with the growth of the idea of woman's political equality. The man who, from regard for justice and civil liberties, advocates the right of franchise for additional classes of men, easily extends the thought until it embraces woman. On the other hand the man who sees men enfranchised whom he deems unworthy to use the ballot, thinks it a disgrace to withhold it from intelligent women. Gov. Alvin Saunders,[459] in his message urging the ratification of the fourteenth amendment said:
The day, in my opinion, is not far distant when property qualifications, educational qualifications, and color qualifications, as precedent to the privilege of voting, will be known no more by the American people, but that intelligence and manhood will be the only qualifications necessary to entitle an American citizen to the privilege of an elector.
Later, Acting-governor A. S. Paddock[459] in his message said:
I should hail with joy a radical change in the rule of suffrage which would give the franchise to intelligence and patriotism wherever found, regardless of the color of the possessor.
The majority report of the committee to whom was referred that portion of the governor's message which related to rights of suffrage, was as follows:
We hold that the dogma of partial suffrage is a dangerous doctrine, and contrary to the laws of nature and the letter and spirit of the Declaration of Independence.
[Signed:] ISAAC WILES, WILLIAM DAILEY, GEORGE CROW.
A minority report was brought in by S. M. Curran and Aug. F. Harvey. On its rejection Mr. Harvey introduced this resolution:
Resolved, That we, the members of the House of Representatives, of the legislature of Nebraska, are in favor of impartial and universal suffrage, and believe fully in the equality of all races, colors and sexes at the ballot-box.
This was not intended to advance the rights of women, but simply to slay the advocates of the enlargement of the franchise with their own weapons. A. B. Fuller moved to amend by striking out the word "universal," and all after the word "suffrage," which was carried by a vote of 22 to 9. The Committee on Federal Relations reported:
The constitution recognizes all persons born within the United States, or naturalized in pursuance of the law, to be citizens, and entitled to the rights of citizenship; and a recent act of congress amends the organization acts of the several territories so as to confer the rights of suffrage upon all citizens except such as are disqualified by reason of crime. Consequently, when congress decrees that we shall not, as a State, deprive citizens of rights already guaranteed to them, it does not transcend its powers, or impose upon us conditions from which we are now exempt.
With these discussions of fundamental principles which, although couched in the most comprehensive terms, strangely enough conserved the rights of only half the citizens, the fourteenth amendment was ratified, and Nebraska became a State on March 1, 1867.
The early legislation of Nebraska was favorable to woman, and much ahead of that passed in the same period by most of the older States, The records show that a few legislators treated any matter that referred to the rights of woman as a jest, but the majority were liberal or respectful, and the honored names of Dailey, Reavis, Majors, Porter, Kelley, and others, constantly recur in the records of the earlier sessions as pushing favorable legislation for women. At almost every session, too, the actual question of the ballot for woman was broached. The legislature of 1869 bestowed school suffrage on women;[460] and a joint resolution and a memorial to congress relative to female suffrage were introduced. The journals show that:
Hon. Isham Reavis of Falls City, introduced in the Senate January 30, a memorial and joint resolution to congress, on the subject of female suffrage. After the second reading, on motion of Mr. Majors, it was referred to a select committee of bachelors, consisting of Senators Gere, Majors, Porter, and Goodwill, who reported it back without recommendation. It was afterwards considered in committee of the whole, then taken up by the Senate. Reavis moved it be taken up for third reading on the following day. The yeas and nays being demanded the motion was lost by a vote of 6 to 7. On motion of Mr. Stevenson the matter was referred to the Judiciary Committee, with the usual result of neglect and oblivion.
In the autumn of 1867 Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony lectured in Omaha and sowed seed which bore fruit in the large number of petitions sent later from that city. In December 1870, Mrs. Tracy Cutler gave several addresses in Lincoln. Miss Anthony lectured January 28, 1871, on "The False Theory," and before leaving the city looked in on the legislature, which promptly extended to her the privilege of the floor. A number of ladies met Miss Anthony for consultation, and took the initiatory steps for forming a State association. A meeting was appointed for the following Friday, when it was decided to memorialize the legislature. The memorial was headed by Mrs. Lydia Butler, wife of the governor of the State, who spent some days in securing signatures. A lively pen-picture of those times is furnished by private correspondence of Mrs. Esther L. Warner of Roca:
The first work done for woman suffrage in Lincoln was in December, 1870. Mrs. Tracy Cutler stopped when on her way to California, and gave several addresses in Lincoln. Her womanliness and logic won and convinced her hearers, and had a marked effect upon public sentiment. There are men and women to-day in Nebraska who date their conversion to the cause of equal rights from those lectures. Some steps were taken towards organization, but the matter was dropped in its incipient stages. During the same winter Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in Lincoln, and presented a petition to be signed by women, asking to be allowed to vote under the fourteenth amendment. She also called a meeting of ladies in a hotel parlor and aided in organizing a State suffrage society. Her rare executive ability accomplished what other hands would have failed to do, for the difficulties in the way of such a movement at that early day were great. Lydia Butler, wife of Governor Butler, was elected president, and other representative women filled the various offices, but after a short time it was deemed wise to disband, as circumstances made it impossible to keep up an efficient organization. Time and money were not plentiful with western women, but we did what we could, and sent a petition to the legislature that winter asking a resolution recommending to the coming State convention to omit the word "male" from the constitution. The petition was signed by about 1,000 women, and received respectful attention from the legislature, and speeches were made in its favor by several members. Among others the speaker of the House, F. M. McDougal, favored the resolution. Governor Butler sent a special message with the petition, recommending the passage of the resolution, for which Nebraska women will always honor him.
Next it was thought best to call a convention in the interest of woman suffrage, to be held while the constitutional convention should be in session the coming summer. Two women were commissioned to prepare the call and present it for the signatures of members of the legislature who favored the measure. It was thought this course would give dignity and importance to the call which would secure attention throughout the State. The session of the legislature was very exciting. Intrigue accomplished the impeachment of a high State official, and others were being dragged down. As it neared its close the political cauldron boiled and bubbled with redoubled violence. It was more than any woman dared do to approach it. Were not the political fortunes and the sacred honor (?) of men in jeopardy? Woman's rights sunk into insignificance. We subsided. Our hour had not yet come.
Mrs. Butler says of the part she took at this time: "I entertained the speakers because requested to, and found them so pleasant and persuasive that I soon became a convert to their views. The active and intelligent leaders at that time were Mesdames Cropsey, Galey, Warner, Monell, Coda, and many others whose names I cannot recall." As the result of the effort thus made the legislature of 1871 memorialized the constitutional convention relative to submitting the question to the electors. The proceedings given in the journals are as follows:
February 4, 1871, Mr. J. C. Myers announced that ladies were in the gallery, and desired to present a petition. A committee was appointed to wait on them. D. J. Quimby introduced a resolution asking an opinion of the attorney-general as to whether in accepting the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments we grant the right of suffrage to women. It was carried, and the memorial, the opinion, and the governor's message were referred to the judiciary committee, which reported through Mr. Galey as follows:
Whereas, The constitution of the State of Nebraska prohibits the women of said State from exercising the right of the elective franchise; and
Whereas, Taxation without representation is repugnant to a republican form of government, and applies to women as well as all other citizens of this State; and
Whereas, All laws which make any distinction between the political rights and privileges of males and females are unbecoming to the people of this State in the year 1871 of the world's progress, and tend only to deprive the latter of the means necessary for their own protection in the various pursuits and callings of life. Therefore be it
Resolved, By the House of Representatives of the State of Nebraska, that the constitutional convention to be begun and holden on the--day of May, 1871, for the purpose of revising and amending the constitution of said State, is hereby most respectfully and earnestly requested to draft such amendment to the constitution of this State as will allow the women thereof to exercise the right of the elective franchise and afford to them such other and further relief as to that honorable body may be deemed wise, expedient and proper; and be it further
Resolved, That said convention is hereby most respectfully and earnestly requested to make such provision (when said amendment shall be submitted to a vote of the people of said State) as will enable the women of Nebraska to vote at said election for the adoption or rejection of the same.
Resolved, Further, that the Secretary of State is hereby instructed to present a copy of this resolution to said convention as soon as the same shall be convened.
Mr. Porter moved the adoption of the report, which was carried by a vote of 19 to 16.[461] In the Senate, March 22, E. C. Cunningham offered the following amendment to the bill providing for calling a constitutional convention:
That the electors of the State be and are hereby authorized and recommended to vote for and against female suffrage at the election for members of the constitutional convention. Provided, That at such election all women above the age of 21 years, possessing the qualifications required of male electors are hereby authorized and requested to vote upon said proposition, and for the purpose of receiving their votes a separate polling place shall be provided.
The amendment was lost by a vote of 6 to 6.[462]
In accordance with the memorial of the legislature, the constitutional convention that met in the following summer by a vote of 30 to 13[463] submitted a clause relative to the right of suffrage. The constitution itself was rejected by the voters; and on this clause the ballot stood, for, 3,502; against, 12,676. Had it been carried at the polls, it would only have conferred upon the legislature the right to submit amendments, and it was therefore no special object to the adherents of impartial suffrage to make efforts for its adoption, while the fact that it was the outgrowth of the discussion of that principle brought upon it all the opposition that a clause actually conferring the ballot would have insured. The right of woman to the elective franchise was championed by the ablest men in the convention. Night after night the question was argued pro and con. Petitions from Lincoln and Omaha were numerously presented. The galleries were filled with women eagerly watching the result. The proposition finally adopted did not touch the point at issue, but was accepted as all that could be obtained on that occasion. As the constitution was not adopted, the succeeding legislature felt no interest in the proceedings of the convention, and the journals were not printed; and the records of this battle for justice and civil liberty were hidden in the dusty archives of the state-house until brought out to tell their story for these pages. As this is the only discussion of the question by Nebraska statesmen which has been officially preserved, and as the debaters were among the most prominent men of the State, and many of them retain that position to-day, a few extracts will be of interest:
The discussion began with the motion of Mr. I. S. Hascall to strike out "men" and insert "persons" in the clause "All men are by nature free and independent." The motion was lost. General E. Estabrook moved to add "Every human being of full age, and resident for a proper length of time on the soil of the Nation and State, who is required to obey the law, is entitled to a voice in its enactment; and every such person whose property is taxed for the support of the government is entitled to a direct representation in such government." Mr. Hascall moved that "man" be inserted in place of "human being." Mr. E. S. Towle desired to put "male" in the place of "man." General Estabrook, on being asked if his amendment was intended to cover "woman's rights," replied:
I take pleasure in making the amendment because it is a step in the right direction. Justice to woman is the keystone in the arch of the temple of liberty we are now building. That no citizen should be taxed without representation is an underlying principle of a republic and no free government can exist without it.
General Estabrook seems to have stood alone in considering that the principle of impartial suffrage properly belonged to the Bill of Rights. The amendments were lost. When the article on extension of suffrage was under discussion, General Estabrook opened the subject in a comprehensive speech, lasting all one evening and part of the next. He proved that women were citizens, citing the petitions to congress relative to woman's right to vote under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, and the reports of the committee thereupon--one in favor and one opposed, but both agreeing that women are citizens. Then he showed what rights they were entitled to as citizens, quoting the Federal Constitution, Bouvier's Institutes and Law Dictionary, James Madison, Paine's Dissertation on the Principles of Government, Otis' Rights of the Colonies, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others. Commenting upon these, he set forth that women vote in corporations, administer estates, manage hospitals and rule empires without harm to themselves and with benefit to everybody else. He made a special argument to the Democrats, reviewing the position of some of their leading men, and closed with saying, "This is the most important measure yet considered, because it contains a fundamental principle."
General Strickland then introduced a resolution that an article for woman suffrage should be submitted to the people, that the women should vote separately, and that if a majority of both men and women should be in favor, it should become a law. The member did not move this because he favored the principle, but because he felt sure the women would not vote for it. He could not understand what a woman could possibly want more than she had, having the privileges while man has the drudgery. He closed with the prophecy that in two years not a woman would vote in Wyoming.
General Charles F. Manderson followed. Taking the ground that the members were not in convention to look after the rights of the males only, he said: "Did we recognize the right of all the people to be represented, we should have to-day on this floor some persons sent here to represent the women of our State. Men do not represent women because they are not and cannot be held responsible by them. We have no more right to represent the women here than a man in Iowa has to go to congress and presume to represent Nebraska there." To illustrate the principle General Manderson instanced that in the New York Constitutional Conventions of 1801 and 1821, persons voted for delegates who had not the property qualifications to vote at ordinary elections. Even the black man was represented by delegates for whom he had voted. In presenting a petition from Lincoln with seventy names of women who desired to vote, General Manderson said he had made inquiries, and these were the names of the respectable, influential ladies of Lincoln, sixty-three of whom were married. He then reviewed the history and workings of woman suffrage in Wyoming, furnishing the highest testimony in its favor, and closed as follows:
Mr. Chairman, I envy not the heart or the head of the man, let him occupy what place he may, let him sit in a legislative body or wield the editorial pen, who is so base as to denounce the advocates of this measure as demagogues, and to say that if the right is extended to woman, the low, the miserable, will outnumber at the polls the thousands of virtuous wives throughout this land who advocate this measure; the lie is thrown in his teeth by that noble woman, Mrs. Livermore, who did more service in time of war as a soldier battling for the right than did even my gallant friend, and did far more than myself. She inaugurated and carried in her mighty hand and guided by her mighty brain that Western Ladies' Aid Society, and helped by some means the Western Sanitary Association that did more than 10,000 armed men to suppress the late rebellion. The lie is hurled in the teeth of the vile slanderer by this petition from the honest, virtuous ladies of the city of Lincoln. If we have planted one seed, that will bring forth good fruit, God be thanked for that result.
Mr. Kenaston spoke in favor of the measure, and Judge Moore opposed it in a very witty speech, of which the principal points were that the members were to decide according to expediency, not right; that women had always consented to the government--never trampled the flag in the dust, but always rallied to its support. Judge O. P. Mason followed in opposition, also J. C. Myers, the latter claiming that for twenty years the advocates of woman suffrage have made little, if any, impression on the public mind. E. F. Gray had begun speaking in favor when Victor Vifquain moved the previous question. A lively debate followed this, but it did not prevail. Mr. Mason said: "If we hold the right on this question let us challenge discussion and meet the opposition. It is not a wasted time that sows the seed of truth in the brain." Mr. Manderson urged the number of petitions that had been sent in as a reason for full discussion. R. F. Stevenson said he was opposed to it in every form. A. L. Sprague was against submitting this question at any time, that neither by the laws of God nor of man were women entitled to vote. Seth Robinson would like to hear the social aspects of the question discussed. He said: "I would like, gentlemen, to show whether it would not have a tendency to regenerate our social system and make women as a class more efficient than they are." The motion for the previous question being lost a motion was made to strike out this section. While this was pending General Estabrook insisted that it should be re-committed, saying: "It is the only political question that has essential principle in it. There are not brains enough in this convention to show the justice of taxation without representation. Judge George B. Lake warmly seconded Mr. Estabrook's motion. O. P. Mason wanted the proposition to be submitted to both sexes separately. J. E. Philpott advocated woman suffrage in a comprehensive argument. In closing, he said:
I demand that suffrage shall be extended to females for the reason that they have not adequate representation in the electoral department. As evidence of this I cite the undeniable facts that in this State woman has not fair wages for her work--has not a fair field to work in. The law, with all its freedom, does not place her on the same footing as to property that it does males. She has no voice as an elector in the making of the laws which regulate her marital union, no voice in the laws which sever those ties. The motto of the State is "Equality Before the Law." This can no more be among us with women disfranchised than in our nation all men could be free and equal while there were more than 3,000,000 slaves.
A. J. Weaver spoke in opposition and was followed by Hon. I. S. Hascall, who based his advocacy of the principle on the rights that woman has as an individual:
Because we have started upon the wrong track, because women in the dark ages were in bondage, is no reason, when we have advanced to a higher civilization, that we should continue this barbarous practice. There is a higher point to reach and I want to see the people reach that point. I think that the American people are old enough in experience to bring order out of disorder, and that when the question arises they will meet it in such a way as will be satisfactory to all.
Mr. Stevenson spoke in opposition basing his argument on man's superiority to woman and closed with this remarkable prediction which has probably never been surpassed as a specimen of "spread eagle":
Finally, Mr. President, I really think that if the ballot were placed in the hands of woman the old American eagle that stands with one foot upon the Alleghanies and the other upon the Rockies, whetting his beak upon the ice-capped mountains of Alaska, and covering half the Southern gulf with his tail, will cease to scream and sink into the pits of blackness of darkness amidst the shrieks of lost spirits that will forever echo and reecho through cavernous depths unknown.
S. P. Majors advocated the measure, and in the course of the discussion, B. I. Hinman offered a burlesque resolution, proposing to change the duties and functions of the sexes by law, and John D. Neligh said:
The gentleman from Otoe (Mr. Mason) will get the commission of the Christian mothers, not against the right of female suffrage, but for universal suffrage. That will be a happy day--a day when we shall shine out as a nation more brightly than any other nation under the sun.[464]
The constitution of 1871 not having been adopted, it became necessary to present another to the people. Accordingly in the summer of 1875 delegates of the male citizens met in the capital city. No outside pressure was brought to bear upon them to influence their consideration of this subject. The grasshoppers had ravaged the State the previous year, cutting off entirely the principal crop of the country. Again in the spring of 1875, in some of the river counties, the young had hatched in myriads, and devoured the growing crops ere winging their way to their mountain home. Gloom overspread the people at the prospect of renewed disaster, and the dismal forebodings were realized even as the delegates sat in council, for at this time occurred the final appearance of the locust. As the people gazed into the sky and watched the silver cloud floating in the sunshine resolve itself into a miniature army clad in burnished steel, women forgot to be concerned for their rights, and the delegates thought only of completing their work with the utmost economy and speed.
The new constitution, however, was formed on a more liberal basis. Hon. R. B. Harrington, of Beatrice, in the Committee on Bill of Rights, substituted the word "people" for "men," and it passed without comment. An article on amendments was embodied in the constitution, the same in substance as the one defeated in 1871, under which, as was actually done in 1881, the legislature could present amendments relating to suffrage.
The question of adopting the article relating to qualifications of electors being before the convention. Judge Clinton Briggs of Omaha sat during the reading of the first clause, "every male," etc., meditating, as he related to a friend, on how many lives had been sacrificed and how many millions of money had been spent in getting rid of the word "white," which had made such an unjust restriction, and how easy it would be, by one dash of the pen, to blot out the word "male," and thus abolish this other unjust restriction. On the inspiration of the moment, he moved to strike out the word "male," R. B. Harrington relates that the motion of Judge Briggs, who had not before expressed his sentiments, and who had not consulted with the known advocates of the measure, so astonished the convention that it was some time before they could realize that he was in earnest. The friends rallied to Judge Briggs' support. Gen. Chas. F. Manderson--a member of this, as of the preceding convention--seconded the motion, and sustained it with a forcible speech. Mr. Harrington made a speech in its favor, and after a short and vigorous discussion it came to a vote, which showed fifteen for the motion and fifty-two against.[465]
About this time Nebraska was again visited by lecturers on woman suffrage, who found an intelligent class of people, who, with growing material prosperity, were kindly disposed toward progressive ideas. Mrs. Margaret Campbell lectured in Nebraska in 1875, at about fifteen places between Kearney and the Missouri. In 1877-8 and 9, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony lectured at many points. These, with some local lectures aroused an intelligent interest in equal rights for women. It was attempted to give this expression in the legislature of 1879. Resolutions were introduced, favorable reports made and the subject treated with kindly consideration, but for lack of time, or some one deeply interested, nothing was accomplished.
The legislation of 1879 on the subject of equal suffrage originated with Senator McMeans and C. B. Slocumb of Fairbury. The former offered a petition from Thos. Harbine and 160 others, asking a constitutional amendment prohibiting the disfranchising of citizens on account of sex. Referred to a committee of whom a majority recommended that its consideration be indefinitely postponed. A minority report was brought in by Orlando Tefft and Chas. H. Brown recommending that the prayers of petitioners be granted. In the House, at the same session, C. B. Slocumb presented the petition of Calvin F. Steele and others, with a resolution asking that the committee on constitutional amendments be instructed to provide for the submission of an amendment conferring the franchise upon woman. The resolution was adopted, referred, and reported back with draft of an amendment. The committee were Messrs. True, Windham, Batty, Simonton, Mitchell, Sparks and Gaylord. On motion of Mr. True the joint resolution was ordered to first reading; no further mention appears of it.
The first suffrage society of the State was formed at Fairbury by Mrs. H. Tyler Wilcox, and although this organization lived but a short time, it secured petitions and drew the attention of legislators elect--Senator McMeans and C. B. Slocumb--to the general interest felt in Jefferson county. The second society was formed in Thayer county. The sisters, Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Cornell, of Alexandria, called a meeting, which resulted in organizing the Alexandria Free Suffrage Association, Sept. 27, 1878. Prof. W. D. Vermilion and E. M. Correll of Hebron, lectured before this society, but, most of the members living in the country, the meetings were given up when the cold weather set in.
The first working society was that of Hebron, which was organized by Mrs. Stanton, April 15, 1879. The citizens were prepared for the undertaking. E. M. Correll, editor of the Hebron Journal, in editorials, in lectures by himself and others, had urged on women the dignity and importance of interesting themselves in their own behalf. The society had been encouraged by lectures from Miss Couzins and Mrs. H. T. Wilcox, the latter taking the ground then comparatively new, that woman's ballot is necessary for successful temperance effort. Meetings were kept up regularly and with increasing membership, and the Thayer County Woman Suffrage Association won a deserved triumph in being primarily connected with the origin and successful passage of the joint resolution of 1881. The legislators elected in 1880 were Senator C. B. Coon, and Representative E. M. Correll. Both these gentlemen were active members of the Thayer County Association, and after their election a committee waited on them, pledging them to special effort during the coming session.
Meanwhile a general favorable sentiment was growing. In noting this it would not be right to omit mention of Mrs. Harbert's "Woman's Kingdom," in the Chicago Inter-Ocean, which circulated largely among country readers. The Omaha Republican passed, in 1876, under the editorial management of D. C. Brooks, who, with his wife, had been prominent in the suffrage work of Michigan and Illinois. The favorable attitude of this paper, and the articles which Mrs. Brooks from time to time contributed to it, exerted a wide influence. In the winter of 1881, Mrs. Brooks established a woman's department in the Republican which crystallized the growing interest around the leadership of its editor. Letters were addressed to her from various sections of the State, urging immediate action. The following from Mrs. Lucinda Russell will show the interest felt:
TECUMSEH, Neb., December 4, 1880.
MRS. HARRIET S. BROOKS--Dear Madam: I have been shown a form of petition for the suffrage which you enclosed to Rev. Mary J. DeLong, of this place. Will you please inform me if this is to be the form of petition to be presented during the present session of the legislature? We wish the exact words in order that we may have it published in our local paper.
We think it best to call a meeting, even now at this somewhat late day, and send women to Lincoln who will attend personally to this matter. We have left these things neglected too long. Will you call on all women of the State who can do so to assemble at Lincoln during the session of the legislature, appointing the day, etc.? I think we would be surprised at the result. This town contains scarcely a woman who is opposed to woman suffrage. We know we are a power here; and we do not know but the same hearty support which Tecumseh would afford may exist in many towns throughout the State. All we need for good earnest work and mighty results is organization.
L. R.
In accordance with these requests a meeting for conference was called at Lincoln, January 19, 1881, Mrs. Brooks presiding. A second meeting was held at the M. E. Church, January 22, and a Lincoln Woman Suffrage Association was formed. A mass convention was held January 26, and a State Association was formed next day:[466]
The meeting of January 26 was held in the opera-house and was presided over by Mrs. Franc E. Finch. The speakers were John B. Finch, Rev. Mary J. DeLong, Judge O. P. Mason and Mrs. Esther L. Warner. Reading and music filled the programme. Mrs. DeLong's address was in behalf of the prohibitory and suffrage amendments. Judge Mason's address was afterwards printed for distribution. It showed how forcible and eloquent the Judge could be when on the right side. It will be remembered that Judge Mason opposed woman suffrage in the constitutional convention of 1871. His closing sentences were:
The more intelligent and exalted the character of the electors in a government whose foundation rests upon the franchise, the more safe and secure are the liberties of the people and the property of that government. The higher the social and moral standard of the electors, the better will be the type of manhood that is chosen to make laws and administer the government. As you elevate the standard of intelligence, and increase the ability and intensify the power to recognize the right and a sense of obligation to follow it, you make sure the foundations of civil and religious liberty. You do more, you elevate the character of the laws, and better the administration in every department of government. It has been wisely said that government is best which is best administered.
Do as we will, however, forget the rights of others, treat them with contempt, summon to our aid the united efforts of great political parties, invoke statutory and constitutional law to aid us in the mad career, yet, let no one forget that God's balances, watched by his angels, are hung across the sky to weigh the conduct of individuals and nations, and that in the end divine wisdom will pronounce the inexorable judgment of compensatory justice.
Previous to all of these meetings Hon. E. M. Correll had introduced on January 13, H. R. 59, a bill for an amendment to the constitution striking the word "male" from qualifications of electors. This had given impetus to the friends of the measure and inspiration to the meetings. A vote of thanks was tendered Mr. Correll by both the State and Thayer County Associations. The bill not being technically correct, Mr. Correll introduced on February 3, a joint resolution of the same purport, H. R. 162. The committees of Senate and House on constitutional amendments gave a hearing that evening to the advocates of the measure:
Of the fourteen members of the committees, ten were present; the full number from the House and three from the Senate. Mr. Correll pressed the claims of the resolution in the first speech, and then introduced the different speakers representing the State association. Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks reviewed the progress of sentiment elsewhere and said that her acquaintance and correspondence in this State led her to think the time ripe for action of this kind. Mrs. Orpha Clement Dinsmoor argued the abstract right of it, saying:
It has now come to the question of absolute right--whether one class of people shall say to another: "You can come only thus far in the direction of liberty." We realize that woman must be educated to this new privilege, just as man has been educated to it, and just as this nation is now educating millions of the newly enfranchised to it. Feeling that in intellectual and moral capacity woman is the peer of man, I think that her actual steps forward in needful preparation have given her the right to say who shall rule over her.
Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes based her remarks on the added influence it would give women in securing wise legislation in matters of welfare to the home. Clara B. Colby answered questions of the committee. It was a most encouraging fact that every member of the committee, after the speakers had finished presenting the case, spoke in favor of the amendment, except one, a Bohemian, who was suffering from hoarseness and induced his colleague to express favorable sentiments for him. These gentlemen all remained friendly to the bill until its passage.
Headquarters were established in Lincoln. Mrs. Brooks remained during the session, and Mesdames Holmes, Russell, Dinsmoor and Colby all, or most of the time, until the act was passed, interviewing the members and securing the promise of their votes for the measure:
The joint resolution went through all the preliminary stages in the House without opposition on account of the discretion of its advocates, the watchfulness of its zealous friends among the members, and the carefulness of Mr. Correll with regard to all pending measures. The bill was made a special order for February 18, 10:45 A. M., and Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Dinsmoor and Mrs. Colby addressed the House by invitation. At the close of their remarks Mr. Roberts offered the following:
Resolved, That, as the sense of this House, we extend our thanks to the ladies who have so ably addressed us in behalf of female suffrage, and we wish them God-speed in their good work.
On motion of Mr. Howe the resolution was unanimously adopted. Mr. Correll moved that H. R. 162 be ordered engrossed for third reading. The motion prevailed. The final vote in the House, February 21, stood 51 for the amendment; 22 against.[467]
The passage of the bill had its dramatic features. Intense interest was felt by the crowds which daily gathered in the capitol to watch its progress, while the officers of the State association were extended the courtesies of the floor, and came and went, watching every opportunity and giving counsel and assistance at every step. On this eventful Monday afternoon but one of these was present, and she watched with anxiety the rapid passage of the bills preceding, which made it evident that H. R. 162 would soon be reached. Six more than the needed number of votes had been promised, but three of these were absent from the city. There were barely enough members present to do business, as important bills claimed attention in committee-rooms and lobbies. The last bill ahead of this was reached, and the friends hurried out in every direction to inform the members, who responded quickly to the call. One man pledged to the amendment went out and did not return, the only one to betray the measure.
The roll was called amid breathless interest and every one kept the tally. Church Howe, in voting, said: "I thank God that my life has been spared to this moment, when I can vote to extend the right of suffrage to the women of my adopted State." And C. B. Slocumb responded to his name, "Believing that my wife is entitled to all the rights that I enjoy, I vote aye." The last name had been called, and all knew that only fifty votes had been cast for the amendment, lacking one of the required three-fifths of all members elect. The chief clerk of the House, B. D. Slaughter, usually so glib, slowly repeated the names of those who had voted and more slowly footed up the result. Two favorable members were outside; if only one could be reached! The speaker, who had just voted against the amendment, but was kindly disposed towards those interested in it, held the announcement back for a moment which gave Church Howe time to move the recommitment of the resolution. His motion was seconded all over the House, but just at this juncture one of the absent friends, P. O. Heacock, a German member from Richardson county, came in, and, being told what was going on, called out, "I desire to vote on this bill." He walked quickly to his place and, in answer to his name, voted "aye." The speaker asked Mr. Howe if he wished to withdraw his motion, which he did, and the vote was announced. The galleries cheered, and the House was in a hubbub, unrebuked by the speaker, who looked as happy as if he had voted for the bill. The members gathered around the woman who sat in their midst, shook hands and extended congratulations, many even who had voted against the amendment expressing their personal sympathy with its advocates.
The joint resolution was immediately sent to the Senate, where, after its second reading, it was referred to the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, who returned it with two reports:
That of the majority, recommended its passage, while the minority opposed it on the ground that it would be inadvisable to introduce opposing measures into the House and thus create new divisions in politics and a new cause of excitement; but principally upon the claim that in the territory where female suffrage had obtained "for a period of two years" the experiment had been disastrous, the "interests of the territory damaged in emigration," and the administration of justice hindered in the courts. This report was signed by Senators J. C. Myers and S. B. Taylor, who had persistently refused to listen to argument or information on the subject. As soon as the report was made, the senators were informed of their glaring mistake as to the length of time the women of Wyoming had voted, and information was laid before them proving that the results in that territory had been in every way beneficial,[468] but they refused to withdraw or change their report.
The parliamentary tactics and watchfulness of Senators Doane, Coon, Smith, White, Dinsmore, Harrington and Tefft carried the bill through the bluster of the minority to its final vote; by twenty-two for to eight against.[469] When Senator Howe's name was called he offered the following explanation:
The question of submitting this proposition to a vote of the people is not to be regarded as a pleasantry, as some members seem to think. However mischievously the experiment of giving the suffrage to women may operate, the power once given cannot be recalled. I have endeavored to look at the question conscientiously. I desire to keep abreast of all legitimate reforms of the day. I would like to see the moral influence of women at the polls, but I would not like to see the immoral influence of politics in the home circle. The Almighty has imposed upon woman the highest office to which human nature is subject, that of bearing children. Her life is almost necessarily a home life; it should be largely occupied in rearing and training her children to be good men and pure electors. Therein her influence is all-powerful. Again, I incline to the belief that to strike out the word 'male' in the constitution would not change its meaning so as to confer the suffrage upon women. I am not acquainted with half a dozen ladies who would accept the suffrage if it were offered to them. They are not prepared for so radical a change. For these reasons, briefly stated, and others, I vote No.
Mr. Turner explained his vote as follows:
Our wives, mothers and sisters having an equal interest with us in the welfare of our commonwealth, and being equal to ourselves in intelligence, there appears no good reason why the right to vote should be withheld from them. The genius of our institutions is opposed to taxation without representation; opposed to government without the consent of the governed, and therefore I vote Aye.
The act was then signed by the president of the Senate and speaker of the House, and sent to Gov. Nance. The latter, who, although not personally an advocate of the measure, had given all courtesy and assistance to its supporters, signed it promptly. To take a bill like this, which even a minority are anxious to defeat, through the intricate course of legislation requires work, watchfulness and the utmost tact and discretion on the part of its friends in both Houses.
The suffrage association immediately arranged to begin a canvass of the State. The vice-president was appointed State organizer and entered upon the duties of the office by forming a society at Beatrice, March 5. The next step was to secure ample and unimpeachable testimonials from Wyoming, which were printed in Woman's Work, and then spread broadcast in leaflet form. Lectures were given, and societies and working committees formed as rapidly as possible. The Western Woman's Journal, a neat monthly magazine, was established in May, by Hon. E. M. Correll, and a host of women suddenly found themselves gifted with the power to speak and write, which they consecrated to the cause of their civil liberties.
The Thayer County Association, as the elder sister of the numerous family now springing up, maintained its prominence as a centre of activity and intelligence. Barbara J. Thompson, secretary from its organization, wrote at this time of the enthusiasm felt, and of the willingness of the women to work, but added, "nearly all our women are young mothers with from one to five children, and these cannot do anything more than attend the meetings occasionally when they can leave the children." This might have been said of any society in the State, and this fact must be considered in judging from their achievements of the zeal of the Nebraska women. Few, comparatively, could take a public part, and all others were constantly reckoned by opponents as unwilling or indifferent. Thayer County Association celebrated the Fourth of July in a novel manner, making every feature an object lesson. Woman's Work gave an account of it at the time, which is quoted to give a pleasant glance backward at the enthusiasm and interest that marked the work of this society:
We found to our surprise that the women of Thayer county had in charge the whole celebration. The Fourth dawned cool and clear, and with news of the improvement of Garfield, everybody felt happy. The procession, marshaled by ladies on their handsome horses, and assisted by Senator C. B. Coon, was formed in due time, and presented a very imposing appearance. The band wagon was followed by nearly a hundred others, and among the novelties of the occasion was the boys' brigade, consisting of a score of little fellows, some with drums and some with cornets, who played in quite tolerable time. The States were represented to indicate their progress with regard to equal rights. Young men represented those wherein no advance had been made; young women those where school suffrage had been granted to women; and Wyoming Territory was represented by two, a man and a woman. The little girls were all dressed in the appropriate colors, the wagons were gaily decorated, and the procession well managed. After singing and prayer, the president, Mrs. Ferguson, gave a short address. Mrs. Vermilion, who is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, read the Woman's Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, a document couched in such forcible terms as Hancock, Adams & Co., would use if they were women in this year of our Lord 1881. Then followed the oration of the day, delivered by Mrs. Colby, and for the audience it had at least two points of interest: First, that the woman suffrage society had acted in defiance of precedent, and had engaged a woman as their orator; and secondly, that it was given from the standpoint of a citizen and not of a woman. There being nothing in the address on the matter of woman suffrage, the society desired the speaker to address them in the evening on that subject. Accordingly a meeting was held, and despite the fatigue of the day, there was a good attendance and considerable interest. A good dinner was provided on the grounds, and afterwards they had singing and speaking. Mr. Hendershot addressed the children. It will be an item of interest to the readers of the Express that the W. S. A. of Thayer county have had some songs printed appropriate for their use. Among them is "Hold the Polls," a song by the editor of the Express, and this was sung with considerable enthusiasm. It may be said that the whole affair was a success, and reflected great credit on the executive ability of the ladies in charge. One item of interest must not be forgotten--among the various banners indicative of the virtues which are worthy of cultivation, was one whose motto read, "In Mother we Trust." A lady being asked the peculiar significance of this, said, "It has always been God and father, now we want the children to learn to trust their mothers, and to think they are of some account."
A successful State convention was held at Omaha July 6, 7, Mrs. Brooks presiding and making the opening address. The address of Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender on "The Legal Disabilities of Married Women" created quite a discussion among a number of noted lawyers present. Of this the Republican said:
This lady is the well-known recent editor of the Osceola Record, which she has now relinquished for the study and practice of law, in partnership with her husband. Her address, although learned, elaborate, comprehensive, and dealing with principles and technicalities, was delivered extemporaneously, with great animation and effect, and in a manner at once womanly, captivating and strong.
Miss Ida Edson read a paper on "Might and Right." Mrs. Bloomer, whose presence was an interesting feature of the convention, gave reminiscences of her own work for woman's ballot in Nebraska. The convention was enlivened by the dramatic readings of Mrs. H. P. Mathewson, and the inspiring ballads of the poet-singer, James G. Clark, who had come from Colorado to attend the meeting. A glimpse at the convention through the friendly eyes of the editor of the Republican will indicate the interest and ability shown by the women of the State:
The first general convention of the Woman's State Suffrage Association commenced its session last evening at Masonic hall, the president, Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks, in the chair, assisted by the first vice-president, Mrs. Clara B. Colby of Beatrice; the secretary, Mrs. A. M. Bittenbender of Osceola; and the treasurer, Mrs. Russell of Tecumseh. A majority of the members of the executive committee and of the vice-presidents were also present, with several friends of the cause from abroad, including Hon. E. M. Correll, editor of the Western Woman's Journal, who was the "leader of the House" on the bill for submitting the suffrage amendment to the people. The evening was sultry and threatening, and Masonic hall was not so full as it would otherwise have been, considering both "promise and performance." The local attendance was representative, including quite a number of our leading citizens, with their wives, and the editors of our contemporaries the Herald and the Bee. The meeting was a very interesting one, more especially the "conversational" portion, in which free discussion was solicited. This was opened by Hon. E. Rosewater, who spoke in response to a very general call. His address of half an hour in length was marked by apparent sincerity, and was a calm and argumentative presentation of objections, theoretical and practical, which occurred to him against the extension of the franchise to women. It was replied to by Mrs. Colby, in a running comment, which abounded in womanly wisdom and wit, and incessantly brought down the house. Our restricted space will compel us to forego a report of the discussion at present. On the conclusion of Mrs. Colby's very bright and convincing remarks, Dr. McNamara addressed the convention in a brief speech of great earnestness, depth and power.
The last session was most interesting. The hall was nearly filled, and among the audience were representatives of many of our leading families. There was rather too much crowded into this session, but the convention "cleaned up" its work thoroughly, and the audience displayed a patient interest to the very end. Besides the address of Professor Clark, there was a masterly constitutional argument by Mrs. Clara B. Colby, which demonstrated that woman can argue logically, and can support her postulates with the requisite legal learning, embracing a knowledge of the common and statute law authorities from Blackstone down. The address abounded in historical and literary allusions which show its author to be a person of broad culture as well as an adept in "book learning." Following came another address from Mrs. Bloomer, in which she disposed--as he expressed, to Dr. McNamara's entire satisfaction--of the stock biblical argument down from Moses to Paul against "woman's rights" to act in the same spheres, and speak from the same platform with men. This address was given at the special request of several leading ladies of this city, and though the hour was late, it was received with unbroken interest, and was complimented with a special vote of thanks, moved by Mrs. Colby. Most interesting reports of district and local work were made by Mrs. Holmes, of Tecumseh, Mrs. Chapin of Riverton, and Mrs. Slaughter of Osceola. Dr. McNamara closed the convention with a few stirring words of exhortation to the ladies to go right to work from now on to November, 1882. He excused himself from a set speech with the promise that, if "let off" now, he would, at some future time, present a full expression of his views on the reform to which he has so earnestly pledged himself. The closing word in which the Republican would sum up the varied proceedings of the first State suffrage convention is the magic word success.
A second very successful convention was held at Kearney, October 19, 20. A score or more societies were represented by delegates and their reports were very encouraging.
The principal features of the programme were: Address of president, Harriet S. Brooks; welcome, Mrs. H. S. Sydenham; response, Mrs. A. P. Nicholas; addresses by Mrs. Esther L. Warner, Gen. S. H. Connor (whose name appeared among the votes of the opponents in 1875); Mrs. Orpha C. Dinsmoor, on "Inherent Rights"; L. B. Fifield, regent of the State University, on "Woman's Influence for Women"; and Rev. Crissman, resident Presbyterian minister, on "Expediency." Among the letters received was the following, addressed to Mrs. Dinsmoor, by Gen. Manderson, whose name has been mentioned as voting for woman's ballot in the constitutional conventions of 1871 and 1875:
OMAHA, October, 17.
Your esteemed favor inviting me to speak before the convention at Kearney, October 18, 19, upon the subject of the extension of suffrage to women, was duly received. I have delayed replying to it until to day in the hope that my professional engagements would permit me to meet with you at Kearney. The continuing session of our District Court prevents my absence at this time. I would like very much to be with you at the meeting of your association. My desire, however, would be to hear rather than to speak. Ten years have passed since, with other members of the constitutional convention of 1871, I met in argument those who opposed striking the word "male" from the constitution of Nebraska. In those days "the truth was mighty and prevailed," almost to the extent of full success, for, as the result of our effort, we saw the little band of thirteen increase to thirty. I feel that there must be much of new thought and rich argument growing from the agitation of the last ten years, and to listen to those who, like yourself and many other members of your association, have been in the forefront of the battle for the right, would be most interesting. But I must, for the present, forego the pleasure of hearing you. I write merely to keep myself "on the record" in the good fight. Now, as ever, I favor the enfranchisement of women, the disfranchisement of ignorance. I would both extend and contract the right to vote in our republic; extend it so that intelligence without regard to color or sex should rule, and contract it so that ignorance should be ruled. If this be not the cure for the political ills that threaten the permanency of American institutions, then there is no cure. May Nebraska be the first of the States to apply the remedy.
Very respectfully yours, CHARLES F. MANDERSON.
The association sent out its scouts, and as a result a convention was held in quite the northern part of the State, at Norfolk, November 30 and December 1. This was much appreciated by the citizens, whose locality was at that time not much frequented by speakers on any topic.[470] The first annual meeting, held at Lincoln in February, 1882, found a large number of delegates, each with reports of kindred local work, ready to receive the record of this year of preparation. Everything indicated a favorable termination to the effort, as it became evident that all sections of the State were being aroused to active interest.
The address of the president, Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks, was entitled, "Work, Wages and the Ballot." It was a review of a lecture given earlier in the season by Chancellor Fairchild of the University, in which he had taken the ground that the work of women should not receive the same wages as that of men. Rev. Dr. McNamara and others spoke briefly and earnestly. Miss Lydia Bell, at the closing evening session, gave an address which, to use the words of the reporter, "for felicity of composition, strength of argument, and beauty of delivery, fully merited the special resolution of thanks unanimously given by the society."[471]
The work of organizing and lecturing was continued with as much zeal and efficiency as the busy days and limited resources of the women would permit. Many of the counties held conventions, took count of their friends, and prepared for a vigorous campaign. As the summer advanced, at picnics, old settlers' gatherings, soldiers' reuenions, fairs, and political conventions,--wherever a company of people had assembled, there interested women claimed an opportunity to present the subject to audiences it would otherwise have been impossible to reach. With but few exceptions, officials extended the courtesies asked.
During the summer of 1882, the work was greatly aided by the lectures of Margaret Campbell and Matilda Hindman; and during the month of September by Helen M. Gougar. The American Suffrage Association, at its annual meeting in 1881, elected Hon. E. M. Correll president, as a recognition of his services to the cause in Nebraska, and in 1882, it held its annual meeting in Omaha, September 12 and 13. Lucy Stone, H. B. Blackwell, and Hannah Tracy Cutler remained for some weeks, lecturing in the State, and were warmly received by the local committees. Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt, and Judge Kingman, of Wyoming, gave a few addresses. The National Association also held its annual meeting at Omaha, Sept. 26, 27, 28. A reception was given at the Paxton Hotel on the close of the last session. Following this, a two days' convention was held at Lincoln, from which point the speakers diverged to take part in the campaign.[472]
While those friendly to the amendment were laboring thus earnestly, the politicians held themselves aloof and attended strictly to "mending their own fences." After the act had passed the legislature, it was found that almost every prominent man in the State was friendly to the amendment. The bench and bar were especially favorable, while three-fourths of the press and a large majority of the clergy warmly espoused the cause. Leading politicians told the women to go ahead and organize, and they would assist in the latter part of the canvass. Thayer and Clay county Republicans endorsed woman suffrage in their platform, while Franklin county delegates were instructed to vote for no one who was not in favor of the amendment.
Previous to the session of the Republican State Convention, great hopes were entertained that this body would put an endorsement of the amendment in its platform, as a majority of the delegates were personally pledged to vote for such a measure. But the committee on resolutions was managed by a man who feared that such endorsement would hurt the party, and the suffrage resolution which was handed in, was not reported with the rest. On the plea of time being precious, the convention was maneuvered to pass a resolution that the report of the committee should not be discussed. The report was brought in at the last moment of the convention, and adopted as previously arranged, and the convention was adjourned, everybody wondering why a resolution relative to the amendment had not been presented. The Republican leaders feared that their party was endangered by the passage of the bill by the legislature, for it was very largely carried by Republican votes, and while individually friendly, they almost to a man avoided the subject.
As the canvass progressed, it was comical to note how shy the politicians fought of the women to whom they had promised assistance. Judge O. P. Mason, who had agreed to give ten lectures for the amendment, and whose advocacy would have had immense weight, engaged to speak for the Republican party, and at every place but one, the managers stipulated that he should be silent on the amendment. Of the vast array of Republican speakers, had even those who had expressed themselves in favor of the amendment advocated it intelligently and earnestly, the result would have been different.
Due credit must be given to ex-United States Senator Tipton, Judge W. H. Morris, and a few others who lectured outside of their own counties, as well as at home, while David Butler, candidate for senator from Pawnee county, E. M. Correll of Hebron, C. C. Chapin of Riverton, Judge A. P. Yocum of Hastings, and doubtless a few others, regardless of their political prospects, advocated the cause of woman along with their own. The women of Nebraska will always cherish the memory of the enthusiastic young student from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who spent some months of the campaign in Nebraska, giving lavishly of his means and talents to aid the cause. Wilder M. Wooster was a bright, logical speaker, and his death, which occurred in 1885, cost the world a promising and conscientious journalist.
Towards the close of the campaign it became evident that the saloon element was determined to defeat the amendment. The organ of the Brewers' Association sent out its orders to every saloon, bills posted in conspicuous places by friends of the amendment mysteriously disappeared, or were covered by others of an opposite character, and the greatest pains was taken to excite the antagonism of foreigners by representing to them that woman suffrage meant prohibition. On the other hand, the temperance advocates were by no means a unit for its support.
The morning dawned bright and clear on November 5, 1882. The most casual observer would have seen that some unusual interest was commanding attention. Everything wore a holiday appearance. Polling places were gaily decorated; banners floated to the breeze, bearing suggestive mottoes: "Are Women Citizens?" "Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny!" "Governments Derive their Just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." "Equality before the Law," etc., etc. Under pavilions, or in adjoining rooms, or in the very shadow of the ballot-box, women presided at well-filled tables, serving refreshments to the voters, and handing to those who would take them, tickets bearing the words: "For Constitutional Amendment Relating to Right of Suffrage," while the national colors floated alike over governing and governed; alike over women working and pleading for their rights as citizens, and men who were selling woman's birth-right for a glass of beer or a vote. It looked like a holiday picnic--the well-dressed people, the flowers, the badges, and the flags; but the tragic events of that day would fill a volume.
The conservative joined hands with the vicious, the egotist with the ignorant, the demagogue with the venial, and when the sun set, Nebraska's opportunity to do the act of simple justice was gone--lost by a vote of 50,693 to 25,756--so the record gives it. But it must not be forgotten that many tickets were fraudulently printed, and that tickets which contained no mention of the amendment were counted against it, as also were tickets having any technical defect or omission; for instance, tickets having the abbreviated form, "For the Amendment," were counted against it. It will always remain an open question whether the amendment did not, after all, receive an actual majority of all votes cast upon that question. In this new State, burdened with the duties incident to the development of a new country, the women had done what women might do to secure their rights, but their hour had not yet struck.
On the following evening, the speakers of the National Association, who still remained in the State held a meeting[473] at the opera-house in Omaha, at which the addresses were in the main congratulatory for the large vote, making proportionally the largest ever cast for woman's ballot.
While history must perforce be silent concerning the efforts and sacrifices of the many, a word will be expected in regard to some of the principal actors. Looking back on these two eventful years, not a woman who took part in that struggle would wish to have been inactive in that heroic hour. It is an inspiration and an ennobling of all the faculties that they have once been lifted above all personal aims and transient interests; and for all who caught the true meaning of the moment, life can never again touch the low level of indifference. The officers of the State Association who were most active in the canvass are here mentioned with a word as to their subsequent efforts:
Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks, whose services have so often been referred to, after working in three States for the privileges of citizenship, is devoting herself to the congenial study of sociology, and her able pen still does service.
Ada M. Bittenbender was admitted to the bar May 17, 1882, and from that time until the election gave undivided attention to the duties of her office as president of the State Association. The campaign song-book, the supplement folded in the county papers, the columns of notes and news prepared for many journals in the State, the headquarters in Lincoln from which, with the assistance of E. M. Correll and Mrs. Russell, she sent forth documents, posters, blanks and other campaign accessories, sufficiently attest her energy and ability. She is now a practicing lawyer of Lincoln, and was successful during the session of the legislature of 1885 in securing the passage of a law making mothers joint and equal guardians of their children.
Mrs. Belle G. Bigelow of Geneva was an active and reliable officer during the canvass of 1882, and is now prominent in the temperance work of Nebraska.
Mrs. Lucinda Russell of Tecumseh, for two years the treasurer of the State Association, edited a department in the local paper in the interest of the amendment, was one of the campaign committee, and spared no effort to push the work in her own county. Her sister, Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes, was one of the most efficient members of the executive committee. She drove all over her own county, holding meetings in the school-houses. The efforts of these two women would have carried Johnson county for the amendment had not the election officials taken advantage of a technical defect in the tickets used in some of the precincts. Mrs. Holmes sustained the suffrage work in Nebraska through the two following years as chairman of the executive committee, was elected in 1884 to the office of president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and reelected in 1885 to the same position.
Mrs. Orpha C. Dinsmoor of Omaha, as chairman of the executive committee during the first year (Mrs. De Long having resigned), contributed largely to the most successful conventions of the campaign. One of the most notable lectures given in the State was hers in reply to Chancellor Fairfield of the Nebraska University, on "Work and Wages." As it was known that the chancellor held the ground that woman should not be paid equally with man, even for the same work and the same skill, the Lincoln Woman Suffrage Association invited him to give his lecture on that subject, and Mrs. Dinsmoor to answer him on the following evening. Mrs. Dinsmoor is well known for her interest in education and scientific charity, and has, by appointment of the governor of the State, represented Nebraska at the National Conference of Charities and Corrections at its last two annual meetings. She is now the president of the Nebraska Woman's Board of Associated Charities.
Mrs. Barbara J. Thompson, of English birth, was one of the leading spirits of the Thayer County Society, and was active in holding meetings and organizing committees. Her principal service was by her ready pen, which furnished articles for a large number of papers. It is pleasant to reflect that one woman who worked so earnestly for the rights of citizenship in Nebraska has obtained them in her new home at Tacoma, Washington Territory.
Mrs. Gertrude McDowell of Fairbury lent her wit and wisdom to many conventions, was ready with her pen, and secured a thorough canvass in Jefferson county. She was the third president of the State Association.
Mrs. Mollie K. Maule of Fairmont laid by her law studies to serve on the executive board of the State Association. In company with Mrs. Susie Fifield and others, she held meetings in all the precincts of Fillmore county, securing a good vote. Mrs. Maule was elected president of the State Association in 1885.
Mrs. Jennie G. Ford of Kearney, for some time member of the executive committee, was one of the leading advocates in Buffalo county. Always aiding and inspiring others to effort, she was an incessant worker in the causes dear to her heart. She was president of the Nebraska Woman's Christian Temperance Union from 1882 to 1884. She died June 18, 1885, leaving in the hearts of all who had known her, tender memories of her beautiful life.
Miss Lydia Bell, a talented elocutionist of Lincoln, devoted some months to lecturing. Her great intellectual and rhetorical gifts made her a very effective speaker.
Dr. Hetty K. Painter was a graduate of the Pennsylvania Medical College in 1860. She was a physician in the army during the civil war, and her proudest possession is the badge which proves her membership in the Fifth Army Corps. Her practice and her infirmary at Lincoln did not prevent her helping largely the cause in which she felt so great an interest.
Mrs. Esther L. Warner of Roca was the only person actively engaged in the last canvass who had been connected with the effort of 1871. As vice-president of her judicial district, she spoke at many places, organizing wherever practicable. Her motherly face, and persuasive but humorous argument, made her a favorite at conventions. Coming to Nebraska in its early days, a widow with a large family, she purchased a large farm and devoted herself to its management, to the care and education of her children, and to the direction of the village school, being a member of the board of trustees for many years. She had not used tongue or pen for public service since her girlhood until this occasion enlisted her interest and proved her gifts.
Clara C. Chapin, La Petite, as she was called at conventions, or as a friend styles her, "the dear little English bud that blossomed on American soil," was one of the most zealous of our women, organizing, lecturing and arranging campaigns. She is at present very active in the temperance work, and is one of the editors of a State temperance paper, the Republican Valley Echo. An extract from a letter received from her in answer to inquiry will show the spirit that actuates this representative advocate of woman's political enfranchisement:
I never thought much about "woman's rights" until within the last five years--that is, political rights. I always had a strong sense of my responsibilities as a woman and a mother (have three children), and realize that we need something more than moral suasion to make our influence practical and effective. My husband, though not what is called a "politician," has been sufficiently in politics for me to know just what power the ballot has, and to see the necessity of woman's work in that direction. I am happy to say that Mr. Chapin is heart and soul with me in this, and it is a wonder to us how any wife or mother, how any Christian woman can say, "I have all the rights I want."
Hoping to hold the vantage ground already gained, a State convention was held at Kearney, December 6, 7, the place being selected because Buffalo county had carried the amendment by a good majority.
The association held three formal sessions, which were well attended and very interesting. Speeches of encouragement and congratulation were made, plans for work discussed, and campaign reminiscences recounted. One of the most interesting that was given was that of Mrs. Beedy of Gardner precinct, who said that the women actively interested in the suffrage work talked socially on the subject with every man in the precinct. There were seventy-two votes, and only four against the amendment. Of these four persons, two could neither read nor write, a third could not write his own name, and the fourth could not write his name in English. All the delegates present reported that the social work had been a prime cause of such success as they had found. Mrs. Bigelow said that Geneva precinct stood ninety-eight for the amendment and ninety-eight against. At Fairmont sixty ladies went to the polls. They wore white ribbon badges on which was printed, "Are we citizens?" The general impression among those attending the convention was that the Association should petition congress for a sixteenth amendment, petition the Nebraska legislature for municipal suffrage, and make use of school suffrage to its fullest extent. The executive committee held four sessions, appointed a number of working committees, and attended to settling up the campaign business of the Association. The convention was considered a decided success in every way.
The annual meeting was held in January, 1883. Mrs. Gertrude McDowell was elected president. The usual business was transacted, and a special committee appointed to secure favorable legislation. In view of the fact that so much of the opposition had been based on the allegation that "women do not want to vote," a resolution was prepared for the immediate re-submission of a constitutional amendment with a provision making it legal for women to vote on its final ratification. The joint resolution was introduced by Senator Charles H. Brown of Omaha, and ably advocated by him and others, especially by Senator David Butler. It was lost by nearly a two-thirds vote. The Committee on Amendments gave a hearing to Lydia Bell, Clara C. Chapin and Clara B. Colby. The joint resolution was taken up in the Senate for discussion February 15. Woman's Work gives the record of the proceedings:
Senator McShane of Douglas moved indefinite postponement. Senator Brown of Douglas, who introduced the resolution, spoke against the motion and made a forcible historical argument for the bill. Senator McShane then spoke at length against the bill, basing his opposition to the enfranchisement of woman on the ground that it would be detrimental to the interests of the foreigner. Senator Schoenheit of Richardson opposed the bill on the plea that it would mar the loveliness of woman in her domestic relations. Senator Reynolds of Butler favored the bill. He had voted against the amendment last fall, but he did it because he feared the women did not want the ballot, and he was willing to let them decide for themselves. Senator Dech of Saunders favored the bill in remarks showing a broad and comprehensive philosophy. Senator Butler of Pawnee made a magnificent arraignment of the Republican and Democratic parties, and an appeal to the anti-monopolists to oppose the monopoly of sex. His speech was the longest and most earnest of the session. Several persons expressing a desire to continue the discussion, McShane withdrew his motion to postpone. The Senate adjourned, and on Friday morning it was moved and carried that this bill be made the special order for that evening. Accordingly, the chamber and gallery were filled. On motion, Mrs. Colby was unanimously requested to address the Senate in behalf of the bill. Senator Butler escorted her to the clerk's desk, and she delivered an extemporaneous address, of which a fair synopsis was given by the Journal reporter. Foreseeing the defeat of the bill, she said, in closing, "You may kill this bill, gentlemen, but you cannot kill the principle of individual liberty that is at issue. It is immortal, and rises Phoenix-like from every death to a new life of surpassing beauty and vigor. The votes you cast against the bill will, like the dragons' teeth in the myth of old, spring up into armed warriors that shall obstruct your path, demanding of you the recognition of woman's right to 'equality before the law.'" The grave and reverend senators joined in the applause of the gallery, and carried Senator Reynolds' motion "that the thanks of this Senate be returned to Mrs. Colby for the able, eloquent and instructive address to which we have listened"; but with no apparent reluctance, on Senator McShane's motion being renewed, they postponed the bill by a vote of 18 to 6.[474] Of the absent ones, Senator Dech was known to be sick, some of the others were in their seats a moment previous, and it is fairly to be presumed that they did not dare to vote upon the question. Of those voting aye, Senators Brown of Clay, and Walker of Lancaster had favored the bill in the committee, and the friends were counting on their vote, as also some others who had expressed themselves favorable. It is due to Senators Brown of Douglas and Butler to say that they championed the bill heartily, and furthered its interests in every possible way.
Conventions were held at Grand Island in May, at Hastings in August of 1883, and at Fremont August, 1884. The annual meeting of 1884 was held at York, and that of 1885 in Lincoln. At all of these enthusiasm and interest were manifested, which indicate that the idea has not lost its foothold. The Woman's Tribune, established in 1883, circulates largely in the State, and maintains an intelligent if not an active interest. When a new occasion comes the women will be able to meet it. Their present attitude of hopeful waiting has the courage and faith expressed in the words of Lowell:
"Endurance is the crowning quality, And patience all the passion of great hearts; These are their stay, and when the hard world With brute strength, like scornful conqueror, Clangs his huge mace down in the other scale, The inspired soul but flings his patience in, And slowly that out-weighs the ponderous globe; One faith against a whole world's unbelief, One soul against the flesh of all mankind."
FOOTNOTES:
[457] Having visited Beatrice twice to speak in different courses of lectures arranged by Mrs. Colby, I can testify to her executive ability alike in her domestic and public work. She can get up a meeting, arrange the platform, with desk and lights, and introduce a speaker with as much skill and grace as she can spread a table with dainty china and appetizing food, and enliven a dinner with witty and earnest conversation.--[E. C. S.
[458] Yeas--Messrs. Boulwere, Buck, Campbell, Chambers, Clancy, Davis, Decker, Hail, Haygood, Hoover, Kirk, Larimer, Rose, Sullivan--14.
Nays--Messrs. Beck, Bowen, Gibson, Harsh, Laird, Miller, Moore, Morton, McDonald, Riden, Salisbury--11.
[459] It is a pleasure to record that both these gentlemen have reached the logical result of their former views, and now advocate giving the franchise to intelligence and patriotism regardless of the sex of the possessor. Governor Saunders, in the capacity of United States Senator, cast a favorable ballot on measures in any manner referring to woman's civil rights, and in 1882 spoke on the platform of the National Association, at its Washington convention.
[460] The legislature of 1875 repealed this law except so far as it referred to unmarried adult women and widows. In the legislature of 1881, Senator C. H. Gere introduced a bill revising the laws relating to schools. One of the provisions of the bill conferred the school ballot on women on the same terms as on men--viz: Any person having children of school age, or having paid taxes on personal property, or being assessed on real estate, within such a period, is entitled to vote at all elections pertaining to schools. This, however, does not include the power to vote for State or county superintendents. The women of the State now vote so largely that it is no longer a matter of comment or record.
[461] The following named representatives voted "yea": Messrs. Ahmanson, Cannon, Doone, Galey, Goodin, Hall, Jenkins, Kipp, Majors, Myers, Nims, Patterson, Porter, Quimby, Rhodes, Ryan, Wickham, Riordan, Roberts--19. Voting "nay": Messrs. Briggs, Beall, E. Clark, J. Clark, Dillon, Duby, Grenell, Hudson, Munn, Overton, Reed, Rosewater, Rouse, Schock, Shook, Sommerlad--16.
[462] Voting in the affirmative: Messrs. Gerrard, Hascall, Kennedy, Tucker, Tennant, and Mr. President--6. Voting in the negative: Messrs. Brown, Hawke, Hillon, Metz, Sheldon, and Thomas--6.
[463] Voting "yea": Messrs. Ballard, Boyd, Campbell, Cassell, Estabrook, Gibbs, Gray, Hascall, Kenaston, Kilburn, Kirkpatrick, Lake, Lyon, Majors, Mason, Manderson, Maxwell, Neligh, Newsome, Philpott, Price, Robinson, Stewart, Spiece, Shaff, Thomas, Tisdel, Towle, Wakeley, President Strickland--30. Voting "nay": Messrs. Abbott, Eaton, Granger, Griggs, Moore, Myers, Parchin, Reynolds, Sprague, Stevenson, Hummel, Vifquain, Weaver--13.
[464] The gentlemen who advocated the measure most warmly, were among the ablest judges and jurists of the State. Of the opposition, Judge O. P. Mason experienced a change of heart, and ten years later appeared as a foremost advocate. General E. Estabrook of Omaha lent all his influence to the amendment in the late canvass, and Col. Philpott of Lincoln was also a warm advocate, often accompanying his zealous wife and other members of the effective and untiring Lincoln association to the school-house meetings held in all parts of Lancaster county. D. T. Moore was called out at a meeting in York in 1881, and came forward without hesitation, saying that he was in favor of woman suffrage. He related this incident: that on his return home from the convention of 1871, he found that his wife had been looking after his stock farm and attending to his business so that everything was in good order. He praised her highly, when she replied, "Yes, and while I was caring for your interests, you were voting against my rights." The reply set him to thinking, and he thought himself over on the other side. A. J. Weaver opposed the clause in a very bitter speech. The friends of the amendment in 1881 were given to understand that Mr. Weaver was friendly, but to prevent the foreigners having that opinion, Mr. Weaver translated the record of his opposition into German, and distributed the papers among the German voters. Having been elected to congress, he was one of only three Republican members who voted against the standing committee on woman's claims. These facts cost him a great many votes at the time of his reelection in 1884, and are not yet forgotten.
[465] The debates of this convention were not reported for the economical reasons mentioned. The names of the honored fifteen are, Clinton Briggs, W. L. Dunlap, R. C. Eldridge, J. G. Ewan, C. H. Frady, C. H. Gere, R. B. Harrington, D. P. Henry, C. F. Manderson, J. McPherson, M. B. Reese, S. M. Kirkpatrick, L. B. Thorne, A. M. Walling, J. F. Zediker. Many of these were active friends of the amendment of 1881.
[466] The officers elected were: President, Harriet S. Brooks, Omaha; Vice-President-at-Large, Clara Bewick Colby, Beatrice; Vice-Presidents--First Judicial District, Mrs. B. J. Thomson, Hebron; Second, Mrs. E. L. Warner, Roca; Third, Mrs. A. P. Nicholas, Omaha; Fourth, Mrs. J. S. Burns, Scribner; Fifth, Mrs. C. C. Chapin, Riverton; Sixth, Mrs. D. B. Slaughter, Fullerton; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender, Osceola; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Gertrude McDowell, Fairbury; Treasurer, Mrs. L. Russell, Tecumseh; Executive Committee, Rev. M. J. DeLong, Tecumseh; Mrs. Orpha C. Dinsmoor, Omaha; Mrs. J. C. Roberts, David City; Mrs. C. B. Parker, Mrs. J. B. Finch, Lincoln; Mrs. E. M. Correll, Hebron; Mrs. J. H. Bowen, Hastings.
[467] Members voting in the affirmative were: Messrs. Abbott, Babcock; Bailey, Baldwin, Bartlett, Broatch, Brown, Cantlin, Carman, Cook, Cole, Correll, Dailey, Dew, Dowty, Filley, Fried, Graham, Gray, Hall, Heacock, Herman, Hostetter, Howe, Jackson of Pawnee, Jensen, Johnson, Jones, Kaley, Kempton, Kyner, Linn, McClun, McDougall, McKinnon, Mickey, Moore of York, Montgomery, Palmer, Paxton, Ransom, Reed, Roberts, Root, Schick, Scott, Sill, Slocumb, Watts, Wilsey and Windham--51. Voting in the negative: Messrs. Bick, Bolln, Case, Franse, Frederick, Gates, Hollman, Jackson of Douglas, King, Lamb, Laughlin, McShane, Moore of Otoe, Mullen, Overton, Peterson, Putney, Sears, Wells, Whedon, Ziegler and Mr. Speaker--22.
[468] At this time the valuable information from Wyoming with which Nebraska was afterwards flooded; letters from Gov. Hoyt, editorials from leading papers of the territory, and testimony from every reputable source, had not been gathered; but two members of the House, J. H. Helm and Church Howe, had been residents of Wyoming, and these cheerfully gave their assurance that only good had resulted from the enfranchisement of the women of Wyoming.
[469] Those voting in the affirmative were: Messrs. Baker, Burns (of Dodge), Burns (of York), Coon, Daily, Dinsmore, Doane, Evans, Gere, Graham, Harrington, Morse, Perkins, Pierce, Powers, Smith, Tefft, Turner, Van Wyck, Wells, Wherry and White--22. Those voting in the negative were: Messrs. Ballentine, Cady, Ervin, Howe, Myers, Taylor, Turk and Zehrung--8. Two of these names cannot stand in the roll of honor without an explanation; for twenty votes indicate the full strength of the bill. The irrelevance of opponents was illustrated by Senators Morse and Pierce. The former in voting said, he had opposed the measure every step of the way, and now to be consistent he voted aye. Senator Pierce said he had been watching the other side of the capitol and nothing there seemed popular but whiskey and women, therefore, he voted aye!
[470] The speakers of this convention were Clara Bewick Colby, acting president; Mr. Sattler, who gave the welcome; Ada M. Bittenbender, Esther L. Warner, Judge I. N. Taylor, Mrs. M. E. Vandermark, Rev. Haywood and Professor Wood of Nebraska City College. The latter spoke in English in the afternoon, and in German, his native tongue, in the evening. The announcement that he would do so drew a large number of his countrymen. One of these was allowed the floor by request, when he soundly berated (in German) the women as opposed to foreigners, while at the same time he tried to weaken Professor Wood's argument by saying it was to be attributed to an American wife. It was reported that the marked contrast between the speakers was commented on by resident Germans greatly to the disadvantage of their fellow-townsman.
[471] The officers elected were: President, Ada M. Bittenbender; Vice-President, Clara Bewick Colby; Secretary, Belle G. Bigelow; Corresponding Secretary, Gertrude M. McDowell; Treasurer, Lucinda Russell; Executive Committee, Harriet S. Brooks, E. M. Correll, Susie Noble Fifield, George B. Skinner, Rev. John McNamara, Jennie F. Holmes; Vice-Presidents of Judicial Districts--First, Barbara J. Thompson; second, Dr. Ruth M. Wood; third, Orpha Clement Dinsmoor; fourth, Ada Van Pelt; fifth, Mrs. H. S. Sydenham.
[472] Most of the speakers spent several weeks in the State. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Harbert, Mrs. Shattuck, Mrs. Neyman, Miss Anthony, Miss Couzins and Miss Hindman were the principal National speakers, and their ability and zeal aroused the whole State. Mrs. Colby was indefatigable in her exertions from the moment the amendment was submitted to the end of the canvass. Mrs. Colby and Miss Rachel Foster organized the whole campaign throughout the State, and kept all the speakers in motion.--[S. B. A.
[473] For further details of the closing scenes, see Vol. III. page 241.
[474] Yeas--Brown (Clay), Brown (Colfax), Butler, Canfield, Conklin, Dolan, Dunphy, Harrison, Heist, McShane, Norris, Patterson, Rogers, Sang, Schoenheit, Sowers, Thatch and Walker--18. Senator Butler voted with these for the purpose of being able to move a reconsideration. Nays--Bomgardner, Brown (Douglas), Conner, Dye, Filley and Reynolds--6. Absent--Barker, Brown (Lancaster), Case, Dech, Fisher, Harris, Kinkaid and Rich.
L. KANSAS
Effect of the Popular Vote on Woman Suffrage--Anna C. Wait--Hannah Wilson--Miss Kate Stephens, Professor of Greek in State University--Lincoln Centre Society, 1879--The Press--The Lincoln Beacon--Election, 1880--Sarah A. Brown, Democratic Candidate--Fourth of July Celebration--Women Voting on the School Question--State Society, 1884--Helen M. Gougar--Clara Bewick Colby--Bertha H. Ellsworth--Radical Reform Association--Mrs. A. G. Lord--Prudence Crandall--Clarina Howard Nichols--Laws--Women in the Professions--Schools--Political Parties--Petitions to the Legislature--Col. F. G. Adams' Letter.
We closed the chapter on Kansas in Vol. II. with the submission and defeat of the woman suffrage amendment, leaving the advocates of the measure so depressed with the result that several years elapsed before any further attempts were made to reorganize their forces for the agitation of the question. This has been the experience of the friends in every State where the proposition has been submitted to a vote of the electors--alike in Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska and Oregon--offering so many arguments in favor of the enfranchisement of woman by a simple act of the legislature, where the real power of the people is primarily represented. We have so many instances on record of the exercise of this power by the legislatures of the several States in the regulation of the suffrage, that there can be no doubt that the sole responsibility in securing this right to the women of a State rests with the legislature, or with congress in passing a sixteenth amendment that should override all State action in protecting the rights of United States citizens.
We are indebted to Anna C. Wait for most of the interesting facts of this chapter. She writes:
I watched with intense interest from my home in Ohio, the progress of the woman suffrage idea in Kansas in the campaign of 1867, and although temporary defeat was the result, yet the moral grandeur displayed by the people in seeking to make their constitution an embodiment of the principle of American liberty, decided me to become a citizen of that young and beautiful State. Gov. Harvey's message was at that time attracting much attention and varied comments by the press. For the benefit of those who have not studied the whole history of the cause, we give the following extracts from his message, published February 9, 1871:
The tendency of this age is towards a civil policy wherein political rights will not be affected by social or ethnological distinctions; and from the moral nature of mankind and the experience of States, we may infer that restrictions merely arbitrary and conventional, like those based upon color and sex, cannot last much longer than they are desired, and cannot be removed much sooner than they should be. This consideration should give patience to the reformer, and resignation to the conservative.
Let us have a true republic--a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and we shall hear no more the oligarchical cry of croaking conservatism calling for a "white man's government"--appealing by this, and like slogans of class and caste to the lowest and meanest principles of human nature, dangerous alike to real republicanism and true democracy. Expediency, that great pretext for the infringement of human rights, no longer justifies us in the retention of a monopoly of political power in our own favored class of "white male citizens."
In the summer of 1871, Mr. Wait and myself removed to Salina, where Mrs. Hannah Wilson resided. She was the only person in this section of Kansas I ever heard of doing any suffrage work between the years of 1867 and 1877. She was a woman of great force of character, and a strong advocate of suffrage. She was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, and came to Salina in 1870. After Miss Anthony lectured in that city in 1877, Mrs. Wilson circulated petitions to the legislature and to congress. She was also active and aggressive in the temperance cause. When she learned of the Lincoln Beacon, and its advocacy of woman suffrage, she wrote an article for the paper, and accompanied it with a kind letter and the price of a year's subscription. Mrs. Wilson was a Quaker, and in her dress and address strictly adhered to the peculiarites of that sect.
Miss Kate Stephens, professor of Greek in the Kansas State University, writes that she has made diligent search during the past summer among the libraries of Topeka and Lawrence for record of suffrage work since the campaign of 1867, and finds absolutely nothing, so that I am reduced to the necessity of writing, principally, of our little efforts here in central Kansas. In the intensely interesting letters of Mesdames Helen Ekin Starrett, Susan E. Wattles, Dr. R. S. Tenney and Hon. J. P. Root, in Vol. II., all written since 1880, I find no mention of any woman suffrage organizations. Mrs. Wattles, of Mound City, says: "My work has been very limited. I have only been able to circulate tracts and papers"; and she enumerates all the woman suffrage papers ever published in America, which she had taken and given away. A quiet, unobtrusive method of work, but one of the most effective; and doubtless to the sentiment created and fostered by this sowing of suffrage literature by Mrs. Wattles, is largely due the wonderful revival which has swept like one of our own prairie fires over south-eastern Kansas during the past year; a sentiment so strong as to need but "a live coal from off the altar" to kindle into a blaze of enthusiasm. This it received in the earnest eloquence of Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, who has twice visited that portion of the State. All these writers express their faith in a growing interest in the suffrage cause, and, some of them, the belief that if the question were again submitted to a vote of the people, it would carry.
In our State suffrage convention, June, 1884, among the demands which we resolved to make of our incoming legislature, was the submission of an amendment striking out the word "male" from the State constitution. For myself, I entertained no hope that it would succeed further than as a means of agitation and education. On reflection, I hope it will not be done. The women of Kansas have once been subjected to the humiliation of having their political disabilities perpetuated by the vote of the "rank and file" of our populace. While I believe the growth of popular opinion in favor of equality of rights for women has nowhere been more rapid than in Kansas, yet I do not lose sight of the fact that thousands of foreigners are each year added to the voting population, whose ballots in the aggregate defeat the will of our enlightened, American-born citizens. Besides, it is a too convenient way for a legislature to shirk its own responsibility. If the demand is made, I hope it may be done in connection with that for municipal and presidential suffrage.
The history of the woman suffrage organizations in Kansas since 1867, may be briefly told. The first owes its existence to one copy of the National Citizen and Ballot-Box subscribed for by my husband, W. S. Wait, who by the merest chance heard Miss Anthony deliver her famous lecture, "Woman wants Bread, not the Ballot," in Salina, in November, 1877. The paper was religiously read by Mrs. Emily J. Biggs and myself; although we did not need conversion, both being radical in our ideas on this question, we had long felt the need of something being done which would fix public attention and provoke discussion. This was all we felt ourselves competent to do, and the knowledge that nobody else in our section of the country would do it, coupled with the inspiration of the National Citizen, culminated, in November 1879, in sending to the Saline Valley Register, George W. Anderson, editor and proprietor, a notice for a meeting of women for the purpose of organizing a suffrage society. In response to the call, Mrs. Emily J. Biggs, Mrs. Sarah E. Lutes, and Mrs. Wait, met November 11, 1879, at the house of A. T. Biggs, and organized the Lincoln Auxiliary of the National Association. We elected a full corps of officers from among ladies whom we believed to be favorable, interviewed them for their approval, and sent a full report of the meeting to be published as a matter of news in the Register, which had given our call without comment. The editor had a few weeks previously bought the paper, and we were totally ignorant in regard to his position upon the question. We were not long left in doubt, for the fact that we had actually organized in a way which showed that we understood ourselves, and meant business, had the effect to elicit from his pen a scurrilous article, in which he called us "the three noble-hearted women," classed us with "free-lovers," called us "monstrosities, neither men nor women," and more of the same sort. Of course, the effect of this upon the community was to array all true friends of the cause on our side, to bring the opposition, made bold by the championship of such a gallant leader, to the front, and cause the faint-hearted to take to the fence. And here we had the discussion opened up in a manner which, had we foreseen, I fear our courage would have been inadequate to the demand. But not for one moment did we entertain a thought of retreating. Knowing that if we maintained silence, the enemy would consider us vanquished, I wrote an article for his paper, quoting largely from Walker's American Law, which he published; and Mrs. Biggs also furnished him an article in which she showed him up in a manner so ludicrous and sarcastic that he got rid of printing it by setting it up full of mistakes which he manufactured himself, and sending her the proof with the information that if he published it at all, it would be in that form. It appeared the following week, however, in the first number of The Argus, a Democratic paper, Ira C. Lutes, editor and proprietor, in which we at once secured a column for the use of our society. About a dozen ladies attended our second meeting, at which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, all the ladies present being allowed to vote:
WHEREAS, The local newspaper is adjudged, by common consent, to be the exponent of the intelligence, refinement, and culture of a community, and, in a large degree, the educator of the rising generation; and
WHEREAS, In one issue of the Lincoln Register there appears no fewer than forty-seven misspelled words, with numerous errors in grammatical construction and punctuation; also a scurrilous article headed "Woman vs. Man," in which the editor not only grossly misrepresents us, but assails the characters of all advocates of suffrage everywhere in a manner which shocks the moral sense of every true lady and gentleman in this community; therefore
Resolved, That this association present the editor of the Register with a copy of some standard English spelling-book, and English Language Lessons, for his especial use.
Resolved, That as he has been so kind as to offer his advice to us, unsolicited, we reciprocate the favor by admonishing him to confine himself to facts in future, and to remember that the people of Lincoln are capable of appreciating truth and common decency.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished the editor of the Lincoln Register, with the books above named.
This was promptly done, and so enraged him that the following week he published a tirade of abuse consisting of brazen falsehoods, whereupon a gentleman called a halt, by faithfully promising to chastise him if he did not desist, which had the desired effect so far as his paper was concerned.
W. S. Wait bought the Argus at the end of four months, changed its politics to Republican, and its name to the Lincoln Beacon, in which I established a woman suffrage department, under the head of "Woman as a Citizen," with one of Lucretia Mott's favorite mottoes, "Truth for Authority, and not Authority for Truth"; and weekly, for six years, it has gone to a constantly increasing circle of readers, and contributed its share to whatever strength and influence the cause has gained in this portion of the State. In the summer of 1880, G. W. Anderson announced himself a candidate for the legislature. He had just before made himself especially obnoxious by shockingly indecent remarks about the ladies who had participated in the exercises of the Fourth of July celebration. At a meeting of the suffrage society, held August 6, the following resolution, suggested by Mrs. S. E. Lutes, were unanimously adopted:
WHEREAS, We, as responsible members of society, and guardians of the purity of our families and community, are actuated by a sense of duty and our accountability to God for the faithful performance of it; and
WHEREAS, George W. Anderson, editor and proprietor of the Lincoln Register, during his few months' residence in our county has, by constant calumny and scurrility, both verbal and through the columns of his paper, sought to injure the reputation of the honorable women who compose the Lincoln suffrage and temperance associations, and of all women everywhere who sympathize with the aims and purposes which these societies represent; and
WHEREAS, His utterances through the columns of the Lincoln Register are often unfit to be read by any child, or aloud in any family, because of their indecency, we are unanimously of the opinion that his course is calculated to defeat the aims and purposes of Christianity, temperance and morality; therefore
Resolved, That whenever George W. Anderson aspires to any position of honor, trust or emolument in the gift of the voters of Lincoln county, we will use all honorable means in our power to defeat him; and we further urge upon every woman who has the welfare of our county at heart, the duty and necessity of cooeperating with us to accomplish this end.
The above preamble and resolution appeared in the woman's column of the Lincoln Beacon the following week, and 250 copies were printed in the form of hand-bills and distributed to the twenty-three post-offices in Lincoln county. It did not prevent his election, and we did not expect it would, but we believed it our duty to enter our protest against the perpetration of this outrage upon the moral sense of those who knew him best. We ignored him in the legislature, sending our petitions asking that body to recommend to congress the adoption of the sixteenth amendment, to Hon. S. C. Millington of Crawford, who had come to our notice that winter by offering a woman suffrage resolution in the House. In 1882 Anderson sought a second indorsement as a candidate for the legislature, but that portion of the community which he really represented had become disgusted with him; he struggled against fate with constantly waning patronage for another year, when he succumbed to the inevitable and sought a new field, a wiser if a sadder man. His mantle has fallen upon E. S. Bower, whose capacity and style were graphically portrayed in caustic rhyme by Mrs. Ellsworth, making him the target for the wit of the women long after.
I have given more space and prominence to these two editors than they merit, but the influence of a local newspaper is not to be despised, however despicable the editor and his paper may be; and it takes no small degree of courage to face such an influence as that exerted in this county by the one in question, which, I am happy to say, has gradually dwindled, until to-day it is too trifling, both in extent and character, to deserve recognition.
Six years ago I do not believe there was a paper in the State of Kansas which contained a woman suffrage department, and we rarely saw any reference whatever to the subject; now, within a radius of fifty miles of Lincoln Centre, fully two-thirds of all newspapers published have a column devoted to suffrage or temperance, or both, edited by women. The reason this is not true of the press of the entire State is because our indefatigable corresponding secretary, Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth, has not yet had sufficient time to personally present the matter; but there has been such a growth on the subject that by the press generally it seems to be accepted as one of the living issues of the day. A very efficient agency in bringing about this desirable result was the printed column, entitled "Concerning Women," sent out gratis every week during the year 1882, by Mrs. Lucy Stone, from the office of The Woman's Journal, to all newspapers that would publish it. Many Kansas editors availed themselves of this generous offer, greatly to the advantage of their patrons and themselves.
But to return to the Lincoln Woman Suffrage Association. The first year our membership increased to twenty-seven; the second, to forty, including six gentlemen. We did not invite gentlemen to join the first year; owing to the character and attitude of the opposition, we preferred to demonstrate our ability to conduct the affairs of the society without masculine assistance. During our six years' existence we have enrolled eighty members, eighteen of whom are gentlemen. Of this number, forty-five women and fourteen men still reside in Lincoln county. We have held, on an average, one parlor meeting a month and ten public meetings.
In 1880, Mesdames Emily J. Biggs, Mary Crawford, Bertha H. Ellsworth and myself were assigned places on the programme for the Fourth of July celebration, after solicitation by a committee from our society. To me was assigned the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and I embraced the opportunity of interspersing a few remarks not found in that honored document, to the delight of our friends and the disgust of our foes. The other ladies all made original, excellent and well-timed addresses. In 1881 we got up the Fourth of July celebration[475] ourselves, and gave the men half the programme without their asking for it. In 1883 we had a "Foremothers' Day" celebration, and confined the programme to our own society. In September, 1882, the society sent the writer as delegate to the annual meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association, held at Omaha, Nebraska; and in March, 1884, we sent Bertha H. Ellsworth to the Washington convention in the same capacity. Our society has taken an active part in the annual school district elections in Lincoln Centre. In the last five elections we have been twice defeated and three times successful. Our defeats we claimed as victories, inasmuch as we forced our opponents to bring out all their friends to outvote us. Fifty per cent. of all the votes cast at the last three elections were by women. Only twelve women in the town failed to vote in 1884. This increase is general all over the State; and, although we have only once tried in Lincoln Centre to elect a woman, and then failed, yet very many of the country districts have one, some two women on the school-board, and at one time all three members in one district were women. That they are honest, capable and efficient is the verdict in every case.
In the spring of 1881, Mrs. Emily J. Biggs organized the Stanton Suffrage Society, eight miles from Lincoln Centre, with a membership of over twenty, more than half of whom were gentlemen. Mesdames Mary Baldwin, N. Good, T. Faulkner, M. Biggs, Mrs. Swank and others were the leading spirits. All their meetings are public, and are held in the school-house. Through this society that portion of the county has become well leavened with suffrage sentiment. Failing health alone has prevented Mrs. Biggs from carrying this school district organization to all parts of the county and beyond its limits, as she has been urgently invited to do. "Instant in season and out of season" with a word for the cause, she has, individually, reached more people with the subject than any other half-dozen women in the society. Her pen, too, has done good service. Over the nom de plume of "Nancy," in the Beacon, she has dealt telling blows to our ancient adversary, the Register. In October, 1882, the writer went by invitation to Ellsworth and organized a society[476] auxiliary to the National, composed of excellent material, but too timid to do more than hold its own until the summer of 1884, when Mrs. Gougar, and later, Mrs. Colby, lectured there, soon after which Mrs. Ellsworth canvassed the town with literature and a petition for municipal suffrage, which was signed by eighty of the eighty-five women to whom it was presented, showing that there was either a great deal of original suffrage sentiment there, or that the society had exerted a large amount of "silent influence." In October, 1883, Mrs. Helen M. Gougar came to fill some lecture engagements in the southeastern part of the State. During this visit she organized several clubs.[477]
In June, 1884, Mrs. Gougar again visited Kansas, lecturing for a month in different parts of the State. She drew large audiences and made many converts. A suffrage society was organized at Emporia, Miss M. J. Watson, president. The active friends availed themselves of her assistance to call a State Suffrage Convention, which met in the Senate chamber in Topeka, June 25, 26, and organized a State Association.[478] Mrs. Gougar, by the unanimous vote of the convention, presided, and dispatched business with her characteristic ability. In view of all the circumstances, this convention and its results were highly satisfactory. The attendance was not large, but the fact that the call was issued from Topeka to the press of the State but eight days before the convention met, and probably did not reach half the papers in time for one insertion, accounts for the absence of a crowd. Some even in Topeka learned that the convention was in progress barely in time to reach its last session. Reporters for the Topeka Capital, the Topeka Commonwealth and Kansas City Journal attended all the day sessions of the convention, and gave full and fair reports of the proceedings. After the adjournment of the State convention, the women of Topeka formed a city society. The corresponding secretary, Mrs. Ellsworth, with Mrs. Clara B. Colby, made an extensive circuit, lecturing and organizing societies. They were everywhere cordially welcomed.[479]
Kansas has a flourishing Women's Christian Temperance Union which at its last annual meeting adopted a strong woman suffrage resolution; Miss O. P. Bray of Topeka is its superintendent of franchise. Mrs. Emma Molloy of Washington, both upon the rostrum and through her paper, the official organ of the State Union, ably and fearlessly advocates woman suffrage as well as prohibition, and makes as many converts to the former as to the latter.
Mrs. A. G. Lord did a work worthy of mention in the formation of the Radical Reform Christian Association, for young men and boys, taking their pledge to neither swear, use tobacco nor drink intoxicating liquors. A friend says of Mrs. Lord:
Like all true reformers she has met even more than the usual share of opposition and persecution, and mostly because she is a woman and a licensed preacher of the Methodist church in Kansas. She was a preacher for three years, but refuses to be any longer because, she says, under the discipline as it now is, the church has no right to license a woman to preach. Trying to do her work inside the church in which she was born and reared, she has had to combat not only the powers of darkness outside the church, but also the most contemptible opposition, amounting in several instances to bitter persecutions, from the ministers of her own denomination with whom she has been associated in her work as a preacher; and through it all she has toiled on, manifesting only the most patient, forgiving spirit, and the broadest, most Christ-like charity.
The R. R. C. A. has been in existence two and a half years, and has already many hundreds of members in this and adjoining counties, through the indefatigable zeal of its founder. Mitchell county has the honor of numbering among its many enterprising women the only woman who is a mail contractor in the United States, Mrs. Myra Peterson, a native of New Hampshire. The Woman's Tribune of November, 1884, contains the following brief sketch of a grand historic character:
Marianna T. Folsom is lecturing in Kansas on woman suffrage. She gives an interesting account of a visit to Mrs. Prudence Crandall Philleo. Miss Crandall over fifty years ago allowed a girl with colored blood in her veins to attend her young ladies' school in Connecticut. On account of the social disturbance because of this, she dismissed the white girls and made her school one for colored pupils. Protests were followed by indictments, and these by mobbings, until she was obliged to give up her school. For her fortitude, the Anti-Slavery Society had her portrait painted. It became the property of Rev. Samuel J. May, who donated it to Cornell University when opened to women. Miss Crandall married, but has now been a widow many years. She is in her eighty-third year, and is vigorous in mind and body, having been able to deliver the last Fourth of July oration at Elk Falls, Kan., where she now lives and advocates woman suffrage and temperance.
In the introduction to Chapter VII., Vol. I., of this history, appears this sentence: "To Clarina Howard Nichols[480] the women of Kansas are indebted for many civil rights which they have as yet been too apathetic to exercise." Uncomplimentary as this statement is, I must admit its truthfulness as applied to a large majority of our women of culture and leisure, those who should have availed themselves of the privileges already theirs and labored for what the devotion of Mrs. Nichols made attainable. They have neither done this, nor tried to enlighten their less favored sisters throughout the State, the great mass of whom are obliged to exert every energy of body and mind to furnish food, clothes and shelter for themselves and children. Probably fully four-fifths of the women of Kansas never have heard of Clarina Howard Nichols; while a much larger number do know that our laws favor women more than those of other States, and largely avail themselves of the school ballot. The readiness with which the rank and file of our women assent to the truth when it is presented to them, indicates that their inaction results not so much from apathy and indifference as from a lack of means and opportunity. Among all the members of all the woman suffrage societies in Central Kansas, I know of but just one woman of leisure--one who is not obliged to make a personal sacrifice of some kind each time she attends a meeting or pays a dollar into the treasury. Section 6, Article XV., of the constitution of Kansas reads:
The legislature shall provide for the protection of the rights of women, in acquiring and possessing property, real, personal, and mixed, separate and apart from her husband; and shall also provide for their equal rights in the possession of their children. In accordance with the true spirit of this section, our statute provides that the law of descents and distributions as regards the property of either husband or wife is the same; and the interests of one in the property of the other are the same with each; and that the common-law principles of estates of dower, and by courtesy are abolished.[481]
The rights of husband and wife in the control of their respective properties, both real and personal, are identical, as provided for in sections 1, 2, 3, and 4. Chapter 62, page 539, compiled laws of Kansas, 1878:
SECTION 1. The property, real and personal, which any woman in this State may own at the time of her marriage, and the rents, issues, profits, and proceeds thereof, and any real, personal, or mixed property which shall come to her by descent, devise, or bequest, or the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and not be subject to the disposal of her husband, or liable for his debts.
SEC. 2. A married woman, while the marriage relation subsists, may bargain, sell and convey her real and personal property, and enter into any contract with reference to the same, in the same manner, to the same extent, and with like effect as a married man may in relation to his real and personal property.
SEC. 3. A woman may, while married, sue and be sued, in the same manner as if unmarried.
SEC. 4. Any married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or services, on her sole and separate account, and the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor or services, shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used and invested by her in her own name.
It is a fact worthy of note that the above legislation, also the passage of the law of descents and distributions, immediately followed the woman suffrage campaign of 1867.
In 1880, the Democrats of Kansas, in their State convention at Topeka, nominated Miss Sarah A. Brown of Douglas county, for superintendent of public instruction, the first instance on record of a woman receiving a nomination from one of the leading political parties for a State office. The following is Miss Brown's letter of acceptance:
OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, Douglas } Co., Kansas,} LAWRENCE, Kansas, Sept. 30, 1880. }
To Hon. John Martin, Topeka, Kansas, Chairman of the State Democratic Central Committee:
SIR:--I am in receipt of your communication of August 30, advising me of the action of the Democratic convention of August 26, in nominating me as their candidate for State superintendent of public instruction.
In making this nomination the Democratic party of Kansas has, with a liberal and enlightened spirit, and with a generous purpose, yielded to the tendency of the times, which demand equal rights and equal opportunities for all the people, and it has thus shown itself to be a party of progress. It has placed itself squarely and unequivocally before the people upon this great and vital question of giving to woman the right to work in any field for which she may be fitted, thus placing our young and glorious State in the foremost rank on this, as on the other questions of reform.
Furthermore, in nominating one who has no vote, and for this reason cannot be considered in politics, and in doing this of its own free will, without any solicitation on my part, the Democratic party of this State has shown that it is in full accord with the Jeffersonian doctrine that the office should seek the man and not the man the office; and also that it fully appreciates the fact which is conceded by all persons who have thought much on educational matters, that the best interests of our schools demand that the office of superintendent, both of the State and county, should be as far as possible disconnected from politics, and it has done what it could to rescue the office from the vortex of mere partisan strife. For this reason I accept the nomination, thanking the party for the honor it has conferred upon me.
Respectfully, SARAH A. BROWN.
Miss Brown was defeated. The vote of the State showed the average Democrat unable to overcome his time-rusted prejudices sufficiently to vote for a woman to fill the highest educational office in the gift of the people, so that Miss Brown's minority was smaller even than that of the regular Democratic ticket.
January 21, 1881, Hon. S. C. Millington of Crawford county introduced in the House a joint resolution providing for the submission to the legal voters of the State of Kansas of a proposition to amend the constitution so as to admit of female suffrage. The vote on the adoption of the resolution stood 51 ayes and 31 noes in the House, and a tie in the Senate. Later in the same session, Hon. A. C. Pierce of Davis county introduced in the House a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution which should confer the right of suffrage on any one over 21 years of age who had resided in the State six months. Mr. Hackney of Cowley county, introduced a like resolution in the Senate.
In December, 1881, Governor St. John appointed Mrs. Cora M. Downs one of the regents of the State University at Lawrence. In 1873, Mrs. Rice was elected to the office of county clerk of Harper county, and Miss Alice Junken to the office of recorder of deeds, in Davis county. In 1885 Miss Junken was reelected by a majority of 500 over her competitor, Mrs. Fleming, while Trego county gave a unanimous vote for Miss Ada Clift as register of deeds.
In proportion to her population Kansas has as many women in the professions as any of the older States. We have lawyers, physicians, preachers and editors, and the number is constantly increasing. In Topeka there are eight practicing physicians, holding diplomas from medical colleges, and two or three who are not graduates. In the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, Kansas now has four representatives--Mrs. Sallie A. Goff of Lincoln, Miss Thomas of Olathe, Miss Cunningham of Garnett, and Miss Gilman of Pittsburg.
All female persons over the age of twenty-one years are entitled to vote at any school-district meeting on the same terms as men.
The right of a woman to hold any office, State (except member of the legislature), county, township or school-district, in the State of Kansas, is the same as that of a man. In 1882, six counties, viz., Chase, Cherokee, Greenwood, Labette, Pawnee, and Woodson, elected women as superintendents of public instruction.
Section 23, Article II., Constitution of Kansas, reads: "The legislature, in providing for the formation and regulation of schools, shall make no distinction between males and females."
Under the legislation based upon this clause of our constitution, males and females have equal privileges in all schools controlled by the State. The latest report of the State superintendent of public instruction shows that over one-half of the pupils of the Normal school, about two-fifths in the University, and nearly one-third in the Agricultural College, are females.
In the private institutions of learning, including both denominational and unsectarian, over one-half of the students are females who study in the same classes as the males, except in Washburn college which has a separate course for ladies.
Most of these institutions have one woman, or more, in their faculties. One-half of the faculty of the State University is composed of women. In the last report of the State superintendent is the following:
The ratio of female teachers is greater than ever before, some 69 per cent. of the entire number employed. It is, indeed, a matter of congratulation that the work of the schools, especially the primary teaching, is falling more and more to the care of women.
The Republican State convention of 1882, by an overwhelming majority endorsed woman suffrage, which action the Lincoln W. S. A. promptly recognized as follows:
WHEREAS, The Republican party of the State of Kansas, by and through its chosen representatives in the Republican State convention at Topeka, August 9, 1882, did, by an overwhelming majority, pledge itself to the support of the principle of woman suffrage by the following:
Resolved, That we request the next legislature to submit such an amendment to the constitution of the State as will secure to woman the right of suffrage. And,
WHEREAS, By this action the Republican party of Kansas has placed itself in line with the advanced thought of the times in a manner worthy a great political party of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, thereby proving itself worthy the respect and confidence of the women of the State; therefore,
Resolved, That the Lincoln Woman Suffrage Association, in behalf of the women of Kansas, does hereby express thanks to the Republican party for this recognition of the political rights of the women of the State, and especially to the Hon. J. C. Root of Wyandotte, Hon. Hackney of Winfield, Col. Graves of Montgomery, and Gen. Kelly, for their able and fearless support of the measure, and to each and every member of the convention who voted for it.
In 1883, Senator Hackney introduced a bill of which we find the following in the Topeka Capital of that date:
Senate bill No. 46, being Senator Hackney's, an act to provide for the submission of the question of female suffrage to the women of Kansas, was taken up, the reading thereof being greeted with applause. It provides that at the general election in 1883 the women of the State shall decide, by ballot, whether they want suffrage or not. Senator Hackney made an address to the Senate upon the bill, saying he believed in giving women the same rights as men had. The last Republican platform declared in favor of woman suffrage, and those Republicans who opposed the platform said they believed the women of the State should have their say about it; the Democratic platform said the same as the dissenters from the Republican. Several humorous amendments were made to the bill. Senator Kelley favored the bill because there were a great many women in the State who wanted to vote. He hoped the Senate would not be so ungallant as to vote the bill down. Senator Sluss moved the recommendation be made that the bill be rejected. Carried.
The Republican State convention of 1884 ignored the woman suffrage question. The Anti-monopoly (Greenback) party State convention, of August 1884, placed in its platform the following:
That we believe the advancing civilization of the past quarter of the nineteenth century demands that woman should have equal pay for equal work, and equal laws with man to secure her equal rights, and that she is justly entitled to the ballot.
Miss Fanny Randolph of Emporia, was nominated by acclamation for State superintendent of public instruction, by this convention. The Prohibition State convention, in session in Lawrence, September 2, 1884, placed the following plank in its platform:
We believe that women have the same right to vote as men, and in the language of the Republican State platform of two years ago, we request the next legislature to submit such an amendment to the constitution of the State as will secure to woman the right of suffrage.
This year we sent from Lincoln a petition with 175 names asking for a resolution recommending to congress the adoption of the sixteenth amendment. The results of the election of 1884, showed quite a gain for women in county offices. There are now eleven superintendents of public instruction, several registers of deeds, and county clerks. The number of lawyers,[482] physicians, notaries public, principals of schools, members of school-boards in cities and school districts, is rapidly increasing, as is also the number of women who vote in school-district elections. Miss Jessie Patterson, who ran as an independent candidate for register of deeds in Davis county, beat the regular Republican nominee 286 votes, and the Democratic candidate 299 votes.
The work of organizing suffrage societies has also progressed, though not as rapidly as it should, for want of speakers and means to carry it on. Through the efforts of Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina, vice-president of the State society, several new and flourishing clubs have been formed this summer in Saline county, so that it is probably now the banner county in Kansas. The Lincoln society is preparing to hold a fair in September, for the benefit of the State association, which will hold its next annual convention in October. Suffrage columns in newspapers are multiplying and much stress is placed upon this branch of work. On July 18, a convention was held to organize the Prohibition party in Lincoln county. A cordial invitation was extended to women to attend. Eight were present, and many more would have been had they known of it. I was chosen secretary of the convention, and Mesdames Ellsworth and Goff were appointed upon the platform committee, and several of the central committee are women. The position of the new party upon the question may be inferred from the following clauses in its platform:
Resolved, By the Prohibition party of Lincoln county, Kansas, in convention assembled, that the three vital issues before the people to-day are prohibition, anti-monopoly, and woman suffrage.
Resolved, That we believe in the political equality of the sexes, and we call on the legislature to submit such an amendment to the people for adoption or rejection, to the constitution of the State as will secure to women equal political rights.
Later the convention nominated me for register of deeds, and Dr. Sallie A. Goff for coroner. I immediately engaged Miss Jennie Newby of Tonganoxie, member of the executive committee and State organizer of the Prohibition party of Kansas, to make a canvass of the county with me in the interest of the party and the county ticket. We held ten meetings and at all points visited made converts to both prohibition and woman suffrage, though nothing was said about the latter. There were two men on the ticket; one of them received more votes than Dr. Goff and I did, and the other fewer. Emma Faris ran independently for register of deeds in Ellsworth county and received a handsome vote. It is no longer a matter of much comment for a woman to run for an office in Kansas.
Mrs. Gougar came again to Kansas in June to attend the third annual meeting of the Radical Reform Christian Association, and spent a month lecturing on woman suffrage and temperance.
January 15, 16, 1885, the annual meeting of the State society was held at Topeka. Large and enthusiastic audiences greeted Mrs. Gougar on this, her third visit to Kansas. She remained at the capital for several days, and largely through her efforts with members of the legislature special committees were voted for in both Houses to consider the interests of women. The measure was carried in the House by a vote of 75 to 45.[483] In the Senate it was a tie, 19 to 19. The new committee[484] through its chairman, George Morgan of Clay, reported in favor of a bill for municipal suffrage. It was so low on the calendar that there was no hope of its being reached, but a motion was made to take it out of its regular course, which was lost by 65 to 52.
The second annual meeting of the State society was held at Salina, October 28, 29, 1885. Mrs. Laura M. Johns gave the address of welcome, to which Mrs. Anna C. Wait, the president, responded. "Mother Bickerdyke,"[485] who followed Sherman's army in its march to the sea, was present and cheered all with her stirring words of the work of women in the war.[486] Her introduction was followed with applause and the earnest attention to her remarks showed in what high esteem she is held. She said that half the work of the war was done by women, but she made no complaint, indeed no mention, of the fact that these women had never been pensioned.
As it may add force to some facts already stated to have them repeated by one in authority, we give the following letter from the secretary of the Kansas Historical Society:
KANSAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Topeka, Nov. 26, 1885
MISS SUSAN B. ANTHONY, Rochester, N. Y.:
My Dear Friend:--In answer to your request for information upon certain points bearing upon the subject of woman suffrage in Kansas, I give the following:
The women avail themselves quite generally of their privilege of voting at the annual and special school district meetings, at which district officers are elected, and all questions of taxes and expenditures are voted on and settled. Women are, in many instances, elected members of the board of school directors, and thus are charged with the duty of employing teachers, with the supervision of the schools, and with the general management of the affairs of the district. Women vote on the question of the issue of school district bonds, and thus they take part in deciding whether new school houses shall be built and the property of the districts be pledged for the future payment of the cost of the same.
In the chartered cities women do not generally vote for school officers although, under the constitution, it is believed they have the right to do so, and in one or more instances I am informed they have done so, without the right being contested. In cities, school officers are elected at general elections for other city officers, for which women are not permitted to vote, and as they cannot vote for all they generally do not choose to vote for any. Women do not vote for either city, county, or State superintendents, and it is not considered that under our constitution they have the right to do so.
In 1884, there were 4,915 women teaching in the State, and 1,936 men. The average monthly wages of women was $32.85, and of men, $40.70. There are at present twelve women holding the office of county superintendent of public schools in the State. In 72 counties the office is filled by men. Thus, of the 84 organized counties of the State, one-seventh of the school superintendents are women, who generally prove to be competent and efficient, and the number elected is increasing.
In one county, Harper, a woman holds the office of county clerk. A young woman was recently elected to the office of register of deeds, in Davis county. It is conceded that these two offices can very appropriately be filled by women; and now that the movement has begun, no doubt the number of those elected will increase at recurring elections. Already, in numerous instances, women are employed as deputies and assistants in these and other public offices.
The participation of women in school elections and their election to membership of school district boards, are resulting in a steady growth of sentiment in favor of woman suffrage, generally. It is seen that in the decision of questions involving the proper maintenance of schools, and the supplying of school apparatus, women usually vote for liberal and judicious expenditures, and make faithful school officers. Their failures are not those of omission, as is so frequently the case with men holding these offices. If they err in judgment, it is from a lack of that business information and experience which women as non-voters have had little opportunity to acquire, but which, under our Kansas system is now rapidly being supplied.
Among the influences tending to increase the suffrage sentiment in Kansas, may be mentioned those growing out of the active part women are taking in the discussion of political, economical, moral and social questions, through their participation in the proceedings of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the State Temperance Union, the Woman's Social Science Association, the Kansas Academy of Science, the Grange, the State and local Teachers' Associations, and many other organizations in which women have come to perform so prominent a part. In these organizations, and in the part they take in discussions, they show their capacity to grapple with the political, social, and scientific problems of the day, in such a manner as to demonstrate their ability to perform the highest duties of citizenship. Still the chief influence which is bringing about a growth of opinion in favor of woman suffrage in Kansas, comes from what has now become the actual, and I may say, the popular and salutary practice of woman suffrage at school district meetings. It is seen that the reasons which make it right and expedient for women to vote on questions pertaining to the education of their children, bear with little, if any, less force upon the propriety of their voting upon all questions affecting the public welfare.
I think I may truly say to you that the tendencies in Kansas are to the steady growth of sentiment in favor of woman suffrage. This is so apparent that few of those even who do not believe in its propriety or expediency now doubt that it will eventually be adopted, and the political consequences fully brought to the test of experience.
Yours sincerely, F. G. ADAMS.
The greatest obstacle to our speedy success in this State, as elsewhere, is the ignorance and indifference of the women themselves. But the earnestness and enthusiasm of the few, in their efforts from year to year, cannot be wholly lost--the fires kindled by that memorable campaign of 1867 are not dead, only slumbering, to burst forth with renewed brilliancy in the dawn of the day that brings liberty, justice, and equality for woman.
FOOTNOTES:
[475] In the centennial year, when protests were in order, the following was sent to the National Association at Philadelphia, describing the manner in which a lady eighty-four years old celebrated her birthday:
"NEUTRAL STATION, Kansas, July 17, 1876.
"DEAR SISTERS: Two days ago, on Saturday, the 15th, as has been usual for three or four years, a company of our friends and neighbors met at our house to celebrate my eighty-fourth birthday. We had a pleasant time. Some pieces, composed for the occasion, were read, and a clergyman made some appropriate remarks. I improved the opportunity to obtain the names of the ladies present, and succeeded with all, old and young, except one who was afraid it would get her into a trap; but with the rest it needed but little electioneering beside reading your advertisement to secure their names. We, as a neighborhood, are ignorant on the subject. I solicited assistance pecuniarily, and send you what I can, with a word of encouragement still to work and wait, and my earnest prayer for your final success.
ELSIE STEWART."
The other signatures were: Henrietta L. Miller, Mrs. Julia A. Ingraham, Mrs. Hollet, Mrs. Lottie Griffin, Selinda Miller, Celina Lake, Mollie Yeates, Betsey J. Corse, Mary G. Hapeman, Mrs. Maggie Clark, Miss Elsie Miller, Louie Ingraham, Malura Hickox, C. A. Eddy, Anna Lowe, Charlotte H. Butler.
[476] President, Mrs. Mary Maberly; Secretary, Miss Lillie M. Hull; Treasurer, Mrs. Emma H. Johns; and an able executive committee, of which Mrs. E. M. Alden, Mrs. Emma Faris, Mrs. Mattie McDowell and Bertha H. Ellsworth, who was then teaching there, were members.
[477] Arkansas City Suffrage Club, with Mrs. M. B. Houghton, President; Mrs. E. T. Ayers, Vice-President; Miss Gertrude Fowler, Secretary, and Mrs. F. Daniels, Treasurer; also one at Winfield, county-seat of Cowley county, with Mrs. J. Cairns, President; Mrs. M. R. Hall, Secretary, and Mrs. E. D. Garlick, Treasurer; and vice-presidents from each of the churches, as follows: Mesdames P. P. Powell, G. Miller, M. Burkey and J. C. Fuller.
[478] President, Mrs. Hetta P. Mansfield, Winfield; Vice-President-at-Large, Mrs. Anna C. Wait, Lincoln; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth, Lincoln; Recording Secretary, Miss Georgiana Daniels, Eureka; Treasurer, Mrs. D. A. Millington, Winfield; Chaplain, Rev. S. S. Cairns, Winfield; Vice-Presidents and Executive Committee, Mrs. Judge Griswold, Leavenworth; Miss Sarah Hurtsel, Columbus; Mrs. Anna Taylor, Wichita; Miss Myra Willets, Independence; Mrs. W. P. Roland, Cherryvale; Judge Lorenzo Westover, Clyde; Mr. V. P. Wilson, Abilene; Hon. Albert Griffin, Manhattan; Mrs. A. O. Carpenter, Emporia; Mrs. Noble Prentis, Atchison; Mrs. S. S. Moore, Burden; Mrs. Emma Faris, Carnerio; Mrs. Houghton and Mrs. Farrer, Arkansas City; Mrs. Finley, Topeka.
[479] The towns visited were: Beloit, Lincoln Center, Wilson, Ellsworth, Salina, Solomon City, Minneapolis, Cawker City and Clyde. The officers of the Topeka society were: President, Mrs. Priscilla Finley; Secretary, Mrs. E. G. Hammon; Treasurer, Mrs. Sarah Smith. The officers of Beloit were: President, Mrs. H. Still; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. J. M. Patten, Mrs. M. Vaughan; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. F. J. Knight; _Recording Secretary_, Mary Charlesworth; Treasurer, Mrs. M. Bailey. At Salina, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Christina Day are the officers.
[480] The women of Kansas should never forget that to the influence of Mrs. Nichols in the Constitutional convention at Wyandotte, they owe the modicum of justice secured by that document. With her knitting in hand, she sat there alone through all the sessions, the only woman present, watching every step of the proceedings, and laboring with members to so frame the constitution as to make all citizens equal before the law. Though she did not accomplish what she desired, yet by her conversations with the young men of the State, she may be said to have made the idea of woman suffrage seem practicable to those who formed the constitution and statute laws of that State.--[E. C. S.
[481] See compiled laws of Kansas, 79, page 378, chapter XXXIII.
[482] Miss Flora M. Wagstaff of Paoli was among the first to practice law in Kansas. In 1881, Ida M. Tillotson of Mill Brook, and in 1884, Maria E. DeGeer were admitted.
[483] The names of representatives voting for the committee stand as follows: Yeas--Barnes, Beattie, Bollinger, Bond, Bonebrake, Brewster, Buck, Butterfield, Caldwell, Campbell, Carter, Clogston, J. B. Cook of Chetopa, H. C. Cook of Oswego, Collins, Cox, Currier, Davenport, Dickson, Edwards, Faulkner, Gillespie, Glasgow, Gray, Grier, Hargrave, Hatfield, Hogue, Hollenshead, Holman, Hopkins, Hostetler, Johnson of Ness City, Johnson of Marshall, Johnson of Topeka, Johnson (Speaker of the House), Kelley of Cawker City, King, Kreger, Lawrence, Lewis, Loofburrow, Lower, McBride, McNall, McNeal, Matlock, Maurer, Miller, Moore, Morgan of Clay, Morgan of Osborne, Mosher, Osborn, Patton, Pratt, Reeves, Rhodes, Roach, Roberts, Slavens, Spiers, Simpson, Smith of McPherson, Smith of Neosho, Stewart, Stine, Sweezy, Talbot, Vance, Veach, Wallace, Wentworth, Wiggins, Willhelm--75. The names of senators were: Yeas--Bowden, Congdon, Donnell, Edmunds, Granger, Hicks, Humphrey, Jennings, M. B. Kelley, Kellogg, Kimball, Kohler, Pickler, Ritter, Rush, Shean, Sheldon, White, Young--19.
[484] The Committee on the Political Rights of Women, granted by the House, were: George Morgan of Clay, George Seitz of Ellsworth, David Kelso of Labette, F. W. Rash of Butler, W. C. Edwards of Pawnee, F. J. Kelley of Mitchell, W. H. Deckard of Doniphan.
[485] The speakers were: Rev. Amanda May (formerly of Indiana), Mrs. Martha L. Berry, Mrs. Ada Sill, Mrs. Colby, Dr. Addie Kester, Mrs. M. D. Vale, Rev. C. H. Rogers, Mrs. De Geer, Miss Jennie Newby. Officers: President, Mrs. Anna C. Wait of Lincoln; Vice-President, Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina; Treasurer, Mrs. Martia L. Berry of Cawker City; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. B. H. Ellsworth of Lincoln; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Alice G. Bond of Salina.
[486] When Miss Anthony and I went through Kansas in 1867 we held an afternoon and evening meeting in Salina. Our accommodations at the hotel were wretched beyond description. Mother Bickerdyke was just preparing to open her hotel but was still in great confusion. Hearing of our dismal quarters she came and took us to her home, where her exquisitely cooked food and clean beds redeemed in a measure our dolorous impressions of Salina. Our meetings were held in an unfinished church without a floor, the audience sitting on the beams, our opponents (two young lawyers) and ourselves on a few planks laid across, where a small stand was placed and one tallow candle to lighten the discussion that continued until a late hour. Being delayed the next day at the depot a long time waiting for the train we held another prolonged discussion with these same sprigs of the legal profession. We had intended to go on to Ellsworth, but hearing of trouble there with the Indians we turned our faces eastward. Mother Bickerdyke and her thrilling stories of the war are the pleasant memories that still linger with us of Salina.--[E. C. S.