XL. KANSAS.[263]
The first Woman's Rights Association was organized in Kansas in the spring of 1859, by a little coterie of twenty-five men and women, with the object of securing suffrage for women from the convention which was to meet in July to form a constitution for Statehood. They did not succeed in this but to them is largely due its remarkably liberal provisions regarding women.[264]
Afterwards local suffrage societies were formed but there was no attempt to have a State association until 1884. In the winter of that year Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth was sent to the National Convention at Washington by the society of Lincoln, and she returned enthusiastic for organization. After some correspondence the first convention was called by Mrs. Hetta P. Mansfield, who had been appointed vice-president of Kansas by the National Association, and it met in the Senate Chamber at Topeka, June 25. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, who was making a lecture tour of the State, was invited to preside, and Mrs. Anna C. Wait, president of the five-year-old society at Lincoln and for many years the strongest force behind the movement, acted as secretary.[265] Telegrams of greeting were received from Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal. At the evening meeting Mrs. Ellsworth recited an original poem and Mrs. Gougar delivered a fine address to a large audience. Professor W. H. Carruth, of the University of Kansas, assisted, coming as delegate from a flourishing suffrage society at Lawrence, of which Miss Sarah A. Brown was president and Mrs. Annie L. Diggs secretary. A constitution was adopted and Mrs. Mansfield was elected president; Mrs. Wait, vice-president; Mrs. Ellsworth, corresponding secretary.
In the fall of 1884 Mrs. Ellsworth and Mrs. Clara B. Colby of Nebraska, made an extended lecture and organizing tour. At Salina they met and enlisted Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and then began the systematic work which rapidly brought Mrs. Johns to the front as the leader of the suffrage forces in Kansas. In addition to her great ability as an organizer, she is an unsurpassed manager of conventions, a forceful writer, an able speaker and a woman of winning personality.
On Jan. 15, 16, 1885, the State association held its annual meeting in Topeka, during the first week of the Legislature. Its chief business was to secure the introduction of a bill granting Municipal Woman Suffrage, in which it succeeded. Mrs. Gougar was an inspiring figure throughout the convention, addressing a large audience in Assembly Hall. A Committee on the Political Rights of Women was secured in the Lower House by a vote of 75 yeas, 45 nays, after a spirited contest. One was refused in the Senate by a tie vote. Much interest and discussion among the members resulted and a favorable sentiment was created. Mrs. Wait was made president, Mrs. Johns, vice-president. A second convention was held this year in Salina, October 28, 29, with "Mother" Bickerdyke and Mrs. Colby as the principal speakers. A large amount of work was planned, all looking to the end of securing Municipal Suffrage from the next Legislature.
During 1886 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, under the presidency of Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall, zealously co-operated with the suffrage association in the effort for the Municipal Franchise, Miss Amanda Way, Mrs. Sarah A. Thurston, Miss Olive P. Bray and many other able women making common cause with its legislative committee and working for the bill. About 9,000 suffrage documents were distributed.
This autumn eleven conventions in the congressional districts of the State were held under the efficient management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Wait, beginning at Leavenworth, October 4, 5, and following at Abilene, Lincoln, Florence, Hutchinson, Wichita, Anthony, Winfield, Independence, Fort Scott and Lawrence. Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans, were the speakers. They were greeted by crowded houses, Miss Anthony especially receiving an ovation at every place visited.
In October the American W. S. A. held its national convention in Topeka. Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, of Massachusetts, and the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, of Indiana, were present. The meeting was of incalculable benefit at this time. For the next few months Mrs. Gougar, with her strong speeches, was everywhere in demand; Mrs. Saxon was continuously at work; Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana made a number of powerful addresses, and the whole State was aroused in the interest of the bill.
Instead of holding the usual State convention in 1886 it met in Topeka, Jan. 11-13, 1887, when the Legislature was in session, and was largely attended for success seemed near at hand. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Washington, D. C., made an able address. The other speakers were Professor Carruth, the Rev. C. H. Rogers, Mrs. Saxon and Mrs. Colby. Miss Sarah A. Brown, as chairman of the committee, reported a resolution urging the Legislature to confer Municipal Suffrage on women, which was unanimously carried, and the most determined purpose to secure its passage by the Legislature then in session was manifested. Mrs. Johns was elected president, an office which she held eight consecutive years.
The bill passed and became a law February 15. The next annual meeting took place in Newton, Oct. 13-15, 1887, with the usual large attendance.[266] Miss Anthony, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Rachel G. Foster (Avery) were the speakers from abroad. Two notable events were the appearance of Kansas' first woman mayor, Mrs. M. D. Salter of Argonia, and the reading of a carefully compiled statement relative to the first vote of women in the towns and cities at the election the preceding April. This paper was the work of Judge Francis G. Adams, for many years secretary of the State Historical Society, and a lifelong friend and helper of woman's enfranchisement. It answered conclusively the question whether women would vote if they had an opportunity.
This convention was followed by a very successful series of meetings in many cities to arouse public sentiment in favor of Full Suffrage, under the management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Letitia V. Watkins, State organizer, with Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Miss Foster as speakers. Considerable attention was given to the speech recently made by U. S. Senator John J. Ingalls at Abilene, vigorously opposing woman suffrage.
Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge of the National, and Mrs. Rastall of the Kansas W. C. T. U., also made an active canvass of the State. These organizations united in a strong appeal to women to be equal to their new responsibilities, which was supplemented by one from the national president, Miss Frances E. Willard.
The State convention met at Emporia, Nov. 13-15, 1888, with Miss Anthony as its most inspiring figure. A notable feature was the address of Mrs. Johns, the president, in which she said:
And this brings me to speak of our attitude toward political parties. Whatever may be the individual preferences of the officers of our State Association, our organization is non-partisan. I have hitherto regarded it as necessary that it should be strictly non-partisan, just as I have believed that it must remain non-sectarian, so that no one of any faith, political or religious, shall be shut out from our work.... I believe that this attitude toward sects will be necessary to the day of our full enfranchisement; but not as it now is will our relations to party remain. The time is not yet ripe perhaps, but the years will not be many to go over our heads before we shall feel the necessity of declaring our allegiance to a party, and it is possible that to this we will be compelled to come before we secure an amendment to the constitution of the State striking out the word "male."
A strong speech was made by Secretary Adams, urging that women should do aggressive political work with a view of securing the franchise. From this time on women were not only welcomed as political allies, but their influence and active participation were sought in party politics. Many women lent their aid chiefly owing to their belief that they would thus become so valuable as to win party support to their full enfranchisement; others were enlisted by reason of their interest and devotion to the issues. Whether for good or ill as it should affect full suffrage, Kansas women thenceforth entered fully into party affiliations, but as individuals and not as representing the suffrage association.
The State convention of 1889 assembled in Wichita, October 1-3. Miss Anthony was an honored guest and among those who made addresses were Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Mary D. Lowman, mayor of Oskaloosa, and the Hon. Randolph Hatfield.
At the convention of 1890 in Atchison, November 18-20, Miss Anthony was again present accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs. Colby.
The annual meeting of 1891 was held in Topeka, November 20, 21. During the past year the great political change from Republicanism to Populism had taken place in Kansas. Women had been among the most potent factors in this revolution, and as woman suffrage was at that time a cardinal principle of the Populist party, and there always had been considerable sentiment in favor of it among Republicans, the prospects of obtaining the Full Franchise seemed very bright.
In February and March of 1892 a series of thirty two-days' conventions was held in the congressional districts and in nearly one-third of the counties of the State, attended by great crowds. Miss Jennie Broderick was chairman of the committee, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery secretary and treasurer, and Mrs. Martha Powell Davis, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Mrs. Diggs and Mrs. Wait were the other members. Mrs. Avery contributed $1,000 toward this canvass. Outside speakers were Miss Florence Balgarnie of England, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri, and the Rev. Miss Shaw. The State speakers were Mesdames S. A. Thurston, May Belleville Brown, Elizabeth F. Hopkins, J. Shelly Boyd and Caroline L. Denton. Mrs. Johns arranged all of these conventions, presided one day or more over each and spoke at every one, organizing in person twenty-five of the thirty-one local societies which were formed as a result of these meetings.
The first week in June a two-days' suffrage conference was held at the Ottawa Chautauqua Assembly, with the assistance of Miss Anthony, president, and Miss Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association. From here Miss Anthony went to the State Republican Convention, in session at Topeka, accompanied by Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Hopkins and Mrs. Brown, officers of the State suffrage society. They were joined by Miss Amanda Way and "Mother" Bickerdyke, and by unanimous vote all of these ladies were given seats upon the floor of the convention. Miss Anthony was invited to address the body, conducted to the platform amid ringing cheers and her remarks were cordially received. Later several of the ladies addressed the resolutions committee, and the final result, by 455 yeas, 267 nays, was a plank in the platform unequivocally declaring for the submission of an amendment to the constitution to enfranchise women. A similar plank already had been adopted by the Populist State Convention at Wichita with great enthusiasm.
During the autumn campaign following, Mrs. Diggs and other women spoke from the Populist platform, and Miss Anthony, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. T. J. Smith from the Republican. Miss Anthony, however, simply called attention to the record of the Republican party in the cause of human freedom, and urged them to complete it by enfranchising women, but did not take up political issues.
The State convention of 1892 was held at Enterprise, December 6-8, and the problem of preserving the non-partisan attitude of the organization so as to appeal with equal force to Republicans and Populists presented itself. With this in view, Mrs. Diggs, a Populist, was made vice-president, as support and counsellor of Mrs. Johns, the president, who was a prominent Republican, and the association, despite the political diversity of its members, was held strictly to a non-partisan basis.
Both Republicans and Populists having declared for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, the Legislature of 1893 passed a bill for this purpose, championed by Representative E. W. Hoch and Senator Householder. From that time forward, Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Diggs and hundreds of Kansas women of both Republican and Populist faith labored with untiring zeal for its success. Nothing was left undone that human wisdom could plan or human effort carry out.
On Sept. 1, 2, 1893, a mass meeting was held in Kansas City at which Mrs. Chapman Catt ably presented the question. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois agreed to raise $2,000 in the State. Mrs. Thurston, at the head of the press bureau, announced that hundreds of papers were pledged to support the amendment; the State Teachers' Association passed a strong resolution for it; the Grand Army of the Republic was in favor; Miss Helen L. Kimber related much success in organizing, and from every county came reports of meetings and debates.
Mrs. Johns, State president, went to the National Suffrage Convention in Washington in the winter of 1894 and made a most earnest appeal for assistance in the way of speakers and funds, both of which were promised by the association. She was appointed chairman of the amendment committee with power to name the members,[267] and they opened up with energy the long campaign of agitation, education and organization. They started enrollment books, appointed polling committees and undertook to put people to work in every one of the 2,100 voting precincts. The National Association contributed $2,571 and also a number of speakers. A constitutional amendment campaign was in progress in New York but Miss Anthony made many trips from there to Kansas, and spent months in canvassing the State, donating her services during the entire time.
Work was continued without cessation for the purpose of creating a public sentiment which would be strong enough to compel the delegates to the political State conventions of 1894 to adopt a plank supporting this amendment, just as in 1892 they had adopted one asking for it. But in 1892 the Populists had swept the State, and in 1894 the Republicans were determined to regain possession of it at all hazards. The amazement and grief of the Republican women was beyond expression when they learned early in 1894 that their party was going to refuse indorsement at its convention in June. Every possible influence was brought to bear by the State and the National Associations. Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt went to Kansas to open the spring canvass for the women, May 4. They spoke to an immense audience in Kansas City and a resolution was adopted urging all parties to put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms. Miss Anthony's speech was published in full in the Leavenworth Times, Col. D. R. Anthony, editor, and circulated throughout the State. This was the beginning of a great series of two-days' suffrage conventions held by two groups of speakers and so "overlapping" that meetings were going on in four county seats every day, until 85 of the 105 counties had been reached in this way. The Rev. Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt represented the National Association, reinforced by a number of able State speakers. All of these meetings were arranged and managed by Mrs. Johns.
Although obliged to return to New York at that time, in three weeks Miss Anthony went back to Kansas, arriving the day before the Republican convention, June 6. Neither she nor Miss Shaw was allowed to address the resolutions committee, which had been carefully fortified against all efforts by the appointment as chairman of ex-Gov. C. V. Eskridge, an active opponent of woman suffrage since the previous campaign of 1867. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Johns, both strong Republican speakers, were, however, permitted to present the claims of the women, but the platform was absolutely silent, not even recognizing the services of Republican women in municipal politics.
The next Saturday night a mass meeting attended by over 1,000 people was held in Topeka, Mrs. Diggs presiding, Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw making the addresses.
Every effort was now put forth to secure a plank from the Populist convention, June 12. There was great opposition, as the party knew the approaching struggle would be one of life or death. Gov. L. D. Lewelling had asserted he would not stand for re-election on a platform which declared for woman suffrage. While the resolutions committee was out, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt addressed the convention amidst great enthusiasm. The majority of the committee, led by its chairman, P. P. Elder, were bitterly opposed to a suffrage plank. It occupied them most of the night, and was defeated by 13 yeas, 8 nays. The one woman member, Mrs. Eliza Hudson, brought in a minority report signed by herself and the other seven, and in spite of every parliamentary tactic it was brought to a debate and discussed four hours, Judge Frank Doster[268] leading the affirmative. The debate was closed by Mrs. Diggs,[269] and the resolution was adopted by 337 yeas, 269 nays--with a rider attached to it saying, "but we do not regard this as a test of party fealty."
The Democratic women brought every possible influence to bear on the State convention of that party but it adopted the following resolution: "We oppose woman suffrage as tending to destroy the home and family, the true basis of political safety, and express the hope that the helpmeet and guardian of the family sanctuary may not be dragged from the modest purity of self-imposed seclusion to be thrown unwillingly into the unfeminine places of political strife."
Miss Shaw continued canvassing the State for two months. Then Mrs. Chapman Catt went out and remained until after election, making addresses, conferring with the politicians and counseling with the women. Miss Anthony, who was obliged to give most of the summer to the great campaign in progress in her own State of New York, returned to Kansas October 20, and spoke daily on the Populist platform in the principal towns until election day, November 6, but only on the suffrage plank. A large number of the ablest of the Kansas women made speeches throughout the campaign and an army of them worked for the amendment.[270]
The battle was lost, and the grief and disappointment of the Kansas women were indescribable. The amendment failed by 34,837 votes--95,302 yeas, 130,139 nays. The total vote cast for Governor was 299,231; total vote on suffrage amendment, 225,441; not voting on amendment, 73,790. There was an attempt to keep count of the ballots according to parties, but it was not entirely successful and there was no way of correctly estimating their political complexion. However, the vote for Gov. E. N. Morrill (Rep.) lacked only 1,800 of that for the other three candidates combined, which shows how easily the Republican party might have carried the amendment. Subtracting the 5,000 Prohibition votes, three-fourths of which it was conceded were cast for the amendment, it lacked 27,000 of receiving as many votes as were cast for the Populist candidate for Governor. Since some Republicans must have voted for it, the figures prove that a vast number of Populists did not do so.[271]
The first State convention following the defeat of 1894 was held at Winfield, December 6, 7, of that year. Mrs. Johns was once more elected president, but the profound disappointment over the defeat of the amendment made it impossible to revive organization or interest to any satisfactory degree.
From 1887 until 1895 Mrs. Johns was the efficient and devoted president of the State association. As she declined to serve longer, the convention which met at Eureka, November 21, 22, elected Mrs. Kate R. Addison to this office. Mrs. Addison began her official work with much hopefulness, established a monthly paper, the Suffrage Reveille, and succeeded in enlisting new workers in the cause. Miss Laura A. Gregg, State organizer, added a number of clubs and over 200 members.
In June, 1896, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson was brought into the State for twenty-seven lectures, beginning with the Chautauqua Assembly at Winfield. The annual meeting took place at Topeka, November 10, ll, and Mrs. Addison was re-elected.
The convention of 1897 was held at Yates Center, December 8-10, and Mrs. Addison was continued in office. Mrs. Stetson had again made a lecturing tour of the State and a general revival of interest was reported.
Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt were present at the State convention in Paola, Oct. 21, 22, 1898. Mrs. Abbie A. Welch, a pioneer in the cause, was elected to the presidency. During this year Mrs. Johns and Miss Gregg organized a number of counties, and the press superintendent, Mrs. Alice G. Young, did effective work with the newspapers.
The annual meeting of 1899 was held in Kansas City, October 9-11, and was the most largely attended since the great defeat. Gov. John P. St. John was the orator of the occasion. The Rev. Father Kuhls, a Catholic priest, spoke as a disbeliever in woman's enfranchisement, which furnished inspiration for a reply by Mrs. Diggs. This event created an interest equalling the old-time enthusiasm, and it was believed that the hour for renewed activity had struck. Mrs. Diggs was made president, and it was unanimously resolved to take up again the work for full enfranchisement.
The convention of 1900 was held in Olathe, December 18, 19. The State at the recent Presidential election having gone strongly Republican, Mrs. Diggs thought it not political wisdom to remain at the head of the association and Miss Gregg was elected president. When it was learned that she had taken charge of the Nebraska suffrage headquarters her duties devolved upon Miss Helen L. Kimber, the new vice-president. This convention voted against the proposition to ask the Legislature of 1901 to submit a constitutional amendment, thinking it advisable first to devote two years to the work of organization, after which it is generally believed the full suffrage can be secured.[272]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: The State Association from its beginning in 1884 made Municipal Suffrage its chief object. In 1885 a bill for this purpose was presented in the House by Frank J. Kelly. It was favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee, but although advanced somewhat on the calendar it was too far down to reach a vote.
At a special session in 1886 the bill was reported to the House by the committee on Political Rights of Women, and a large force of competent women went to Topeka to urge its passage. On February 10 it stood eighth from the top on the calendar. On February 11, when the Committee on Revision submitted its report, it stood sixty-first. A strong protest was made by its friends on the floor and by a standing vote it was restored to its original place. The enemies were now thoroughly alarmed. A State election was close at hand and the Prohibitionists were crowding the Republicans. The bill was practically a Republican measure and its opponents in that party hit upon the scheme of getting up a Third Party scare. They were led by ex-Gov. George T. Anthony who declared he would spend his last cent to defeat the bill. It was denounced by press and politicians as a sly Prohibition trick, some of its best friends were thus silenced and it was quietly smothered. The bill was introduced in the Senate by L. B. Kellogg and favorably reported from the Judiciary Committee with an opposing minority report. It was ably championed by himself, Senators H. B. Kelly and R. W. Blue, but was eventually stricken from the calendar by the Committee on Revision and a motion to reinstate was lost by 12 yeas, 25 nays, on February 16.
When the Legislature convened in 1887 the election was over and had resulted favorably for the Republicans. The suffragists had spent the intervening ten months in a campaign of their own. Miss Anthony had come to Kansas and they had held conventions in all the principal cities. At her request the W. C. T. U. had given up their plan of asking for an amendment to the constitution and joined the attempt to secure Municipal Suffrage under the leadership of their president, Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall. Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, their national superintendent of franchise, gave a series of her eloquent lectures. The strongest suffrage speakers in the country came to the State, under the management of Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and petitions were secured containing 10,000 names, more than ever had been presented for any purpose. This agitation was continued up to the opening of the Legislature, Jan. 11, 1887, when Mrs. Johns was on hand with the bill. It was introduced in the Senate by Judge R. W. Blue and referred to the Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman. A favorable report, with a minority dissent, was made, but the original bill had been substituted by one which provided merely that "women should vote for all city officers." A vigorous protest was made by the suffrage leaders. They insisted that the right to vote for city bonds should be included, and that the inequalities should be remedied in the present law which prevented women of first and second class cities from voting on school questions as did those of the third class and the country districts. A compromise was finally effected and a bill drafted by which women should vote for all city and school officers and on bonds for school appropriations.
A petition against the bill was sent in signed by nineteen women of Independence, saying in effect that women had all the rights they needed. On the morning when it was to be discussed an enormous bouquet adorned the desk of Senator R. M. Pickler, leader of the opponents, the card inscribed, "From the women of Kansas who do not wish to vote. History honors the man who dares to do what is right." Later investigation disclosed the fact that no woman had any part in sending the flowers, but that, as one member remarked in open session, their chief perfume was that of alcohol.
After hours of debate and an adjournment the bill finally was adopted on January 28, by 25 yeas, all Republicans; 13 nays, 10 Republicans, 3 Democrats. Judge Blue's table was loaded with flowers and every Senator who voted in favor was decorated with a choice buttonhole bouquet sent by the ladies.
The bill was already far advanced in the House, under the management of Gen. T. T. Taylor. On February 10 the discussion continued the entire day. Scripture was read and Biblical authorities cited from Eve to St. Paul; the pure female angels were dragged through the filthy cesspool of politics, and the changes were rung on the usual hackneyed objections. The measure was splendidly championed, however, by many members, especially by T. A. McNeal (Rep.) who made a telling response to the scurrilous speech of Edward Carrol (Dem.), leader of the opposition. No member of the House rendered more effective service than did A. W. Smith, Speaker. It passed by 91 yeas--88 Rep., 3 Dem.; 22 nays, 5 Rep., 17 Dem. The total vote of both Houses was 116 yeas--113 Rep., 3 Dem.; 35 nays, 15 Rep., 20 Dem. The bill was signed by Gov. John A. Martin (Rep.), February 15, 1887.[273]
Notwithstanding all the efficient work done by the officers of the State association, the local clubs and the platform speakers, this measure would not have become a law but for the vigilant work of the women with the Legislature itself. Mrs. Johns was on hand from the first, tactfully urging the bill. She had very material aid in the constant presence, active pen and careful work of J. B. Johns, her husband. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana was granted the privilege of addressing the House while in session. Prominent women from all parts of the State were in attendance, using their influence with the members from their districts. On the day of final debate in the House the floor and galleries were crowded, over 300 women being present. A jubilee impossible to describe followed the announcement that the bill had passed.[274] The next day the House was transformed by the women into a bower of blossoms.
In March, the next month after Municipal Suffrage was granted to women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from ten to eighteen years.
Two years later, in 1889, a bill was presented to amend this law, which passed the Senate by 26 yeas, 9 nays, and was sent to the House. It was so smothered in words that the general public was not aware of its meaning. By the time it reached the House, however, the alarm had been sounded that it proposed to reduce the age of consent, and there was a storm of protest. This was not alone from women but also from a number of men. The Labor Unions were especially active in opposition and the House was inundated with letters and petitions. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee which reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. Its author claimed that it was intended simply to afford some protection for boys.[275] In 1891 Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg recommended that, in order to protect young men of immature years from women of immoral life, inquiry as to the character of the woman bringing the charge should be permitted. Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey urged that such an amendment should be adopted, which could be done without lowering the age of protection for girls. No change, however, has been made in the law.
In 1889 the divorce law was so amended as to give the wife all the property owned by her at the time of marriage and all acquired by her afterward, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband.
This year a bill was passed creating the Girls' Industrial School. Mrs. S. A. Thurston was one of the prime factors in securing this bill.
As the Legislature was overwhelmingly Republican the greatest effort was put forth to secure a law making it mandatory to place women on the State Boards of Charitable Institutions. Thirty-six large petitions were introduced by as many members in each House but all failed of effect.
In 1891 the Populist party gained control of the House of Representatives, although the Senate was still Republican. Mrs. Annie L. Diggs had been appointed by the Farmers' Alliance on their State legislative committee and she began a vigorous campaign to secure Full Suffrage for Women by Statutory Enactment, which it was believed could be done under the terms of the constitution. The bill was introduced into the House and urged by J. L. Soupene. Mrs. Diggs had the assistance of Col. Sam Wood and other ardent friends of suffrage. The Committee on Political Rights of Women reported the bill favorably, and said through its chairman, D. M. Watson:
While the constitution declares in the first section of its suffrage article that "every white male person, etc., shall be deemed a qualified elector," in the second section it names certain persons who shall be excluded from voting. Women are not given the right to vote in the first nor are they excluded in the second, and this indicates that the question of their right to vote was intended to be left to the Legislature. The Supreme Court (Wheeler vs. Brady, 15th Kas., p. 33,) says: "There is nothing in the nature of government which would prevent it. Women are members of society, members of the great body politic, citizens as much as men, with the same natural rights, united with men in the same common destiny, and are capable of receiving and exercising whatever political rights may be conferred upon them."
On February 14 the bill received 60 yeas, 39 nays, not a constitutional majority. The sentiment in favor was so strong among the Populists that a reconsideration was finally secured and the bill passed by 69 yeas--64 Pop., 4 Rep., 1 Dem.; 32 nays--16 Pop., 12 Rep., 4 Dem. Previous to its passage the Speaker, P. P. Elder (Pop.) presented a protest signed by himself, 7 Populists, 4 Republicans and 4 Democrats, declaring it to be unconstitutional and giving eight other objections.[276]
The friends were much elated at its passage over this protest and sent at once for Mrs. Johns to come to Topeka and work for its success in the Senate. She made every possible effort but in vain, the Republicans basing their refusal on its unconstitutionality. There was every reason to believe the Supreme Court would have upheld the statute.
In 1893 an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the electors by votes of both Republican and Populist members of the Legislature and was defeated in 1894, as has been related.
In 1897 two bills were introduced, one providing for a Bond Suffrage which is not included in the Municipal; the other to enable women to vote for Presidential electors. They were not reported from committee.
In 1899 a bill providing that there should be women physicians in penal institutions containing women and at least one woman on the State Board of Charities was favorably reported by, the House committee, but did not reach a vote.
This year an act was secured creating the Traveling Libraries Commission. The work for this was initiated and principally carried forward by Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston, who enlisted the women of the Social Science Federation in 1897. The federated club women had conducted the enterprise three years and now turned over to the State forty libraries of about 5,000 volumes. In 1901 the appropriation was raised from $2,000 to $8,000.
On Jan. 14, 1901, a bill prepared by Auditor Carlisle of Wyandotte county was introduced by its Representative J. A. Butler (Dem.) of Kansas City, to repeal the law giving Municipal Suffrage to women. It was received with jeers and shouts of laughter and referred to the Judiciary Committee, which, on the 17th, reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. On January 18 he re-introduced the same measure under another title. This time protests were sent in from all parts of the State. Mrs. Diggs went to Mr. Butler's home and secured a large number of these from his own constituents. A hearing was given by the Judiciary Committee to a delegation of prominent women and the bill was never reported.
As there seemed so much favorable sentiment it was hastily decided to ask this Legislature to give women the right to vote for Presidential electors, which would unquestionably be legal. Mrs. Johns and Miss Helen Kimber looked after its interests with the Republican members; Mrs. Diggs with the Populists. The evening of February 26, when the vote was to be taken in the Senate, floor and galleries were crowded with women of position and influence. Senator Fred Dumont Smith (Rep.) had charge of the bill, and Senator G. A. Noftzger (Rep.) led the opposition. The vote resulted in 22 yeas--16 Rep., 4 Pop., 2 Dem.; 13 nays--12 Rep., 1 Pop. The friends had every reason to believe the House would pass the bill, but in the still small hours of the night following the action of the Senate, its Republican members in caucus decided that this might injure the party at the approaching State election, and the next morning it was reconsidered and defeated by 14 yeas--9 Rep., 4 Pop., 1 Dem.; 23 nays--21 Rep., 1 Pop., 1 Dem.
LAWS: The constitution of Kansas, adopted in 1859, contained more liberal provisions for women than had existed in any State up to that time. It made the law of inheritance the same for widow and widower; gave father and mother equal guardianship of children; and directed the Legislature to protect married women in the possession of separate property. This was not done, however, until 1868, the next year after the first campaign to secure an amendment conferring suffrage upon women. At this time a statute provided that all property, real and personal, owned by a woman at marriage, and all acquired thereafter by descent or by the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain her sole and separate property, not subject to the disposal of her husband or liable for his debts.
A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued as if unmarried; engage in any business or perform any services and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property to be used or invested by her. The wife can convey or mortgage her separate personal property without the husband's signature. He can do the same without her signature except such as is exempt so long as a man is married. Neither can convey or encumber real estate without consent of the other.
If there are no children the surviving husband or wife takes all the property real and personal; if there are children, one-half. Neither can dispose by will of more than one-half of the separate property without the consent of the other. A homestead of 160 acres of land, or one acre within city limits, is reserved free from creditors for the survivor. If the wife marry again, or when the children have attained their majority, the homestead must be divided, she taking one-half. If she die first the husband has the right of occupancy for life, whether he marry or not, but the homestead must descend to her heirs.
The husband must support the wife according to his means, or she may have alimony decreed by the court without divorce, or in some cases she may sue directly for support. In case of divorce the wife is entitled to all the property owned by her at marriage and all acquired by her afterwards, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband.
The "age of protection" for girls is 18, with penalty of imprisonment at hard labor not less than five nor more than twenty-one years.
SUFFRAGE: (See page 659.)
OFFICE HOLDING: The first State constitution, in 1859, declared women eligible for all School offices. As it does not require that any State officer except member of the Legislature shall be an elector, women are not legally debarred from any other State office. The constitution does prescribe the qualifications for some county officers, and the Legislature for others and for all township officers. Some of these are required to be electors and some are not; some can be voted for only by electors and the law is silent in regard to others. It would perhaps require a Supreme Court decision in almost every case if there were any general disposition to elect women to these offices. Twenty years ago a few were serving as county clerks, registers of deeds, regents of the State University, county superintendents and school trustees.
In 1889 Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg (Rep.) appointed his wife Assistant Attorney-General. She was a practicing attorney and her husband's law partner and filled the office with great ability. Miss Ella Cameron served out her father's unexpired term as Probate Judge and the Legislature legalized her acts.
There is no law requiring women on the boards of State institutions but a number have been appointed. Gov. L. D. Lewelling (Pop.) in 1893 appointed Mrs. Mary E. Lease member of the State Board of Charities and Mrs. Eva Blackman on the Board of Police Commissioners of Leavenworth. These were the first and last appointments of women to these positions.
In 1894 women physicians were appointed by him in two insane asylums, the Orphans' Home and the Girls' Industrial School.
In 1897 Gov. John W. Leedy (Pop.) appointed Mrs. John P. St. John member Board of Regents of State Agricultural College and Dr. Eva Harding physician at Boys' Reform School.
In 1898 Mrs. Annie L. Diggs was appointed State Librarian by the Supreme Court, Judges Frank Doster, Stephen Allen, Populists; William A. Johnston, Republican. The term is four years. There are two women assistants in the State library.
Miss Zu Adams is first assistant in the State Historical Library. Three other women are employed as assistants in that office.
Each of the three State Hospitals for the Insane has a woman physician, but this is not required. The law provides that the Girls' Industrial School shall have a woman physician and superintendent. Its officers always have been women, except the farmer and engineer. In 1894 a woman was appointed as farmer and was said to be the best the institution ever had.
Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston and Mrs. Mary V. Humphreys are members of the State Traveling Library Commission, Mrs. Diggs, as State Librarian, being president.
Since the very first time that women voted they have been clerks of elections, and in some instances, judges.
Several small towns have put the entire local government into the hands of women. From 1887 to 1894 there had been about fifty women aldermen, five police judges, one city attorney, several city clerks and treasurers, and numerous clerks and treasurers of school boards. In 1896 a report from about half the counties showed twenty women county superintendents of schools, and 554 serving on school boards. They are frequently made president or secretary of the board.
Women have been candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but none has been elected.
A number of women within the past few years have been elected county treasurers, recorders, registers and clerks. They serve as notaries public. Probably one-third of the county offices have women deputies.
The record for 1900, as far as it could be obtained, showed the women in office to be one clerk of the district court, two county clerks, seven registrars of deeds and twenty-seven county superintendents of schools. This list is far from complete.
About twenty-five women have been elected to the office of mayor in the smaller towns of Kansas. In several instances the entire board of aldermen have been women. The business record of these women has been invariably good and their industrious efforts to improve sanitation, schools, sidewalks, and to advance the other interests of their town, have been generously seconded and aided by the men of their community. Among the most prominent of the women mayors were Mrs. Mary D. Lowman of Oskaloosa, Mrs. Minnie D. Morgan of Cottonwood Falls, and Mrs. Antoinette Haskell of Gaylord. Mrs. Lowman, the second woman to be elected, conducted a great work in improving the conditions of the municipality, morally and physically. She held her office two terms with entire boards of women aldermen, and refused to serve a third term, saying that she and her boards had accomplished the work they set out to do. They retired with much honor and esteem, having made a creditable amount of street improvements and left the treasury with more money than they found in it. Mrs. Morgan is editor with her husband of a Republican newspaper, an officer in the Woman's State Press Association and holds high official position in the Woman's Relief Corps. Mrs. Haskell is the wife of a prominent lawyer and politician. She held the office of mayor for two terms and the last time her entire board of aldermen were women. Her administration of municipal affairs was so satisfactory that she was besought to accept a third term but declined.
OCCUPATIONS: The constitution of the State, framed in 1859, opened every occupation to women.
EDUCATION: This first constitution also required the admission of women to all the State educational institutions and gave them a place on the faculties. As early as 1882 one-half of the faculty of the State University was composed of women. This university, the State Agricultural College and the State Normal College average an equal number of men and women graduates. Women hold places on the faculties of all these institutions.
In the public schools there are 5,380 men and 7,133 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $39; of the women, $32.
SUFFRAGE: The constitution for Statehood, framed in 1859, provided that all women over 21 should vote at all School District meetings the same as men, the first one to contain such a provision. This excluded all women in first and second class cities in after years, as their school affairs are not managed through district meetings. When a test case was made it was decided by the Supreme Court that no women could legally vote for State or county superintendents, but only for trustees. (5th Kansas, p. 227.) Both the constitution and the statutes are confused as to the qualifications of those who may vote for various county and township officers but women never have been permitted to do so.
In 1887 the Legislature granted Municipal Suffrage to women. The law is as follows:
In any election hereafter held in any city of the first, second or third class, for the election of city or school officers, or for the purpose of authorizing the issuance of any bonds for school purposes, the right of any citizen to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex; and women may vote at such elections the same as men, under like restrictions and qualifications; and any women possessing the qualifications of a voter under this act shall also be eligible to any such city or school office.
This law includes women in all of the villages, as these are known as "third class cities." Women in country districts, however, continue to have only a limited School Suffrage. It does not give women a vote on any questions of taxation which are submitted to the electors except for school purposes.
Nevertheless this was an advanced step which attracted the attention of the entire country. While in Wyoming women had Full Suffrage, it was a sparsely settled Territory, with few newspapers and far removed from centers of political activity. Kansas was a battle-ground for politics, and great interest was felt in the new forces which had been called into action. From the first women very extensively took advantage of their new privilege. It was granted February 15 and the next municipal election took place April 5, so there were only a few weeks in which to accustom them to the new idea, make them acquainted with the issues, settle the disputed points and give them a chance to register. The question was at once raised whether they could vote for justices of the peace and constables, and at a late hour Attorney-General S. B. Bradford gave his opinion that they could not do so, as these are township officers. This made separate ballot-boxes necessary and in many places these were not provided, so there was considerable misunderstanding and confusion. On election day a wind storm of unusual violence, even for that section of the country, raged all day. Through the influence of the Liquor Dealers' Association, which had used every possible effort to defeat the suffrage bill, reporters were sent by a number of large papers in different cities, especially St. Louis, with orders to ridicule the voting of the women and minimize its effects. As a result the Eastern press was soon flooded with sensational and false reports.
An official and carefully prepared report of 112 pages was issued by Judge Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Association, and Prof. William H. Carruth of the State University, giving the official returns from 253 cities. The total vote was 105,216; vote of men, 76,629; of women, 28,587. In a few of the very small cities there were no women's votes. In many of the second-class cities more than one-half as many women as men voted. In Leavenworth, 3,967 ballots were cast by men, and 2,467 by women; in Lawrence, 1,437 by men, 1,050 by women. In Kansas City, Topeka and Fort Scott about one-fourth as many women as men voted. In these estimates it must be taken into consideration that there were many more men than women in the State. In 1890, three years later, the census report showed the excess of males to be about 100,000.
The pamphlet referred to contained 100 pages of extracts from the press of Kansas on the voting of women, and stated that these represented but a fraction of the comment. They varied as much as the individual opinions of men, some welcoming the new voters, some ridiculing and abusing, others referring to the movement as a foolish fad which would soon be dropped. The Republican and Prohibitionist papers almost universally paid the highest tribute to the influence of women on the election and assured them of every possible support in the future. The Democratic papers, with but few exceptions, scoffed at them and condemned woman suffrage. The immense majority of opinion was in favor of the new regime and was an unimpeachable answer to the objections and misrepresentations which found place in the press of all other parts of the country.
The interest of Kansas women in their political rights never has abated. The proportion of their vote varies in about the same ratio as that of men. Upon occasions when the character of candidates or the importance of the issue commands especial attention a great many go to the polls. Their chief interest, however, centers in questions which bear directly upon the education and welfare of their children, the environment of their homes and those of kindred nature. When issues involving these are presented they vote in large numbers.
There is always a larger municipal vote in the uneven years when mayors are to be elected, and therefore a comparison is made in five prominent cities between the vote of 1887 and that of 1901 to show that in the fourteen years the interest of women in the suffrage has increased instead of diminished.
Town. Year. Man-Vote. Woman-Vote. Kansas City 1887 3,956 1,042 Kansas City 1901 8,900 4,582 Topeka 1887 4,580 1,049 Topeka 1901 7,338 5,335 Fort Scott 1887 1,273 425 Fort Scott 1901 1,969 1,270 Leavenworth 1887 3,967 2,467 Leavenworth 1901 5,590 3,018 Wichita 1887 3,312 2,984 Wichita 1901 ..... .....
It was impossible to obtain the vote of Wichita in 1901 but the registration was 6,546 men, 4,040 women, and out of these 10,586, there were 8,960 who voted. One of the most prominent lawyers in Wichita writes of this election: "The women fully maintained the ratio of the registration. The vote was small on account of inclement weather but I am sure that it kept away more men than women."
At one election it is recorded the vote of women exceeded that of men in one second-class and three third-class cities. In one instance all but two of the women of Cimarron cast their ballots. In Lincoln for several years women have polled 46 per cent. of the entire vote. The percentage of males in the State by the census of 1900 was 52.3.
The question frequently is asked why, with the ballot in their hands, women do not compel the enforcement of the prohibitory law, as it is generally supposed that Municipal Suffrage carries with it the right to vote for all city officials. The same year that women were enfranchised, the Legislature, for whom women do not vote, passed a law authorizing the Governor, for whom women do not vote, to appoint a Board of Police Commissioners for each city of the first class, with power to appoint the police judge, city marshal and police, and have absolute control of the organization, government and discipline of the police force and of all station-houses, city prisons, etc. Temperance men and women strongly urged this measure as they believed the Governor would have stamina enough to select commissioners who would enforce the prohibitory law. This board was abolished at the special session of the Legislature in 1897, as it was made a scapegoat for city and county officers who were too cowardly or too unfriendly to enforce the liquor ordinances, and it did not effect the hoped-for reforms.
In 1898 City Courts were established. By uniting the townships with cities and giving these courts jurisdiction over State and county cases, to relieve the congested condition of State courts, women are deprived of a vote for their officers. The exercise of the Municipal Franchise at present is as follows:
MEN VOTE FOR WOMEN VOTE FOR Mayor, Mayor, Councilmen, Councilmen, School Board, School Board, City Attorney, City Attorney, City Treasurer, City Treasurer, City Clerk, City Clerk. Judge of City Court, Clerk of City Court, APPOINTED BY MAYOR Marshal of City Court, Police Judge, Two Justices of the Peace, City Marshal, Two Constables. Chief of Police.
In cities of less than 30,000 the Police Judge is elected and women may vote for this officer. In the smallest places the City Marshal is also Chief of Police.
It will be seen that even for the Police Court in the largest cities women have only an indirect vote through the Mayor's appointments. In all the cities and towns liquor sellers when convicted here simply take an appeal to a higher court over which women have no jurisdiction. They have no vote for sheriff, county attorney or any county officer. These facts may in a measure answer the question why women are helpless to enforce the prohibitory law or any other to which they are opposed.
Nevertheless even this small amount of suffrage has been of much benefit to the women and to the cities. As the years go by the general average of the woman-vote is larger. Municipal voting has developed a stronger sense of civic responsibility among women; it has completely demolished the old stock objections and has familiarized men with the presence of women at the polls. Without question a higher level in the conduct of city affairs has resulted. It may, however, well be questioned as to whether Municipal Suffrage has not militated against the full enfranchisement of women. Politicians have been annoyed by interference with their schemes. Men have learned that women command influence in politics, and the party machine has become hostile to further extension of woman's opportunity and power to demand cleaner morals and nobler standards.[277]
Judge S. S. King, Commissioner of Elections at Kansas City, has given the suffrage question much thought, and he has gleaned from the figures of his official records some interesting facts. Alluding to the mooted question of what class of women vote he says:
The opponents of woman suffrage insist that the lower classes freely exercise the franchise, while the higher classes generally refrain from voting. As women in registering usually give their vocation as "housekeeper" it is impossible to learn from that record what particular ledge of the social strata they stand upon, therefore, in order to locate them as to trades, business, etc., I give them the positions occupied by their husbands and fathers. I take the 17th voting precinct of Kansas City as a typical one. It is about an average in voting population of white and colored men and women and in the diversified industries. The 149 white women who registered in this precinct, as indicated by the vocations of their husbands, fathers, etc., would be classified thus:
The trades (all classes of skilled labor), 32; the professions, 26; merchants (all manner of dealers), 16; laborers (unskilled), 15; clerks, 10; public officers, 8; bankers and brokers, 7; railroad employes, 7; salesmen, 5; contractors, 2; foremen, 2; paymaster, 1; unclassified, 16. Thus, if the opponents of woman suffrage use the term "lower classes" according to some ill-defined rule of elite society, the example given above would be a complete refutation. If by "lower classes" they mean the immoral and dissolute, the refutation appears to be still more complete, for the woman electorate in the 17th precinct is particularly free from those elements.
It is extremely rare to find a prominent man in Kansas, except certain politicians, who openly opposes woman suffrage. With a very few exceptions the most eminent cordially advocate it, including a large number of ministers, lawyers and editors. It would require a chapter simply to catalogue the names of well-known men and women who are heartily in favor of it. Had Kansas men voted their convictions, Kansas women would long since have been enfranchised, but political partisanship has been stronger than the sense of justice.
FOOTNOTES:
[263] The History is indebted for this chapter principally to Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Topeka, State Librarian and former president of the State Woman Suffrage Association. The editors are also under obligations to Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina and Mrs. Anna C. Wait of Lincoln, former presidents.
[264] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 191.
[265] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. L.
[266] At this meeting, on motion of Mrs. Johns, the yellow ribbon was adopted as the suffrage badge, in honor of the sunflower, the State flower of Kansas, the one which follows the wheel track and the plough, as woman's enfranchisement should follow civilization. It was afterwards adopted by the National Association in recognition of Kansas, then the most progressive State in regard to women. Those of a classical bent accepted it because yellow among the ancients signified wisdom.
[267] Secretary, May Belleville Brown; treasurer, Elizabeth F. Hopkins; Mrs. S. A. Thurston, Mrs. L. B. Smith, Alma B. Stryker, Eliza McLallin, Bina A. Otis, Helen L. Kimber, Sallie F. Toler, Annie L. Diggs; from the National Association, Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Rachel Foster Avery and Alice Stone Blackwell, corresponding and recording secretaries.
[268] Now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas.
[269] Of Mrs. Diggs' speech Mrs. Johns writes: "It was one of the most masterly arguments I ever heard. At one point she said: 'The great majority of you declare that woman suffrage is right, (a roar of 'yes,' 'yes,' went up), and yet you oppose this plank. Are you afraid to do right?' Her reply to the flimsy objections of the chairman, P. P. Elder, was simply unanswerable. She cut the ground from under his feet, and his confusion and rout were so complete that he stood utterly confounded. That small woman with her truth and eloquence had slain the Goliath of the opposition!"
[270] The following speakers and organizers were placed at fairs, Chautauqua assemblies, picnics, teachers' institutes and in distinctive suffrage meetings: James Clement Ambrose (Ills.), Theresa Jenkins (Wyo.), Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.), Clara C. Hoffman (Mo.); Mrs. Johns, J. B. Johns, the Revs. Eugenia and C. H. St. John, Mary G. Haines, Luella R. Kraybill, Helen L. Kimber, Laura A. Gregg, Lizzie E. Smith, Ella W. Brown, Naomi Anderson, Eva Corning, Ella Bartlett, Alma B. Stryker, Olive I. Royce, Caroline L. Denton, Mrs. Diggs, May Belleville Brown, J. Willis Gleed, Thomas L. Bond, the Rev. Granville Lowther, Prof. W. H. Carruth and Mayor Harrison of Topeka.
During the autumn Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (Ills.), and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), made addresses for one month; Mrs. Rachel L. Child (Ia.) spoke and organized for two months.
[271] Returns were received from 71 out of the 105 counties, covering 714 of the 2,100 voting precincts. These returns were carefully tabulated by Mrs. Thurston, acting secretary of the amendment campaign committee. The result showed that of Republicans voting on the proposition, 38-1/2 per cent. voted for; of Populists, 54 per cent.; of Democrats, 14 per cent.; of Prohibitionists, 88 per cent.
Of the entire vote of the Republican party for its ticket, 22 per cent. were silent on the amendment; of the entire vote of the People's party, 22 per cent.; of the Democratic, 28 per cent.; of the Prohibition, 24 per cent.
[272] Others who have held official position are vice-presidents, Mesdames J.K. Hudson, Sallie F. Toler, Noble L. Prentis, Abbie A. Welch, Fannie Bobbet and Emma Troudner; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Priscilla Finley, Miss Sarah A. Brown, Dr. Nannie Stephens, Mrs. Elizabeth F. Hopkins, Mrs. Ray Mclntyre, Mrs. B.B. Baird, Mrs. Alice G. Young; recording secretaries, Dr. Addie Kester, Mrs. Alice G. Bond, Prof. William H. Carruth, Mrs. M.M. Bowman, Mrs. Emma S. Albright, Miss Matie Toothaker; treasurers, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Dr. C.E. Tiffany, Mrs. Lucia O. Case, Mrs. Henrietta Stoddard Turner; auditors, Mrs. Emma S. Marshall, Mrs. S.A. Thurston; parliamentarians, Mesdames Ella W. Brown, Bina A. Otis, Luella R. Kraybill, Antoinette L. Haskell; librarians, Mrs. May Belleville Brown, Dr. Emily Newcomb; State organizer, Miss Jennie Newby; superintendent press work, Mrs. Nannie K. Garrett.
A number of these filled various offices and some of them bore the brunt of the work continuously for years. Other names which appear frequently are J. K. Hudson, editor Topeka Capital, Dr. Sarah C. Hall, Mesdames M. E. De Geer, M. S. Woods, E. D. Garlick, E. A. Elder, L. B. Kellogg, Jennie Robb Maher, Miss Emma Harriman, the Rev. W. A. Simkins, Judge Nathan Cree, Walter S. Wait, Sarah W. Rush, Dr. J. E. Spaulding, Dr. F. M. W. Jackson, Henrietta B. Wall, Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston, Miss Genevieve L. Hawley.
[273] Miss Susan B. Anthony was in the National Convention at Washington and this news was telegraphed her as a birthday greeting.
[274] Among the most influential workers for this bill during the three sessions of the Legislature, in addition to those mentioned, were Thomas L. Bond; Mesdames Bertha H. Ellsworth, Hetta P. Mansfield, Martia L. Berry, S. A. Thurston and Henrietta B. Wall; Misses Jennie Newby, Olive P. Bray and Amanda Way.
[275] Mrs. Johns says of this occasion: "If we had ever had any doubt that even our small moiety of the suffrage would strengthen our influence for righteousness, the effect of our protest at this time and the attitude of the politicians toward us would have dispelled that doubt. We felt our power and it was a new thrill which we experienced."
[276] Among these were the following:
The relations of man and wife "are one and inseparable" as to the good to be derived from or the evil to be suffered by laws imposed, and the addition of woman suffrage will not better their condition, but is fraught with danger and evil to both sexes and the well-being of society.
This privilege conferred will bring to every primary, caucus and election--to our jury rooms, the bench and the Legislature--the ambitious and designing women only, to engage in all the tricks, intrigues and cunning incident to corrupt political campaigns, only to lower the moral standing of their sex; it invites and creates jealousies and scandals and jeopardizes their high moral standing; hurls women out from their central orb fixed by their Creator to an external place in the order of things. Promiscuous mingling with the rude and unscrupulous element around earnest and exciting elections tends to a familiarity that breeds contempt for the fair sex deeply to be deplored.
The demand for female suffrage is largely confined to the ambitious office-seeking class, possessing an insatiable desire for the forum, and when allowed will unfit this class for all the duties of domestic life and transform them into politicians, and dangerous ones at that.
When the laws of nature shall so change the female organization as to make it possible for them to sing "bass" we shall then be quite willing for such a bill to become a law.
It is a grave mistake, an injury to both sexes and the party, to add another "ism" to our political creed.
Republican--A. H. Heber, W. R. Hopkins, F. W. Willard, J. Showalter. Democrat--J. O. Milner, G. M. Hoover, T. C. Craig, F. M. Gable. Populist--Robt. B. Leedy, J. L. Andrews, Wellington Doty, B. F. Morris, Levi Dumbauld, C. W. Dickson, Geo. E. Smith of Neosho.
[277] In 1901, in Topeka, a candidate for the mayoralty, supposed to represent the liquor element, speaking on the afternoon of election day--bleak, dismal and shoe-top deep in snow and mud--said: "I will lose 1,000 votes on account of the weather as the women are out and they are opposed to me. It is impossible to keep them from voting."
XLI. KENTUCKY.[278]
In October, 1886, the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in Louisville, and for the first time woman suffrage was admitted to a place on the program. It was advocated by Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney of Massachusetts and Miss Laura Clay.
The subject was much discussed for the next two years and in February, 1888, Mrs. Mary B. Clay, vice-president of the American and of the National Woman Suffrage Associations, called a convention in Frankfort. Delegates from Lexington and Richmond attended, and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana was present by invitation. The Hall of Representatives was granted for two evenings, the General Assembly being in session. On the first Mrs. Wallace delivered an able address and the hall was well filled, principally with members of the Legislature. On the second Mrs. Clay spoke upon the harsh laws in regard to women, and Prof. E. B. Walker on the injustice of the property laws and the advantage of giving women the ballot in municipal affairs. He was followed by Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett, who argued that women already had a right to the ballot under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. At the conclusion of her address she asked all legislators present who were willing to give the ballot to women to stand. Seven arose and were greeted with loud applause.
When the annual meeting of the American W. S. A. convened in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 20-22, 1888, Miss Laura Clay, member of its executive committee from Kentucky, issued a call to the suffragists of that State to attend this convention for the purpose of organizing a State association. Accordingly delegates from the Fayette and Kenton county societies met and organized the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. The following officers were elected: President, Miss Clay; vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Mrs. Mary B. Clay; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer; recording secretary, Miss Anna M. Deane; treasurer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.
The second annual convention was held in the court house at Lexington, Nov. 19-21, 1889, with officers and delegates representing seven counties. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Joseph B. Cottrell, D. D. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Henry, chairman, to present the interests of women to the approaching General Assembly and the Constitutional Convention. (See Legislative Action for 1890.)
The next annual meeting took place in Richmond, Dec. 3, 4, 1890. Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer was asked to prepare a tract on co-education, which proved of great assistance in opening the colleges to women. The evening speakers were Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Henry and the Rev. John G. Fee, the venerable Kentucky Abolitionist.
The fourth convention was held in Louisville, Dec. 8-10, 1891, and was addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. Dr. C. K. J. Jones.
The fifth annual meeting convened in Richmond, Nov. 9, 10, 1892.[279] Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain's paper, "Why a Democratic Woman Wants the Ballot," was afterwards widely circulated as a leaflet. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Dr. J. Franklin Browne.
The General Assembly of 1892 was in session most of that year and some months in 1893, as there was a vast amount of business to be done in bringing all departments of legislation into harmony with the new constitution. During all this time the State association was busy urging the rights of women; and at its sixth convention, held in Newport, Oct. 17-19, 1893, was able to report that a law had been secured granting a married woman the power to make a will and control her separate property. Among the speakers was the Rev. G. W. Bradford.
The annual meeting took place in Lexington, Oct. 24-26, 1894. The most encouraging successes of any year were reported in the extension of School Suffrage and the passage of the Married Woman's Property Rights Bill. In answer to the petition of the Fayette County society to Mayor Henry T. Duncan and the city council of Lexington to place a woman on the school board, Mrs. Wilbur R. Smith had been appointed. She was the first to hold such a position in Kentucky. Mrs. Farmer gave an address on School Suffrage, with illustrations of registration and voting, which women were to have an opportunity to apply in 1895.[280]
In 1895 Richmond was again selected as the place for the State convention, December 10-12, at which legislative work in the General Assembly of 1896 was carefully planned. (See Legislative Action.)
The convention met in Lexington, Dec. 18, 1896. A committee was appointed to work for complete School Suffrage in the extra session of the General Assembly the next year.[281]
Covington entertained the annual meeting Oct. 14, 15, 1897. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois, a national organizer, was present, being then engaged in a tour through the State. This convention was unusually large and full of encouragement.
The eleventh convention was held in Richmond, Dec. 1, 1898, and the twelfth in Lexington, Dec. 11, 12, 1899. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, assisted, the former giving addresses both evenings. It was decided to ask the General Assembly to make an appropriation for the establishment of a dormitory for the women students of the State College.
Miss Laura Clay has been president of the State Association since it was organized in 1888. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick was the first vice-president, but removing to Massachusetts the following year, Mrs. Mary Barr Clay, the second vice-president, was elected and has continued in that office. There have been but two other second vice-presidents, the Hon. William Randall Ramsey and Mrs. Mary C. Cramer, and but two corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. The office of treasurer has been filled continuously by Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.[282] During all these years H. H. Gratz, editor of the Lexington Gazette, and John W. Sawyer, editor of the Southern Journal, have been among the most faithful and courageous friends of woman suffrage. The Prohibition papers, almost without exception, have been cordial.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: During the General Assembly of 1890, a committee of eight from the E. R. A. went to Frankfort to ask legislation on the property rights of women, and for women physicians in the State asylums for the insane. A petition for property rights was presented, signed with 9,000 names. Of these 2,240 were collected by Mrs. S. M. Hubbard. On January 10 appeals were made in Representatives' Hall by Miss Laura Clay for the Women Physicians Bill, and by Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for the Property Rights Bill. The latter had carefully prepared a compendium of the married women's property laws in all the States, which was of incalculable value throughout the years of labor necessary to secure this bill.
The press of the State, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of property rights for women. Seven bills were presented to this General Assembly, among them one drawn and introduced into the Senate by Judge William Lindsay, afterward United States Senator. This secured to married women the enjoyment of their property, gave them the power to make a will and equalized curtesy and dower. Although reported adversely by the committee, it was taken up for discussion and was eloquently defended by Judge Lindsay. It passed the Senate, but, was defeated in the House by the opposing members withdrawing and breaking the quorum.[283] A bill introduced by the Hon. William B. Smith, making it obligatory upon employers to pay wages earned by married women to themselves and not their husbands, became a law at this session.
The Constitutional Convention held in 1890-91 was the field of much labor by the State association. In October a committee consisting of Mrs. Henry, Miss Clay, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard and Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett went to Frankfort to appeal for clauses in the new constitution empowering the General Assembly to extend Full Suffrage to women; to secure the property rights of wives; and to grant School Suffrage to all women. The importance of their claims was so impressed upon the convention that it appointed a special Committee on Woman's Rights, with one of its most esteemed members, the Hon. Jep. C. Jonson, as chairman, who did all in his power to bring their cause favorably before this body.
On the evening of October 9, in Representatives' Hall, Miss Clay, Mrs. Shepard and Mrs. Bennett addressed an audience composed largely of members, being introduced by Mr. Jonson. Later, Mrs. Henry was given a hearing before the committee. Her tract appealing for property rights was read before the convention by Mr. Jonson and supplied to each of the 100 members. In addition she supplied them several times a week with leaflets, congressional hearings, etc., and wrote 200 articles for the press on property rights and thirty-one on suffrage.
The five ladies, with Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer and Mrs. Margaret A. Watts, met in Frankfort again on December 8, and obtained hearings before the Committees on Revision of the Constitution, Education and Woman's Rights. Mrs. Henry also addressed the Committee on Elections, who asked that her speech be printed and furnished to each member of the convention.
On December 12 the Hon. W. H. Mackoy, at the request of the suffragists, offered this amendment to the section on elections: "The General Assembly may hereafter extend full or partial suffrage to female citizens of the United States of the age of 21 years, who have resided in this State one year, etc." By his motion the ladies appeared before the convention in Committee of the Whole. They selected Miss Clay as their spokesman and sat in front of the speaker's stand during her address.
The only clause finally obtained in the new constitution was one permitting the General Assembly to extend School Suffrage to women; but the Legislature of 1892 made important concessions.
Among the members of the General Assembly of 1894 especial gratitude is due to Judges S. B. Vance and W. H. Beckner. The former introduced the Bill for Married Women's Property Rights in the House, giving Senator Lindsay credit for being practically its author. Judge Beckner cordially supported this bill, saying he preferred it to one of his own, which he had introduced but would push only if it should be evident that Judge Vance's more liberal bill could not become law. To the leadership of these two is due the vote of 79 ayes to 14 noes with which the bill passed the House. In the Senate it came near to defeat, but was carried through by the strenuous efforts of its friends, especially of Senators W. W. Stephenson, Rozel Weissinger and William Goebel. Senator Weissinger withdrew in favor of the House bill one of his own, not so comprehensive. The bill passed on the very last day of the session possible to finish business. The Senate vote was 21 yeas, 10 nays.[284] It was signed March 15 by Gov. John Young Brown, who always had favored it.
Another signal victory this year was School Suffrage for women of the second-class cities. Since 1838 widows with children of school age had been voters for school trustees in the country districts, and in 1888 this right was extended to allow tax-paying widows and spinsters to vote on school taxes. This general law, however, did not apply to chartered cities. The vigilance of Mrs. Farmer observed and seized the opportunity offered by the revision of city charters, after the adoption of the new constitution, to put in clauses granting full School Suffrage to all women. At her instigation, in 1892, the equal rights associations of Covington, Newport and Lexington, the only second-class cities, petitioned the committee selected to prepare a charter for such cities to insert a clause in the section on education, making women eligible as members of school boards and qualified to vote at all elections of such boards. This was done, and the charter passed the General Assembly in 1894, and was signed by Governor Brown on March 19. The influence of the State association was not sufficient, however, to have School Suffrage put in the charters of cities of the first, third and fourth classes. The Hons. Charles Jacob Bronston, John O. Hodges, William Goebel and Joel Baker did excellent service for this clause.
The changes wrought by liberal legislation and the part the State association had in securing this will be best understood by quotations from a leaflet issued by the State Association:
In 1888 the Kentucky E. R. A. was organized for the purpose of obtaining for women equality with men in educational, industrial, legal and political rights.
We found on the statute books a law which permitted a husband to collect his wife's wages.
We found Kentucky the only State which did not allow a married woman to make a will.
We found that marriage gave to the husband all the wife's personal property which could be reduced to possession, and the use of all her real estate owned at the time or acquired by her after marriage, with power to rent the same and receive the rent.
We found that the common law of curtesy and dower prevailed, whereby on the death of the wife the husband inherited absolutely all her personalty and, when there were children, a life interest in all her real estate; while the wife, when there were children, inherited one-third of her husband's personalty and a life-interest in one-third of his real estate.
I. In 1890 we secured a law which made the wife's wages payable only to herself.
II. From the General Assembly of 1892-93 we secured a law giving a married woman the right to make a will and control her real estate.
III. From the General Assembly of 1894 we secured the present Law for Husband and Wife. The main features of this are:
1. Curtesy and dower are equalized. After the death of either husband or wife, the survivor is given a life estate in one-third of the realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in one-half of the personalty.
2. The wife has entire control of her property, real and personal. She owns her personal property absolutely, and can dispose of it as she pleases.[285] The statute gives her the right to make contracts and to sue and be sued as a single woman. This enables a married woman to enter business and hold her stock in trade free from the control of her husband and liability to his creditors.
3. The power to make a will is the same in husband and wife, and neither can by will divest the other of dower or interest in his or her estate.
These splendid property laws are pronounced by leading lawyers to be the greatest legal revolution which has taken place in our history.
A section of the new constitution made it the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law as soon as practicable for Houses of Reform for Juvenile Offenders. The State Woman's Christian Temperance Union decided in 1892 to urge it to act speedily, and the Equal Rights Association co-operated heartily, with a special view to securing provision for girls equal to that for boys, and women on the Board of Managers. A joint committee from the two associations was appointed, with Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp chairman for the former and Mrs. S. A. Charles for the latter. They compiled a bill with legal advice of Senator Bronston, who had been largely instrumental in securing the section. The unremitting labor of three years was at last crowned with success in 1896, when a bill, essentially that prepared by the women, passed the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. William O. Bradley, March 21.[286] This bill provides for two separate institutions, one for girls and one for boys, on the cottage family plan. The general government is vested in a board of six trustees, three women and three men.
From the General Assembly of 1898 the E. R. A. finally obtained the law making it mandatory to have at least one woman physician in each State insane asylum, for which they had been petitioning ten years. Representative W. C. G. Hobbs introduced the bill into the House, where it passed by a vote of 77 ayes, 4 noes. Mr. Bronston supported it in the Senate, where it received 26 ayes, one no. It was approved by Governor Bradley March 15.
In the same year the benevolent associations of the women of Louisville secured an act providing for police matrons in that city, the only first-class one in the State, which was approved by the Governor March 10.[287] The first police matron was appointed March 4, before the law required it, at the request of women and through the influence of Mayor Charles P. Weaver, Chief of Police Jacob H. Haager, Jailer John R. Pflanz and Judge Reginald H. Thompson. By the action of the State Board of Prison Commissioners this year, two women were appointed as guards for the women's wards in the penitentiary, their duties being such as usually pertain to a matron.
This year the Women's Club of Central Kentucky set on foot a movement for a free library in Lexington. Senator Bronston secured a change in the city charter to facilitate this object. The act provides that the library shall be under the control of a board of five trustees and was intentionally worded to make women eligible. Mayor Joseph Simrall appointed two of the club women, Mrs. Mary D. Short and Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison. This is the first free library established in Kentucky.
Owing to the turbulent political conditions in the General Assembly of 1900, the State association did not send its usual committee to the capital. However, a committee from the W. C. T. U. did go, and succeeded in securing an appropriation to build the young women's dormitory at the State College, receiving in this effort the encouragement of the E. R. A., as agreed upon at their convention of 1899.
The history of the State association would not be complete without recording its failures. In 1893 an effort to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 12 to 18 was made a part of its work. It was deemed expedient to place this in the hands of a special committee, Mrs. Thomas L. Jones and Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys consenting to assume the arduous task. Mrs. Henry wrote a strong leaflet on the "age of protection," and Mrs. Humphreys sent many articles to the press. A petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names when the ladies carried it to the General Assembly in 1894. They succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before an appropriate committee; but the Assembly adjourned without acting. In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which again went to the Assembly with the petition; but without success, and the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment for life.
By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the legal age for a girl to marry.
A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children is one to which the State association has devoted much attention, but which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to the males."
The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support.
SUFFRAGE: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law, passed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts, including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages, any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote for district school taxes.
In 1894 the General Assembly granted women the right to vote for members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are three of these--Covington, Newport and Lexington.[288]
In the one first-class city, Louisville, the five third-class and the twenty or more fourth-class cities, no woman has any vote.
OFFICE HOLDING: In 1886 Mrs. Amanda T. Million was appointed to the office of county superintendent of public schools. Her husband had been elected in Madison County, but dying at the commencement of his term, Judge J. C. Chenault, after the eligibility of a woman had been ascertained, appointed the widow to fill out the year. Mrs. Million then became a candidate, and was elected for the remaining three years of the term, being the first woman in the State to fill that office. Her case attracted much attention and at the election in 1889 four women were elected county superintendents; in 1893, eight, and in 1897, eighteen.
In 1895 Mayor Henry T. Duncan appointed two women on the Lexington School Board, Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison and Mrs. Mary E. Lucas, to serve until their successors were elected under the laws of the new charter. In August the women held a mass meeting, conducted by a joint committee from the local E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of Central Kentucky, to nominate a woman from each ward. They named Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Ella Williamson, Mrs. Sarah West Marshal and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. This ticket was indorsed the same day by the Citizens' Association (of men). Judge Frank Bullock allowed private houses to be used for women to register, one in each precinct, the registration officers all to be women--clerk, two judges and a sheriff. They were sworn in and did their duty nobly. The Democratic and Republican parties refused to accept the Woman's Ticket. The women therefore selected a man from each ward in addition to the four women nominated, making the required number of eight, known as the Independent Ticket, which was triumphantly elected in November by voters of all parties and both sexes.
In Covington, three women were placed on the Republican ticket, but were defeated. About 5,000 women voted. In Newport two women were placed on the Democratic ticket, but it was defeated. About 2,800 women registered.
The Prohibitionists nominated Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for clerk of the Court of Appeals in 1890. Though in many places the election clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the eligibility of a woman, she received 4,460 votes. This case is worthy of note because it was the first in Kentucky where a woman was a candidate for election to a State office; and because, as she ran on a platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for her were cast for woman suffrage.
Women have been State librarians continuously since January, 1876, when the first one was elected.
In 1894 the Senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk, and women have held this office ever since.
During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.
Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative Action.)
OCCUPATIONS: Women are engaged in all the professions and no occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement of its women."
EDUCATION: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a petition the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman, and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail themselves of its advantages. This was the second institution of higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having admitted them in 1880.
In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.
Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and in the majority of the institutions of higher learning; the only notable exceptions being Centre University, Danville; Baptist College, Russellville; Baptist Theological College[289] and Allopathic Medical College, Louisville.
There are in the public schools 4,909 men and 5,057 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $44; of the women, $37.
* * * * *
The Woman's Emergency Association of Louisville, organized during the Spanish-American War, called a non-partisan mass meeting February 6, 1900, "for the special purpose of directing the attention of women to the importance and necessity of using their influence on behalf of good citizenship." The mass meeting was addressed by several prominent gentlemen, who deplored the spirit of lawlessness prevailing in the State and declared that the remedy rested with the women, but the suggestion that these should have the franchise was not once made.
The State E. R. A. sent a memorial to the annual meeting of the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs in 1900, soliciting their assistance in securing from the General Assembly the extension of School Suffrage to the women of all towns and cities. It was voted to give the co-operation desired.
FOOTNOTES:
[278] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Clay of Lexington, president of the State Equal Rights Association since its organization, and first auditor of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association since 1895.
[279] The State W. C. T. U. at its convention in 1892 adopted a franchise department, and has proved a faithful and valuable ally in educating public sentiment and obtaining desired legislation.
[280] In the congressional contest of the Seventh District, between W. C. P. Breckinridge and W. C. Owens, in 1894, the women took such a share in defeating the former that their action became an instructive part of political history. Mrs. F. K. Hunt, president of their Owens Club, which did such distinguished service for public morality, afterwards became a member of the Equal Rights Association, this campaign having convinced her, as she said, that "there is a place for women in politics."
[281] In the Presidential campaign of 1896, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Miss Margaret Ingals spoke for the Silver Democrats, and Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp for the Prohibitionists, under the auspices of the party committees.
In June, 1898, Mrs. Beauchamp, president of the State W. C. T. U., was elected permanent chairman and presided over the State Prohibition Convention held in Louisville--the first time a woman ever filled such a position in Kentucky. She was also elected a member of the National Central Committee of the Prohibitionists in 1899. This party has retained the woman suffrage plank in its State platform since 1889.
[282] The other State officers have been, recording secretaries, Dr. Sarah M. Siewers; Mesdames Mary Ritchie McKee, Mary Muggeridge, Mary R. Patterson, Sarah Hardin Sawyer, Kate Rose Wiggins; Misses Anna M. Deane, Mary Susan Hamilton, Mary E. Light; third vice-presidents, Mesdames Sallie H. Chenault, S. M. Hubbard, Mary H. Johnson, Thomas L. Jones, N. S. McLaughlin; Miss Belle Harris Bennett; superintendents of press, Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys; superintendent of legislative work, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry.
[283] This bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was practically the one passed four years later (1894), which raised Kentucky's property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane.
[284] On the night of March 8 Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke in Frankfort on the subject of American Citizenship. The Legislative Hall was voted unanimously and the Senate, which was holding night sessions, adjourned to hear her address. The Property Rights Bill was on this night virtually dead. Mrs. Henry in her speech never alluded to this bill, but plainly asked the Legislature to create a power to which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming that she had every qualification save that of sex. The speech did not procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the greatest tumult, the dead Property Rights Bill was resurrected and passed.
Minutes of Kentucky E. R. A., 1894.
[285] The wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband's signature. He can convey real estate without her signature but it is subject to her dower.
[286] This year the E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of Central Kentucky petitioned Governor Bradley to appoint a woman physician for the insane asylum at Lexington. He did appoint one, Dr. Kathryn Houser, but placed her in the Hopkinsville asylum.
[287] A notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman selected by each of the following organizations: Home of Friendless Women, Flower Mission, Free Kindergarten Association, Humane Society, Charity Organization Society, City Federation of Women's Clubs, Kentucky Children's Home Society, W. C. T. U. and Women's Christian Association.
[288] This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white women voted in Lexington at the spring election. This is the only instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being conferred by a Legislature. [Eds.
[289] This college was opened to women in 1902.
XLII. LOUISIANA.[290]
The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana must center always about the names of Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick. In 1879, before there had been any general agitation of this question in the State, these ladies appeared before the convention which was preparing a new constitution, and urged that the ballot should be granted to women on the same terms as to men. The only concession to their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of control or management under the School Laws of the State.
Mrs. Saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her removal to another State, and Mrs. Merrick remains still a principal figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest encouragement and assistance of her distinguished husband, Edwin T. Merrick, for ten years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana prior to the Civil War.
As New Orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the population of a State which is among the most conservative in the Union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality, but up to 1884 it had no active club or society of women. In this year there was a demand by the press that the women of New Orleans should organize for the promotion of the World's Cotton Centennial, to be held there in the autumn and winter of 1884-85. This was done and the Woman's Department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe of Massachusetts was the commissioner for the Government, different States sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.
In March, 1885, Miss Susan B. Anthony visited the city for two weeks. She was deluged with invitations for addresses, and spoke in Agricultural Hall of the exposition at the request of the Press Club, in Tulane Hall under the auspices of the city teachers, at the Girls' High School and in half-a-dozen other places. Everywhere she was most warmly welcomed and was favorably reported in the papers, although her doctrines were new and unpopular. Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson, owner and manager of the Picayune, and Mrs. M. A. Field (Catharine Cole), of its editorial staff, gave pleasant manifestations of friendship. One of the addresses delivered by Miss Anthony was before the Woman's Club, which had been an outgrowth of the exposition committees. Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave an address on this same occasion. While this club had by no means been formed in the interests of suffrage, it was a decided innovation and the first step out of tradition and conservatism.
The work of the women of Louisiana in the Anti-Lottery campaign of 1891 is entitled to special mention. The lottery, as the great money power, controlled absolutely the politics of the State, and the leading newspapers were a unit in its support. The reform movement to prevent the renewal of its charter was without money, prestige or the influence of the press. The women came nobly to the rescue of this apparently hopeless cause. They formed leagues for the collection of money, they called meetings, they assisted in every possible way to educate the public mind and awaken the public conscience. To them belongs a large share of the credit for the final overthrow at the polls of this octopus corporation, which was so long a reproach to the State.
In 1892 the Portia Club was formed, a strictly suffrage organization, with Mrs. Merrick as president.[291] Under its auspices the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in New Orleans in 1895, during which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., gave an address on The Philosophy of Woman Suffrage. At another time Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri lectured for the club.
In January, 1895, Miss Anthony, president of the National Suffrage Association, accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, came again to New Orleans. The Picayune said of their first appearance:
If any one doubted the interest which Southern women feel in the all-absorbing question of the day, "Woman and her Rights," that idea would have been forever dispelled by a glance at the splendid audience assembled last night. The hall was literally packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men, prominent representatives in every walk of life.
In 1896 the Era[292] Club was organized with Miss Belle Van Horn as president. The successful work of this society has been largely due to the ability and personal influence of Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, a progressive Massachusetts woman, professor of chemistry in Newcomb College, New Orleans, who was its second president. Miss Kate M. Gordon was the third.
In 1896 the Era united with the Portia Club in the beginning of a State suffrage association, of which Mrs. Merrick was made president. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado gave two lectures before the new association this year. Those who have represented this body at the national conventions are Mrs. Merrick, Miss Katharine Nobles and Miss Gordon.
In 1898 a convention was held in New Orleans to prepare a new State constitution. A committee composed of Mrs. Marie Garner Graham, Miss Nobles, Miss Gordon and Miss Jean Gordon appeared before the Suffrage Committee in support of a petition for Full Suffrage for the educated, taxpaying women of Louisiana, which had been presented to the convention by the Hon. A. W. Faulkner. Mrs. Graham made an eloquent appeal in behalf of using the intelligence and morality embodied in the woman's vote in solving the political problem of the South. The committee further requested that Mrs. Chapman Catt be permitted to address the convention. The request was immediately granted and an official invitation courteously extended.
Mrs. Merrick, who was a delegate to the suffrage convention then in session at Washington, urged that some prominent members of the National Association should accompany this speaker on her important mission, and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York were duly appointed. On February 24, in Tulane Hall, before the assembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries, Mrs. Chapman Catt made a strong argument for the enfranchisement of Louisiana women.
For many days woman suffrage was seriously considered as a means to the end of securing white supremacy in the State. The following week the Athenaeum, the finest lecture hall in New Orleans, was crowded with men and women from all classes of society anxious to hear more on this daily topic of discussion, as presented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Clay and Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama. Seats were reserved for the members of the Constitutional Convention, who responded almost unanimously to the invitation to be present.
Dr. Henry Dickson Bruns, a member of the Suffrage Committee, bent every effort to secure Full Suffrage for women as the only means to effect the reform in political conditions so much desired. The majority report of the committee, however, contained only this clause: "All taxpaying women shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation."
While the women were greatly disappointed, this was really a signal victory in so conservative a State.
Those who supposed that women would make practically no use of this scrap of suffrage were soon to be undeceived. New Orleans was at this time a city of 300,000 with absolutely no sewerage system; an inadequate water supply, and what there was of this in the hands of a monopoly; an excellent drainage system plodding along for the want of means at a rate which would have required twenty years to complete it. The return of yellow fever, the city's arch-enemy, after a lapse of eighteen years, created consternation. Senseless quarantines prevailed on all sides; business was paralyzed; property values had fallen; commercial rivals to the right and left were pressing. A crisis was at hand, and all depended on the hygienic regeneration of the city.
The lawful limit of taxation had been reached. One of two ways alone remained--either to grant franchises to private corporations, or for the taxpayers to vote to tax themselves for the necessary improvements. Finally a plan was evolved, where, by a combination with the drainage funds, the great public necessities--water, sewerage and drainage--could be secured to the city by a tax of two mills on the dollar, covering a period of forty-two years. A similar proposition had been voted down two years before, and little hope was entertained that it would carry this time. Here was the women's opportunity. They found that one-third of the taxpayers must sign a petition calling the election to establish its legality. This meant that from 9,000 to 10,000 signatures must be secured. They learned also that to carry the measure there must be a majority of numbers as well as of property values.
Realizing that a campaign of education was on their hands, the Era Club called a mass meeting of women, at which prominent speakers presented the necessities of the situation. At its close a resolution was adopted to form a Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage, of which Miss Gordon was made president. The papers, which a short time before had been most vehement in their denunciation of suffrage for taxpaying women, were now unanimous in commending their public spirit and predicting ultimate victory through the women.
The first work of the league was to secure a correct list of women taxpayers, the number of whom had been variously estimated from 1,500 to 7,000. Actual count proved that the names of more than 15,000 women appeared on the roll, about one-half the taxpayers of the entire city. Leaving a large margin for possible duplicates, foreign residents and changes by death, a conservative estimate gave at least 10,000 women eligible to vote. Few can realize the magnitude of this undertaking, for the names were without addresses but simply given as owners of such and such pieces of property in such and such boundaries.
The work of location was at last accomplished, and then came the task of securing the names of these women to the petitions. The lists were divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed lieutenants in the various precincts. Parlor meetings to interest women were held everywhere, in the homes of the rich, the poor and the middle classes. Volunteer canvassers were secured and suffrage sentiment awakened. Occasionally mass meetings of men and women together were called, and good speakers obtained to arouse the people to the necessity of voting for the tax. It was the number of women's signatures which enabled the mayor to order the election.
The law carried with it the privilege of voting by proxy, and the women who were active in this movement had the great task of gathering up the proxies of all those who had not the courage to go to the polls. These had to be made out in legal form and signed by two witnesses, and they then learned that no woman in Louisiana can legally witness a document, so in all these thousands of cases it was necessary to secure two men as witnesses. It made no difference whether they could read or write, whether they owned property or not, if males it was sufficient.[293]
The election was held June 6, 1899. The Picayune, which, with the other papers, had opposed the extension of even this bit of suffrage to women, came out the next morning with a three-quarter-page picture of a beautiful woman, labeled New Orleans, on a prancing steed named Progress, dashing over a chasm entitled Sanitary Neglect and Commercial Stagnation, to a bluff called A Greater City, while in one corner was a female angel with wings outspread, designated as Victory. The two-page account began as follows:
The great election for Sewerage and Drainage has come and gone, and with it a notable chapter in the history of woman's work in New Orleans in behalf of municipal improvement. It is unanimously conceded, as incontestably proven by facts, that but for the number of signatures of women sent to the mayor the election never would have been called. It was also conceded late yesterday afternoon that the noble work of the women had won the day in behalf of these much-needed improvements for our beloved city....
The politician has been crushed, and let the credit go where it belongs. The women of New Orleans did it, under the leadership of those two active, energetic and self-sacrificing young women, the Misses Kate M. and Jean Gordon, and all the glory is theirs. Woman plays a most important part in the politics and affairs of this city. Whenever a crisis approaches, the men on the right side appeal to her and the appeal is never in vain. She jumps into the breach, and invariably victory perches upon her banner. All honor to the fair sex! The women, or rather the few women who were in the Sewerage and Drainage League, probably did as much work for the special tax as all the men in this city put together, and they did it quietly and thoroughly....
It was the first time in the history of New Orleans that women were allowed the proud privilege of the suffrage, and it was a novel sight to see them at the polls, producing their certificates of assessment and then retiring to the booths, fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes.... Enough of them showed their independence of the sterner sex to prove to the community that they are a deal more competent to wield the ballot than a vast majority of the male suffragans. From what some of the commissioners of election say, the women demonstrated that they had observed the instructions as to voting with a great deal more punctiliousness than the men. They had no difficulty in arranging their ballots, and knew the routine better than many men who had been in the habit of voting, not only early but often.
This paper contained also an interview with Mrs. Merrick, of which the following is a portion:
"Women are saying everywhere, Mrs. Merrick, that much of the glory of this day is due to you, for you were the first woman in the State to pin your faith to the suffrage cause."
"Without boasting," she said modestly, "the women of Louisiana, I think, do owe a little to me. For years I stood alone for their enfranchisement, especially where questions of property and taxation were concerned.... I may say I have fought, labored and almost died for suffrage. I do hope to see the women of New Orleans with the School and Municipal Suffrage before I die. I am getting old now," she added sweetly; "I am threescore and ten; I cast my first vote to-day. It was only for sewerage and drainage; but then it was for the protection of the home from the invasion of disease, the better health of our city, the greater prosperity of our commonwealth, and I am satisfied; for it will be discovered that women hold the balance of power in all things good and true, and our votes will soon be wanted in other praiseworthy reforms."
The duties of the women did not end when they had voted for the tax. It was necessary to have a Sewerage and Water Board of seven commissioners, and the voters were to decide whether these should be elected by the people or appointed by the mayor with the ratification of the City Council. The politicians were determined on the former method, while the business interests of the city demanded the latter. The women almost to a unit voted for appointment, and the majority of 1,000 by which it was carried can be placed practically to the credit of the Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage.[294] It was conceded that of the 6,000 votes cast at this election, at least one-half were those of women.
The tax was immediately levied, the necessary legislative and constitutional authority was obtained, the bonds were all sold and the work is now under way for a complete system of drainage, sewerage and water supply.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1894 a law was passed permitting women to receive degrees from Law and Medical Schools; also one allowing a married woman to "subscribe for, withdraw or transfer stock of building, homestead or loan associations, and to deposit funds and withdraw the same without the assistance and intervention of her husband." This law was secured by these associations to protect their own interests.
In 1896 the same privilege was extended in regard to depositing money in savings banks and withdrawing it, which a married woman could not do up to this time.
The laws of Louisiana for the most part are a survival of the Napoleonic Code:
Art. 25. Men are capable of all kinds of engagements and functions, unless disqualified by reasons and causes applying to particular individuals. Women can not be appointed to any public office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the law specially declares them capable of exercising. Widows and unmarried women of age may bind themselves as sureties or indorsers for other persons, in the same manner and with the same validity as men who are of full age.
Art. 81. If a father has disappeared, leaving minor children born during his marriage, the mother shall take care of them, and shall exercise all the rights of her husband with respect to their education and the administration of their estate.
Art. 82. If the mother contracts a second marriage, she can not preserve her superintendence of her children, except with the consent of a family meeting composed of the relations or friends of the father. [Failing to call this family meeting, she forfeits also her right to appoint a guardian at her death.]
Art. 121. The wife can not appear in court without the authority of her husband, although she may be a public merchant,[295] or possess her property separate from her husband.
Art. 122. The wife, even when she is separate in estate from the husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, acquire, either by gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act, or yields his consent in writing.
Art. 126. A married woman over the age of twenty-one years, may, by and with the authorization of her husband, and with the sanction of the Judge, borrow money or contract debts for her separate benefit and advantage, and to secure the same, grant mortgages or other securities affecting her separate estate, paraphernal or dotal.
Art. 135. The wife may make her last will without the authority of her husband.
Art. 302. The following persons can not be tutors [i. e., guardians]: 1. Minors, except the father and mother. 2. Women, except the mother or grandmother. 3. Idiots and lunatics. 4. Those whose infirmities prevent them from managing their own affairs. 5. Those whom the penal law declares incapable of holding a public office, etc.
Art. 1316. Married women, even if separated in property, can not institute a suit for partition without the authorization of their husbands or of the Judge.
Art. 1480. A married woman can not make a donation inter vivos [between living persons] without the concurrence or special consent of her husband, or unless she be authorized by the Judge. But she needs neither the consent of her husband nor any judicial authorization to dispose by donation mortis causa [in prospect of death].
Art. 1591. The following persons are absolutely incapable of being witnesses to testaments: 1. Women of what age soever. 2. Male children who have not attained the age of sixteen years complete. 3. Persons who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. 4. Persons whom the criminal laws declare incapable of exercising civil functions.
Art. 1664. A married woman can not accept a testamentary executorship without the consent of her husband. If there is between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized by the courts.
Art. 1782. All persons have the capacity to contract, except those whose incapacity is specially declared by law--these are married women, those of insane mind, those who are interdicted, and minors.
Art. 2335. The separate property of the wife is divided into dotal and extradotal. Dotal property is that which the wife brings to the husband to assist him in bearing the expenses of the marriage establishment. Extradotal property, otherwise called paraphernal property, is that which forms no part of the dowry.
Art. 2338. Whatever in the marriage contract is declared to belong to the wife, or to be given to her on account of the marriage by other persons than the husband, is part of the dowry, unless there be a stipulation to the contrary.
Art. 2347. The dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last.
Art. 2349. The income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper.
Art. 2350. The husband alone has the administration of the dowry, and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry, against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which she brought as her dowry.
Art. 2358. The wife may, with the authorization of her husband, or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the Judge, give her dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have had by a former marriage.
All accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in all States, are the property of the husband. Any wages the wife may earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him.
The laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same for widow and widower.
The father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor children. Until 1888 the custody of children while a divorce suit was pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the mother. The final guardianship is awarded by the Judge to the one who succeeds in obtaining the divorce.
Before 1896 no "age of protection" for girls was named in the statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. In this year, the Arena Club of New Orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law fixing the age at 16 years. The penalty was changed to imprisonment, with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no minimum penalty named.
SUFFRAGE: Since 1898 taxpaying women have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation.
OFFICE HOLDING: The clause in the constitution of 1879 that made women eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some technicality, which in 1894 Mrs. Helen Behrens, a member of the Portia Club, succeeded in having removed. In 1896 Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, as chairman of a committee from the Era Club, presented a petition to the City Council signed by all of the editors and many other representative men of New Orleans, asking for the appointment of a woman to an existing vacancy on the school board, but this was refused. No women ever were appointed to such positions except in a few country districts.
The office of State librarian had been held by a number of women previous to 1898. The Constitutional Convention of that year, however, which gave the taxpayer's suffrage to women, swept away every vestige of their right to hold any office by adopting a clause declaring that only qualified voters should be eligible to office. Under this ruling women can not serve as notaries public.
There are no women on the boards of any public institutions in the State and none has a woman physician.
Four police matrons are employed by New Orleans, one for the parish prison, one for the police jail and two for station houses.
OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.
EDUCATION: The State University at Baton Rouge is one of three in the United States which do not admit women to any department. Tulane, in New Orleans, the largest university in Louisiana, admits women to post-graduate work and to the Departments of Law and Pharmacy, but the Medical Department is still closed to them. The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Girls is a part of Tulane University. It was endowed by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb with $2,500,000 in memory of her daughter. At her death she left to it the remainder of her estate, valued at $1,500,000.
New Orleans University (white) and Leland University (colored) are co-educational. Most of the other colleges in the State are open to women.
In the public schools there are 1,991 men and 2,166 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $37; of the women, $29.70.
FOOTNOTES:
[290] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway and Mrs. Martha Gould, all of New Orleans.
[291] Other presidents: Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, Miss Florence Huberwald, Mrs. Helen Behrens.
[292] The clever reader between the lines will see that E. R. A.--Equal Rights Association--is concealed in this innocent appearing word.
[293] Miss Kate M. Gordon herself obtained and voted 300 proxies. After the election the Business Men's Association of New Orleans presented her with a gold medal. [Eds.
[294] So determined were the politicians to have this board elected, instead of appointed, in order that they might get control of the $42,000,000 fund, that a bill for this purpose was passed by the Legislature of 1902 and signed by Gov. William W. Heard. The matter will be carried to the Supreme Court.
[295] Certain legal processes are necessary before a woman can engage in business on her own account.
XLIII. MAINE.[296]
The Maine Woman Suffrage Association entered upon its career in 1873, flourished until 1876 and then ceased active work, which was not resumed until 1885. In September of that year, a convention was called in co-operation with the New England W. S. A., which resulted in the reorganization of the society. The Rev. Henry Blanchard, D. D., pastor of the First Universalist Church at Portland, was elected president, continuing in that capacity until 1891. During these six years of unremitting service, twelve public meetings (with occasional executive sessions) are recorded, all of which were held in Portland and addressed by the best speakers on suffrage, including Mrs. Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore.
In 1891 Dr. Blanchard resigned and Mrs. Hannah J. Bailey was elected president, as she said, "because it was thought best to have a woman at the head of the organization in order to confute the argument, then often advanced by the legislators, that women do not want the ballot." Mrs. Bailey's term of office expired in 1897, by her own request. In the six years of her leadership, six public conventions took place, all in Portland. The business of the association having been systematically arranged, a large amount of work was done in the executive meetings which occurred frequently.
In 1892 a local club was organized in Portland, and this, as a live and aggressive force, has been of incalculable benefit to the cause. Other clubs were formed in this administration at Saco, Waterville and Hampden. The last owes its existence to the efforts of Mrs. Jane H. Spofford, formerly of Washington, D. C., and for many years treasurer of the National Association.
In 1897 the present incumbent, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day, was chosen State president. During the past three years there have been three annual conventions held respectively at Hampden, Waterville and Portland, with one semi-annual conference at Saco. Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, was present at the first of these and afterwards addressed a public meeting in Portland.
In addition to these conventions, in May, 1900, a series of public meetings in the interest of further organization was held at Old Orchard, Saco, Waterville, Hampden, Winthrop, Monmouth, Cornish and Portland, arranged by the president and addressed by Miss Diana Hirschler, a practicing lawyer of Boston.
The second week of August, 1900, was celebrated in Maine as "Old Home Week," and from the 7th to the 11th the State association kept "open house" in Portland to old and new friends alike. The register shows a record of 232 names, with fourteen States represented, from California to Maine.
On August 24, the association again made a new departure by holding a Suffrage Day at Ocean Park, Old Orchard, this being the first time Maine suffragists had appeared on the regular platform of any summer assembly in the State. The national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was in attendance and the day was a memorable one.
Since 1898 the press department has taken on new life under the management of Mrs. Sarah G. Crosby, and has grown from a circulation of six to eighty newspapers containing suffrage matter.
New clubs have been formed at Old Orchard and Skowhegan. A regular system of bi-monthly meetings of the executive committee has been instituted, the business there transacted being reported to the various clubs, thus keeping the mother in touch with her children.[297]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: There have been several hearings before legislative committees in the interest of a reformatory prison for women, together with repeated petitions for a matron of the State prison, so far with negative results.
In all changes of laws in favor of women much work has been done by themselves. They have been instrumental also in securing the passage of laws against obscene literature, cigarettes and immoral kinetoscope exhibitions. They have opposed and prevented the appointment of a conspicuously immoral man as Judge; have prevented the pardon of notoriously vile women in some marked cases, and have secured police matrons in several of the large cities, also matrons of almshouses.
In 1887 a petition was presented to the Legislature asking for a constitutional amendment in favor of woman suffrage. "The significant vote" was upon the third reading of the bill, when it was ordered to be engrossed by 15 yeas, 13 nays in the Senate, and 67 yeas, 47 nays in the House; but as a two-thirds vote was necessary it failed to pass.
In 1889 the vote on a bill granting Municipal Suffrage to women stood 42 yeas, 91 nays in the House; 18 yeas, 8 nays in the Senate.
In 1891 the Judiciary Committee reported "ought not to pass" on the bill to confer Municipal Suffrage on women, to which the House voted to adhere, the Senate concurring.
In 1893 it was moved in the House to substitute the favorable minority report for the majority report on the Municipal Suffrage Bill. This motion was lost by 54 yeas, 63 nays. The Senate non-concurred with the House and accepted the minority report by 16 yeas, 13 nays.
In the campaign of 1895 an exceedingly active canvass for Municipal Suffrage was made by the use of petitions. These were circulated by the State Association and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, over 9,000 names being sent to the Legislature. At the hearing before the Judiciary Committee every county in the State was represented, and the hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. The committee reported in favor, and their report was accepted in the House by 79 yeas, 54 nays. The Senate refused to concur in the action of the House by 11 yeas, 15 nays.
In 1897 the petitions for Municipal Suffrage were placed on file, the House and Senate concurring in this action.
In 1899 a bill was presented asking "exemption from taxation for the taxpaying women of Maine," on the ground that "taxation without representation is tyranny." The Committee on Taxation granted a hearing and reported "leave to withdraw," which report was accepted in the House, the Senate concurring.
Dower and curtesy were abolished in 1895. If there is no will the interest of the husband or wife in the real estate of the other is the same; if there is issue of the marriage living, one-third absolutely; if no such issue, then one-half; if there is neither issue nor kindred, then the whole of it. The same provisions of law hold regarding the personal estate of each. Both a wife and a husband have the right to claim their statutory share in the estate of the other in preference to any provision that may have been made by a will, provided that such an election is made within a period of six months. The widow is entitled to occupy the home for ninety days after the husband's death, and to have support for that length of time. He is accorded the same privileges and the presence of a will does not change the case. A more liberal allowance than formerly is granted to the family from an insolvent estate.
In the presence of two witnesses, before marriage, the man and the woman may determine what rights each shall have in the other's estate during marriage and after its dissolution by death, and may bar each other of all rights in their respective estates not then secured to them.
A married woman may acquire and hold real and personal property in her own right, and convey the same without joinder of her husband. He has the same legal privilege. The wife may control her own earnings, and carry on business, and the profits are her sole and separate property.
She can prosecute and defend suits in her own name both in contract and in tort, and the wages of the wife and minor children are exempt from attachment in suits against the husband.
Dower, alimony and other provisions for the wife are made in case of divorce for the husband's fault, and a law of 1895 compels the husband to support his family or contribute thereto (provided the separation was not the fault of the wife) and the Supreme Judicial Court may enforce obedience.
Maine is one of the few States in the Union where fathers and mothers have equal guardianship of their children. (1895.)
In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years. In 1889 it was advanced to 14 years, providing unqualified protection, with penalty of imprisonment for life or for a term of years. In 1897 an act was passed providing a "qualified" protection for girls between 14 and 16--that is, protection from men over twenty-one years of age.
Some of the above laws have originated with the legislators themselves. Others have been asked for by the women of the State, through the medium of the W. S. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Council; but in the various organizations it has been those who are suffragists that have carried these measures to a successful issue.[298]
SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
OFFICE HOLDING: At the present time women are filling offices, elective and appointive, as follows: School superintendents, 69; school supervisor, one; school committee, 112; public librarians, 40; trustee of State insane asylum, one; physician on board of same, one; matron of same, one; supervisor female wards of same, one; police matrons, 2; visiting committee of State Reform School, one; trustees of Westbrook Seminary, 3; Stenographic commissioners, 4; trustees of Girls' State Industrial School, 2; principal of same, one; matrons of same, 3.
There are fifteen women justices of the peace, with authority to administer oaths and solemnize marriages.
Women are eligible also as deputy town clerk and register of probate. They can not serve as notaries public.
OCCUPATIONS: As early as 1884 Maine had women lawyers, ministers, physicians, authors and farmers. No occupation is forbidden them by law, and they are found in all departments of work. Since 1887 the working day for women and children is limited to ten hours.
EDUCATION: The educational advantages accorded to women are equal to those of men. Bates College, Colby College and the State University, including the Agricultural Department, were opened to them before 1884. Bowdoin College alone does not admit women.
There are in the public schools 1,020 men and 5,427 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $35; of the women, $27.20.
* * * * *
During the past ten years the literary club movement has done an immense amount of educational work, and Maine was the first State to federate. In 1899 the federation instituted a system of traveling libraries, which has become a great power for good in the rural districts, and several clubs circulate libraries of their own. It also has secured minor bills on educational matters.
In 1893 two important institutions were established--the Home for Friendless Girls, in Belfast, and the Home for Friendless Boys, in Portland. There are also other homes for children.
In 1894 the Invalids' Home (now the Mary Brown Home, in honor of its founder) was incorporated. Any woman in Portland of good character may be admitted to it for $3 a week.
All of the above were organized by women, and are managed by them.
This in brief is the history of woman's progress in the Pine Tree State since 1884.
FOOTNOTES:
[296] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day of Portland, president of the State Suffrage Association, whose work is done under the motto, "In order to establish justice."
[297] State officers for 1900: President, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. S. J. L. O'Brion; vice-president, Mrs. Sarah Fairfield Hamilton; corresponding secretary, Miss Anne Burgess; recording secretary, Miss Lillia Floyd Donnell; treasurer, Dr. Emily N. Titus; auditor, Miss Eliza C. Tappan; superintendent press work, Miss Vetta Merrill.
Among others who have served are Mesdames Lillian M. N. Stevens, Etta Haley Osgood, Winnifred Fuller Nelson and Helen Coffin Beedy; Miss Louise Titcomb and Dr. Jane Lord Hersom.
[298] Among those who have been instrumental in securing better legislation for the women of the State may be mentioned the Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, Judge Joseph W. Symonds, Franklin Payson; ex-Governors Joseph Bodwell, Frederick Robie, Henry B. Cleaves and Llewellyn Powers; Mesdames Augusta Merrill Hunt, Margaret T. W. Merrill and Ann Frances Greeley; Dr. Abby Mary Fulton and the Misses Cornelia M. Dow, Charlotte Thomas and Elizabeth Upham Yates.
XLIV. MARYLAND.[299]
If but one State in the Union allowed woman to represent herself it should be Maryland, which was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman, and where in 1647 Mistress Margaret Brent, the first woman suffragist in America, demanded "place and voyce" in the Assembly as the executor and representative of her kinsman, Lord Baltimore. Her petition was denied but she must have had some gallant supporters, as the archives record that the question of her admission was hotly debated for hours. After the signal defeat of Mistress Brent, there seems to have been no demand for the ballot on the part of Maryland women for about 225 years.[300]
In 1870 and '71 Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe lectured in Baltimore and there was some slight agitation of the subject.
Immediately following the national suffrage convention of 1883, in Washington, Miss Phoebe W. Couzins of Missouri addressed a large and enthusiastic audience at Sandy Spring. Soon afterwards Madame Clara Neymann of New York spoke in the same place and was cordially received. She and Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller were invited about this time to make addresses at Rockville. Mrs. Miller also spoke on the rights and wrongs of women at the Sandy Spring Lyceum.
In 1889 Mrs. Miller invited some of her acquaintances to meet at her home in Sandy Spring to form a suffrage association. Thirteen men and women became members, all but one of whom belonged to the Society of Friends.[301] This year Maryland was represented for the first time at the national suffrage convention by a delegate, Mrs. Sarah T. Miller. She is now superintendent of franchise in the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, this department having been adopted in 1893.
Annual State conventions have been held since 1889 and about 300 different members have been enrolled. The membership includes many men; one public meeting was addressed by a father and daughter, and a mother and son. The officers for 1900 are: President, Mary Bentley Thomas; vice-president, Pauline W. Holme; corresponding secretary, Annie R. Lamb; recording secretary, Margaret Smythe Clarke; treasurer, Mary E. Moore; member national executive committee, Emma J. M. Funck.
The first to organize a suffrage club in Baltimore was Mrs. Sarah H. Tudor. It has now a flourishing society and many open meetings have been held with large and interested audiences.
In 1896 six members of the W. C. T. U. of Baltimore went before the registrars and demanded that their names should be placed on the polling books. Mrs. Thomas J. Boram, whose husband was one of the registrars, was spokeswoman and claimed their right to vote under the Constitution of the United States. She made a strong argument in the name of taxpaying women and of mothers but was told that the State constitution limited the suffrage to males. The other ladies were Dr. Emily G. Peterson, Miss Annie M. V. Davenport, Mrs. Jane H. Rupp, Mrs. C. Rupp and Mrs. Amanda Peterman.
Among the outside speakers who have come into the State at different times are the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, Miss Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Mrs. Ruth B. Havens of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago.
One of the first and most efficient of the workers is Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller, who has represented her State for many years at the national conventions and pleased the audiences with her humorous but strong addresses. Her husband, Francis Miller, a prominent lawyer, was one of the very few men in the State who advocated suffrage for women as early as 1874, when he made an appeal for the enfranchisement of the women of the District of Columbia before the House Judiciary Committee.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The constitution of Maryland opens as follows:
The right of the people to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every male (!) citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the constitution ought to have the right of suffrage.
The Legislature has been petitioned to grant full suffrage to women; to raise the "age of protection" for girls, and to refrain from giving State aid to institutions of learning which do not admit women students on equal terms with men.
The Legislature of 1900 took a remarkably progressive step. An act authorizing the city of Annapolis to submit to the voters the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $121,000, to pay off the floating indebtedness and provide a fund for permanent improvements, contained a paragraph entitling women to vote.
This bill was introduced in the Senate January 25, by Elijah Williams and was referred to the Committee on Finance. On January 31, Austin L. Crothers reported it favorably. On February 1, at the motion of Senator Williams, the bill was recommitted and on the 15th Senator Crothers again reported it favorably. On the 19th it was passed by the Senate unanimously.
The Senate Bill was presented to the House of Delegates February 20, and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. On the 28th, Ferdinand C. Latrobe (who had been mayor of Baltimore four or five times) reported the bill favorably. On March 23 it was passed by the House, 69 yeas, one nay, the negative vote being cast by Patrick E. Finzel of Garrett County.
It is a common practice of the General Assembly to pass laws applicable only to one county or portion of a county, or to one municipality or to one special occasion, as in this instance.
As this law was a decided innovation in a very conservative community, naturally the number of women availing themselves of it for the first time was not large, and it hardly seemed worth a special Act of the Legislature, except as a progressive step. The Baltimore Sun of May 14 said:
Women voted in Annapolis to-day under the law permitting property owners to say if $121,000 bonds shall be issued for street and other improvements. The novelty of their presence did not disturb the serenity of the polling-room or unnerve the ladies who were exercising their right to vote for the first time. They were calm, direct and as unruffled as though it were the usual order of things. Those who voted are of the highest social standing. They received the utmost courtesy at the polls and voted without any embarrassment whatever.
Numerous changes in the statutes have been made during the past twelve years, modifying the discriminations against married women under the old Common Law.
In 1888 it was enacted that a wife might bring action for slander in her own name and defend her own character.
The last of these improved laws went into effect in 1898, when the inheritance of property was made the same for widow and widower. Absolute control of her own estate was vested in the wife. Power was given her to make contracts and bring suit, and she alone was to be liable for her own actions.
Inequalities still exist, however, in regard to divorce and guardianship of children. The fifth ground for absolute divorce is as follows: "Where the woman before marriage has been guilty of illicit carnal intercourse with another man, the same being unknown to the husband at the time of marriage." A similar act on the part of the husband prior to the marriage does not entitle the wife to a divorce.
The father has complete control of the minor children and may appoint a guardian by will. If he die without doing so the mother becomes their natural guardian, but her control over a daughter terminates at eighteen years of age while the father's continues to twenty-one. This power of appointing a testamentary guardian was created by an act of Charles II, and adopted as a part of the laws of Maryland. It gives the father power, by deed or will, to dispose of the custody and tuition of his infant children up to the age of twenty-one, or until the marriage of the daughters. It gives him custody of their persons and all their real and personal estate, not only such as comes from his family, but all they may acquire of any person soever, even from the family of the mother. The guardian is placed in loco parentis and his rights are generally regarded as paramount.
For non-support of the family the husband may be fined $100 or imprisoned in the House of Correction not exceeding one year, or both, at discretion of the court. (1896.)
Wife-beaters are punished by flogging or imprisonment.
In 1899 women succeeded in having the "age of protection" for girls raised from 14 to 16 years, with penalty ranging from death to imprisonment in the penitentiary for eighteen months.
Employers are compelled to provide seats for female employes. Children under twelve can not work in factories. Women or girls may not be employed as waiters in any place of amusement.
SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
OFFICE HOLDING: The State librarian is a woman, who has filled the position most satisfactorily for a number of years and through her care valuable documents relating to colonial times have been saved from destruction and classified. A leading paper of Baltimore said that these had been allowed to remain in the cellar of the State House for years, and would have been ruined but for the new system of public housekeeping inaugurated by the womanly element.
Women physicians have been placed in charge of women patients at one State insane asylum.
Police matrons are employed at all the station houses in Baltimore. During the past two years women have been placed on its jail boards and on the boards of most of its charitable and reformatory institutions. By the recommendation of two mayors they have been put on the school board. They have applied for positions on the street-cleaning board but without success.
Women are doing efficient work on the jail and almshouse boards of Harford County and the school boards of Montgomery.
Women serve as notaries public.
OCCUPATIONS: In 1901 Miss Etta Maddox, a graduate of the Baltimore College of Law, was refused admission to the bar and carried her case to the Supreme Court. It was argued before the full bench and the opinion rendered by Justice C. J. McSherry, November 21. Her petition was denied on the ground that the act providing for admission to the bar uses the masculine pronouns. In this decision the general proposition was affirmed that "women are excluded from all occupations which were denied them by the English common law, except when the disability has been removed by express statutory enactment."[302] It is believed that this opinion makes it illegal for women to serve as notaries public, and as a number have been serving for several years, three in Baltimore, the situation promises to be very serious, many deeds, etc., having been acknowledged before them.
EDUCATION: Through the leadership of Miss Mary E. Garrett and Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, assisted by Miss Mary Gwinn and Miss Elizabeth King (now Mrs. William Ellicott), committees of prominent women were organized in various States for raising a fund to open a Medical Department in Johns Hopkins University which should be co-educational. The trustees required an endowment of $500,000. The committees raised $200,000 and Miss Garrett herself added the remaining $300,000. In 1893 this Medical College, which is not outranked in the country, was dedicated alike to men and women with absolutely no distinction in their privileges. Women are not admitted to any other department of Johns Hopkins.
Of the nine other colleges and universities two are open to women, and the Woman's College of Baltimore, which receives State aid, is for them alone. They may be graduated from the Baltimore Colleges of Law and of Dentistry. The State Colleges of Agriculture, of Medicine and of Law are closed to them. The State Normal Schools admit both sexes on equal terms.
There are 1,162 men and 3,965 women teachers in the public schools. It is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries.
FOOTNOTES:
[299] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas of Ednor, who for the last nine years has been president of the State Suffrage Association.
[300] Miss Mary Catherine Goddard conducted the Baltimore post-office and also the only newspaper in the city, the Maryland Journal and Commercial Advertiser, through all the trying times of the Revolutionary War. On July 12, 1775, she published a detailed account of the battle of Bunker Hill, which had occurred on June 17, and the Declaration of the Continental Congress giving the causes and necessity for taking up arms. The first official publication of the Declaration of Independence, with the signers' names attached, was entrusted by Congress, at that time sitting in Baltimore, to Miss Goddard.
She remained in control of her paper for ten years. In 1779 she made an appeal through its columns for the destitute families of the American soldiers, and by her efforts $25,000 were raised for their needs.
[301] The charter members were Caroline H., Margaret E., Sarah T., Rebecca T. and George B. Miller, Margaret B. and Mary Magruder, Ellen and Martha T. Farquhar, James P. and Jessie B. Stablu, Hannah B. Brooke and Mary E. Moore. At the second meeting a number of others became members, including the writer of this chapter.
[302] State Senator Jacob M. Moses presented a bill in the Legislature of 1902 to permit women to practice law, which passed, was signed by the Governor and Miss Maddox was admitted to the bar.