XLIII. UTAH.[184]
The results of equal suffrage in Utah for fifty years--1870-1920--with an unavoidable interim of eight years, have demonstrated the sanity and poise of women in the exercise of their franchise. The Mormon women had had long training, for from the founding of their church by Joseph Smith in 1830 they had a vote in its affairs. Although the Territory of Wyoming was the first to give the suffrage to women--in November, 1869--the Legislature of Utah followed in January, 1870, and the bill was signed by Governor S. A. Mann February 12. Women voted at the regular election the next August and there was no election in Wyoming until September, so those of Utah had the distinction of being the pioneer women voters in the United States and there were over five times as many women in Utah as in Wyoming. The story of how their suffrage was taken away by an Act of Congress in 1887 and how it was restored in full by the men of Utah when they made their constitution for statehood in 1895 and adopted it by a vote of ten to one is related in detail in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. The women have voted since then in large numbers, filled many offices and been a recognized political influence for the benefit of the State.
The large and active Territorial Woman Suffrage Association held annual conventions until after it succeeded in gaining the franchise. In 1899, during a visit of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt to Salt Lake City, a meeting was called and steps taken to form a Utah Council of Women to assist the suffrage movement in other States and Mrs. Emily S. Richards was made president. This Council, composed of Mormons and non-Mormons, continued in existence for twenty years. For the first ten years there were monthly meetings and also special and committee meetings and prominent speakers addressed the annual gatherings, eulogizing and commemorating the lives and labors of the suffrage pioneers throughout the Union. Whenever the National American Suffrage Association called for financial aid it responded liberally. The suffrage having been gained it was hard to keep up the interest and after 1910 meetings were held only at the call of the president for the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the National Suffrage Association, at whose conventions the Council was always represented by delegates. In 1909-10, when the association was collecting its monster petition to Congress, the Council obtained 40,000 names as Utah's quota.
The official personnel remained practically the same from 1900. That noble exponent of the best there is in womanhood, Mrs. Emily S. Richards, preserved the spirit and genius of the Council, which recognized no party and whose members cast their votes for good men and measures without undue partisan bias. She was sustained by its capable and resourceful secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen, and both maintained a non-partisan attitude in the conduct of the Council. The officers were: Emmeline B. Wells, member national executive committee; Elizabeth A. Hayward, Mrs. Ira D. Wines, Dr. Jane Skolfield and Mrs. B. T. Pyper, vice-presidents; Anna T. Piercey, assistant secretary; Hannah S. Lapish, treasurer.
As Territory and State, every county, every town, every precinct has been served faithfully and well by women in various positions. It would be impossible to name all who have done yeoman service during the past years but the three women who have meant more than all others to the suffrage cause are Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, who was appointed by Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow as the standard bearer of that cause in the late '60's and who maintained her active hold upon politics until about 1885, when her able first lieutenant, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, took up the work dropped by the aged hands of Mrs. Kimball. She in turn carried the banner of equal civic freedom aloft, assisted by Mrs. Richards, until she relinquished it in 1896 and Mrs. Richards became the standard bearer. Many other splendid women have labored assiduously in this cause.
In legislative matters a committee from the Council has worked during every session since 1911 with associated committees from the other large organizations of women, the powerful Relief Society, the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association and the Federated Clubs leading in all good movements. Results in the enactment of welfare laws for women and children have been very gratifying. The women's committees of the various organizations meet at the State Capitol during the legislative sessions and go over very carefully every bill in which they are interested. If after investigation a bill meets with their approval it is endorsed and every effort is made to secure its passage. From 1911 to 1917 the women's legislative committee secured copies of laws already in successful operation in other States and framed bills to meet their own needs. These were always submitted to two young lawyers, Dan B. Shields and Carl Badger, who corrected any flaws which might jeopardize their constitutionality. Among the women who comprise these committees are Mrs. Cohen, chairman, Miss Sarah McLelland of the Relief Society; Mrs. Adella W. Eardley and Mrs. Julia Brixen of the Y. L. M. I. A.; Mrs. Richards and Mrs. Hayward of the Suffrage Council; Mrs. C. M. McMahon, president, Mrs. Peter A. Simpkin, Mrs. A. V. Taylor and Mrs. Seldon I. Clawson, members of the Federation of Women's Clubs.
In many Legislatures since statehood there have been women members and their work has been along expected lines. In 1896, the year Utah was admitted to the Union, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the State Senate, the first woman in the United States to receive that honor. Several women were elected to the Lower House then and others in the years following. Needed reform measures were secured by Mrs. Mary G. Coulter, who sat in the Lower House and was made chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1903. There was a long interim when no women were sent to the Legislature but in 1913 four were elected, Mrs. Annie Wells Cannon, Dr. Skolfield, Mrs. Elizabeth Ellerbeck Reid and Mrs. Annie H. King. They were instrumental in securing the Mothers' Pension Law and the Minimum Wage Law and through Mrs. Cannon the bureau of emigration labor was provided with a woman deputy to look after the women and children workers. Utah already had an equal guardianship law but largely through the efforts of Mrs. Cannon it was improved and is now regarded as a model and has been copied by other States. She is a representative daughter of Mrs. Wells.
In 1915 Mrs. Elizabeth A. Hayward and Mrs. Lily C. Wolstenholme were elected and to the former the improved child labor law must be credited. In 1917 she was re-elected and Dr. Grace Stratton Airy and Mrs. Daisy C. Allen became members of the Lower House. During 1915-1917 laws raising the age of protection for girls to 18 and requiring equal pay for equal work were enacted. Mrs. Hayward, at the request of the women's Legislative Council, introduced the resolution calling on Congress to submit the Federal Amendment. In 1918 she was elected State Senator. In 1919 Dr. Airy was re-elected and Mrs. Anna G. Piercy and Mrs. Delora Blakely were elected to the Lower House. Altogether there have been thirteen women members of the Legislature. No State has better laws relating to women and children than Utah.
It has been difficult to persuade the women to stand for important offices. The modern furious pace set by campaigners and the severance of home ties for long periods are not alluring to wives and mothers but they find many public activities through which to exercise their executive abilities. They sit on the boards of many State and local institutions and serve on committees for civic and educational work. A considerable number have filled and are now filling city and county offices. Mrs. L. M. Crawford has a responsible position in the office of the State Land Board. Mrs. McVickar was State Superintendent of Schools. In 1917 a new department was added to the office of the Adjutant General to secure pensions for those veterans who had served in the early Indian wars of Utah. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen was given custody of the old Indian War Records and was named Commissioner of Pensions. In order to prove the claims of these men and women she cooperated with the Pension Bureau at Washington, D. C. Up to date out of a possible 1,500 whose claims have merit nearly 700 pensions have been granted, bringing into the State the sum of $400,000.
When Brigham Young established those monuments to his name, the Brigham Young University of Provo and the Brigham Young College of Logan in 1874 he placed women on their boards. Mrs. Martha J. Coray of Provo served ten years for the former and Professor Ida M. Cook for the latter. Mrs. Gates was made a trustee of the university in 1891, which position she still occupies, while her sister, Mrs. Zina Young Card, has been a trustee since 1914. Mrs. Gates was on the board of the State Agricultural College 1905-1913. Mrs. A. W. McCune was on this board ten years, seven of them its vice-president. Mrs. Rebecca M. Little, Mrs. Antoinette B. Kinney and Dr. Belle A. Gummel have been regents of the university. Professor Maude May Babcock has been dean of physical education and expression since 1892 and a trustee since 1897. Her culture and personality have left an indelible impress on the history of this State.
From the beginning women have allied themselves with the different political parties, occasionally uniting on a great issue like that of Prohibition. From the time they were enfranchised by the State constitution they have received the recognition of the parties. In 1900 women were sent as delegates and alternates to both national presidential conventions and Mrs. Cohen seconded the nomination of William Jennings Bryan. A number were sent in following years. In 1908 Mrs. Margaret Zane Cherdron was a delegate and a presidential elector, carrying the vote to Washington. She was one of the two received by President Taft and was royally entertained while in the capital. Among other women who have acted as delegates and alternates since 1900 are Mrs. William H. Jones, Mrs. Hayward, Mrs. Sarah Ventrees, Mrs. Gates, Mrs. Lucy A. Clark, Mrs. B. T. Pyper, Mrs. L. M. Crawford, Mrs. Alice E. Paddison.
Women have their representation on all political committees--Mrs. Hayward is a member of the Democratic National Committee--and their participation in politics is accepted without question. There are about 10,000 more women voters than men voters. As a rule about 90 per cent. of the women vote and about 86 per cent. of the men, as some of the latter are in the mines or out of the State for various reasons. Among the Republican leaders are Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Gates, Mrs. Cherdron, Mrs. Jannette A. Hyde, Mrs. Cannon, Mrs. Wolstenholm, Mrs. Loufborough, Mrs. William Spry, Mrs. Reed Smoot; Mrs. Martha B. Keeler of Provo and Mrs. Georgina G. Marriott of Ogden. The Democratic party has had among its leading women Mrs. Richards, Mrs. Alice Merrill Horne, Mrs. Cohen, Mrs. Hayward, Gwen Lewis Little, Mrs. Piercy, Mrs. S. S. Smith, Mrs. Annice Dee, Mrs. Inez Knight Allen and Miss Alice Reynolds.
No State exceeded Utah in the proportion of the work done by women during the World War. Mrs. Clarissa Smith Williams was the unanimous choice for chairman of the State branch of the Woman's Council of National Defense. She was eminently fitted for this position through her long experience as first counsellor to Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, head of the Relief Society, and every demand of the Government was fully met.
RATIFICATION. At the request of the Suffrage Council and without urging, Governor Simon Bamberger called a special session of the Legislature for Sept. 30, 1919, to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment submitted the preceding June. The resolution was presented by Senator Elizabeth A. Hayward and was ratified unanimously by both Houses within thirty minutes. The Governor signed it without delay. The women and the Legislature had helped in every possible way to secure the Amendment and the entire Utah delegation in Congress had voted for it.
A striking event in the train of possible fruitful activities left behind was the visit of the great leader, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Suffrage Association, with her able young assistants, who came to Utah for Nov. 16-18, 1919. She was accompanied by Dr. Valerie Parker and Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield, chairmen in the National League of Women Voters, and Miss Marjorie Shuler, director of publicity for the National Association. The convention, held in the Assembly Hall, was in charge of the Suffrage Council, its president, Mrs. Richards, assisted by Mrs. Cohen and Mrs. E. E. Corfman. A long and valuable program was carried out. Mrs. Catt spoke in the Tabernacle on Sunday afternoon, introduced by President Charles W. Penrose with a glowing tribute to her power as a leader, to the sincerity and womanliness of her character and to the catholicity of her vision and sympathy. There were banquets, teas and receptions.
At the close of the convention the Suffrage Council, which had rendered such splendid service for the past twenty years, was merged into the State League of Women Voters and Mrs. Richards willingly resigned her leadership to its chairman, Mrs. Clesson S. Kinney.
On Feb. 12, 1920, a jubilee celebration was held in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the woman suffrage bill by the Territorial Governor S. A. Mann. There was also celebrated the granting of the complete franchise by the immense majority of the voters in 1895.
Utah celebrated in Salt Lake City August 30, with a great demonstration, the triumph of woman suffrage in the United States through the ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been proclaimed August 26. It was introduced with an impressive parade led by bands of music and the program of ceremonies was carried out on the steps of the State Capitol. Governor Bamberger, former Governor Heber M. Wells, Congressman E. O. Leatherwood and Mayor C. Clarence Neslen joined the women in congratulatory addresses. Mrs. Richards, Mrs. Hannah Lapish and Mrs. Lydia Alder, veteran suffragists, told of the early struggles and Mrs. Beulah Storrs Lewis appealed to women to keep high the standard in order to lead men out of the darkness of war into the light of brotherly love and make ready for world peace. Mrs. Annie Wells Cannon and Mrs. Susa Young Gates were appointed to send a telegram of congratulation to Mrs. Catt. The celebration was under the auspices of the League of Women Voters, whose chairman, Mrs. Kinney, presided. The most impressive figure on the platform was President Emmeline B. Wells, 92 years old, who had voted since 1870 and who had labored all these years for this glorious achievement. What those dim eyes had seen of history in the making, what those old ears had heard and what that clear brain had conceived and carried out only her close associates knew. She was the incarnate figure of tender, delicate, eternally determined womanhood, arrived and triumphant.
FOOTNOTES:
[184] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Susa Young Gates, member of the General Board of the Woman's Relief Society and editor of the Relief Society's Magazine since it was established in 1913 and historian of the activities of Utah women.
XLIV. VERMONT.[185]
The first convention to consider woman suffrage took place in Vermont in 1883, when a State association was formed, and others were held regularly to the end of the century, with the cooperation of the Massachusetts association. At the convention held in Waterbury Center June 12, 13, 1900, Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, editor of the Woman's Journal, was the chief speaker. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the new president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, sent a letter of helpful suggestions. Petitions for a Federal Suffrage Amendment were forwarded to Congress. During this and the following years the Woman's Journal was sent to members of the Legislature; a column prepared from that paper was sent to every editor in the State and much literature was distributed, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union assisting.
The convention of 1901 met in Rochester June 25, 26. The speakers were Mr. Blackwell, Professor W. L. Burdick, the Rev. George L. Story, Miss Eliza Eaton, Miss Blanche Dunham and Mrs. Laura Kezer, president of the W. C. T. U. The convention congratulated women of the Methodist Episcopal Church on their admission as delegates to the General Conference, the Vermont conference having voted for it unanimously.
In 1902 the convention met at West Concord June 18, 19, among the speakers being Miss Mary N. Chase, president of the New Hampshire Suffrage Association, and Mr. Blackwell, who never missed a convention.[186] The State Baptist Association went on record this year in favor of women voting on license and prohibition and the Universalist Church convention endorsed equal suffrage.
In 1903 the convention was held at Barton June 9, 10, with Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, a national organizer, among the speakers. The convention of 1904 went to Woodstock, June 22, 23, and was addressed by the Rev. Harry L. and Mrs. Canfield, suffrage leaders there, and many others. It was announced that Mrs. Dorcas McClelan of Glover had left a bequest of $150 to the association. A "composition" entitled Female Education, written by a pupil in a Woodstock school in 1831, now Mrs. Harriet Walker of Denver, 90 years old, was read and much enjoyed.
The convention of 1905 took place in Springfield June 7, 8. During the year 10,000 copies of Opinions on Equal Suffrage by Vermont Men and Women had been distributed and the Woman's Journal placed in twelve libraries. A memorial service was held for Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, a life long suffragist. In 1906 the convention was held at Brattleboro June 6, 7, with a long list of State speakers, including six clergymen. A memorial service with tributes of appreciation was held for Miss Susan B. Anthony.
Burlington entertained the convention June 13, 14, 1907, which had the privilege of hearing Mayor W. J. Bigelow, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, now president of the National Association, and State Representative H. H. Shaw of Burlington. Mr. Blackwell presented a fine portrait of his wife, Lucy Stone. Four prominent State workers had died during the year, the Hon. Henry Ballard, C. W. Wyman, Miss Carolyn Scott and Miss Laura Moore, the latter for twenty-two years secretary of the State association, its leader and inspirer. She was known at the Capitol as "the Saint of Barnet" and U. S. Senator Carroll S. Page once said: "If the cause of equal suffrage should ever prevail in Vermont it will be largely because of the seed sown by Laura Moore." Miss Scott, her companion and co-worker, who passed away in her 92d year, left a bequest of $1,000 to the association.
At the convention in Rutland Oct. 12, 13, 1908, among the speakers were the Reverend Mary Traffern Whitney and Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee, State superintendent of press. The association voted to become auxiliary to the National Association. A letter was read from former Governor Fletcher D. Proctor, declaring himself in favor of the movement and willing to assist it. Signatures to the suffrage petition this year included the names of Governor George H. Prouty, Lieutenant Governor John Abner Mead and Secretary of State Guy Bailey.
In 1909 the convention held at Barre June 4, 5, decided to concentrate its efforts on a State constitutional amendment to be voted on in 1910. A press report of the convention said: "Henry B. Blackwell, although 84 years of age, is a commanding figure and his voice as it rings forth in tones of conviction is more like that of a man in his prime than of one who has passed his four-score milestone." It therefore was a great shock when the news came on September 7 that this far-visioned leader had passed from earth. The State suffragists owed him a debt of gratitude which could only be repaid by carrying forward his life work.
In 1910 and 1911 the association so sadly bereft by death held no convention but the work did not cease. Miss Chase, now a national organizer, formed new leagues; Mrs. Parmelee sent out 3,057 pieces of mail, circularized the clergy, conducted thirty-seven debates, wrote 131 newspaper articles, furnished leaflets to ninety W. C. T. U. units, sent Woman's Journals to every graded school and every library in the State and circulated literature at the county fairs. She also prepared a leaflet, Seventeen Reasons Why Women Should Vote, wrote and superintended the production of a play entitled A Mock Session of the Legislature and spoke at legislative sessions, churches, granges and parlor meetings. She was ably assisted in this work by the secretary, Mrs. Canfield, who had charge of the large Vermont and New Hampshire tent at the State Fair at White River Junction, where speeches were made, literature distributed and signatures obtained. Fourteen speakers were kept busy. The pastors of all the churches in the State were circularized and as a rule were sympathetic.[187]
In 1912 the convention was held at Montpelier on June 7, with Professor George B. Cox of Dartmouth College; Attorney J. H. Senter and Dr. J. Edward Wright among the speakers. At Woodstock a big suffrage "rally" was held with Dr. Harvey W. Wiley of Washington as chief speaker. Mrs. Frances Rastall, recently appointed State congressional chairman by the National Association, organized a congressional committee in every county. At the convention in Rochester June 11, 12, 1913, Mrs. Emily Chaffee of Detroit, Mich., and many State speakers made addresses. Mrs. Julia Pierce, the State president, handsomely entertained speakers and delegates at her home. At St. Albans a successful "rally" with Mrs. Marian Booth Kelly as speaker was held.
In 1914 the convention was held in Burlington November 4, 5, and the city hall was crowded at the evening meetings. Mrs. Beatrice Forbes Robertson Hale of New York and Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston were the out-of-town speakers and Representative E. P. Jose of Johnson headed the State coterie. Conforming to plans sent out by the National Association, "suffrage day" had been observed May 1 in Burlington with an address by Mayor James E. Burke.
The convention which met at Springfield Oct. 20, 21, 1915, received a royal welcome. American flags and suffrage banners were suspended across the streets and the stores were decorated with yellow. A reception and banquet were given by Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Woolson at Mucross Park. Among the speakers were Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Arthur P. Howard, editor of The Advance; the Hon. James Hartness, Dr. Grace Sherwood and Representative H. E. Taylor. Mrs. Pierce, having served six years as president, asked to be released and was made honorary president for life. Mrs. Lucia E. Blanchard was elected in her place. The convention deplored the opposing attitude of Congressman Frank Greene and of U. S. Senator William P. Dillingham, who had declared himself "unalterably opposed" to the Federal Suffrage Amendment, and it commended the stand of Congressman Porter Dale. Among public officials declaring themselves favorable were U. S. Marshal Horace W. Bailey, Dr. Guy Potter Benton, president of the University of Vermont, and J. N. Barss, superintendent of the State Industrial School.
On March 1, 1916, Mrs. Rastall called a congressional conference in Burlington. Mrs. Catt, national president, and Mrs. Susan W. Fitzgerald of Boston addressed a large audience. The day sessions were at the City Hall and the mass meeting at the Strong Theater. During the autumn a delegation of suffragists called on U. S. Senator Carroll S. Page of Hyde Park to urge his support of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. They were graciously received, entertained at luncheon at the Inn and reported themselves as "pleased with the interview." In November the National Association sent Mrs. Augusta Hughston, one of its organizers, for a month's field work, paying all expenses, and eighteen clubs were formed with officers and active committees.
In 1917 the convention was held at St. Albans June 27, 28, with the usual list of good speakers. Mrs. Lilian H. Olzendam was employed as State organizer. A resolution was passed condemning the methods of the "militant" suffragists. It was reported that after an address by Mrs. Rastall at the State conference of the Federation of Labor at Bellows Falls August 11, 12, woman suffrage was endorsed unanimously.
In accordance with the plans of the National Association to strengthen the situation wherever there were opposing members of Congress, and to assist in bringing pressure on Senator Dillingham, Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its recording secretary, was sent to Vermont in July, 1918, and also Miss Marjorie Shuler, its director of field publicity, who spent two weeks, speaking, interviewing editors and building up favorable press sentiment. The convention was held at Burlington July 10, 11 and was addressed by Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. A. L. Bailey, State president; Mrs. Joanna Croft Read, State secretary, and Dr. Alice Wakefield. A resolution was adopted thanking Senator Page for his promise to support the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Senator Dillingham still remained obdurate and Mrs. Wilson returned to meet with the Executive Board August 17 at Montpelier, after which Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Read, Mrs. Parmelee, Mrs. Olzendam and Mrs. Wilson called on him by appointment to appeal for his vote. He was very courteous but gave them no encouragement. Mrs. Wilson remained for three weeks conferring with and assisting the workers. In November, at the expense of the National Association, Mrs. Hughston spent three weeks doing valuable field work.
In January, 1919, Mrs. Wilson again returned to assist the board during the legislative session, remaining until after the convention, which was held at Burlington March 11, 12. The speakers were Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Wilson, Dr. Marion Horton, the new State president; City Attorney Hamilton S. Peck, Miss Bernice Tuttle, president of the Child Welfare Bureau; Mrs. Anna Hawkes Putnam, State chairman of the Woman's Division of the National Council of Defense; Mrs. M. D. Chittenden, president of the State Y. W. C. A., and others. Mrs. Parmelee gave an account of the work for woman suffrage in Vermont and its courageous leaders during the past thirty-six years and the reasons why bills were voted down in the Legislature.
RATIFICATION. On June 4, 1919, the Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted to the Legislatures for ratification and a survey showed that Vermont's would probably be necessary to make the needed 36. Mrs. Halsey Wilson returned for consultation with the State leaders and an intensive effort was begun which continued for more than a year. Mrs. Olzendam, chairman of ratification, not only obtained enough favorable pledges from the members to ratify but an agreement by a majority to pay their own expenses, and give their time for a special session. It was soon evident, however, that Governor Percival W. Clement was determined not to call one. Every possible influence was brought to bear on him but he based his refusal on the ground that it would be unconstitutional. By March, 1920, 35 States had ratified and it seemed that the 36th would have to be Vermont or Connecticut, whose Governor also had refused to call a special session.
An ingenious demonstration was decided on, which was made possible by a contribution of $1,000 from the Leslie Suffrage Commission. An interview of Vermont women with the Governor was arranged by a good friend of suffrage, Major Harvey Goodell, secretary of Civil and Military Affairs. On April 21, a remarkable deputation of 400 women arrived in Montpelier, representing twelve of the fourteen counties, loyal, ardent soldiers, overcoming the obstacles of long distances, almost impassable roads and poor train service, many coming from towns where there were no trains and where they must plow through deep snow and over muddy and rocky roads, one woman walking five miles. Led by Mrs. Olzendam in a cold, drenching rain they marched through the streets and up the steps of the Capitol and took their places before the Governor's chair. One by one, fourteen speakers presented the case in a few sentences. It was a notable demonstration in size, enthusiasm and determination. It had been arranged that letters and telegrams should arrive the day before, the day of and the day following the visit and his excellency received 1,600 communications in three days. Governor Clement's only response was that he did not wish to make a decision at present.
In May, 1920, the State Republican convention, with the Governor seated on the platform, passed a resolution urging him to call a special session, saying: "We have full faith and confidence that the voters of the State, regardless of party affiliation, would cordially approve and endorse the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment."
The State suffrage convention met in the roof garden of The Tavern, St. Albans, July 1, 2, in a rousing convention. Governor John H. Bartlett of New Hampshire, which had ratified, was the guest of honor, attending by special request of Will Hays, chairman of the National Republican Committee. He had consulted Governor Clement about coming, who answered: "I shall be glad to have you. Regret I shall be unable to hear you." Miss Katharine Ludington, chairman of the Connecticut League of Women Voters, and Miss Julia A. Hinaman, its press chairman, were among the speakers. Mayor Charles A. Buck extended the freedom of the city and Mrs. Read, acting president, responded. On the platform were a large number of prominent Vermont men and women. The report of Mrs. Olzendam described the strenuous efforts of the women of the State for an extra session, acknowledging the assistance of Miss Ann Batchelder, Mrs. Vida M. Chase and others and thanking Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Raymond Brown, fourth vice-president, and Miss Shuler, of the National Association; Mrs. Sara Algeo, president of the Woman Suffrage Party of Rhode Island, and Miss Winifred Brown of Utah for their help. The delegates expressed in applause and in words their high appreciation of Mrs. Olzendam's work. A resolution was passed at an evening mass meeting calling upon Governor Clement to summon a special session in order that Vermont might have the honor of being the 36th State to ratify.
Just before the convention the Governor went to Washington and the press dispatches of July 1 told of a long talk he had that day with President-elect Harding. Both men admitted in interviews that the calling of a special session in Vermont had been discussed. Senator Harding said he told the Governor he would be very glad to see this done but made plain his desire not to interfere with the Governor's prerogatives. Governor Clement frankly admitted that he had been urged by Senator Harding, Chairman Hays and other Republican leaders to give an early call but made the stereotyped excuses. Nevertheless the press generally expressed the opinion that he would yield. On the contrary he returned home and on July 12 issued an official proclamation in which he made the assertion that "the Federal Constitution in its present form threatened the foundation of free popular government; the 16th Amendment, providing for a federal income tax, was lobbied through Congress and State Legislatures by federal agents and the 18th Amendment for Federal prohibition was forced through by paid agents of irresponsible organizations with unlimited funds." To what he called the proposal to "force through the 19th Amendment for woman suffrage in the same manner," he said: "I will never be a party to any proceeding which proposes to change the organic law of the State without the consent of the people." "The National Constitution," he said, "threatens free popular government alike as it stands and as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court. Its decision leaves the people at the mercy of any group of men who may lobby a proposal for a change in it through Congress and then through the Legislatures."
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, issued an open letter to the Governor in the course of which she said:
In order that this generation of your fellowmen and posterity also may not misunderstand your position, the National American Woman Suffrage Association urges you to supplement your proclamation with answers to the following questions: Do you challenge the fact which has stood unchallenged for 131 years that the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of this land and supersedes all State constitutions whenever the two are in conflict? Do you know that on Jan. 10, 1791, Vermont ratified that Constitution, although she had one of her own, and by so doing accepted the precedence of the Federal Constitution and by that act was admitted into the Union? If you do know these facts of common knowledge why did you throw over your refusal to call a special session the camouflage of a dissertation about the alleged conflict between the Vermont and Federal Constitutions which has nothing whatever to do with the calling of a special session of your Legislature?... Do you not know that when a Legislature acts upon a Federal constitutional amendment it draws its authority from the Federal and not from the State constitution, and that the Governor has no responsible part in the transaction except as custodian of the amendment when it comes from the Federal Secretary of State and returns to him with the Certificate of Ratification? Then why profess such a burden of personal responsibility in the matter?
You pretend to fear "an invasion of State's Rights" and take upon yourself the responsibility of preserving "the foundations of free popular government." Then why did you veto the Presidential suffrage bill passed by the Legislature of Vermont in 1919, which was strictly a State action and conferred the vote upon the women of Vermont alone?... Your national party convention in 1920 called for completion of ratification in time for women to vote for the next President. Your party's National Committee in the interim of conventions took action three times--once asking Congress to submit the amendment; once favoring early ratification and once calling upon Republican Governors to call special sessions in order that ratification might proceed. Your State party convention, your party's State Committee, your State Legislature, hundreds of Vermont women, the chairman of the National Republican Committee and the chairman of your State Republican Committee, the candidate for President of your party--all have asked you to call a special session.... You owe it to the Republican party and to the world to explain your assumption of an authority that belongs to your party leaders. By what right do you make this assumption? Governor Clement, tell it all!"
The total cost of the efforts to secure a special session was $7,442, of which the National Association paid $2,578 and the Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission $4,864.[188]
Following the convention of the State association at St. Albans, July 1, 2, 1920, Miss Ludington explained the purpose of the National League of Women Voters and the association was dissolved and a State league organized with Mrs. Lilian Olzendam chairman.
The Vermont suffrage association was fortunate in always having the support of other State organizations, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Grange, Federation of Labor, Teachers' Association, Federation of Women's Clubs, Young Women's Christian Association and, in the closing years, of all political parties. Among other noted speakers from outside the State not mentioned were Professor Charles Zueblin, Mrs. Florence Kelley and Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, president of the Massachusetts W. C. T. U. Over fifty clergymen of various denominations gave active assistance.[189]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. From 1884 to 1900 a bill to give Municipal suffrage to taxpaying women was regularly introduced in the Legislature only to be defeated.
1902. The Town and Municipal Suffrage bill in the Senate was defeated by 22 to 6; in the House by 111 to 75. A Presidential suffrage bill received only six votes. A bill permitting women to vote on the license question was defeated by 138 to 67. Petitions with 15,000 signatures had been presented for these various measures.
1904. The Municipal Suffrage bill was reported favorably to the House by C. C. Fitts, chairman of the committee, but was refused third reading by 99 to 97. On November 17 it was introduced in the Senate, reported favorably by committee chairman J. Emery Buxton and passed without debate with three opposing votes. When on December 6 it came again before the House for reconsideration it was ordered to a third reading by 112 to 104 but the next day was defeated by 124 to 100.
1906. A bill to substitute the word "person" for "male" in the statutes came before the House October 24, was ordered to third reading by 149 to 24 and passed the following day by 130 to 25. This majority aroused the Massachusetts Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women and an officer, Mrs. A. J. George of Brookline, was sent to try to defeat the bill. She was coolly received and found it so impossible to convince the members that she was not an emissary of the liquor interests that she failed to obtain even a hearing before the committee. Her coming stirred the suffrage forces and a telegram was sent to the Woman's Journal of Boston asking for help and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the editor, and Mrs. Maud Wood Park responded. A public hearing was granted by the Senate committee and people from all over the State were present. Nine legislators and members of the association spoke for the bill. Not one opponent appeared. In the Senate it failed by three votes, many who were pledged to it deserting.
1908. Legislative committee chairman 1908-1910, Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee, spoke at the hearing on the Municipal suffrage bill, which was defeated in the Senate by 16 to 11. During the final debate Mrs. Parmelee wrote down the disgusting remarks made by some of the opponents and their consternation was great when these were published. This bill for years was termed the "football."
1909. The legislative chairman sent an official letter to Frank E. Partridge, chairman of the Commission to Propose Amendments to the State Constitution, which can only be done once in ten years, asking that suffrage for women be among the proposals considered. The letter was read May 28, 1910, before the commission--Frank L. Greene, A. M. Fletcher, W. N. Cady and M. G. Leary, but received no attention.
1910. The legislative chairman was assisted by Chaplain A. W. Ford. In the official record suffrage was spelled "sufferage." The Municipal suffrage bill was introduced in the House and the suffragists asked for a hearing but the date was changed three times and the final one left no time for summoning speakers. At the request of Judge H. S. Peck the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole and the Senate came in. The Northfield Cadets, the Burlington High School and several hundred visitors attended the hearing and gave close attention to Mrs. Parmelee for an hour. A large number of members spoke for and against the bill. An anti-suffrage newspaper in referring to it said: "Its killing will make a Roman holiday for ladies' week." It was refused a third reading by 113 to 111. A bill permitting women to vote on the liquor question aroused the stormiest debate of the session and the Speaker split his desk trying to preserve order. It was definitely settled that the Legislature would pass no woman suffrage bills.
1912. The legislative committee was Mrs. Frances Rastall, Miss Fanny B. Fletcher, Mrs. J. B. Estee and Mrs. Parmelee and the bill was to add the words "and female" in the statutes. On October 24 at a hearing held in Representatives Hall, which was filled to overflowing, the following made addresses in favor: Miss Anne Rhodes of New York; Mrs. Agnes M. Jenks of New Hampshire; Miss Mabel Foster of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Rastall, Mrs. Charles Van Patten, Mrs. Parmelee, Senators Darling, Jose, and the Rev. Clifford Smith, superintendent of the State Anti-Saloon League. Those speaking in opposition were: Mrs. E. D. Brooks Brown, who presented an "anti" petition; Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association; Mrs. M. H. Buckham, Mrs. George W. Wales, Miss Lillian Peck, Mrs. T. J. Deavitt and Senator D. C. Hawley. It was defeated as usual. A bill which gave women the same right as men to vote in town meetings on all matters relating to taxation and the raising and appropriation of money passed the Senate but was not considered by the House.
1915. Mrs. Amanda Seaver served as the "watchman on the tower," her husband being a member of the Legislature, and she was assisted by Mrs. Wyman and Mrs. Taylor. A public hearing on the bill for Municipal and Presidential suffrage was held January 21. A large audience in Representatives Hall listened to a convincing address by Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago, a member of the Congressional Committee of the National Association. Mrs. Wyman closed the hearing with an effective speech. Opportunity was given for the opponents but although a large delegation of them from Burlington was present, no one spoke. Mrs. George of Massachusetts and John A. Matthews, a member of the New Jersey Legislature, were the anti-suffrage speakers February 2 at a largely attended Senate hearing. The vote in the Senate was 19 to 19; in the House the bill was loaded with amendments and a third reading was refused by 129 to 100.
1917. Dr. Grace Sherwood was legislative chairman. Six bills giving various kinds of suffrage to women were introduced and every trick that legal minds could devise was employed to retard or defeat their passage but nevertheless one was passed, which was introduced by Representative Ernest E. Moore. It provided that "a female citizen, 21 years of age, who has taken the Freeman's Oath ... and whose taxes were paid prior to the 15th day of February preceding town meeting, shall while residing in such town be a voter in town meeting." Hearings were held February 6, 15, 16 and March 17, 20. There were 28 speakers in favor, 9 of them women; 21 opposed, 9 of them women. The Speaker, Stanley G. Allson, instead of asking the usual question "Shall the bill pass?" put the question "Shall the bill be rejected?" Several members were caught by the trick and voted the opposite of what they intended but four changed their votes--Hardy of Guildhall, Hayden of Barton, Hooper of Hardwick and Bliss of Georgia, just enough to carry it. It passed the House March 9 by 104 to 100, and the Senate March 20 by 16 to 11. It was signed by Governor Horace F. Graham March 30. Vermont thus had the honor of leading all eastern States in adopting a Town and Municipal suffrage bill permitting tax paying women to vote and hold office.
1919. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its recording secretary, was sent by the National Association to assist the State Executive Board during the legislative session. A bill introduced by Senator Carr of Caledonia to repeal the Municipal suffrage act was promptly defeated. Effort was now concentrated on the Presidential suffrage bill, which was introduced January 14. The Senate passed it by a vote of 20 to 10 and sent it to the House, where it was first read on January 28 and referred to the Committee on Suffrage and Elections, which reported in favor. The bill was read the second time and several motions to defeat it were made by Representative Hopkins of Burlington but all were lost and the third reading was ordered by a vote of 129 ayes, 83 noes. At a hearing February 4 the following spoke in favor: Dr. Sherwood, Mrs. Fred Blanchard, Mrs. Joanna Croft Read, Senators Steele, Vilas and M. J. Hapgood; in opposition, Senators Carr and Felton, Miss Margaret Emerson, Mrs. Wayne Read, Mrs. H. C. Humphrey, David Conant, Representatives O'Dowd, Cudworth and Hopkins. On February 5 the bill passed by 120 ayes, 90 noes. Governor Percival W. Clement vetoed it in March on the ground of unconstitutionality, though eight Legislatures had passed a similar bill without question and Illinois women had voted under one in 1916.
The State suffrage convention was in session at Burlington and immediately on its adjournment March 12 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, and fifteen of the delegates went to Montpelier, where Mrs. Catt addressed the Legislature. The Senate reconsidered the bill and passed it over the veto. On March 17 the Speaker laid before the House an extended communication from Governor Clements giving in detail his reasons for failing to approve the bill. It was then read and Representative Tracy moved that it be made a special order for the following Thursday, which was agreed to by 104 ayes, 70 noes. At that time the question, "Will the House pass the bill notwithstanding the objections of the Governor?" was decided in the negative by 168 noes, 48 ayes. The next year the women were fully enfranchised by the Federal Amendment.
FOOTNOTES:
[185] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee, State Superintendent of Press, State Secretary and State Historian for the Vermont Woman Suffrage Association.
[186] Among those who addressed the annual conventions during the years were the Reverends A. M. Smith, J. A. Dixon, F. E. Adams, Verdi Mack, J. Borden Estee, George B. Lamson, T. L. Massock, E. T. Matthison, E. M. H. Abbott, C. J. Staples, O. M. Owen, Eugene Haines, M. T. Merrill, Charles A. Pennoyer; Hon. James F. Hooker, Dr. M. V. B. Knox, Attorney E. B. Flynn, Colonel G. C. Childs, Professor Cox, Martin Vilas, Mr. Woolson and F. G. Fleetwood; Mesdames Canfield, Kidder, Flanders, Julia A. Pierce, C. J. Clark, M. V. B. Knox, Louisa M. Slocum, Inez Campbell, Mary E. Tucker, Laura Kezer, G. E. Davidson, M. S. Margum, E. B. Lund, Juliette Rublee, Amanda Seaver, Frances Rastall Wyman, Frances Hand, Elizabeth Van Patten, L. M. Benedict, O. C. Ashton, Edgar Moore, H. B. Shaw, Dr. Sue H. Howard; Misses Mary E. Purple, Grace Robinson, Margaret Allen, Fanny Fletcher, Emilia Houghton, Eliza Eaton, Carolyn Scott.
[187] This year Miss Lou J. C. Daniels, a liberal contributor to the suffrage association, her family the largest taxpayers in Grafton, where they had a summer home, was indignant to learn that the Representative of her district had voted against the suffrage bill in the Legislature. She sent a written protest and refusal to pay her taxes, whereupon an official served papers on her and several shares of stock in the Bellows Falls National Bank were attached and sold at auction. The bank declared it illegal and declined to honor the sale. The matter aroused discussion throughout the State and surrounding country. When the town elected a Representative who supported woman suffrage she considered the lesson sufficient and paid her taxes.
[188] Governor Clement retired from office Dec. 31, 1920, and was succeeded by Governor James Hartness. The Legislature met in regular session in January, 1921. The resolution to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment was read in the House for the third time on January 28 and passed by 202 ayes, 3 noes, French, Stowell and Peake of Bristol. On February 8 it passed the Senate unanimously.
[189] Presidents of the State association from 1900 to 1920 not already mentioned were Elizabeth Colley; C. D. Spencer; the Rev. A. M. Smith; Mrs. A. D. Chandler; the Hon. James Hutchinson; Mrs. Frances Rastall Wyman; Dr. Grace Sherwood. Secretaries: Miss Laura Moore (1883-1905); Mrs. Fatima Davidson; the Rev. Verdi Mack; the Rev. Mary T. Whitney; Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee; Mrs. Jeannette Pease; Mrs. Annie C. Taylor; Miss Emilia Houghton; Mrs. Amanda Seaver; Miss Marguerite Allen; Miss Ann Batchelder; Mrs. James A. Merrill.
XLV. VIRGINIA.[190]
The earliest record of woman suffrage in Virginia bears the name of Mrs. Hannah Lee Corbin of Gloucester county, whose protest in 1778 against taxation without representation was answered by a letter from her brother, Richard Henry Lee ("Lighthorse Harry"), who wrote that in his opinion under the clause in the constitution which gave the vote to householders she could exercise the suffrage.
There had been a suffrage organization in Virginia in 1893, of which Mrs. Orra Langhorne, a pioneer worker, had been president. When the State Equal Suffrage League was organized, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky gave to it a trust fund of $2.50 which had been left in the treasury and Mrs. Langhorne had requested her to give to a Virginia League when one should be formed. In November, 1909, a preliminary meeting was held to discuss organization, followed a week later by the forming of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Lila Meade (Mrs. B. B.) Valentine, widely known for her public work, was elected president and served in this capacity for the next eleven years. State and city headquarters were opened in Richmond and remained there. Miss Mary Johnston was greatly interested and used her influence in promoting the new organization. Miss Ellen Glasgow also was very active. The league was organized to work for suffrage by both State and Federal action and early in its existence circulated a petition to Congress for a Federal Amendment. In 1910 this was presented to the Virginia members by Mrs. Valentine and the State delegates attending the national suffrage convention.
In January, 1911, the first public meeting ever held in Richmond in the interest of woman suffrage was addressed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, president of William and Mary College, in the chair. The first State convention was held this year in Richmond with delegates present from Norfolk, Lynchburg, Williamsburg and Highland Springs societies, and individual suffragists from Fredericksburg and Charlottesville. In 1912 the convention was held in Norfolk with delegates from twenty-two leagues. In 1913 it met in Lynchburg and the reports showed that 2,500 new members had been added and Mrs. Valentine had made 100 public speeches.
An outdoor demonstration was held in Richmond on the steps of the State Capitol, May 2, 1914, in conformity with the nation-wide request of the National Association, and the celebration was continued in the evening. The convention was held in Roanoke, where it was reported that forty-five counties had been organized in political units and that the Virginia Suffrage News, a monthly paper, was being published at State headquarters under the management of Mrs. Alice Overbey Taylor.
In 1915 street meetings were inaugurated and held in Richmond from May till Thanksgiving, and in Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Lynchburg and Warrenton. For the first time women appeared on the same platform with the candidates for the Legislature and presented the claims of the women of Virginia to become a part of the electorate. The May Day celebration was held on the south portico of the Capitol on the afternoon of May 1, after a morning devoted to selling from street booths copies of the Woman's Journal, suffrage flags, buttons and postcards. A band played and the decorations and banners in yellow and blue, the suffrage and Virginia colors, made a beautiful picture. John S. Munce of Richmond introduced the speakers, Dr. E. N. Calisch, Rabbi of Beth Ahaba Temple; Miss Joy Montgomery Higgins of Nebraska and Miss Mabel Vernon of Washington, D. C. In December the convention was held in Richmond and the two hundred delegates marched to the office of the Governor, Henry Carter Stuart, to request him to embody in his message to the General Assembly a recommendation that it submit to the voters an equal suffrage amendment to the State constitution. They were led by Mrs. Valentine and brief addresses were made by Mrs. Stephen Putney of Wytheville, Mrs. Lloyd Byars of Bristol, Mrs. John H. Lewis of Lynchburg, Miss Lucy Randolph Mason of Richmond, great-great-granddaughter of George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights; Miss Agnes Randolph, great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia; Miss Mary Johnston, Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins of Richmond, author; Miss Elizabeth Cooke of Norfolk, Miss Janetta FitzHugh of Fredericksburg, Mrs. Kate Langley Bosher of Richmond, author; Miss Roberta Wellford of University; Mrs. George Barksdale, Miss Marianne Meade and Miss Adele Clark of Richmond. He received them courteously but not seriously and paid no attention to their request. During the year organization of the State into legislative and congressional districts was begun. Norfolk was the place of the annual convention in 1916 when 111 leagues were reported. This was a legislative year and all efforts were concentrated on the Assembly.[191]
From January 29 to February 2, 1917, a very successful suffrage school was conducted in Richmond under the auspices of the National Association. Later when the services of this association were offered to the Government for war work the league dedicated itself to State and country and endeavored to carry out the plans of the National Board. The president, Mrs. Valentine, was the first person in the State, on request of the Governor, to speak in the recruiting campaign and other members also took part in it. At the annual convention held in Richmond in November a resolution not only again endorsing the Federal Suffrage Amendment but pledging members to work for it was unanimously adopted. Virginia sent the largest delegation in her history to the national convention in Washington in December and it was upon the advice of the returning delegates that emphasis was laid upon enrollment of those who desired woman suffrage. Because of the influenza epidemic no State convention was held in 1918.
The enrollment of 32,000 men and women was accomplished in 1919, Mrs. Faith W. Morgan, a vice-president of the association, securing the largest number of names and Miss Ellen Robinson being the first person to fill her quota. The submission by Congress of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in June of this year gave great impetus to the work. In November the annual convention was held in Richmond, with representatives from all parts of the State. At this time there were 175 suffrage centers. The members reaffirmed with enthusiasm their determination to carry on the fight for ratification. An important feature of the year had been the endorsement of the amendment by the State Teachers' Association, the State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Women's Benevolent Association of the Maccabees.[192]
On Sept. 9, 10, 1920, the State league met in convention in the hall of the House of Delegates in the Capitol for the joint purpose of celebrating the proclamation of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and planning for the organization of a League of Women Voters. It was an occasion never to be forgotten, with a welcome extended by Governor Westmoreland Davis, speeches by Attorney General John R. Saunders, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Harris Hart and members of the Legislature who had made the fight for ratification. Mrs. Maud Wood Park, president of the National League of Women Voters, gave an inspiring address and extensive plans for future work were made. A reception was given by the wife of the Governor assisted by the officers of the league. On November 10, in the Senate chamber, the State League of Women Voters was organized with Mrs. Valentine honorary chairman; Mrs. John H. Lewis honorary vice-chairman and Miss Adele Clark chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. For improved conditions for women in industry, child labor laws and all welfare legislation before the General Assembly in the past ten years individual members of the league have labored assiduously. The league as an organization, however, has confined itself to work for suffrage, knowing that the vote gained "all things else would be added."
1900. When the constitutional convention met to draft the present State constitution, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and a small group of Virginia and other southern women appeared before it and Mrs. Catt urged it to embody woman suffrage in the new constitution but this was not done.
1912. The first resolution proposing an amendment to the State constitution enfranchising women was introduced in the House by Hill Montague of Richmond and the hearing granted by the committee created statewide interest. The speakers were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. Lewis, Miss Johnston, Mrs. Bosher, Miss Randolph, Clayton Torrence and Howard T. Colvin of the State Federation of Labor, later Assistant U. S. Commissioner of Labor. The vote in the House was 12 ayes, 84 noes.
1914. The resolution for a State amendment was again introduced in the House and a hearing granted by the Committee on Privileges and Elections. Mrs. Valentine presided and introduced the following speakers: Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett of Alexandria, State regent of the D. A. R.; Mrs. Putney, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Barksdale of Richmond, Miss Mason, Miss Lillie Barbour, State factory inspector, and Mr. Colvin. The vote was 13 ayes, 74 noes.
1916. The resolution for a State amendment had its first public hearing before a joint committee of the House and Senate. The speakers were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. J. H. Whitner of Roanoke, a vice-president of the State League; Miss Eudora Ramsey and Miss Adele Clark of Richmond; the Rev. John J. Wicker, pastor of Leigh Street Baptist Church, Richmond, and E. F. Sheffey of Lynchburg. The House vote, 40 ayes, 51 noes, marked the third defeat but an increase in suffrage sentiment.
1918. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Valentine, Miss Wellford, Mrs. Frank L. Jobson, Miss Clark, Miss Nora Houston and Mrs. Munce, all of Richmond. The Federal Suffrage Amendment having now passed the Lower House of Congress, a resolution urging the U. S. Senate to take favorable action on the Federal Amendment was introduced but it did not come out of committee. The Hon. William Jennings Bryan stopped over trains to pay his respects to Governor Westmoreland Davis. He was escorted to the Capitol by members of the Equal Suffrage League and made a brief address to the Assembly in joint recess, urging ratification of the Federal Amendment if submitted in time for action at this session.[193]
RATIFICATION. The Legislature assembled August 13, 1919, in special session for the purpose of meeting the federal appropriation for good roads. The Federal Suffrage Amendment having been submitted to the Legislatures for ratification on June 4 was due to be presented by the Governor. As the special session had been called specifically for good roads, the State Equal Suffrage League intended to await the regular session of 1920 to press for action but to test the legislators a questionnaire was sent to them. Answers proved that it would be well-nigh impossible to obtain ratification at this time, even though substantial petitions from all sections of the State were shown to men representing the localities from which these came. Spurred on, however, by efforts of the National Woman's Party to secure action at any cost, the opponents succeeded in having a Rejection Resolution railroaded through the House without debate ten minutes before adjournment in the second week of the session. The Senate refused to sanction such tactics and by 19 to 15 voted to postpone action until the next session.
1920. The State league's committee on ratification was composed of Mrs. Valentine, Miss Clark, Mrs. Bosher, Mrs. Jobson, Miss Houston and Miss Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon.[194] Miss Josephine Miller, an organizer for the National Association, was sent into the State toward the end of the campaign. There were in the two Houses 61 new members who had been elected since the Federal Amendment was submitted. Very strong pressure to ratify was made upon the General Assembly. President Wilson sent an earnest appeal and others came from Homer Cummings, chairman of the National Democratic Committee; A. Mitchell Palmer, U. S. Attorney General; Carter Glass, U. S. Treasurer; U. S. Representative C. C. Carlin and other prominent Democrats. Thousands of telegrams were sent from women throughout the southern States. A cablegram came from Lady Astor, M. P. of Great Britain, a Virginian. Urgent requests for ratification were made by presidents of colleges, mayors of cities, State and county officials and other eminent citizens.
Before the Governor had even sent the certified copy of the amendment to the Legislature its strongest opponent, Senator Leedy, also an opponent of the administration at Washington, introduced a Rejection Resolution couched in the same obnoxious terms he had used in August. By urgent advice of the leaders he finally omitted some of its most offensive adjectives. It was presented in the House by Representative Ozlin and referred to the Federal Relations Committee, which granted a hearing. On the preceding evening Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National Suffrage Association, addressed a mass meeting held by the Equal Suffrage League in the Jefferson Hotel. The hearing was held before a joint session of the Senate and House in the Hall of Delegates at noon on January 21. Some of Virginia's foremost citizens spoke for ratification, among them Allan Jones, member of the State Democratic Committee; Roswell Page, State auditor and a brother of the Hon. Thomas Nelson Page; U. S. Representatives Thomas Lomax Hunter and Howard Cecil Gilmer; J. B. Saul, chairman of the Roanoke County Democratic Committee; former Senator Keezel; Dr. Lyon G. Tyler. The women speakers were Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Valentine, president, and Mrs. John H. Lewis, vice-president of the State Suffrage League, and Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett.[195]
Notwithstanding this very able presentation the Federal Relations Committee reported the Rejection Resolution favorably. On the floor Lindsay Gordon of Louisa county substituted a Ratification Resolution and Harry Rew of Accomac a substitute to refer ratification to the voters. The latter carried on January 27 by a vote of 55 to 39, supported by Representatives Gordon, Willis of Roanoke, Williams of Fairfax, Hunter of Stafford, Rodgers, J. W. Story, Wilcox of Richmond, Snead of Chesterfield and H. W. Anderson, Republican floor leader.
The battle front now shifted to the Senate, where, owing to illness of the chief suffrage proponent, G. Walter Mapp, consideration had been postponed. On February 6, the day finally set, proceedings were similar to those in the House, Senator E. Lee Trinkle's ratification resolution and Senator Gravatt's referendum being respectively substituted for Leedy's rejection. The referendum, under Leedy's coercive method, was voted down. All day the contest raged on the ratification resolution, with strong speeches in favor by Senators Trinkle of Wythe, Corbitt of Portsmouth, Paul of Rockingham, Layman of Craig, West of Nansemond, Parsons of Grayson. Supporting the measure by vote were also Senators Crockett, Haslinger and Profitt; and pairing in favor Pendleton and Gravatt. The Ratifying Resolution was defeated. The Rejection Resolution was adopted by 24 to 10 votes; in the House by 16 to 22.
One week later the resolution of Senator J. E. West to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution passed the Senate by 28 ayes, 11 noes; the House by 67 ayes, 10 noes; as it would have to pass the Legislature of 1921 and ratification of the Federal Amendment was almost completed, this vote was merely an empty compliment. A few days thereafter the Qualifications Bill, offered by Senator Mapp, was overwhelmingly adopted, Senate, 30 ayes, 6 noes; House, 64 ayes, 17 noes. It made full provisions for the voting of women if the Federal Amendment should be ratified.
FOOTNOTES:
[190] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Edith Clark Cowles, Executive and Press Secretary; Miss Adele Clark, Legislative Chairman, and Miss Ida Mae Thompson, Headquarters Secretary of the State Equal Suffrage League.
[191] From year to year delegates from the Equal Suffrage League went to the State political conventions, asking for an endorsement of woman suffrage. The Republicans, the minority party, always received them courteously and a few times put the plank in their platform. The Democrats always treated them with discourtesy and never endorsed woman suffrage in any way until 1920, when they "commended the action of the General Assembly in passing the Qualifications Bill contingent upon the ratification and proclamation of the 19th Amendment."
[192] There were very few changes in officers during the eleven years of the league's existence. The list was as follows: Honorary vice-presidents, Miss Mary Johnston, Miss Ellen Glasgow. Vice-presidents: Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett, Mrs. Louise Collier Willcox, Mrs. C. V. Meredith, Mrs. T. Todd Dabney, Mrs. W. J. Adams, Mrs. John H. Lewis, Miss Nannie Davis, Mrs. Stephen Putney, Mrs. Kate Langley Bosher, Mrs. J. Allen Watts, Mrs. W. T. Yancey, Mrs. C. E. Townsend, Mrs. W. W. King, Mrs. J. H. Whitner, Mrs Faith W. Morgan, Mrs. Robert Barton; secretaries, Mrs. Alice M. Tyler, Miss Adele Clark, Mrs. Grace H. Smithdeal, Miss Roberta Wellford, Miss Lucinda Lee Terry; treasurers: Mrs. C. P. Cadot, Mrs. E. G. Kidd; auditors: Mrs. John S. Munce, Mrs. Henry Aylett Sampson, Mrs. S. M. Block.
[193] By act of the General Assembly of 1918 women were admitted to William and Mary College. They were admitted to the graduate and professional schools of the University of Virginia by act of the Board of Visitors in 1920.
[194] Miss Pidgeon was appointed by the National Association in November, 1919, for organization to prepare for ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. After its defeat the next February she continued until June 15, organizing citizenship schools throughout the State. The expense to the association was $1,792.
[195] The next day, after Mrs. Catt had returned to New York, Harry St. George Tucker appeared before the Legislature and ridiculed her and her speech in the most insulting terms. In 1921 Mr. Tucker was a candidate for Governor and was defeated at the primaries by Senator E. Lee Trinkle, whose plurality was 40,000. He had been a strong supporter of woman suffrage and his victory was attributed to the women.
XLVI. WASHINGTON.[196]
The period from 1900 to 1906 was one of inactivity in State suffrage circles; then followed a vigorous continued campaign culminating in the adoption of a constitutional amendment in 1910 granting to women full political equality. This victory, so gratifying to the women of Washington, had also an important national aspect, as it marked the end of the dreary period of fourteen years following the Utah and Idaho amendments in 1895-6, during which no State achieved woman suffrage.
The Legislature of 1897 had submitted an amendment for which a brilliant campaign was made by the Equal Suffrage Association under the able leadership of its president, Mrs. Homer M. Hill of Seattle, but it was defeated at the November election of 1898. The inevitable reaction followed for some years. Three State presidents were elected, Dr. Nina Jolidon Croake of Tacoma, 1900-1902, elected at the Seattle convention; Dr. Luema Greene Johnson of Tacoma, 1902-1904, elected at the Tacoma convention; Dr. Fannie Leake Cummings of Seattle, 1904-1906, elected at a meeting in Puyallup at which only five persons were present, the small suffrage club here being the only one surviving in the State. Dr. Cummings, aided by Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer Spinning of Puyallup, State treasurer for many years, and Mrs. Ellen S. Leckenby of Seattle, State secretary, kept the suffrage torch from being extinguished. Mrs. Leckenby held office continuously throughout twelve years.
The revival of interest plainly seen after 1906 was due to the impetus given through the initiative of Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, who with her husband, John Henry DeVoe, had recently come from Harvey, Ills., and established a new home. Mrs. DeVoe was a life-long suffrage worker who had served many years in many States with Susan B. Anthony and also was a national organizer. She began by calling on individual suffragists and suggesting that Washington was a hopeful State for a campaign and aroused so much interest that in November a large and enthusiastic convention met at Seattle. Dr. Cummings presided and inspiring addresses were given by A. W. McIntyre of Everett, formerly Governor of Colorado; Miss Ida Agnes Baker of the Bellingham State Normal School; Miss Adella M. Parker of the Seattle Broadway High School and Professor J. Allen Smith of the University of Washington. Mrs. DeVoe was elected president.
Conventions were held at Seattle in 1907, 1908 and 1909, Mrs. DeVoe being re-elected each time. By June, 1909, there were 2,000 paid members of the State association and afterwards, many thousands of men and women were enrolled. The executive committee decided upon a campaign to amend the State constitution for woman suffrage and Mrs. DeVoe was made manager and given authority to conduct it according to her own judgment. No other convention or executive committee meeting was held, only frequent informal conferences, until after the vote was taken on November 8, 1910. The final executive committee meeting was held at Seattle in January, 1911, when it was voted to continue the association until all bills were paid and then disband. It was decided to present the large silken banner "Votes for Women" to the next State having a campaign and it went to California the following year. The unfinished business was completed by the old officers, Mrs. DeVoe, Mrs. Leckenby and Dr. Eaton.[197]
CAMPAIGN. After the defeat of 1898 no amendment came before the Legislature for eleven years, nor was there any legislation on woman suffrage until a resolution to submit to the voters an amendment to the State constitution giving full suffrage was presented to the session of 1909. It was drafted by Senator George F. Cotterill of Seattle, a radical suffragist, after many conferences with Mrs. DeVoe, and was introduced, strangely enough, by Senator George U. Piper of Seattle, an able politician and a friend of the liquor interests, in honor of his dead mother, who had been ardently in favor of woman suffrage. It was presented in the House by Representative T. J. Bell of Tacoma. The State association rented a house in Olympia for headquarters and Mrs. DeVoe spent all her time at the Capitol, assisted by many of its members, who came at different times from over the State to interview their Representatives and Senators. The work was conducted so skilfully and quietly that no violent opposition of material strength was developed. The resolution passed the House January 29 by 70 ayes, 18 noes; the Senate February 23 by 30 ayes, 9 noes, and was approved by Governor Marion E. Hay on February 25.
The interests of the amendment were materially advanced later by Senator W. H. Paulhamus, then an anti-suffragist, who "in the interest of fair play" gave advance information as to the exact wording and position of the amendment on the ballot, which enabled the women to hold practice drills and to word their slogan, "Vote for Amendment to Article VI at the Top of the Ballot." The clause relating to the qualifications of voters was reproduced verbatim except for two changes: 1. "All persons" was substituted for "all male persons." 2. At the end was added "There shall be no denial of the elective franchise at any election on account of sex."
During the campaign of 1910 the State Equal Franchise Society, an offshoot from the regular organization, was formed, its members being largely recruited from the Seattle Suffrage Club, Mrs. Harvey L. Glenn, president, with which it cooperated. Headquarters were opened in Seattle July 5, with Mrs. Homer M. Hill, president, in charge and the organization was active during the last four months of the campaign.[198] The Political Equality League of Spokane, Mrs. May Arkwright Hutton, president, worked separately for fourteen months prior to the election, having been organized in July, 1909. The college women under the name of the College Suffrage League, with Miss Parker as president, cooperated with the regular State association.
Following the act of the Legislature twenty months were left to carry on the campaign destined to enfranchise the 175,000 women of the State. It was a favorable year for submission, as no other important political issue was before them and there was a reaction against the dominance of the political "machines."
The campaign was unique in its methods and was won through the tireless energy of nearly a hundred active, capable women who threw themselves into the work. The outstanding feature of the plan adopted by the State Equal Suffrage Association under the leadership of Mrs. DeVoe, was the absence of all spectacular methods and the emphasis placed upon personal intensive work on the part of the wives, mothers and sisters of the men who were to decide the issue at the polls. Big demonstrations, parades and large meetings of all kinds were avoided. Only repeated informal conferences of workers were held in different sections of the State on the call of the president. The result was that the real strength was never revealed to the enemy. The opposition was not antagonized and did not awake until election day, when it was too late. Although the women held few suffrage meetings of their own, their speakers and organizers constantly obtained the platform at those of granges, farmers' unions, labor unions, churches and other organizations.
Each county was canvassed as seemed most expedient by interviews, letters or return postals. Every woman personally solicited her neighbor, her doctor, her grocer, her laundrywagon driver, the postman and even the man who collected the garbage. It was essentially a womanly campaign, emphasizing the home interests and engaging the cooperation of home makers. The association published and sold 3,000 copies of The Washington Women's Cook Book, compiled by the suffragists and edited by Miss Linda Jennings of LaConner. Many a worker started out into the field with a package of these cook books under her arm. In the "suffrage department" of the Tacoma News a "kitchen contest" was held, in which 250-word essays on household subjects were printed, $70 in prizes being given by the paper. Suffrage clubs gave programs on "pure food" and "model menus" were exhibited and discussed.
Thousands of leaflets on the results of equal suffrage in other States were distributed and original ones printed. A leaflet by Mrs. Edith DeLong Jarmuth containing a dozen cogent reasons Why Washington Women Want the Ballot was especially effective. A monthly paper, Votes for Women, was issued during the last year of the campaign with Mrs. M. T. B. Hanna publisher and editor, Misses Parker, Mary G. O'Meara, Rose Glass and others assistant editors. It carried a striking cartoon on the front page and was full of suffrage news and arguments, even the advertisements being written in suffrage terms.[199]
State and county fairs and Chautauquas were utilized by securing a Woman's Day, with Mrs. DeVoe as president of the day. Excellent programs were offered, prominent speakers secured and prizes given in contests between various women's societies other than suffrage for symbolic "floats" and reports of work during the year. Space was given for a suffrage booth, from which active suffrage propaganda went on with the sale of Votes for Women pins, pennants and the cook book and the signing of enrollment cards. The great Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909 at Seattle was utilized as a medium for publicity. A permanent suffrage exhibit was maintained, open air meetings were held and there was a special Suffrage Day, on which Judge Ben B. Lindsey of Denver spoke for the amendment. The dirigible balloon, a feature of the exposition, carried a large silken banner inscribed Votes for Women. Later a pennant with this motto was carried by a member of the Mountaineers' Club to the summit of Mt. Rainier, near Tacoma, said to be the loftiest point in the United States.[200] It was fastened to the staff of the larger pennant "A. Y. P." of the exposition and the staff was planted in the highest snows on the top of Columbia Crest, a huge white dome that rises above the crater.
The State association entertained the national suffrage convention at Seattle in 1909 and brought its guests from Spokane on a special train secured by Mrs. DeVoe, as an effective method of advertising the cause and the convention.
The State Grange and the State Farmers' Union worked hard for the amendment. State Master C. B. Kegley wrote: "The Grange, numbering 15,000, is strongly in favor of woman suffrage. In fact every subordinate grange is an equal suffrage organization.... We have raised a fund with which to push the work.... Yours for victory." The State Federation of Labor, Charles R. Case, president, at its annual convention in January, 1910, unanimously adopted with cheers a strong resolution favoring woman suffrage and urged the local unions to "put forth their most strenuous efforts to carry the suffrage amendment ... and make it the prominent feature of their work during the coming months."
Practically all the newspapers were friendly and featured the news of the campaign; no large daily paper was opposed. S. A. Perkins, publisher of eleven newspapers in the State, gave a standing order to his editors to support the amendment. The best publicity bureau in the State was employed and for a year its weekly news letter carried a readable paragraph on the subject to every local paper. Besides this, "suffrage columns" were printed regularly; there were "suffrage pages," "suffrage supplements" and even entire "suffrage editions"; many effective "cuts" were used, and all at the expense of the publishers.
The clergy was a great power. Nearly every minister observed Mrs. DeVoe's request to preach a special woman suffrage sermon on a Sunday in February, 1910. All the Protestant church organizations were favorable. The Methodist Ministerial Association unanimously declared for the amendment April 11 at the request of Miss Emily Inez Denney. The African Methodist Conference on August 10 passed a ringing resolution in favor, after addresses by Mrs. DeVoe and Miss Parker. The Rev. Harry Ferguson, Baptist, of Hoquiam was very active. In Seattle no one spoke more frequently or convincingly than the Rev. J. D. O. Powers of the First Unitarian Church and the Rev. Sidney Strong of Queen Anne Congregational Church. Other friends were the Rev. Joseph L. Garvin of the Christian Church, the Rev. F. O. Iverson among the Norwegians, and the Rev. Ling Hansen of the Swedish Baptist Church. Mrs. Martha Offerdahl and Mrs. Ida M. Abelset compiled a valuable campaign leaflet printed in Scandinavian with statements in favor by sixteen Swedish and Norwegian ministers. The Catholic priests said nothing against it and left their members free to work for it if they so desired. Among Catholic workers were the Misses Lucy and Helen Kangley of Seattle, who formed a Junior Suffrage League. Father F. X. Prefontaine gave a definite statement in favor of the amendment. Distinguished persons from outside the State who spoke for it were Miss Janet Richards of Washington, D. C., the well-known lecturer; Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, afterwards elected to Congress; Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Nebraska and Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon.
None of the officers and workers connected with the State association received salaries except the stenographers. For four-and-a-half years Mrs. DeVoe, with rare consecration, gave her entire time without pay, save for actual expenses, and even these were at crucial times contributed by her husband, from whom she received constant encouragement and support. For the most part of the entire period she was necessarily absent from home, traveling over the State, keeping in constant personal touch with the leaders of all groups of women whether connected with her association or not, advising and helping them and on special days speaking on their programs. Her notable characteristics as a leader were that she laid personal responsibility on each friend and worker; from the first assumed success as certain and avoided arousing hostility by mixing suffrage with politics or with other reforms. She asked the voters everywhere merely for fair play for women and made no predictions as to what the women would do with the vote when obtained. It was her far-sighted generalship and prodigious personal work that made success possible.
The Equal Franchise Society of Seattle planned to carry suffrage into organizations already existing. It gave a series of luncheons at the New Washington Hotel and made converts among many who could not be met in any other way and was especially helpful in reaching society and professional people. Its workers spoke before improvement clubs, women's clubs, churches, labor unions, etc. A man was employed to travel and engage men in conversation on woman suffrage on trains, boats and in hotel lobbies and lumber camps. A good politician looked after the water front. The Political Equality League of Spokane worked in the eastern counties and placed in the field the effective worker, Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds of Colorado.
The Franchise Department of the W. C. T. U. had done educational work for years under the leadership of Mrs. Margaret B. Platt, State president, and Mrs. Margaret C. Munns, State secretary, affectionately referred to as "the Margarets." Its speakers always made convincing pleas for suffrage and Mrs. Munns's drills in parliamentary usage were valuable in training the women for the campaign of 1910. Tribute must be paid to the fine, self-sacrificing work of this organization. In a private conference called by Mrs. DeVoe early in the campaign, the W. C. T. U. represented by these two, an agreement was reached that, in order not to antagonize the "whisky" vote, the temperance women would submerge their hard-earned honors and let the work of their unions go unheralded. They kept the faith.
A suffrage play, A Mock Legislative Session, written by Mrs. S. L. W. Clark of Seattle, was given in the State House and repeated in other cities. Several hundred dollars' worth of suffrage literature was furnished to local unions. They placarded the bill boards throughout the State, cooperating with Dr. Fannie Leake Cummings, who managed this enterprise, assisted by the Seattle Suffrage Club, by Mrs. George A. Smith of the Alki Point Club and others who helped finance it to a cost of $535. The placard read: "Give the Women a Square Deal. Vote for the Amendment to Article VI," and proved to be an effective feature.
Mrs. Eliza Ferry Leary, among the highest taxpayers in the State, was chosen by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage as their representative, but, having satisfied her sense of duty by accepting the office, she did nothing and thus endeared herself to the active campaigners for the vote. There were no other "anti" members in the State. The only meeting held was called by a brief newspaper notice at the residence of Mrs. Leary one afternoon on the occasion of a visit by a representative, Mrs. Frances E. Bailey of Oregon, at which six persons were present--the hostess, the guest of honor, three active members of the suffrage association and a casual guest. No business was transacted. With the "antis" should be classed the only minister who opposed suffrage, the Rev. Mark A. Mathews of the First Presbyterian Church, the largest in Seattle. He was born in Georgia but came to Seattle from Tennessee. His violent denunciations lent spice to the campaign by calling out cartoons and articles combating his point of view. When suffrage was obtained he harangued the women on their duty to use the vote, not forgetting to instruct them how to use it.
Election day was reported to the Woman's Journal of Boston by Miss Parker as follows: "It was a great victory. The women at the polls were wonderfully effective. Many young women, middle-aged women and white-haired grandmothers stood for hours handing out the little reminders. It rained--the usual gentle but very insistent kind of rain--and the men were so solicitous! They kept trying to drag us off to get our feet warm or bringing us chairs or offering to hand out our ballots while we took a rest, but the women would not leave their places until relieved by other women, even for lunch, for fear of losing a vote. The whole thing appealed to the men irresistibly. We are receiving praise from all quarters for the kind of campaign we made--no personalities, no boasting of what we would do, no promises, no meddling with other issues--just 'Votes for Women' straight through, because it is just and reasonable and everywhere when tried has been found expedient."
The amendment was adopted November 8, 1910, by the splendid majority of 22,623, nearly 2 to 1. The vote stood 52,299 ayes to 29,676 noes out of a total vote of 138,243 cast for congressmen. Every one of the 39 counties and every city was carried. The large cities won in the following order: Seattle and King County 12,052 to 6,695; Tacoma and Pierce County, 5,552 to 3,442; Spokane and Spokane County, 5,639 to 4,551. Then came Bellingham and Whatcom County, 3,520 to 1,334; Everett and Snohomish County, 3,209 to 1,294; Bremerton and Kitsap County, including the U. S. Navy Yard, 1,094 to 372. Kitsap was the banner county giving the highest ratio for the amendment. This was largely due to the remarkable house to house canvass made by Mrs. Elizabeth A. Baker of Manette.
The cost of the twenty months' campaign is estimated to be $17,000, which includes the amounts spent by organizations and individuals. The money was raised in various ways and contributions ran from 25 cents up, few exceeding $100. Over $500 were subscribed by the labor unions and about $500 collected at the Granges and Farmers' Unions' suffrage meetings. Dr. Sarah A. Kendall of Seattle collected the largest amount of any one person. About $3,000 were contributed from outside the State, chiefly from New York, Massachusetts and California. The first and largest gift which heartened the workers was $500 from Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt.[201]
After the suffrage amendment was carried there was organized on Jan. 14, 1911, the National Council of Women Voters at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Mason in Tacoma. Governor James H. Brady of Idaho issued a call to the Governors of the four other equal suffrage States--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Washington--asking them to send delegates to this first convention. He presided at the opening session and spoke at the evening meeting which filled the largest theater. Mrs. DeVoe was elected president and was re-elected at each succeeding convention. It was non-partisan and non-sectarian and its objects were three-fold: 1. To educate women voters in the exercise of their citizenship; 2. To secure legislation in equal suffrage States in the interest of men and women, of children and the home; 3. To aid in the further extension of woman suffrage. As new States gained suffrage they joined the Council.
Before Mrs. DeVoe went to the National Suffrage Convention at St. Louis in March, 1919, she was authorized by the Council to take whatever steps were necessary to merge it in the National League of Women Voters which was to be organized there. Mrs. Catt requested her to complete the arrangements when she returned to Washington and act as chairman until this was accomplished. On Jan. 6, 1920, the Council became the State League of Women Voters. Mrs. Nelle Mitchell Fick was elected temporary and later Mrs. W. S. Griswold permanent chairman.
On the afternoon of August 21, old and new suffrage workers joined in a celebration at Seattle of the final ratification by the Legislature of Tennessee, which was attended by over two hundred women.
* * * * *
Election returns furnish conclusive proof that the women of Washington use the ballot. After 1910 the total registration of the State nearly doubled, although men outnumber women, and the women apparently vote in the same proportion as men. A tremendous increase of interest among them in civic, economic and political affairs followed the adoption of suffrage and the results were evidenced by a much larger number of laws favorably affecting the status of women and the home passed in the ten year period following 1910 than during the previous ten year period. Uniform hostility to liquor, prostitution and vice has been shown; also to working conditions adversely affecting the health and morals of women and children.
The vote of the women was the deciding factor in the Seattle recall election of February 8, 1911, when Mayor Hiram Gill was removed because of vice conditions permitted to flourish under his administration. It was acknowledged that, due to a strong combination of the vice and public utility interests of the city, he would have been retained but for their opposition. His re-election later by a small majority is explained by the fact that he begged the citizens to give him a chance to remove the stigma from his name for the sake of his wife and family, with whom his relations were blameless.
The State Legislative Federation, representing 140 various kinds of women's clubs and organizations, having a total membership of over 50,000 women, has maintained headquarters at Olympia during the sessions of the Legislature in recent years, to the advantage of legislation. The W. C. T. U. also is an active influence. Miss Lucy R. Case, as executive secretary of the Joint Legislative Committee of the State Federation of Labor, Grange, Farmers' Union and Direct Legislation League, took an important part at the elections of 1914 and 1916 in defeating the reactionary measures affecting popular government and labor.
Representative Frances C. Axtell of Bellingham introduced and engineered the minimum wage law and several moral bills in cooperation with the W. C. T. U. Representative Frances M. Haskell of Tacoma led in securing the law for equal pay for men and women teachers. Reah M. Whitehead, Justice of the Peace of King county, prepared and promoted the law relating to unmarried mothers. The Seattle Branch of the Council of Women Voters established a "quiz congress," which requested candidates to attend its meetings and state their position on campaign issues and answer questions and many candidates importuned it for a chance to be heard.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was ratified on March 22, 1920, at an extraordinary session called principally for that purpose. Governor Louis F. Hart had been reluctant to call a special session on the ground that, due to the unsettled condition of the country at that time, it would afford opportunity for the introduction of a flood of radical legislation which would keep the Legislature in prolonged session at great expense to the State. He finally yielded to the persuasion of a large number of the leading women of the State and to political pressure from his party in high places and called the session, which lasted but three days and dealt only with the subjects mentioned in the call.
The occasion was most impressive. The Capitol was thronged with women who had traveled from every corner of the State to participate in the occasion. Every available seat in the balconies of both Houses was filled and the aisles and corridors were crowded. The hope and expectation that at any moment the wires might flash the news that Delaware had ratified and Washington would thus be the thirty-sixth and final State to enfranchise the women of the whole nation, lent an added thrill to the proceedings. At noon both Houses met in joint session to listen to the Governor's message. Dealing with the ratification he reminded the members that in 1910 the electors had adopted woman suffrage by an overwhelming vote and said, "The State has done well under the management of both men and women." A marked feature of their proceedings was the gracious courtesy accorded to the old suffrage leaders and workers, who were present in large numbers.
In the House the honor of introducing the resolution was accorded to Mrs. Haskell, Representative from Pierce county, who made a strong speech favoring its adoption. Not one vote was cast against it. By special resolution Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, referred to as "the mother of suffrage" in the State, was invited to a seat on the right of Speaker Adams, with Governor Hart on the left. A special committee was appointed to escort her and she took her seat amid loud cheers. She was asked to address the House and said in part:
I am proud of the Legislature of Washington because of this patriotic act and I thank you in the name of our forefathers, who first proclaimed that "taxation without representation is tyranny" and that government without consent is unjust.... I thank you in the name of the early suffrage workers who have passed on to their beautiful reward. I thank you in the name of the women of the United States of today who will, I trust, use their new political freedom wisely and well. I thank you in the name of the children who will come after us; they will have a better, broader and nobler heritage than was ours. And I personally thank you from the depths of my heart. God bless you every one!
Twelve minutes after the resolution reached the Senate it had been passed by another unanimous vote. During the proceedings Mrs. Homer M. Hill sat beside President Carlyon and was invited to address the members. Described as "a tiny figure whose white hair was scarcely on a level with the top of the Speaker's desk," she expressed the emotions of the older suffragists as they witnessed the adoption of the resolution. She thanked them in the name also of the W. C. T. U., and thanked the leaders in the cause of labor and of many other organizations, as well as the leaders of both parties. "Washington has led the victorious crusade for the Pacific Coast States," she said. "May we always appreciate what it means to live in a State whose men themselves gave this right to women!"
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[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating especially to the interests of women and children and to moral questions enacted during the first decade of the present century was prepared for this chapter by Judge Reah M. Whitehead of Seattle. This was supplemented by an abstract of fifty-eight statutes of a similar nature enacted during the last decade, prepared by attorneys Adella M. Parker of Seattle and Bernice A. Sapp of Olympia. They largely cover the field of modern liberal legislation but can not be given because of the decision to omit the laws in all the State chapters for lack of space. The results on questions related to prohibition submitted to the electors, with women voting, are significant: Statute for State-wide prohibition submitted in 1914: ayes, 189,840; noes, 171,208; statute submitted in 1916 permitting hotels to sell liquor: ayes, 48,354; noes, 262,390; statute authorizing manufacture, sale and export of 4 per cent. beer: ayes, 98,843; noes, 245,399.]
FOOTNOTES:
[196] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Cora Smith King, assisted by Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, Dr. Sarah A. Kendall, Mrs. Homer M. Hill, and others. Valuable assistance in editing the manuscript was rendered by Judson King, writer and lecturer, Secretary of the National Popular Government League, Washington, D. C.
[197] Following is a complete list of the officers of the State Association who served during the campaign of 1910: President, Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, Melmont; vice-presidents: Mrs. Bessie I. Savage, Seattle; Mrs. Jennie Jewett, White Salmon; Mrs. John Q. Mason, Tacoma; Mrs. Alice M. Grover, Spokane; Mrs. Anna E. Goodwin, Columbia (now Mrs. Yungbluth); treasurer, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Seattle (now Dr. King); corresponding secretary, Mrs. Ellen S. Leckenby, Seattle; headquarters secretary, Miss Mabel Fontron, Seattle (now Mrs. Paul Rewman); auditors, Miss Bernice A. Sapp, Olympia, Dr. Anna W. Scott, West Seattle, Dr. N. Jolidon Croake, Tacoma, Mrs. H. J. McGregor, Tacoma; trustees, Dr. Sarah A. Kendall, Seattle, Mrs. Georgia B. Smith, Anacortes, Mrs. B. B. Lord, Olympia; chairmen of standing committees: Church Work, Mrs. C. M. Miller, Seattle; Letter Writers, Mrs. Lucie F. Isaacs, Walla Walla; Literature, Mrs. E. M. Wardall, West Seattle; Labor Unions, Dr. Luema G. Johnson, Tacoma; Publication, Miss Linda Jennings, LaConner; Finance, Mrs. H. D. Wright, Seattle; Headquarters, Miss Mary G. O'Meara, Seattle (now Mrs. Otway Pardee); Advisory, Mrs. Amos Brown, West Seattle; Library, Mrs. Dora W. Cryderman, Bellingham; Precincts, Mrs. Silvia A. Hunsicker, Seattle; Petitions, Mrs. Roy Welch, Kelso; Educational, Mrs. Margaret Heyes Hall, Vancouver; Member of National Executive Committee, Miss Adella M. Parker, Seattle; Historian, Miss Ida Agnes Baker, Bellingham.
[198] Other officers of the Franchise Society were: Assistants, Mrs. Edward P. Fick and Mrs. D. L. Carmichael; corresponding secretary, Mrs. F. S. Bash; recording secretary, Mrs. W. T. Perkins; treasurer, Mrs. E. M. Rininger; financial secretary, Mrs. Phebe A. Ryan. Others who worked without pay were: Miss Martha Gruening of New York and Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Mrs. George A. Smith, president of the Alki Point Suffrage Club of Seattle, worked independently but cooperated with the society in many ways. The society employed Mrs. Rose Aschermann, Mrs. Ethel Stalford, Charles E. Cline, Vaughn Ellis and John Gray of Washington.
[199] During the year following the winning of the franchise Mrs. Hanna published her paper under the name of The New Citizen. Miss Parker published twelve numbers of a monthly paper called The Western Woman Voter, from the files of which much valuable data has been gleaned for this chapter.
[200] The member was Dr. Cora Smith King.--Ed.
[201] Among eastern contributors were Henry B. and Alice Stone Blackwell, Mass., $250; Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Lesser, California, $100; Mrs. H. E. Flansburg, New York, $100; Miss Janet Richards, Washington, D. C., $100; the Rev. Olympia Brown, Wisconsin, $25. The National American Woman Suffrage Association contributed direct to Mrs. DeVoe for traveling expenses to June, 1909, inclusive, $900. At this time, seventeen months before the amendment was submitted, through differences arising between the national and State organizations, all national support was withdrawn. Among those contributing from the East to Mrs. Hill's society through Miss Margaret W. Bayne of Kirkland, who went there to raise money, her own trip being financed by Mrs. E. M. Rininger of Seattle, were: Mrs. Henry Villard, New York, $200; Mrs. Susan Look Avery, Kentucky, $250; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller and Miss Anne Fitzhugh Miller, New York, $300; Mrs. Kemeys, New York, $100; Mrs. Alfred Lewis, New York, $50; Mrs. Raymond Robins, Illinois, $50; Misses Isabel and Emily Howland, New York, $20; Mrs. Sarah L. Willis, New York, $20; Mrs. Isabella B. Hooker, Conn., $25; Equal Suffrage Association, Mass., $100; Mrs. H. S. Luscomb, Mass., $100; "A Friend," $200.
The net contribution of the National to the State Association during the campaign, deducting the expense of entertaining the 1909 national convention, was about $30.
XLVII. WEST VIRGINIA.[202]
In 1895 when the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association was organized through the effort of the National American Association, with Mrs. Jessie G. Manley president, nine clubs were formed in the northern part of the State but only those in Fairmont and Wheeling remained in existence after 1900. The first president of the Fairmont Club was the mother of Mrs. Manley, Mrs. Margaret J. Grove, who with her sisters, Mrs. Corilla E. Shearer and Miss Ellen D. Harn, all still living, aged 89, 90 and 92, led in the early suffrage work in the State, and Mrs. Mary Reed of Fairmont also was a pioneer. Little public work was done until an active suffrage movement was inaugurated in Virginia and in 1912 Miss Mary Johnston came to Charleston and organized a club. One was formed in Morgantown and these four constituted the State association until the amendment campaign of 1916.
The following have served as State presidents: Mrs. Beulah Boyd Ritchie, 1900-1903; Mrs. M. Anna Hall, 1904; Mrs. Anne M. Southern, 1905; Dr. Harriet B. Jones, 1906; Mrs. May Hornbrook, 1907-1910; Mrs. Allie Haymond, 1911-1912; Miss Margaret McKinney, 1913; Mrs. J. Gale Ebert, 1914-1915; Mrs. Lenna Lowe Yost, 1916; Mrs. John L. Ruhl, 1917-1920.[203] Annual meetings were held as follows: 1900, December 1, Fairmont; 1904, August 11, Moundsville; 1905, October 27, Fairmont; 1906, October 26, Wheeling; 1907, November 8, Wheeling; 1908, October 29, Fairmont; 1909, October 30, Wheeling; 1911, October 27, Fairmont; 1913, October 24, Wheeling. During these years practically all that was done was to have speakers of note from time to time and a resolution for woman suffrage introduced in the Legislature whenever possible.
In 1904 a new city charter was prepared for Wheeling and an effort was made to have it provide for a municipal vote for women. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national president, gave a week to speaking in the city and Miss Kate Gordon, national corresponding secretary, spent three weeks there, addressing many organizations. The question was submitted to the voters with the charter but on a separate ballot. Both were lost, the suffrage amendment by 1,600. More votes were cast on it than on the charter itself.
In 1910 an amendment to the State constitution permitting women to be appointed notaries public, clerks of county courts, probation officers and members of boards of State institutions went to the voters. The State Bar Association also had an amendment and kindly printed the literature for the former and sent it out with theirs. It received the larger number of votes--44,168 ayes, 45,044 noes--and was lost by only 876.
With the submission to the voters by the Legislature of 1915 of an amendment to the constitution conferring full suffrage activity was stimulated. Miss Ida Craft of New York, in cooperation with the women of Charleston, held a suffrage school there January 28-February 3 and at that time Mrs. J. E. Cannady, vice-president of its Equal Suffrage League, obtained permission from Governor Henry D. Hatfield to put the "suffrage map" in the lobby of the Capitol. Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, chairman of church work for the National Association, addressed the Woman's Club of Parkersburg April 5 and afterwards spoke in many cities and towns through arrangement by Dr. Jones, as did Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton of Warren and Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser of Girard, Ohio. In May Mrs. Ebert of Parkersburg, president of the State association, addressed a letter to the clergymen urging them to use as a text on Mothers' Day, May 9, The Need of Mothers' Influence in the State, and Dr. Jones sent a questionnaire to 150 editors, receiving answers favoring suffrage from 53. Mrs. Desha Breckinridge, president of the Kentucky Equal Suffrage Association, spent a week in the State speaking and Miss Craft, who kept her promise to return in May, organized many new suffrage groups, as did Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner of Washington, who campaigned principally in the mining towns. In the summer a Men's Advisory Committee with Judge J. C. McWhorter as chairman was appointed by the State board; the State Educational Association in convention endorsed woman suffrage; and after an address by Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston of Maine, who was on a tour of the State, the Methodist Episcopal Conference passed a favorable resolution. Later on Governor's Day at Middlebourne with thousands of people present Mrs. Ebert spoke with Governor Hatfield, both making appeals for votes for women. At the annual Fall Festival at Huntington a suffrage float designed by Mrs. E. C. Venable was in the parade. At Parkersburg suffragists addressed an immense crowd at Barnum and Bailey's circus.
In October the number of small subscribers was increased by "dollar day," when many persons sacrificed or earned a dollar and gave it to the association. Window displays were arranged in many cities with especially elaborate ones in Wheeling, Parkersburg and Huntington. At the State convention held in Huntington Nov. 16, 1915, a "budget" of $25,000 was authorized, $5,000 of which was quickly subscribed by the delegates, Dr. Irene Bullard of Charleston and Mrs. Helen Brandeburg of Huntington pledging $1,000 each for their branches. Mrs. Frank Roessing of Pittsburgh, national first vice-president, who was one of the speakers, pledged $400 for the Pennsylvania association. For the first time there was an automobile parade.
In January, 1916, Mrs. Ebert resigned and Mrs. Yost, first vice-president, succeeded her, soon afterwards opening headquarters in her own home in Morgantown. These demanded practically every hour of her time from 6 in the morning until 11 at night throughout the ten months' campaign. Because of the illness of Dr. Bullard, chairman of literature, that department was moved to Morgantown and placed in charge of Mrs. P. C. McBee, with Lillie Hagans assisting. About $2,000 were invested in literature. Over 200,000 congressional speeches were sent to the voters. In the last days of the campaign personal appeals were mailed to those in half of the 55 counties and 10,000 posters were sent out by this bureau to be used on election day. Through a publicity department opened February 25, with Frank C. Dudley at the head, the 200 newspapers of the State were served with news bulletins. He also edited a special edition of the Wheeling Intelligencer in June. In September the National Association sent Mrs. Rose L. Geyer of Iowa, who had conducted the publicity in its campaign this year. During the last month bulletins were supplied to all daily papers; 110 newspapers were provided with free plate service; many anti-suffrage articles were answered; much copy was given to local newspapers about public meetings held by the speakers and organizers; newspaper advertisements were furnished to all rural papers the week before election; every city organization carried a conspicuous advertisement in the daily papers; hundreds of two-page supplements were furnished the last week. The majority of the newspapers were editorially in favor of the amendment.
In January the State association put two organizers in the field, Miss Marie Ames and Miss Eudora Ramsey, the salary of the latter paid by the Allegheny county suffrage society of Pennsylvania, and the National Association placed two, Miss Lavinia Engle and Miss Katherine B. Mills. An appeal in March for more help brought Miss Hannah J. Patterson, its corresponding secretary and chairman of organization. In making her report to the National Board on April 5 she recommended that headquarters be established in the business district of Morgantown; additional office assistance be sent to relieve the president; ten organizers be secured and so distributed that there would be one in every group of five or six counties; and a representative of the National Association visit the State each month in order to keep in close touch with the work. As the "budget" called for $16,000 the National Board voted to give $5,000 providing the State association would raise $11,000. The headquarters were moved at once and furnished by friends. Later when they became too small the Board of Trade rooms were placed at the disposal of the suffragists through the kindness of E. M. Grant. From time to time organizers were sent to the State until there were twenty-eight and 400 organizations were formed. To relieve the president, Miss Alice Curtis of Iowa was sent as executive secretary, remaining until the end of the campaign. Miss Patterson made three trips to the State. Mrs. Catt made one with her, meeting with the State board August 3, 4, in Clarksburg, to hold a workers' conference, which considered publicity, money raising, organization and election day methods. A "budget" of $14,948 to cover the last four-and-a-quarter months of the campaign was adopted.
A "flying squadron" of prominent West Virginia men and women speakers was sent in groups to thirty points. They were Dr. Joseph A. Bennett of Sistersville; C. Burgess Taylor of Wheeling; the Hon. Charles E. Carrigan of Moundsville; Judge McWhorter and J. M. N. Downes of Buckhannon; Howard L. Swisher of Morgantown; the Hon. Tracy L. Jeffords and the Hon. B. Randolph Bias of Williamson; Mrs. Frank N. Mann of Huntington; Mrs. Flora Williams of Wheeling, soloist. Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama and Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada joined the squadron and spoke at several points. Among others of influence who filled many speaking engagements and met their own expenses were Mrs. Henry M. Russell and Rabbi H. Silver of Wheeling; Milliard F. Snider and the Hon. Harvey W. Harmar of Clarksburg; Judge Frank Cox and ex-Governor Glasscock of Morgantown. Judge McWhorter made about 25 addresses. Uncounted numbers of women throughout the State freely gave their time and work. About 1,500 meetings were arranged by the headquarters staff exclusive of those in charge of local women. Mrs. Catt spoke to mass meetings at Clarksburg, Morgantown and Fairmont and at the hearing before the Democratic State convention; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago before the Republican State convention. Favorable suffrage planks were placed in the platforms of both parties and the candidates for Governor declared publicly for the amendment.
Dr. Shaw made thirteen addresses in cities of over 5,000 inhabitants, contributing her services and expenses with the condition that the collections at her meetings go into the State treasury. Miss Katharine Devereux Blake, principal of a New York City school, addressed Teachers' Institutes three weeks without charge, the State paying her expenses. Mrs. Jacobs gave a two weeks' speaking tour and paid her own expenses. Other speakers from outside the State were Mrs. Forbes Robertson Hale, Mrs. T. T. Cotnam of Arkansas; Dr. Effie McCollum Jones of Iowa; Mrs. Anna Ross Weeks and Miss Emma L. McAlarney of New York; Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Texas and Mrs. McClung. Dr. Harriet B. Jones spoke throughout the campaign.
The National Association paid the salary or expenses or both of the outside speakers and twenty of the organizers.[204] It paid also for 200,000 Congressional speeches; circularized and sent the Woman's Journal for four months to 1,600 clergymen; furnished suffrage posters and a Ford car and paid for election advertising in all the rural newspapers. It sent Mr. Heaslip, its own chairman of publicity, for the last days of the campaign. Financial assistance came also from the Massachusetts association. The State was left with a deficit of $3,740. During the campaign the National Association had sent in cash $5,257. Afterwards, to reduce the deficit, it sent money for the salary of one organizer and expenses of another beside $1,000 in cash. Later the Leslie Suffrage Commission paid a bill of $540 to the Publishing Company for literature ordered from June to November by the State and $2,000 in cash which cleared up the deficit. According to the State report the campaign cost the State organization about $9,000. It cost the National Association and Leslie Commission over $17,000.
The vote on November 7 was 63,540 in favor; 161,607 against; opposing majority of 98,000, the largest ever given against woman suffrage. Only two out of the fifty-five counties carried, Brooke and Hancock, industrial districts situated in the extreme northern part of the State. Brooke county had the lowest per cent. of illiteracy--two per cent. while it was eight and three-tenths per cent. in the State at large. The "wet" vote of Wheeling, Huntington and Charleston proved a decisive factor in defeating the amendment. Another element working toward the suffrage defeat was the use made by the opposition of the negro question. They told the negroes that the white women would take the vote away from them and also establish a "Jim-Crow" system and they told the white women that the negro women outnumbered them and would get the balance of power. There is a large colored vote in the State. A really big campaign was conducted and while the size of the opposition vote was appalling, one must consider that it was the first attempt. The election methods in some places were reprehensible.
The State convention was held at Fairmont, Nov. 20, 1917, and there was a determination to hold together for future effort. In 1918 there was no convention, the women being absorbed in war work. By 1919 another great struggle was ahead, as it was evident that the Federal Suffrage Amendment would soon be sent to the Legislatures by Congress.
Following the plan of the National Association Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national corresponding secretary and chairman of organization, went to Charleston on Jan. 7, 1919, to meet the State board to discuss plans for ratification. The officers present were Mrs. Ruhl, president; Mrs. Yost, member of the National Executive Committee, and Mrs. Edward S. Romine of Wheeling, chairman of the Congressional Committee. They stated that there was little organization, no funds and that help must be given by the National Association. Mrs. Shuler remained two weeks and with these three officers and Miss Edna Annette Beveridge interviewed and polled members of the Legislature. Acting for the association Mrs. Shuler divided the State and assigned the districts to three national organizers, Miss Beveridge, who remained three-and-a-half months; Mrs. Augusta Hughston and Miss Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, six weeks each, the National Association paying salary and expenses and furnishing literature and printed petitions to members of the Legislature. Suffrage societies were revived, public officials, editors and ministers interviewed and much work was done.
On April 2, 3, a large and enthusiastic State convention was held in Charleston at the Kanawha Hotel. Coming directly from the convention of the National Association at St. Louis, Mrs. Catt, the president, who had asked for a "working" conference with the State board, spoke on the Federal Amendment at the afternoon session and to a mass meeting in the Young Men's Christian Association Hall in the evening. She was accompanied by Mrs. Shuler, who spoke at a dinner in the Ruffner Hotel presided over by Mrs. Woodson T. Wills, vice-president of the West Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs, and addressed by prominent men and women of the State and by Miss Marjorie Shuler, national director of field publicity, who had conducted a conference at the afternoon session.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress June 4, and the pressing work for the State association was to secure its ratification by the Legislature. Mrs. Ellis A. Yost was made chairman of the Ratification Committee, whose other members were Mrs. Ruhl, Mrs. Ebert, Mrs. H. D. Rummel, Miss Mary Wilson, Miss Margaret McKinney and Mrs. Romine. An Advisory Board was formed of 150 of as influential men as there were in the State, judges, lawyers, bankers, officials, presidents and professors of colleges, editors, clergymen, presidents of the State Federation of Labor and other organizations; and the most prominent women in educational, civic and club work. This list was printed on the campaign stationery. The last of December Governor John J. Cornwell received a letter from Mrs. Catt urging him to call a special session in January. He was known to favor ratification and he had been kept informed by the members of the suffrage association and the W. C. T. U., who had polled the legislators and found a majority in favor.
The Democratic Governor called the Republican Legislature in special session for Friday, February 27, 1920. President Wilson telegraphed members of the Senate: "May I not urge upon you the importance to the whole country of the prompt ratification of the suffrage amendment and express the hope that you will find it possible to lend your aid to this end?" Both the Democratic and Republican National Committees joined in urging ratification, as did the entire State delegation in Congress, who had voted for submitting the amendment. The resolution was introduced and by the rules went over for one day. All looked promising when suddenly its advocates found themselves in a torrent of opposition, due to the injection of the fight that was being made for the governorship and interference from outside the State. The Maryland Legislature sent a committee to urge its rejection and anti-suffrage leaders from all over the country made their appearance. The vote was taken on Wednesday and stood 47 ayes, 40 noes in the House. The vote was 14 to 14 in the Senate. A motion to reconsider was lost by the same vote. In the meantime Senator Jesse A. Bloch, who was in California, telegraphed: "Just received notice of special session. Am in favor of ratification. Please arrange a pair for me." This was refused by the opponents with jeers. Secretary of State Houston G. Young immediately got into communication with him on the long distance telephone and he agreed to make a race across the continent for Charleston.
Then came the struggle to hold the lines intact until his arrival. The situation was most critical because a motion in the Lower House to reconsider had been laid on the table and could be called up at any time. Many members were anxious to go home and there was difficulty in keeping enough present at roll call to defeat hostile attacks. The tie in the Senate held fast, however, as Senator Bloch sped across the country. The day he reached Chicago the opposition resorted to its most desperate expedient by producing a former Senator, A. R. Montgomery, who about eight months before had resigned his seat, saying that he was leaving the State, and later had moved to Illinois. There was documentary evidence that he had given up his residence. He demanded of Governor Cornwell to return his letter of resignation. The Governor refused and he then appeared in the Senate that afternoon and offered to vote. President Sinsel promptly ruled that he was not a member. On an appeal from this ruling he was sustained by a tie vote and the case was referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections.
When Senator Bloch reached Chicago he found that not only a special train but also an airship were awaiting him.[205] He chose the train and made the trip with a speed that was said to have broken all records. He arrived on March 10 and took his seat in the Senate amid cheers from crowded galleries. The corridors were thronged and even the floor of the Senate was crowded with guests, many of them women. Then followed a most dramatic debate of several hours, as each side tried to get the advantage. Montgomery was not permitted to take his seat and at 6 o'clock in the afternoon the vote was taken--16 ayes, 13 noes, one opponent changing his vote when he saw the resolution would pass.
After the Senate vote a second was secured in the House by the opponents of the motion to reconsider, which resulted in a larger favorable majority than the first.
Harvey W. Harmer of Clarksburg, who had charge of the resolution in the Senate and W. S. John of Morgantown in the House, deserve the warmest gratitude of the women. It was not an ordinary vote that the members gave but one which stood the test for days and against the most determined opposition. Too much praise can not be given to Governor Cornwell for calling the special session and for unyieldingly standing by the cause. The Democratic State chairman, C. L. Shaver, although unable to be present, gave splendid help. The men outside the Legislature who gave their time unstintedly, and were present, cooperating with the Ratification Committee of the Equal Suffrage Association, were State chairman of the Republican Committee, W. E. Baker; Secretary of State Young, former Minister to Venezuela; Elliott Northcott, mayor of Charleston; ex-Governor A. B. White; U. S. Senator Howard Sutherland; Major John Bond; National Republican Committeeman Virgil L. Highland; Congressman M. M. Neely; Mayor Hall and Jesse B. Sullivan, a prominent newspaper correspondent. The best legal and editorial assistance was given generously by the Hon. Fred O. Blue, the Hon. Clyde B. Johnson and former U. S. Senator W. E. Chilton. Boyd Jarrell, editor of the Huntington Herald Dispatch, was constantly on the firing line.
The chairman of the Ratification Committee had a herculean task during these strenuous days and after they were over a letter of appreciation of her services was sent to Mrs. Catt, the national president, which closed: "The opposing elements combined tended to create for Mrs. Yost what at first seemed to be a situation impossible of solution, but with rare tact and a soundness of judgment that we have seldom seen equalled her leadership has brought about a complete victory. As supporters of suffrage we are sending you this without Mrs. Yost's knowledge and simply that at least some part of the credit due her may be given." This was signed by Chas. A. Sinsel, president State Senate; Grant P. Hall, Mayor of Charleston; W. E. Chilton, former U. S. Senator; Houston C. Young, Secretary of State; Albert B. White, former Governor; W. E. Baker, chairman Republican State Committee; J. S. Darst, Auditor of State.
The president of the State Association, Mrs. Ruhl, was present throughout the sessions, as were members of the State committee, Mrs. Ebert, Mrs. Rummel, Miss McKinney, Mrs. Romine, Mrs. Thomas Peadro, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Allie B. Haymond, Mrs. O. S. McKinney, Mrs. Kemble White, Mrs. William G. Brown and Mrs. Olandus West. The cost of organizers and literature in the ratification campaign to the National Association was about $2,300, in addition to the State association's expenses.
On Sept. 30, 1920, the State association became the League of Women Voters and Mrs. John L. Ruhl was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. A bill for Presidential suffrage, drawn by George E. Boyd, Sr., was introduced in the House by Henry C. Hervey and seconded by S. G. Smith of Wheeling. It was rejected by a vote of 31 to 25, Speaker Wilson voting against it. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Nelson Whittaker of Wheeling. U. S. Senator Stephen B. Elkins commanded it to be tabled and this was done.
1903. A bill for Presidential suffrage was defeated.
1905. A resolution introduced in the Senate by Samuel Montgomery to submit a suffrage amendment to the State Constitution received two votes.
1907. Dr. A. J. Mitchell introduced a resolution for an amendment in the house; Z. J. Forman in the Senate. Senator Robert Hazlett arranged a legislative hearing at which every seat was occupied, with people sitting on the steps and sides of the platform and the large space in the back part of the room filled with men standing. Dr. Harriet B. Jones made a short address and was followed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association, in an eloquent plea. The vote in the Senate was 10 ayes, 13 noes; in the House, 26 ayes, 48 noes.
1913. A resolution to submit a State amendment was introduced in the House January 28 by M. K. Duty and later at his request Delegate Ellis A. Yost took charge of it. Through the generosity of the Hon. William Seymour Edwards, Miss Mary Johnston was brought to Charleston by its suffrage association and addressed the Legislature, which assembled in the House Chamber. She also spoke to a large audience in the Burlew Theater. The resolution came up on February 15; the hall was crowded with interested spectators and stirring speeches were made by the members. On the final roll call, to the dismay of its supporters, it did not poll the necessary two-thirds. On motion of Delegate Yost the announcement of the vote was postponed till Monday, the 17th, and every possible effort was made to bring in absent members but as the final vote was being taken it was seen that it lacked one. At the request of Governor Hatfield Delegate Hartley changed his vote and it was carried by the needed 58, Speaker Taylor George voting for it. The resolution was introduced in the Senate by N. G. Keim of Elkins and supported by able speakers but it was lost on February 20 by 14 noes, 16 ayes, 20 being necessary.
1915. On January 26 the resolution for a State amendment was submitted by 26 ayes, 3 noes in the Senate and 76 ayes, 8 noes in the House, to be voted on in November, 1916.
FOOTNOTES:
[202] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Harriet B. Jones, officially identified with the movement for woman suffrage in the State since its beginning about thirty years ago, and to Lenna Lowe (Mrs. Ellis A.) Yost, chairman of the Ratification Committee; also to the records of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
[203] Women who have been most prominent in the work not already mentioned are: Miss Jennie Wilson, Mrs. Annie C. Boyd, Mrs. Henry O. Ott, Miss Elizabeth Cummins, Miss Anne Cummins, Miss Florence Hoge, Mrs. Virginia Hoge Kendall and Mrs. Edward W. Hazlett of Wheeling; Mrs. I. N. Smith, Mrs. Harold Ritz and Mrs. A. M. Finney of Charleston; Miss Harriet Schroeder of Grafton.
[204] The organizers, who often were speakers also, not elsewhere mentioned, were Misses Adella Potter, Eleanor Furman, Alice Riggs Hunt, Lola Walker, Josephine Casey, Lola Trax, Grace Cole, Eleanor Raoul, Mrs. C. E. Martin, Mrs. W. J. Cambron, Mrs. Elizabeth Sullivan, Dr. Harriet B. Dilla and others. Miss Ramsey and Miss Raoul gave the use of their cars. Miss Gertrude Watkins and Miss Gertrude Miller of Arkansas donated their services from July 17, the State paying their expenses. The Philadelphia County Society sent Miss Mabel Dorr for two-and-a-half months as its contribution. Miss Alma B. Sasse of Missouri gave her services for over two months, the State paying her expenses.
[205] It was kept a secret at the time who was responsible for this arrangement but later it was found to be Captain Victor Heinze of Cincinnati, who had charge of the National Republican headquarters in Chicago.
XLVIII. WISCONSIN.[206]
Woman suffrage history in Wisconsin from 1900 to 1920 naturally divides itself into three sections, the first including the ten years preceding the submission of the referendum measure by the Legislature in 1911; the second the two years of the referendum campaign and the third the succeeding seven years to 1920.
The work of the State Woman Suffrage Association, which was organized in 1869, continued in the 20th century, as in the 19th, through organization, public meetings, annual conventions, the publication of the Wisconsin Citizen. The conventions of the first decade, which always took place in the autumn, were held as follows: 1901, Brodhead; 1902, Madison; 1903, Platteville; 1904, Janesville; 1905, Milwaukee; 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, Madison; 1911, Racine. The Rev. Olympia Brown, who had been elected president in 1883, continued to serve in that capacity with undiminished vigor and ability, having been elected every year, until the end of 1912. Besides her other services she gave hundreds of addresses on woman suffrage, speaking in nearly every city in the State.[207]
The publication of the Wisconsin Citizen, established in 1887, was continued in spite of limited finances. Its first editor was Martha Parker Dingee from Boston, a niece of Theodore Parker, who gave her services for seven years. After that the editors were Mrs. Helen H. Charlton, Miss Lena V. Newman and Mrs. Youmans. After 1914 it was published at Waukesha, before that at Brodhead, and was discontinued in 1917. Notable speakers from outside the State at conventions of the first decade were Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, the Rev. Florence Buck, the Rev. Marion Murdock, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Miss Jane Addams and Dr. Julia Holmes Smith.
The association for some time supported a State organizer, the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis, and later Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe for two seasons. In 1902 headquarters were established at Madison, the capital, in a little room in the State House, for the distribution of literature, and here was kept a register of men and women who believed in woman suffrage. In 1907 the Rev. Mrs. Brown prepared a bulletin for the legislators, giving the statistics of woman suffrage in the United States and other countries.
In 1908 Mrs. Maud Wood Park came to Wisconsin and spoke to women students of five colleges, arrangements having been previously made by Mrs. Brown, who took part in some of the meetings, and College Women's Suffrage Leagues were organized. Mrs. Brown prepared a pamphlet, Why the Church Should Demand the Ballot for Women, which was widely distributed. Near the end of 1909 the State association was asked to circulate the national petition to Congress for the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Blanks were sent all over the State to schools, libraries and other public institutions and to individuals. The members took up the matter with enthusiasm and worked faithfully. The association did all that could be done in the six weeks allowed and about 18,000 names were signed, 5,000 of them in Racine. Mrs. Wentworth, over eighty years of age, canvassed portions of the city and obtained 1,000 names.
During this whole decade resolutions and petitions were sent to Congress and at every session of the Legislature suffrage measures were introduced. Mrs. Jessie M. Luther was chairman of the Legislative Committee during this period, an unrecognized and unpaid lobbyist, but by her skilful work, in which at times she was assisted by Mrs. Nellie Donaldson and others, she kept the Legislature in advance of the people of the State.
In 1911 the Legislature submitted to the voters a statutory law giving full suffrage to women, as it had authority to do. Influences from outside the State led to the organization of the Political Equality League, of which Miss Ada L. James was president and Mrs. Crystal Eastman Benedict from New York was made campaign manager. The campaign of 1911-1912, therefore, was carried on by two organizations, the State association and this league, working separately, although effort was made to correlate their activities by forming a cooperative committee representing both societies, of which Miss Gwendolen Brown Willis was chairman. The National American Woman Suffrage Association, through its president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, contributed $100 per month salary for an organizer and speaker, Miss Harriet Grim, and gave further assistance to both organizations.[208]
Both associations employed field organizers, arranged meetings, provided speakers, distributed literature and made active effort to interest as far as possible organizations and individuals in the cause. The State association had headquarters in the Majestic Building and later in the Goldsmith Building in Milwaukee. The League had offices first in the Wells Building and later in the Colby-Abbott Building in that city. A bulletin of suffrage news was sent each week to the 600 newspapers in the State by Mrs. Youmans, who was press manager.
The campaign opened with a big rally in Racine June 1, 1912. The Rev. Olympia Brown, State president, continued her speaking tours without cessation and was assisted by prominent outside speakers, including Mrs. May Wright Sewall, Mrs. Colby, Dr. and Mrs. William Funck of Baltimore, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery and Mrs. Clara V. Laddey, who addressed the Germans. Miss Willis arranged a course of lectures in Milwaukee for Miss Jane Addams, Louis F. Post, Dr. Sophonisba Breckinridge of Chicago University, and Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch.[209]
The Political Equality League believed enthusiastically in street meetings and arranged many of them in Milwaukee and other cities. Under the same auspices several automobile tours swept the State, one of them having an itinerary through the southwestern counties, Miss James, Mrs. B. C. Gudden, Miss Grim and Miss Mabel Judd the speakers. The noted air pilot, Beachy, scattered suffrage fliers from the airship which he took up into the clouds at the State Fair in Milwaukee. The State association had a large tent on the grounds, in front of which there were a platform for speakers, where addresses were made every day, and a counter covered with literature and books. The two societies conducted Votes for Women tours up the Wolf and Fox Rivers, which were important features of the campaign. They traveled in a little steamer, stopping at landings and speaking and giving out literature. The association also held outdoor meetings at lunchtime before the factories and wherever it seemed best. The league formed two allied societies, the Men's League for Woman Suffrage, of which the late H. A. J. Upham was president, and a league for colored people, Miss Carrie Horton, president.
An extended series of mass meetings was held in many cities addressed by prominent speakers, who came from outside the State to assist, among whom were Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, Miss Addams, Mrs. Beatrice Forbes Robertson, Mrs. Emily Montague Bishop, Professor Charles Zueblin, Max Eastman, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery; the Countess of Warwick and Miss Sylvia Pankhurst of England; Miss Inez Milholland, Mrs. Maud C. Nathan, Mrs. Glendower Evans, Baroness von Suttner (Austria), Mrs. Alice Duer Miller, Mrs. Florence Kelley, Rabbi Emil Hirschberg, Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, Mrs. Henrietta C. Lyman, Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, Dr. Anna E. Blount, the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, Mrs. Clara Neymann, who addressed the Germans, and Dr. Shaw.
There is no adequate record of that campaign in existence. Mrs. Luther was State historian and in the habit of keeping carefully all programs, calls for meetings, reports and other material necessary for history, which were preserved at the Capitol and were destroyed when it was burned. The Political Equality League raised and expended $10,000 and the State association $5,000, as reported to the Secretary of State. Nearly as much more was expended by individual members and by other organizations. Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Benedict arranged a mass meeting in New York which netted $2,700.
The determined hostility of the liquor interests to woman suffrage was unmistakably shown during the campaign by the official organ of the State Retail Liquor Dealers' Protective Association, called "Progress." For months preceding the election it was filled with objections, innuendo and abuse in prose, verse and pictures, all designed to impress the reader with the absurdity and danger of giving the vote to women. It appealed to the farmers and to every class of people connected in any way with the manufacture and sale of beer, saying in headlines: "Give the Ballot to Woman and Industry goes to Smash." "It means the Loss of Vast Sums to Manufacturer, Dealer and Workingmen," and this was kept up to the end.
An unprecedented vote was cast on the woman suffrage proposition at the election November 4, 1912: for, 135,736; against, 227,054; lost by 91,318. Each of the three constitutional amendments voted on at the time received barely a fifth of the vote cast on this measure. Of the 71 counties but 14 were carried for suffrage, Douglas county in the extreme northwest on Lake Superior had the best record, a majority of 1,000. Milwaukee county, including the city, gave 20,445 votes for and 40,029 votes against. The referendum was placed on a pink ballot, used only for this purpose, which unquestionably increased the majority against it, as even the most illiterate could stamp it with a "no." The defeat was conceded to have been due to an insufficiency of general education on woman suffrage and of organization, the large foreign population and the widespread belief that it would help largely to bring prohibition.
Three days after the election officers of the Political Equality League sent to officers of the State association a letter proposing a union of the two under a new name and on condition that the president of neither should be made president of the new one. The latter was in favor of the union but insisted that the old historic name, Wisconsin Suffrage Association, should be retained, which was done. Miss Lutie E. Stearns was chosen its president at its annual convention to serve until the union was effected. There were ultimatums and counter-ultimatums and finally a call for a joint convention to be held in Madison Feb. 4, 5, 1913, was issued by Miss Zona Gale, vice-president of the association, and Miss James, president of the League. Here the union was duly effected; the Rev. Olympia Brown was elected honorary president, Mrs. Henry M. Youmans president and the other officers were divided between the two societies.
The suffrage work henceforth was conducted under the same president and the same policy. The first year of the new régime, the organization had no headquarters and paid no salaries, the officers doing their correspondence with their own hands. The next year an office was opened in Madison and Miss Alice Curtis was installed as executive secretary. It was difficult to do effective work so far away from the president and the office was removed to Waukesha, her residence, with Miss Curtis and later Mrs. Helen Haight in charge. In October, 1916, it was removed to Milwaukee, and, with the county association, headquarters were opened at 428 Jefferson Street, where they remained, with Mrs. Ruth Hamilton as office secretary.[210]
The great increase of sentiment favorable to woman suffrage throughout the country was plainly seen in Wisconsin and it was evident that a wide campaign of education must be undertaken. A "suffrage school" held in Madison in June, 1914, was very successful. Sixty-six women enrolled for the full course and hundreds of men and women attended the special lectures. The "faculty" of the school included the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, members of the faculty of the State University and other well known men and women. Social Forces, a topical outline with bibliography, published this year by the Education Committee, Mrs. A. S. Quackenbush, chairman, was especially designed for the instruction of women, first, in existing conditions, and second, in the various movements made to improve them. Copies were purchased by universities, organizations and individuals all over the United States. Wisconsin Legislators and the Home was a valuable pamphlet compiled by Miss James following the legislative session of 1913, giving the records of all members on the bills of especial interest to women which came up that year. Wisconsin Legislation, Topics for Discussion, was prepared in 1915 by Mrs. J. W. McMullein Turner for the use of the legislative and educational committees.
Miss James served as legislative chairman in 1913; Mrs. Ben Hooper in 1915; Mrs. Joseph Jastrow in 1917; Mrs. Hooper again in 1919. She was also for several years congressional chairman. Regular press service was continued during the last decade, a weekly letter being sent to 100 newspapers. Mrs. Youmans had charge of all publicity during her presidency. Mrs. Gudden supplied suffrage letters regularly to several German papers and due to her ability they were always published.
In March, 1916, a Congressional Conference was held in Milwaukee with Mrs. Catt, the national president, as the chief speaker. In June at the time of the Republican National Convention in Chicago the association sent to the great suffrage parade an impressive contingent, accompanied by a G. A. R. drum corps. This year it gave $500 to the Iowa campaign and among its members who assisted there and in campaigns in other States were Mrs. Hooper, Mrs. Haight, Miss Curtis, Mrs. Maud McCreery, Miss Edna Wright and Mrs. Youmans.
On Oct. 14, 1917, a branch of the National Woman's Party was formed in the home of Mrs. Victor Berger and became active. There were two anti-suffrage societies of women, one in Milwaukee and one in Madison, and together they formed a so-called State association, of which Mrs. C. E. Estabrook was president and Mrs. Francis Day an active member. They provided speakers for legislative hearings and signed their names to newspaper articles sent them from the East but were of slight importance. The State petition work was stopped by the epidemic of influenza in the autumn of 1918 and after the first of the next year the apparent favorable attitude of the Legislature made it unnecessary, but already in forty counties the names of 5,800 men and 20,000 women had been obtained. Self-denial Day was originated by Miss Harriet Bain of Wisconsin and adopted by the National Association. The fund in this State was over $400.
The State association was prompt to organize for war work and formed all the committees recommended by the National American Suffrage Association. Many suffrage leaders served as leaders of the war work in their communities. The president was on the Woman's Committee of the State Council of Defense and State chairman for Americanization. The association sent $1,590 for the Oversea Hospitals financed by the National Association.
The relations of the State with the National Association have been very cordial. It has sent a large delegation to each of the national conventions and paid its quota for the support of national work, about $1,500 in 1919.
In February, 1919, the Legislature gave Presidential suffrage to women and the submission of the Federal Amendment was near at hand. The last meeting of the State association, a Good Citizenship convention, was held in Milwaukee Oct. 29-Nov. 1. The program was devoted to the intelligent and patriotic use of the ballot. Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker came from Connecticut to give six lectures on Citizenship for Women. A plan was adopted for publishing a Citizenship Manual and engaging a traveling representative to teach good citizenship to groups of women throughout the State. The convention provided that the association should automatically cease to exist as soon as the Federal Amendment was ratified, in any case not later than March 1, 1920, and should be replaced by a State League of Women Voters. This took place on February 20 and Mrs. Ben Hooper was elected chairman.[211]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. Provision was made for separate ballot boxes for women, making fully operative the School Suffrage Law of 1885.
1903. A Municipal suffrage bill received a small vote. A full suffrage measure introduced in the Assembly by David Evans was lost by only one and had a large vote in the Senate.
1905. A Municipal suffrage bill was passed by the Assembly; not acted upon by the Senate.
1909. A bill for a referendum to the voters passed in the Senate; defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 53 to 34.
1911. The session opened promisingly. David G. James introduced in the Senate and J. H. Kamper in the Assembly a measure providing full suffrage for Wisconsin women contingent upon the approval of a majority of the voters at the general election in November, 1912. Miss Mary Swain Wagner was the only registered lobbyist but other suffragists, notably Miss James, Mrs. George W. Peckham, Mrs. Nellie Donaldson and Mrs. Luther, worked for the measure. At a joint hearing thirteen speakers, including several from outside the State, spoke in favor of the bill and one lone Assemblyman, Carl Dorner, spoke in opposition. It passed the Senate March 31 by a vote of 16 to 4, and the Assembly April 26 by a vote of 69 to 29, and was signed by Governor Francis E. McGovern on the ground that it was a problem which should be solved by the voters. This measure was not, as generally assumed, an amendment to the constitution but was a law, the constitution providing that suffrage might be extended by statute but this must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general election. It was defeated in 1912.
1913. Paradoxical as it may seem, legislators now became more friendly. The Legislature of 1913 passed by a large majority in both Houses another referendum bill introduced by Senator Robert Glenn but it was vetoed by Governor McGovern on the ground that the voters should not be asked so soon to pass upon a measure which they had just defeated.
1915. Three measures were introduced in 1915, one by Senator Glenn and Assemblyman W. C. Bradley, providing for full suffrage by State-wide referendum; one by Senator George E. Scott and Assemblyman H. M. Laursen, providing for Presidential suffrage by action of the Legislature, and one by Senator A. Pearce Tompkins and Assemblyman Axel Johnson to permit to counties local option in the matter of enfranchising their women. Only the first was seriously considered and this was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 41. A representative of the German-American Alliance appeared against it at the hearing and at several later sessions.
1917. A referendum measure was introduced by Senator George B. Skogmo and Assemblyman James Hanson and was killed in the Assembly by a vote of 47 to 40.
1918. Meanwhile the tide was perceptibly turning and at the State political conventions held in September, 1918, all parties adopted planks favoring the enfranchisement of women. What was known as "the woman suffrage session" followed.
1919. Resolution urging the U. S. Senate to submit a Federal Suffrage Amendment: Assembly 75 for, 14 against; Senate 23 for, 4 against. Presidential suffrage bill granting to women the right to vote for presidential electors: Assembly 80 for, 8 against; Senate 25 for, one against. Law extending the right of suffrage to women subject to a referendum, passed without an aye and no vote in both Houses. It was repealed after ratification of the Federal Amendment made it unnecessary.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress on June 4, 1919. The Wisconsin Legislature ratified it about 11 o'clock in the morning on June 10, with one negative vote in the Senate, two in the House. A special messenger, former Senator David G. James (the father of Ada L. James), started for Washington on the first train carrying the certificate from the Governor and he brought back a statement from J. A. Tonner, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, Department of State, that "the certified copy of the ratification resolution by the Legislature of Wisconsin is the first which has been received." The Illinois Legislature ratified an hour earlier but owing to a technical error it had to ratify a second time. The two U. S. Senators LaFollette and Lenroot and eight of the eleven Representatives from Wisconsin voted for the Federal Amendment on its final passage through Congress.
FOOTNOTES:
[206] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Theodora W. Youmans, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association from 1913 until its work was finished in 1920.
[207] The following were the officers for the first twelve years: Vice-presidents: Mrs. Jessie M. Luther, Mrs. Madge Waters, Mrs. Laura James, Vida James, Mrs. E. C. Priddle, Miss Linda Rhodes; corresponding secretaries: Miss Lucinda Lake, Mrs. Margaret Geddes, Mrs. Emma Geddes, Miss Lena Newman, Mrs. B. Ostrander, Mrs. Nellie K. Donaldson; recording secretaries: Miss Marion W. Hamilton, Miss Emma Graham, Mrs. Ethel Irish, Miss W. von Bruenchenhein; treasurers: Mrs. Dora Putnam, Mrs. Lydia Woodward, Mrs. F. H. Derrick, Mrs. A. B. Sprague, Mrs. B. Ostrander, Gwendolen Brown Willis; chairmen Executive Committee: Ellen A. Rose, Mrs. Etta Gardner, Mrs. Kate Rindlaub.
[208] Near the end of the campaign Miss Mary Swain Wagner from New York organized the American Suffragettes, a short-lived society, with Miss Martha Heide as president, and it arranged a mass meeting in Milwaukee with Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England as the principal speaker.
[209] A unique automobile tour was made by Mrs. McCulloch and her husband, Frank McCulloch, both prominent lawyers in Chicago, and their four children, who devoted their annual vacation in the summer of 1912 to a tour through Wisconsin, the eldest son driving a big car, Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch making suffrage speeches at designated points and the three younger children enjoying the outing.
[210] After 1913 annual conventions were held as follows: 1914, Milwaukee, speakers at evening meeting, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence of England and Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary; 1915, Milwaukee; 1916 (postponed to January, 1917, at the time of the legislative session), Madison; 1917, Milwaukee, Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada speaker; 1918, no convention because of the war.
[211] The officials from 1913, not already mentioned, were as follows: Vice-presidents: Miss Zona Gale, Dr. Jean M. Cooke, Mrs. Wm. Preston Leek, Mrs. Victor Berger, Mrs. Isaac Witter, Mrs. Frank Thanhouser, Miss Harriet F. Bain; corresponding secretaries: Mrs. W. M. Waters, Mrs. Joseph Jastrow, Mrs. James L. Foley, Mrs. Glen Turner, Mrs. Charles H. Mott, Mrs. H. F. Shadbolt; recording secretaries: Mrs. H. M. Holton, Mrs. A. J. Rogers; treasurers, Miss E. E. Robinson, Mrs. Harvey J. Frame; auditors: Miss Gwendolyn B. Willis, Miss M. V. Brown, Mrs. Louis Fuller Hobbins, Miss Amy Comstock, Mrs. A. W. Schorger, Mrs. H. A. J. Upham, Mrs. Sarah H. Van Dusen. Mrs. A. J. Birkhauser.
XLIX. WYOMING.[212]
Wyoming was the pioneer Territory and the pioneer State to give full suffrage to women. It is an interesting fact that the women did not find it necessary to have a Territorial or State Suffrage Association, or even a convention except the one during the campaign for Statehood in 1889-90. This rare situation is explained by the fact that universal suffrage came to the women in the newly organized Territory in 1869 without any general demand for it but through the efforts of a very few progressive men and women. [History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 994.] When the Constitutional Convention was preparing for Statehood in 1889, holding its sessions in Cheyenne, the women of the Territory held a convention there in order to pass resolutions asking that the constitution should contain an article granting to the women a continuation of the right of suffrage which they had possessed for twenty years. This was granted and both men and women voted on the constitution, which was adopted by a three-fourths majority of the votes cast. The fact that there was no women's association for suffrage or for political purposes was at times a serious handicap to women of other States, who were not able to appeal to an organized body for an endorsement of woman suffrage or related subjects.
In 1901 and at subsequent dates by joint resolution of both Houses of the Legislature a strong appeal was sent to Congress to submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment. On Feb. 14, 1919, a joint resolution was passed and signed by Governor Robert D. Carey commemorating the granting of woman suffrage in Wyoming, Dec. 10, 1869, by making this date each year Wyoming Day, "to be observed by appropriate exercises commemorative of the history of the Commonwealth and the lives and work of its pioneers."
At a State convention in Laramie Nov. 9-11, 1919, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, as guest of honor, a branch of the National League of Women Voters was organized, with Mrs. Cyrus Beard as State chairman. At Casper, Oct. 2, 1920, it was re-organized by Mrs. James Paige, regional director, with Mrs. C. W. Crouter as State chairman.
RATIFICATION. Governor Robert D. Carey called a special session of the Legislature for Jan. 26, 1920, to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The vote was unanimous in each House, and, after it was finished and had received the Governor's signature, Mrs. Theresa Jenkins of Cheyenne, a faithful supporter of woman suffrage in Wyoming for fifty years, thanked the members and the Governor for their action in behalf of the women of the State, the United States and the world.
* * * * *
The decree that laws must be omitted for lack of space bars out the many statutes in the interests of women and children which are Wyoming's especial pride.
The pioneer member of the Legislature was Mrs. Mary Godat Bellamy of Laramie, elected to the Lower House in 1911. She had been a teacher in the public schools of the city and county superintendent. She was very active in her duties and was instrumental in having a number of excellent bills become laws. Among these were bills for an adequate appropriation to employ a State humane officer for child and animal protection; to establish an industrial institution for male convicts twenty-five years old or under, as at that time 85 per cent. of those in the penitentiary were under twenty-one; an eight-hour day for women and children who worked in factories, laundries and industrial places; a grant to the State University of a permanent annual revenue. She helped to kill a bill to repeal an existing law which prohibited liquor being sold in places that were not incorporated, as mining and lumber camps. Mrs. Bellamy said later: "While the men were courteous yet no woman must expect that when it comes to gaining a point a man is going to make an exception because his colleague is a woman."
In the Legislature of 1913 two women Representatives had seats--Mrs. Anna Miller of Laramie, a mother of six grown children, three of whom were graduated from the State University, and Miss Nettie Truax of Sundance, a school teacher and at one time county superintendent. Mrs. Miller was a successful merchant and at the time of her election was at the head of a large drygoods establishment. She succeeded her son in the Legislature. Miss Truax was made chairman of the important Committee on Education. In 1915 Mrs. Morna Wood, also of Sundance, was elected to the Lower House. She introduced a bill, which became a law, for the protection and regulation of child employment. During this session a bill in the direction of easy divorce came before the House and Mrs. Wood made a strong speech condemning it and appealing for loyal support of her protest in the interests of the home and the children. Nothing further was heard of the bill. While women may not have taken a large place as lawmakers they have had an active and effective interest in many excellent laws.
The following women have been elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Miss Estelle Reel, 1894-1898; Miss Rose A. Bird, 1910-1914; Miss Edith K. O. Clark, 1914-1918; Mrs. Katharine A. Morton, 1918-1922. This is the most highly paid office occupied by a woman, the salary being the same as that of the Secretary of State, State Auditor and State Treasurer. By virtue of her office the Superintendent is a member of the State Boards of Pardons, Charities and Reforms, Land Commissioners, School Land Commissioners and Education, with power to appoint all members of the last board, which elects the State Commissioner of Education. At present all the counties have women county superintendents of schools, not an unusual situation. They also hold other county offices and as in all States as soon as the suffrage is granted are eligible to all official positions.
The largest woman's organization is the Federation of Clubs, with a membership of 4,000, a democratic body which has been able to do much for the State in legislation, education and reform. The women of Wyoming have been very conservative with the ballot and have never used radical means to accomplish their aims. No woman's ticket has ever been offered.
All institutions of learning are co-educational. Since 1891 there has been but a short interval when women have not been on the Board of Trustees of the State University. Grace Raymond Hebard was the first, serving thirteen years. For eighteen years, 1891-1908, a woman was secretary, acting also as financial agent, buying for the institution and paying the bills. In February, 1913, Mrs. Mary B. David of Douglas was appointed trustee by the Governor and displayed such unusual ability as an executive that later she was unanimously elected by the Board as its president, serving from September, 1917, to February, 1919, when she removed from the State. During her administration more important matters than ever before were brought to the Board for its consideration and solution--questions of land leases and oil grants, rents and royalties involving millions of dollars. The efficient, intelligent and impartial way in which Mrs. David handled these matters, of course in conjunction with the other members, won for her from the Board and the parties involved the strongest commendation. At one time a woman was seriously thought of for president of the university but she refused to consider it. At present (1920) two of the four most highly paid professors are women at the head of the combined departments of Psychology and Philosophy and of Political Economy and Sociology. There are five women on the Faculty, receiving the same compensation as the men holding equal positions. Women are full professors in History, English and Home Economics. The professor of Elementary Education and supervisor of the training school is a woman and the Dean of Women ranks as a full professor. With the assistant professors there are fourteen women on the Faculty.
On June 12, 1921, this university gave its first honorary degree and very appropriately to a woman. With beautiful ceremonies the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
FOOTNOTES:
[212] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, professor of Political Economy and Sociology in the State University of Wyoming.
Chapter L
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE PHILIPPINES.
ALASKA.[213]
When the bill was before Congress in 1912 to make Alaska a Territory of the United States an amendment was added on motion of Representative Frank W. Mondell of Wyoming to give its Legislature full power to enfranchise women. This was accepted by the House without objection. Afterwards the official board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association gladly responded to the request of Arthur G. Stroup of Sitka, one of the Territorial Representatives, who intended to introduce a bill for the purpose, to send up some suitable literature. The board also asked women in Seattle, former residents of Alaska, to write to the members of the new Legislature.
Woman suffrage in Alaska possesses the unique record of being granted without any solicitation whatever from the residents. It is not known that a suffrage club ever existed in the Territory; it is quite certain that prior to the convening of the first Territorial Legislature in Juneau in 1913 no suffrage campaigning whatever had been carried on, yet two members, coming from towns not less than 1,500 miles apart, brought drafts for an equal suffrage bill. House Bill No. 2, "An Act to extend the elective franchise to the women in the Territory of Alaska," was the first to pass both Houses--7 Senators and 15 Representatives--and the vote on it was unanimous, Senator Elwood Brunner of Nome, the only member who had expressed himself as unfavorable, having had the good sense or caution to absent himself during roll call. This was also the first bill to be approved by the Governor, J. F. A. Strong, on March 21, 1913, and the Act became effective ninety days thereafter. It declared the elective franchise extended to such women as had the qualifications required of male electors.
The Alaska Code had permitted women to vote only at School elections. The new law gave them the privilege of voting for the officers in incorporated towns and cities; for members of the Territorial Legislature and for Territorial Delegate to Congress.
It is estimated that there is a white population of 30,000 of whom between 5,000 and 6,000 are women. Probably not 500 native women are voters. Indian men have a vote if they have "severed tribal relations," which is interpreted to mean that if an Indian moves to a white man's town or lives on a creek or in a camp in such a way that the missions or the marshals think he has left his tribe, he can vote. Indian women have a vote if they marry white men who have a vote; if they are unmarried and have "severed tribal relations"; if they are married to an Indian who has "severed tribal relations." The original code said definitely that Juries should be drawn from the male citizens and it has never been changed. With this exception the rights of men and women are the same.
Two other bills of importance passed by the first Legislature provided for the compulsory education of white children and for Juvenile Courts to look after dependent children and create a Board of Children's Guardians. This board consists of the District Judge and U. S. Marshal in each judicial division, together with one woman appointed by the Governor, thus creating four such boards in the Territory, one for each division.
The interest of Alaska women in questions affecting local or Territorial conditions is intense and their efforts effective, as their work in the prohibition campaign of 1916 proved. This was essentially a woman's campaign, so well handled that at the plebiscite held at the time of the general election in November, 1916, the vote was about two to one in favor of prohibition. As a result, Congress enacted the Bone Dry Prohibition law for the Territory Feb. 14, 1917. It is believed that about three-fourths of the qualified women vote but there is no means of knowing. The percentage of illiteracy among white women is negligible and the young native women taught at the Government and mission schools can read and write.
The women of Alaska did their share in all kinds of war work, for conservation, bond drives, Red Cross and kindred activities. On account of the vast distances and small means of transportation any general cooperation is impossible. There are two daily papers in Fairbanks with a wide circulation over the entire district, which is larger than Texas. The organizing for Red Cross work had to be largely done through these papers but in a few months there were about 600 knitters, practically all the women in the district, and thirty organizations in the mining camps, many of these having only two or three women. In Fairbanks, by means of dances, card parties, sales, etc., $8,000 were raised just to buy wool, besides all the funds and "drives."
The interest of Alaskan women in such public questions as affect women elsewhere is that of the spectator rather than of the worker. When legislation on housing and tenement laws, protection of factory workers, prevention of child labor and like problems becomes necessary they will not be lacking in interest or energy.
HAWAII.
The Organic Act under which the Territories of the United States were created said that at the first election persons with specified qualifications should be entitled to vote and at subsequent elections such persons as the Territorial Legislature might designate. It was under this Act that Wyoming and Utah enfranchised their women in 1869 and 1870 and Washington in 1883.
When in 1899 the Congress was preparing to admit Hawaii as a Territory the commission framed a constitution which specifically refused the privilege that had been granted to every other Territory of having its own Legislature decide who should vote after the first election, by inserting a clause that it "should not grant to ... any individual any special privilege or franchise without the approval of Congress." This constitution gave the suffrage to every masculine citizen of whatever nationality--Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese--who could read and write English or Hawaiian, and it repeatedly used the word "male" to bar women from having a vote or holding an office. The members of this commission were Senators John T. Morgan of Alabama and Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois; Representative Robert R. Hitt of Illinois; President Sanford B. Dole and Associate Justice Frear of Hawaii. Justice Frear said over his own signature that he and President Dole desired that the Legislature should have power to authorize woman suffrage but the rest of the commission would not permit it. Miss Susan B. Anthony president, and the Official Board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, made vigorous objection to this abuse of power, sent a protest to every member of Congress and followed this with petitions officially signed by large associations but to no avail. The Act was approved by President William McKinley April 30, 1900.[214]
The women had always exercised great influence in political affairs and the people of Hawaii resented this discrimination but the U. S. Congress then and for years afterwards was adamant in its opposition to woman suffrage anywhere. After the women of Washington, California and Oregon were enfranchised in 1910-11-12 this resentment found expression among the women of Honolulu in 1912, when they called on Mrs. John W. Dorsett to help them organize a suffrage club. They learned in October that by good fortune Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, would stop there on her way home from a trip around the world and they arranged by wireless messages for her to address a mass meeting at the opera house the one evening she would be there. The audience was large and sympathetic and she learned that every legislative candidate at the approaching election had announced himself in favor of getting the vote for women. She met with the suffrage club and found its constitution modeled on the one recommended by the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was in touch with the women afterwards and the interest was kept alive.
By 1915 the more thoughtful men of the Territory were beginning to feel that its women must be enfranchised. Both political parties declared in favor of asking the U. S. Congress for an Act giving the Hawaiian Legislature authority in this matter and that body itself passed a bill to this effect. This was taken to Washington by the Delegate from the Territory, J. K. Kalanianaole, who presented it but it received no attention. He presented it again in 1916, with a like result. Soon afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin F. Pitman of Brookline, Mass., visited the Islands. Mr. Pitman was the son of a Hawaiian Chiefess and although he had not been there since childhood he was the person of the highest rank. Mrs. Pitman was prominent among the suffrage leaders in Massachusetts and was deeply interested in the situation in Hawaii. She attended the opening of the Legislature and conversed with nearly all the members, finding them to a man in favor of the bill, and the Legislature adopted strong resolutions calling upon Congress to sanction it. In answer to a request for her experience to use in this chapter she wrote:
It was on Jan. 30, 1917, that we arrived in Honolulu and on the 31st Madame Nakiuna, who was known as the Court historian, gave us a large reception at Laniakea. At this fête were all the women of the highest social circles in the Islands. Among them were Mrs. John W. Dorsett, Mrs. A. P. Taylor, Mrs. Castle-Coleman, Miss Mary Ermine Cross and others who had heard of my activities in "the cause" and importuned me to hold meetings to try to arouse a keener interest. I would have consented at once but for the fact that almost the first person I saw in this beautiful land was the field-secretary of the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage to Women. I had a feeling that if there was not already an anti-association here there would be one the moment I began any serious work and so I advised waiting, promising to do my best for them as soon as it seemed wise, and so, while I was indeed sorry that the serious illness of a relative obliged her to depart for home at a very early date, it was amusing to say the least that while she was sailing out of the harbor I was holding my first suffrage meeting in the home of Mrs. Dorsett. I held meetings on two successive days, one attended mostly by the middle class and the other by high caste Hawaiians and the "missionary set," which, perhaps, we might style their "400." My talk was in the form of a discussion and I was surprised and delighted at the fluency of all who spoke, their wide knowledge of world affairs and desire for the franchise. Many months had passed since the departure of Prince Kalanianaole and so they begged me to investigate as soon as I returned home. This I promised to do and wrote at once to Mrs. Catt all that I heard.
Mrs. Catt sent Mrs. Pitman's letter to Mrs. Maud Wood Park, chairman of the Congressional Committee of the National Suffrage Association and she took up the question with Senator John F. Shafroth, chairman of the Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico. The Delegate from Hawaii, who was deeply interested, welcomed this new force to assist in pushing the bill, which had simply been neglected. On May 21, 1917, he presented still another resolution from the Territorial Legislature asking for it and on June I Senator Shafroth introduced the following bill:
Be it enacted ... that the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii be, and it is hereby, vested with the power to provide that in all elections ... female citizens possessing the same qualifications as male citizens shall be entitled to vote.
SEC. 2. That the said Legislature is further hereby vested with the power to have submitted to the voters of the Territory the question of whether or not the female citizens shall be empowered to vote....
The bill was reported favorably by the committee and passed by the Senate without objection or even discussion on September 15. In the House it was referred to the Committee on Woman Suffrage, which set April 29, 1918, for a hearing. Delegate Kalanianaole had been called back to Honolulu by business but was represented by his secretary and there were present Mrs. Park, who presided, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, honorary president of the National Suffrage Association, and Mrs. Pitman, the principal speaker. Judge John E. Raker was chairman of the committee, which did not need any argument but was interested in asking many questions of Mrs. Pitman. At the close of the hearing the committee voted unanimously to make a favorable report. The bill was passed June 3 without a roll call. It was signed by President Wilson on the 13th.
The matter was now in the control of the Hawaiian Legislature, which received petitions from a number of organizations of women to exercise its power to confer the suffrage without a referendum to the voters. This was recommended by Governor C. J. McCarthy and early in the session of 1919 the Senate took this action and sent the bill to the House. This body under outside influence refused to endorse it but substituted a bill to send the question to the voters. The Senate would not accept it and both bills were deadlocked.
The women were then spurred to action; old suffrage clubs were revived; one was formed in Honolulu of the native high class women and what is known as the "missionary set," a very brilliant group. Mrs. Dorsett made a tour of all the Islands to arouse interest and on Mani, under the leadership of Mrs. Harry Baldwin, clubs were formed all over the island. A Hawaiian Suffrage Association was organized. At the next convention of the National Association a resolution was adopted that it be invited to become auxiliary without the payment of dues and the invitation was officially accepted with thanks.
The Federal Suffrage Amendment proclaimed by Secretary of State Colby Aug. 26, 1920, included the women of the Territories and it was thus that Hawaiian women became enfranchised. They voted in large numbers at the November elections that year.
THE PHILIPPINES.
The Philippine Islands came under the jurisdiction of the United States as a consequence of the Spanish-American war in 1898 and their government soon became an active question in Congress. There was a desire to permit their own people to participate in this to some extent and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, always on the watch tower, took immediate action toward having women included in any scheme of self-government. With the recent example before it of the most unjust discrimination against them in the admission of Hawaii as a Territory, the association under the presidency of Miss Susan B. Anthony petitioned the members of Congress to recognize the rights of women in whatever form of government was adopted. At its annual convention in 1899 impassioned speeches were made against taking away from Filipino women the position of superiority which they always had held under Spanish rule by giving the men political authority over them.
In 1900 Military Governor-General Otis ordered a re-organization of the municipalities. To decide who should have a vote in local affairs the Philippine Commission of the U. S. Senate summoned well informed persons and among them, in the spring of 1902, were Judge William H. Taft, Governor-General of the islands, and Archbishop Nozaleda, who had been connected with the Catholic church there for twenty-six years and archbishop since 1889. Both declared that the suffrage should be given to the women rather than to the men, the former saying: "The fact is that, not only among the Tagalogs but also among the Christian Filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the family, so if you expect to confer political power on the Filipinos it ought to be given to the women. Following is part of the Archbishop's statement. (Senate Document, p. 109.):
The woman is better than the man in every way--in intelligence, in virtue and in labor--and a great deal more economical. She is very much given to trade and trafficking. If any rights and privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to the men but to the women.
Q. Then you think it would be much better to give the women the right to vote than the men?
A. O, much better. Why, even in the fields it is the women who do the work; the men go to the cock fights and gamble. The woman is the one who supports the man there, so every law of justice demands that in political life they should have the privilege over the men.
Notwithstanding this and other testimony of a similar nature the Commission framed a Code giving a Municipal or local franchise to certain classes of men and excluding all women, taking away from them the privileges they always had possessed. The men soon began demanding their own lawmaking body and in response Congress passed an Act to take effect Jan. 15, 1907, to provide for the holding of elections in the Islands for a Legislative Assembly. The Act limited the voters to "male persons 23 years of age or over," thus again putting up the barriers against women and including them in the list of the disqualified as listed--"insane, feeble-minded, rebels and traitors."
The U. S. Government did, however, give women to the same extent as men all educational advantages, which heretofore had been denied them and their progress was very rapid. In 1912 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, visited Manila on her trip around the world and was warmly received. A meeting was called at the Manila Hotel for August 15 and twelve women responded. After making an address she helped them form a club which they called Society for the Advancement of Women. Thirty attended the next meeting two weeks later and they took up active philanthropic work. In a little while most of the women of influence were members of it and it was re-organized as the Woman's Club of Manila. Its work extended in many directions and it became one of the city's leading institutions. Other clubs were formed and they joined the General Federation of Clubs in 1915. There are between 300 and 400 clubs in the Islands (1920).
Meanwhile the men were not satisfied with their one-house Legislative Assembly largely under American control, but wanted more power. In response Congress provided for a Legislature of a Senate of 24 members and a Lower House of 90, all to be elected except two of the former and nine of the latter, who would be appointed by the American Governor-General to represent districts where elections were not held, the Act to go into effect in 1918. The suffrage was still confined exclusively to males, although in 1916 the Women's Club had organized fifty-seven Mothers' Clubs for the welfare of infants; had secured through women lawyers legal aid for over thirty poor women; had been instrumental in having 15,000 people make gardens to give variety to their fish and rice diet and done a vast amount of other valuable public work. The Act passed by large majorities, members voting for it who had persistently voted against the Federal Amendment to enfranchise the women of the United States.
The Philippines were from 1917 represented in Congress by an able and progressive Commissioner, Jaime C. De Veyra, an advocate of woman suffrage. His wife, a native of Iloilo, who had been prominent in civic work in the Islands, shared his views, and was a frequent visitor at the suffrage headquarters in Washington. In 1919, assisted by Miss Bessie Dwyer, vice-president of the Manila Women's Club, she gave beautifully illustrated addresses in Washington and New York, on the position of women in the Islands. In these and in interviews she said:
Philippine women have always been free and have always been held as equals of the men. In the little rural "barrios" you will always find some sort of woman leader. All over the islands they are highly considered. Even when old they exercise full sway over the family and have the last word in all financial matters. The married children still cling to the mother as adviser. The young women who marry go into partnership with their husbands and while the men handle the workers it is the women who do the paying and oversee things generally. They are engaged in all kinds of business for themselves and are employed by scores of thousands. Many thousands carry work home where they can take care of their children, do the housework and be earning money.
They have the same opportunities in the professions as men, are successful physicians and lawyers and members of the Bar Association. Laws made for them have combined the best of Spanish and American precedents. They are guardians of their own children; married women may hold property; of that which accrues to a married couple, the wife is half administrator. These are vested rights and cannot be taken away.
A short time ago the question of woman suffrage was introduced into the Legislature, not by the initiative of American women but urged by Madame Apacibile, wife of one of the government secretaries. A petition signed by 18,000 women asking for a joint legislative hearing was sent to the law makers who granted it. Three Filipina women spoke, one the widow of the eminent Concepcion Calderon, a successful business woman, owning a fish farm and an embroidery enterprise. Others were Mrs. Feodore Kalon, Miss Almeda and Miss Pazlegaspi, the last two practicing lawyers. Only one man appeared in the negative. The president of the Senate, the Hon. Manuel L. Quezon, is in favor of woman suffrage.
Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison recommended to the Legislature to give the suffrage to women, as it has the power to do. A bill was introduced and passed the Senate almost unanimously Dec. 7, 1919, but it was not acted upon by the House. As the Constitution of the United States is not in force in the Philippines the women were not enfranchised by the Federal Suffrage Amendment in 1920 but must await the action of their own Legislature.
PORTO RICO.
After Porto Rico came under the control of the United States as a result of the Spanish-American war in 1898 its political status was undetermined for a long time. Shortly before that war Spain had granted universal suffrage to all its men over 21. Congress confirmed this privilege as to the affairs of the island but they had no voting rights in those of the United States. After a few years the more progressive of the people began asking for the status of a Territory with their own Legislature. This agitation was continued for sixteen years before Congress took action and agreed on a bill which would admit the islanders to citizenship. As usual the chief difficulty was over the suffrage. There was a desire to have a slight educational and a small property qualification but as a large majority of the men were illiterate and without property this aroused a protest, which was supported by the American Federation of Labor. On May 22, 1916, while the Porto Rican bill was under consideration in Committee of the Whole in the Lower House of Congress, the Republican floor leader, James R. Mann (Ills.), discovered that a majority of those present were Republicans and suffragists. He therefore proposed a clause giving the franchise to the women, which was passed by 60 to 37. He expected to put the Democrats in the position of voting it down the next day in regular session but when it came up Republicans joined with Democrats in defeating it by 80 noes to 59 ayes.
Finally when, under pressure, the committee was obliged to put in universal suffrage for the great mass of illiterate men, even the most ardent advocates of woman suffrage among the members felt that it would be unwise to add universal suffrage for women. In answer to the urgent request of the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association that this injustice should not be done to women, Senator John F. Shafroth, chairman of the Committee on the Pacific Islands and Porto Rico, wrote: "I would have been very glad to incorporate a provision including women but it would have killed the bill. I was notified by Senator Martine of New Jersey and others that they would not permit a provision of that kind to go into it and the parliamentary stage of the bill was such that any one Senator could have defeated it. As it was, it took two years to get the bill before Congress and fully twenty motions to have it considered and if either prohibition or woman suffrage had gone into it there would have been no bill for Porto Rico. We avoided the word 'male' in prescribing the qualifications of electors."
The Act, which received the approval of President Wilson March 2, 1917, provided that at the first election for the Legislature and other officers the electors should be those qualified under the present law, and thereafter voters should be citizens of the United States 21 years of age and have such additional qualifications as might be prescribed by the Legislature of Porto Rico. The election took place on July 16. While this Act was an improvement on the one which admitted Hawaii as a Territory it left the many educated, tax paying women, the woman in business, the teachers in government and mission schools, the nurses in the hospitals, the social workers, wholly in the power of men.
About 1916 there was incorporated in Porto Rico an organization called La Liga Feminea de Puerto Rico, which worked energetically for the social uplift of the people and for the political enfranchisement of women. The official organ was La Mujer del Siglo Veinte--The Twentieth Century Woman. Early in the spring of 1917 Mrs. Geraldine Maud Froscher, an American living in Porto Rico, appealed to the National Suffrage Association for financial assistance for a campaign preparatory to the introduction of the woman suffrage bill in the Legislature that year. Literature was sent immediately and the association agreed to pay the expenses of Mrs. Froscher, who organized suffrage leagues in all towns of any considerable size, addressed women's clubs, interviewed legislators and distributed literature. In this work she had the able assistance of Mrs. Ana Roqué Duprey, the first president of the San Juan Suffrage League, editor of the above paper and later of El Heraldo de la Mujer--The Woman's Herald, with Mrs. Froscher as the American editor.
In August, 1917, at the first session of the new Legislature, a bill was introduced in the Lower House to give women the right to hold office but without the right to vote and one to give them equal rights. Later two more bills were introduced but none was passed. As Porto Rico is an unincorporated Territory of the United States, its women were not enfranchised by the Federal Suffrage Amendment in 1920. At three consecutive sessions of the Legislative Assembly a petition for woman suffrage has been presented.
FOOTNOTES:
[213] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Jeannette Drury Clark, a graduate of the University of California, who with her husband, John A. Clark, an attorney, has made her home in Fairbanks for the past fifteen years.
[214] History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, pages 325, 343, 346, 446.