Democratic Congress Ends
It would be folly to say that President Wilson was not at this time
aware of a very damning situation.
The unanswerable “Prison Special”—a special car of women prisoners—was
touring the country from coast to coast to keep the public attention,
during the closing days of the session, fixed upon the suffrage
situation in the Senate. The prisoners were addressing enormous
meetings and arousing thousands, especially in the South, to articulate
condemnation of Administration tactics. It is impossible to calculate
the number of cables which, as a result of this sensational tour,
reached the President during his deliberations at the Peace Table. The
messages of protest which did not reach the President at the Peace
Conference were waiting for him on his desk at the White House.
Even if some conservative Boston suffragists did present him with a
beautiful bouquet of jonquils tied with a yellow ribbon, as their
welcome home, will any one venture to say that that token of trust was
potent enough to wipe from his consciousness the other welcome which
led his welcomers to jail? Will any one contend that President Wilson
upon his arrival in Washington, and after changing his clothes, piously
remarked:
“By the way, Tumulty, I want to show you some jonquils tied with a
yellow ribbon that were presented to me in Boston. I am moved, I think
I may say deeply moved by this sincere tribute, to do something this
morning for woman suffrage. Just what is the state of affairs? And does
there seem to be any great demand for it?” We do not know what, if
anything, he did say to Secretary Tumulty, but we know what he did. He
hurried over to the Capitol, and there made his first official business
a conference with Senator Jones of New Mexico, Chairman of the Senate
Suffrage Committee. After expressing chagrin over the failure of the
measure in the Senate, the President discussed ways and means of
getting it through.
An immediate result of the conference was the introduction in the
Senate, February 28th, by Senator Jones, of another resolution on
suffrage. Senator Jones had refused to reintroduce the original
suffrage resolution immediately after the Senate defeat, February 10th.
Now he came forward with this one, a little differently worded, but to
the same purpose as the original amendment.[1]
[1] This amendment, although to the same purpose as the original
amendment, was not as satisfactory because of possible controversial
points in the enforcement article. The original amendment is of course
crystal clear in this regard.
This resolution was a concession to Senator Gay of Louisiana, Democrat,
who had voted against the measure on February 10th, but who immediately
pledged his vote in favor of the new resolution. Thus the sixty-fourth
and last vote was won. The majority instantly directed its efforts
toward getting a vote on the new resolution.
On March 1st Senator Jones attempted to get unanimous consent to
consider it. Senator Wadsworth, of New York, Republican anti-
suffragist, objected. When consent was again asked, the following day,
Senator Weeks of Massachusetts, Republican anti-suffragist, objected.
On the last day of the session, Senator Sherman of Illinois, Republican
suffragist, objected. And so the Democratic Congress ended without
passing the amendment.
On the face of it, these parliamentary objections from Republicans
prevented action, when the Democrats had finally secured the necessary
votes. As a matter of fact, however, the President and his party were
responsible for subjecting the amendment to the tactical obstruction of
individual anti-suffrage Senators. They waited until the last three
days to make the supreme effort. That the President did finally get the
last vote even at a moment when parliamentary difficulties prevented it
from being voted upon, proved our contention that he could pass the
amendment at any time he set himself resolutely to it. This last
ineffective effort also proved how hard the President had been pushed
by our tactics.
But it seems to me that President Wilson has a pathetic aptitude for
acting a little too late. The fact that the majority of the Southern
contingent in his party stood stubbornly against him on woman suffrage,
was of course a real obstacle. But we contended that the business of a
statesman who declared himself to be a friend of a measure was to
remove even real obstacles to the success of that measure. Perhaps our
standard was too high. It must be confessed that people in general are
distressingly patient, easily content with pronouncements, and
shockingly inert about seeing to it that political leaders act as they
speak.
We had seen the President overcome far greater obstacles than stood in
his way on this issue. We had seen him lead a country which had voted
to stay out of the European war into battle almost immediately after
they had so voted. We had seen him conscript the men of the same
stubborn South, which had been conspicuously opposed to conscription.
We had seen him win mothers to his war point of view after they had
fought passionately for him and his peace program at election time. He
had taken pains to lead men and women influential and obscure—to his
way of thinking. I do not condemn him—I respect him for being able to
do this. The point is that he dirt overcome obstacles when his heart
and head were set to the task.
Since our problem was neither in his head nor his heart, it was our
task to put it there. Having got it there, it was our - responsibility
to see that it churned and churned there, until he had to act. We did
our utmost.
For six full years, through three Congresses under President Wilson’s
power, the continual Democratic resistance, meandering, delays, deceits
had left us still disfranchised. A world war had come and gone during
this span of effort. Vast millions had died in pursuit of liberty. A
Czar and a Kaiser had been deposed. The Russian people had
revolutionized their whole social and economic system. And here in the
United States of America we couldn’t even wrest from the leader of
democracy and his poor miserable associates the first step toward our
political liberty—the passage of an amendment through Congress,
submitting the question of democracy to the states!
What a magnificent thing it was for those women to rebel! Their
solitary steadfastness to their objective stands out in this world of
confused ideals and half hearted actions, clear and lonely and superb!