THE SECOND NEW YORK CAMPAIGN.
1894.
The year 1894 is distinguished in the annals of woman suffrage for two
great campaigns: one in New York to secure from the Constitutional
Convention an amendment abolishing the word "male" from the new
constitution which was to be submitted to the voters at the fall
election; the other in Kansas to secure a majority vote on an amendment
which had been submitted by the legislature of 1893, and was to be voted
on in November. In order to make the story as clear as possible, each of
these campaigns, both of which were in progress at the same time, will
be considered separately. Before entering upon either, the leading
features of the twenty-sixth of the series of Washington conventions,
which have run like a thread through Miss Anthony's life for more than a
quarter of a century, will be briefly noticed.
On January 13, she lectured before the University Association at Ann
Arbor in the great University Hall--the second woman ever invited to
address that body, Anna Dickinson having been thus honored during the
war. Sunday morning she spoke for the University Christian Association,
in Newbury Hall. Monday morning the State Suffrage Association commenced
a three days' convention, during which she gave numerous short
addresses. Wednesday evening a large reception was given by her hostess,
Olivia B. Hall, whose home Miss Anthony always regarded as one of her
most enjoyable resting-places in her many trips through Michigan. Mrs.
Hall had contributed hundreds of dollars to the cause of woman
suffrage, and made a number of timely presents to Miss Anthony for her
personal use.
From Michigan they went to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the suffrage
association of Toledo. It is worthy of note that Miss Anthony had helped
organize this society in the house of Mrs. Hall, who lived there at that
time. She was here, as always when in this city, the guest of her
friend, Anna C. Mott, whose father and uncle, Richard and James Mott,
were her staunch supporters from the early days of the abolition
movement. The papers contained long and flattering notices, which had
now become so customary that to quote one is to give the substance of
all.
Miss Anthony lectured in Baltimore February 13, going from there to
Washington. The convention opened in Metzerott's Music Hall, February
15, welcomed by Commissioner John W. Ross, of the District. Among the
speakers were Senator Carey and Representative Coffeen, of Wyoming;
Senator Teller and Representatives Bell and Pence, of Colorado; Senator
Peffer and Representatives Davis, Broderick, Curtis and Simpson, of
Kansas; ex-Senator Bruce, of Mississippi; Hon. Simon Wolf, of the
District; Catherine H. Spence, of New Zealand; Miss Windeyer, of
Australia; Hannah K. Korany, of Syria; Kate Field; and Mary Lowe
Dickinson, secretary King's Daughters.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Yours truly, Kate Field"]
Appropriate memorial services were held for the distinguished dead of
the past year who had rendered especial service to the cause of woman
suffrage: Lucy Stone, George W. Childs, Leland Stanford, Elizabeth
Peabody, Elizabeth Oakes Smith. Eloquent tributes were offered by the
various members of the convention, and Miss Anthony added one to Mary F.
Seymour, founder of the Business Woman's Journal. The death of Myra
Bradwell, editor Legal News, occurred too late for her honored name to
be included in these services. Bishop Phillips Brooks and ex-President
Rutherford B. Hayes, both of whom had unequivocally expressed themselves
in favor of suffrage for women, also had died in 1893.
At the opening session, on Miss Anthony's birthday, she was presented by
the enfranchised women of Wyoming and Colorado with a beautiful silk
flag which bore two shining stars on its blue field. She accepted it
with much emotion, saying: "I have heard of standard bearers in the army
who carried the banners to the topmost ramparts of the enemy, and there
I am going to try to carry this banner. You know without my telling how
proud I am of this flag, and how my heart is touched by this
manifestation." From the ladies of Georgia came a box of fresh flowers,
and among other pleasant remembrances were seventy-four American Beauty
roses from Mrs. S. E. Gross, of Chicago. A little later, when Virginia
D. Young brought the greetings of South Carolina, Miss Anthony said:
I think the most beautiful part of our coming together in
Washington for the last twenty-five years, has been that more
friendships, more knowledge of each other have come through the
hand-shakes here, than would have been possible through any other
instrumentality. I shall never cease to be grateful for all the
splendid women who have come up to this great center for these
twenty-six conventions, and have learned that the North was not
such a cold place as they had believed; I have been equally glad
when we came down here and met the women from the sunny South and
found they were just like ourselves, if not a little better. In
this great association, we know no North, no South, no East, no
West. This has been our pride for twenty-six years. We have no
political party. We never have inquired what anybody's religion
was. All we ever have asked is simply, "Do you believe in perfect
equality for women?" That is the one article in our creed.
There were many pleasant newspaper comments on Miss Anthony's
re-election, among them the following from the Chicago Journal:
The national suffrage association honored itself yesterday by again
electing to its presidency Susan B. Anthony. She has suffered long
for a cause she believes to be right, and it is fitting that in
these later years of her active life, when the cause has become
popular, she should wear the honors her patient, persistent
endeavor has won. Susan B. Anthony is one of the most remarkable
products of this century. She is not a successful writer; she is
not a great speaker, although a most effective one; but she has a
better quality than genius. She is the soul of honesty; she
possesses the gift of clear discrimination--of seeing the main
point--and of never-wavering loyalty to the issue at hand....
For more than forty years she has led the women of America through
the wilderness of doubt, and now from Pisgah's heights looks over
into the Canaan land of triumphant victory. Past the allotted time
of threescore years and ten, Miss Anthony may never cross the
Jordan of her hopes, but she has led her hosts safely through the
gravest dangers and trained up others well fitted to wear the
mantle of leadership. It is the hope of all who have learned to
know and appreciate this heroic woman, that her wise counsel and
earnest, faithful spirit may long continue to inspire and direct
the affairs of this great association.
The office of national organizer was created and Carrie Chapman Catt
elected to fill it. The association accepted an invitation to hold the
next meeting in Atlanta, Ga. At the close of the convention a hearing
was granted by the Senate and House committees. Miss Anthony introduced
the various speakers, representing all sections of the country, and at
the conclusion one of the new members came to her and said earnestly:
"If you had but adopted this course earlier, your cause would have been
won long ago." He was considerably surprised when she informed him that
they had had just such hearings as this for the past twenty-six years.
The legislature of New York had ordered the necessary measures to be
taken for a delegate convention to revise the constitution. Governor
Hill in 1887 and Governor Flower in 1892 had recommended that women
should have a representation in this convention. The bill, as it finally
passed both branches of the legislature, provided that any male or
female citizen above the age of twenty-one should be eligible to
election as delegate. When the district conventions were called to
choose these, both Democrats and Republicans refused to nominate any
woman. As the delegates would draw $10 a day for five months, the
political plums were entirely too valuable to give to a disfranchised
class. The Republicans of Miss Anthony's district would not consider
even her nomination, although she was recognized as the peer of any man
in the State in a knowledge of constitutional law. The Democrats in that
district, who were in a hopeless minority, made the one exception and,
as a compliment, nominated Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, who ran several
hundred votes ahead of the ticket.
The women then proceeded to inaugurate a great campaign in order to
create a public sentiment which would demand from this convention an
amendment conferring suffrage on women. To begin this, which would
require a vast amount of money, they had not a dollar. No delegate owed
his election to a woman, nor could any woman further his ambition for
future honors to which his record in this body might prove a
stepping-stone. So far as any political power was concerned, women were
of less force than the proverbial fly on the wagon wheel, and the
majority of men who go into a convention of this kind do so from that
particular sort of lofty patriotism which sees an official position in
the near or distant future. On the other hand, the element which is
forever and unalterably opposed to any move in the direction of suffrage
for women, represented the dominant financial and political power in the
greatest metropolis in America, whose ramifications extend to every
city, village and cross-roads in the State. With its money and its votes
this element can make and unmake politicians at will, and under present
conditions, with the ballot in the hands of men only, it is virtually an
impossibility for a candidate to be elected if this organization exert
its influence against him. How to persuade the parties and the
individual men to risk defeat until they succeed in the enfranchisement
of women, which alone will destroy the absolute domination of this
oligarchy, is a problem yet to be solved. That the women of New York
dared attempt it, showed courage and determination of the highest order.
This necessarily had to be a campaign of education, of forming new
public sentiment and putting into definite shape that which already
existed. This could be done in four ways: by organization, by petitions,
by literature and by speeches. The petitions were put into circulation
in 1893.[89] As it would be necessary to use every dollar to the very
best advantage, the Anthony home in Rochester was put at the service of
the committee in order to save rent. Practically every room in the house
was called into requisition. The parlors became public offices; the
guest chamber was transformed into a mailing department; Miss Anthony's
study was an office by day and a bedroom by night; and even
the dining-room and kitchen were invaded. Here Mary S. Anthony,
corresponding secretary, and Mrs. Martha R. Almy,
vice-president-at-large, with a force of clerks, worked day and night
from December, 1893, to July, 1894, sending out thousands of letters,
petition blanks, leaflets, suffrage papers, etc.[90] The letter boxes
were wholly inadequate, and the post-office daily sent mail-sacks to the
house, which were filled and set out on the front porch to be collected.
Hither came every day the State president, Mrs. Greenleaf, who toiled
without ceasing from daylight till dark; and into this busy hive Miss
Anthony rushed from the lecture field every Saturday to get the report
of the work and consult as to the best methods for the coming week. It
is not possible to describe in detail the vast amount of labor performed
at these headquarters, but it is thus summed up in the report of the
corresponding secretary:
... Add to the correspondence incident to the circulation of our
great petition, the sending out of nearly 5,000 blank
petition-books and instructions to insure the work's being properly
done, literature for free distribution, the planning and arranging
for sixty mass meetings in as many counties, and we have a task
before which Hercules himself might well stand aghast. To
accomplish this work has taken not only the entire time of your
corresponding secretary, but that of our president, Mrs.
Greenleaf, for a full year. Hundreds of women over all the State
worked as never before, petitions in hand, travelling from house to
house in all sorts of weather to secure the names of people who
believe in the right of women to a voice in the government under
which they live.
[Illustration: Mary S. Anthony (Signed: "Your Sister Mary S. Anthony")]
It has so often been asserted by those in power that when any
considerable number of women wanted to vote, there would be perfect
freedom for them to do so, that it was now decided thoroughly to
test the truth of such assertion. Over 332,000 individual names,
more than half being those of women, were thus actually obtained,
neatly put up in book form and presented to the Constitutional
Convention with a feeling that such a showing could not, by any
possible means, fail to make the men of that convention and of the
State clearly understand that _women do want to vote_.[91]
[Illustration: Autograph: "Lillie Devereux Blake"]
The entire management of New York City was put in charge of Lillie
Devereux Blake, and Brooklyn in that of Mariana W. Chapman. While the
petition work was going forward a great series of mass meetings was in
progress, for which Miss Anthony, who knew every foot of New York State
as well as her own dooryard, mapped out the routes. The management of
these was placed in the hands of Harriet May Mills and Mary G. Hay, who
proved remarkably efficient. Rev. Anna Shaw spoke at over forty of these
meetings and Mary Seymour Howell at a large number. Several speakers
from outside the State came in at different times and rendered excellent
service. Carrie Chapman Catt made nearly forty speeches in New York,
Brooklyn and vicinity. Miss Anthony herself, at the age of seventy-four,
spoke in every one of the sixty counties of the State, beginning at
Albion, January 22, and ending at Glens Falls, April 28.[92]
The campaign opened with a mass meeting at Rochester, of which the
Democrat and Chronicle said in a leading editorial: "In pursuance of a
call signed by over a hundred prominent citizens, a public meeting will
be held January 8.... This should be largely attended, not only in honor
of our distinguished townswoman, Miss Susan B. Anthony, but to declare
in terms which can not be mistaken that the constitution should be
revised. The negro and the Indian have been enfranchised; women alone
remain under political disabilities. They demand justice. Let it be
granted freely, and without any exhibition of that selfishness which has
so long kept them waiting."
Judge George F. Danforth presided over this meeting and among the
prominent citizens on the platform were Dr. E. M. Moore, Rev. Asa Saxe,
Eugene T. Curtis, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Howell and Miss Anthony, all of
whom made strong speeches in favor of the amendment. The list of
vice-presidents comprised the leading men and women of the city.
Forcible resolutions were presented by Henry C. Maine, and letters of
approval read from Judge Thomas Raines, Rev. H. H. Stebbins, of the
Central Presbyterian church, and others. The papers said, "Miss Anthony
went home as happy as a young girl after her first ball."
On January 9 Miss Anthony addressed the Political Equality Club of
Syracuse, and a handsome reception was given to Elizabeth Smith Miller
and herself by its president, Mrs. E. S. Jenney. The next day, she went
to a big rally at Buffalo, under the auspices of the city suffrage club,
Dr. Sarah Morris, president, where speeches were made by Judge Stern,
Rabbi Aaron, Rev. Joseph K. Mason and others. On the 22d, the great
sweep of county mass meetings began.[93] The scrap-books containing the
voluminous accounts show that usually the audiences were large and
sympathetic; that the newspapers, almost without exception, gave full
and friendly reports, and although most of them were non-committal in
the editorial columns, a number came out strongly in favor of having a
suffrage amendment incorporated in the constitution. "Oh, if those who
attend our meetings could do the voting," wrote Miss Anthony, "it would
carry overwhelmingly, but alas, the riff-raff, the paupers, the
drunkards, the very chain-gang that I see passing the house on their way
to and from the jail, will make their influence felt on the members of
the Constitutional Convention." In another letter she said: "I am in the
midst of as severe a treadmill as I ever experienced, travelling from
fifty to one hundred miles every day and speaking five or six nights a
week. How little women know of the power of organization and how
constantly we are confronted with the lack of it!"[94]
Most of the other speakers were paid for their services but Miss Anthony
would not accept a dollar for hers, and refused to take even her
travelling expenses out of the campaign fund. That year she received the
bequest of her friend, Mrs. Eliza J. Clapp, of Rochester, who had died
in 1892, leaving her $1,000 to use as she pleased. The court costs were
$55 and she received $945. Although she was drawing from her small
principal for her current expenses, she gave $600 of this to the State
of New York and $400 to the national association, paying the court fees
out of her own pocket.
A new and gratifying feature of this campaign was the interest taken by
the women of wealth and social position in New York and Brooklyn.
Heretofore it had seemed impossible to arouse any enthusiasm on the
question of woman's enfranchisement among this class. Surrounded by
every luxury and carefully protected from contact with the hard side of
life, they felt no special concern in the conditions which made the
struggle for existence so difficult among the masses of women. All of a
sudden they seemed to awake to the importance of the great issue which
was agitating the State. This possibly may have been because it met the
approval of many of the leading men of New York, for among those who
signed the petition were Chauncey M. Depew, Russell Sage, Frederick
Coudert, Rev. Heber Newton, Rev. W. S. Rainsford, Bishop Potter, Rabbi
Gottheil, John D. Rockefeller, Robert J. Ingersoll, William Dean Howells
and others of the representative men of the city. The wives of these
gentlemen opened their elegant parlors for suffrage meetings, and in a
short time the following card was sent to a large number of people:
A committee of ladies invite you and all the adult members of your
household, to call at Sherry's on any Saturday in March and April,
between 9 and 6 o'clock, to sign a petition to strike out, in our
State Constitution, the word "male" as a qualification for voters.
Circulars explaining the reason for this request may be obtained at
the same time and place.--Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, Mrs. Joseph
H. Choate, Mrs. Mary Putnam Jacobi, Mrs. J. Warren Goddard, Mrs.
Robert Abbe, Mrs. Henry M. Sanders, Miss Adele M. Fielde.
Sherry, the famous restaurateur, placed one of his handsomest rooms at
the disposal of the ladies and, for many weeks, one or more of them
might always be found there ready to receive signatures to the
petitions. The New York World expressed the situation in a strong
article, saying in part:
Within the month there has been a sudden and altogether unexpected
outbreak of the woman suffrage movement in New York.... Some one
gave a signal and from all parts of the State rose the cry for the
enfranchisement of women. It is not hard to discover the original
cause which set on foot the insurrection--for in a certain sense it
is an insurrection. It was an appeal which appeared in the latter
part of February and was signed by many eminent men and women. Here
were nearly twoscore of names, as widely known and honorable as any
in this State--names of people of the highest social standing, not
because of extravagant display or fashionable raiment, but because
of distinction in intellect, in philanthropy and in the history of
the State. The reason of the coming of the petition just at this
time was, of course, plain. The meeting of the Constitutional
Convention would be the one chance of the woman suffragists in
twenty years....
It will be noticed that these women are in Mr. McAllister's Four
Hundred, but not of it. They do not go in for frivolity. They go in
for charity, for working among the masses, for elevating standards
of living and morals in the slums of the city. They have awakened
to the fact of the other half, and of how that other half lives,
and they have expressed their indignation over the small salaries
paid women for doing men's work; over the dishonest men in
political places, put there because they could vote and control the
votes of a number of saloon loungers; over the wretched lot of the
woman school teacher, ill-paid and neglected because useless on
election day.
And to go back a little further, the most of these society women
are the products of that higher education which the pioneer
suffragists made possible. They are women of wide reading, of
independent thought, of much self-reliance. They began to wonder
why they could not vote, when the sloping-shouldered,
sloping-skulled youths who proposed to marry them, or had married
them, had that right and did not exercise it and showed no
information and no concern as to the rottenness of the local
government.... The upper class of women are enlisted. Woman
suffrage is the one interesting subject of discussion in the whole
fashionable quarter.
This campaign brought also another surprise. In all the forty years of
suffrage work, one of the stumbling-blocks had been the utter apathy of
women themselves, who took no interest either for or against, but now
they seemed to be aroused all along the line. In Albany a small body of
women calling themselves "Remonstrants" suddenly sprung into existence.
For a number of years there had been a handful of women in Massachusetts
under that title, but this was the first appearance of the species in
New York. They seemed to be fathered by Bishop William Croswell Doane,
and mothered by Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn. Seven men and a number of women
were present at the first meeting in that lady's parlor, and they formed
an organization to counteract the vicious efforts of those women who
were asking for political freedom. Evidently under the direction of her
spiritual adviser, Mrs. Pruyn submitted a set of resolutions, which were
adopted, begging the Constitutional Convention "not to strike out the
word 'male';" setting forth "that suffrage was not a natural right; that
there was no reason why this privilege should be extended to women; that
no taxation without representation did not mean that every citizen
should vote; that universal suffrage was a mistake; that the possession
of the suffrage would take women into conflicts for which they were
wholly unfitted; and that it would rudely disturb the strong and growing
spirit of chivalry." Another branch was formed in Brooklyn with Mrs.
Lyman Abbott at its head and the Outlook at its back, edited by Rev.
Lyman Abbott. A society appeared in New York at about the same time and
opened headquarters at the Waldorf. There was also an "Anti" club at
Utica.[95]
The Democrat and Chronicle published a long interview with Miss Anthony
in regard to these "Remonstrants," from which the following is an
extract:
"This opposition movement is not the work of women," she said,
"although it has that appearance. There was held in Albany
yesterday afternoon a meeting at which resolutions condemning our
work were adopted. Listen to the names of the women who were
present. Do you see that they are all Mrs. John and Mrs. George and
Mrs. William this and that? There is not a woman's first name in
the whole list, and I do not see a Miss, either. This goes to show
that the women are simply put forward by their husbands.
"Another point: These men who are stirring up the opposition would
not only deny the right of women to vote but would qualify the word
'male' as it now stands in the constitution. They say in so many
words in their resolutions that the right of suffrage is already
extended to too many men; and they pay a doubtful compliment to the
intelligence of their mothers, wives and sisters by adding that the
class of undesirable voters would be swelled by giving the ballot
to women. These are men of wealth who would confine the exercise of
the right of suffrage to their own class--in fact would make this
government an aristocracy."
These new organizations seemed to be abundantly supplied with money, but
though they were able to pay for the work of circulating petitions,
which with the suffrage advocates had to be a labor of love, they
secured only 15,000 signatures. The petitions asking for a suffrage
amendment received 332,148 individual signatures, including the 36,000
collected by the W. C. T. U. In addition to these the New York
Federation of Labor sent in a memorial representing 140,000; the Labor
Reform Conference, 70,000; several Trades Unions, 1,396; Granges,
50,000; total, 593,544. Added to these were petitions from a number of
societies, making in round numbers about 600,000. It had been
impossible, for several reasons, to make a thorough canvass, and this
was especially true of New York and Brooklyn, containing half the
population of the State; and yet there were over one-half as many
signers as there were voters in the entire State.
The Constitutional Convention assembled in Albany, May 8, and elected
Joseph H. Choate, of New York City, president. Although only a few
months previous he had expressed himself favorable to woman suffrage,
all his influence in the convention was used against it. Mr. Choate,
according to universal opinion, accepted this office with the
expectation that it would lead to his nomination as governor of the
State, and he had no intention of offending the power behind the
gubernatorial chair. The amendment was doomed from the moment of his
election. His first move was to appoint a committee to have charge of
all suffrage amendments, and on this committee of seventeen he placed
twelve men, carefully selected, because they were known to be strongly
opposed to woman suffrage. He appointed as chairman a man who could be
depended on to hesitate at no means which would secure its defeat.[96]
In all his efforts to kill the amendment beyond hope of resurrection,
Mr. Choate was actively supported by his first lieutenant, Hon. Elihu
Root, also of New York City.
Having ruined all the chances of the amendment, President Choate then
announced that every courtesy and consideration would be extended to the
ladies having it in charge. Miss Anthony was invited to address the
suffrage committee May 24, and the hearing was held in the Assembly room
of the Capitol. Not only the committee but most of the delegates were in
their seats and a large audience was present. This was said to be one of
her best efforts and she seemed to have almost the complete sympathy of
her audience. She spoke for three-quarters of an hour, and then urged
that those opposed should state their reasons and give her an
opportunity to answer them. Although there were twelve men on the
committee who even then intended to bring in an adverse report, and
ninety-eight delegates who afterwards voted against it, not one could be
persuaded to rise and present his objections. It was said by many that
if the vote could have been taken at that moment, no power could have
prevented a majority in favor.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Very truly yours, Mary Putnam Jacobi"]
The women of New York City were accorded a hearing May 31, and it was on
this occasion, with the petitions of the 600,000 stacked on a table in
front of her, that Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi made that masterly speech
which ranks as a classic. Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler, in a
beautiful address, also spoke in behalf of the "Sherry contingent." The
regular New York City League was ably represented by Lillie Devereux
Blake and Harriet A. Keyser. The platform was filled with the
distinguished women of the State, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Greenleaf and Dr.
Jacobi occupying the central position.
On June 7 a hearing was granted to the women from the senatorial
districts, each presenting in a five-minute speech the claims of the
thousands of petitioners from her district. Among these speakers were
some of the best-known women in the State, socially and intellectually;
and a number of others, of equal standing, who never had taken part in
public work and who now left their homes only to plead for the power
which would enable women better to conserve the interests of home.[97]
The State president, Mrs. Greenleaf, presided over all of these
hearings, her commanding presence, great dignity and fine mental power
giving especial prestige to these bodies of women, who in character and
intellect could not be surpassed. The final hearing of those in favor of
the amendment was held June 28, when U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who
had come by urgent invitation, made a most convincing speech, describing
the practical workings of woman suffrage in Wyoming and urging the men
of New York to enfranchise the women of the State. He was followed by
Mrs. Mary T. Burt, representing the W. C. T. U., and by Mary Seymour
Howell.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Your cause has become the cause of states and
nations. Your success will form a [illegible] for the generations to
come. Sincerely Yours, Joseph M. Carey"]
One hearing was given to the "Remonstrants," or "Antis," as the press
had dubbed them. Because of their extreme modesty, and for other more
obvious reasons, they did not make their own appeals but were
represented by the male of their species. Their petition was presented
by Elihu Root. Hon. Francis M. Scott, whose wife was one of the leading
"Antis" in New York, made the principal address. He described
pathetically the timid and shrinking class of women for whom he pleaded,
insisted that the legislature never had refused women anything they
asked, declared the suffrage advocates represented only an
"insignificant minority,"[98] and closed with the eloquent peroration:
"I vote, not because I am intelligent, not because I am moral, but
solely and simply because I am a man." Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, Hon.
Matthew Hale and J. Newton Fiero were the other speakers. The first
individual did not believe in universal manhood suffrage and could not
favor anything which would double the vote. Mr. Hale devoted most of his
argument to the so-called "bad women," declaring there were over 100,000
of them in the State who would sell their votes as they did their
bodies--enough to overcome the votes of the virtuous women. Mr. Fiero
said woman was unfitted for the ballot because she was influenced by
pity, passion and prejudice rather than by judgment. A letter was read
from Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, objecting to the amendment because the
majority of women do not care to vote.
These insults to their sex seemed very acceptable to the fashionably
dressed "Antis" who occupied the front rows of seats. How far their
influence affected the adverse vote of the convention it is of course
impossible to determine. While the liquor dealers were sending to
wavering members their kegs of beer and jugs of whiskey, the "Antis"
supplemented their efforts with champagne suppers, flowers, music and
low-necked dresses. And the suffrage advocates hoped to offset these
political methods by trudging through mud and snow with their petitions
and using their scanty funds to send out literature! A mistaken policy,
perhaps, but the only one possible to the class of women who are asking
for enfranchisement.
The committee, as had been foreordained, brought in an adverse report.
The evenings of August 8, 9, 14 and 15, were devoted to a discussion of
this report. The Assembly chamber was crowded at each session. The women
had known for weeks that they were defeated but had not abated their
efforts in the slightest degree. Their work was now finished and they
assembled in large numbers to hear the final debate. The amendment had,
from first to last, an able and earnest champion in Edward Lauterbach,
of New York, who opened the discussion in a speech of an hour and a
quarter, said to have been the ablest made in the convention. Nineteen
members spoke in favor and fourteen in opposition. The debate throughout
was serious and respectful and as dignified as was possible with the
frivolous objections made by the opponents. The delegates showed an
evident appreciation of the importance of the question at issue, which
was about to be sacrificed as usual to political exigency.
The opponents were led by Elihu Root, of New York, who begged
pathetically that "we be not robbed of the women of our homes;" and
declared that "he would hesitate to put into the hands of women the
right to defend his wife and the women he loved and respected." William
P. Goodelle, of Syracuse, chairman of the committee, closed the
discussion with a long speech in which he asserted that "the question
was not whether large numbers of male and female citizens asked for
woman suffrage, or protested against it, or are taxed or not, but was it
for the benefit of the State?" This being the case, why did Mr. Goodelle
not favor its being submitted to the voters of the State in order that
they might decide?
It required an hour and a half to take the vote, as most of the members
found it necessary to explain why they voted as they did. While it was
being taken President Choate left his chair and talked earnestly with
many of the delegates--probably about the weather--stopping occasionally
to receive the approving smiles of the "Antis." When his name was called
for the last vote he recorded himself against the amendment, and the
great battle was over![99] In favor of submission 58, opposed 98.
No question before the convention had attracted so much attention
throughout the State. The New York Recorder led the newspapers which
championed the submission of the amendment, and Harper's Weekly and the
Evening Post were prominent among the opposition, a mighty descent from
the days when they were under the editorial management of George William
Curtis and William Cullen Bryant. The day after the vote was taken the
suffrage committee closed its Albany headquarters in the Capitol and the
ladies returned to their homes. They had raised $10,000 and expended it
in the most economical manner; they had given a year of the hardest and
most conscientious work; and they did not regret a dollar of the money
or a day of the time.[100] In her president's report Mrs. Jean Brooks
Greenleaf said:
These days will never be forgotten by the trio of the State
committee who daily met to work and plan--to make the campaign
"bricks" without financial "straw." No one with a heart will recall
the pecuniary distress of last winter without a shudder, and to
those who had, what was in their estimation, a cause at stake
precious as life itself, the outlook was often well nigh
disheartening.... Could the full history of the past winter's work
be given, the doubts expressed of woman's desire for the ballot
would be set at rest forever. No more pathetic stories are told of
the struggle for liberty in the days of the Revolution than could
be told of the women of New York in this campaign....
In closing, we come to the name of one who, we all know, is the
inspired leader of women up the heights of honor, purity and
self-devotion--Susan B. Anthony. To her marvellous energy and
resolution we owe both the conception and the success of this
wonderful campaign. In her seventy-fifth year she started out as
one of the principal speakers to be heard in the sixty counties of
the State; never once did she fail to keep an appointment, never
once did she cry a halt.... This noble woman, leaving a home of
which she is as fond as any woman can be, travelled night or day,
as the case required, not only speaking, but plying her busy
pen--and all for what? Not for money, for she has stoutly refused
to receive one penny of a salary, which, had it been paid, would
have exceeded the sum of $3,000. She gave her services for love of
liberty and justice, with the hope that New York would prove to be
in truth the Empire State of the Union.
From the hour when she learned that a Constitutional Convention would be
held, up to the opening of this convention, Miss Anthony had believed
that it would incorporate a suffrage amendment which, in all
probability, would be allowed by the voters to pass with the rest of the
constitution. She found herself outwitted by the politicians, as she had
been so many times before, but while this defeat was the bitterest
disappointment of her life, it did not crush her dauntless spirit. It
is related of her that as she came down the steps of the Capitol with
the other ladies at midnight, after the vote had been taken, she began
planning another campaign.
Among the many appreciative and sympathetic letters she received at this
time was one from Isabella Charles Davis, secretary International King's
Daughters, saying for herself and Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson: "I do not
believe you know how tenderly we love you and in what high respect and
honor we hold you. Mrs. Dickinson was present at one of those meetings
at Sherry's, and she said the only thing lacking to make the occasion
perfect was dear Miss Anthony's strong, brave face looking down upon the
great multitude." Henry B. Blackwell wrote: "You are to be congratulated
on having made a splendid fight in New York. To have secured 600,000
petitions is itself a victory."
In answer to a letter from Isabel Howland, the efficient State recording
secretary, she expressed the welcome recognition which she always
extended to young workers: "Well, I am truly glad for the discovery of
our twin New York girls, Harriet May Mills and Isabel Howland, who
promise to take up the laboring oar and pull us to the promised land.
Give my warmest regards to your precious mother and aunt Emily; how I
have learned to know and love the two!" She went as a guest of the
Howlands for a few brief days in the Catskills, and they drove over to
Eagle's Nest, in Twilight Park, where Miss Willard and Lady Henry
Somerset were spending the summer.
Miss Anthony lectured at Keuka College, August 7, and on the 22d, gave
the annual address on suffrage, at Cassadaga lake. The next day she
found herself thus reported in the Buffalo Express:
If, instead of Spiritualists, this great body of people had been
Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists or Catholics, their praises for
the firm stand they have taken for the enfranchisement of half the
people of this country, would have been everywhere sung in song and
told in story. But the suffrage women of America always have been
afraid to give voice to the "thank you" in their hearts, for
Spiritualism has been fully as unpopular as woman suffrage; and
they feared if they displayed too much gratitude for this
endorsement the public would at once pronounce them Spiritualists
and they would thus be doubly damned. But there are a few of our
members who are brave enough to rejoice in the damnation of
orthodox religions and orthodox politics!
Her consternation at these closing words was intensified by the letters
which began coming in upon her before forty-eight hours. She wrote at
once to the paper: "This is all right until you come to the last
sentence. I had illustrated also the danger of expressing kind words to
unpopular political parties, and then I concluded--not as printed--but
with: 'There are still a few of us brave enough to rejoice in every good
word and work said and done for woman, and to publicly express our
thanks therefor, notwithstanding the "denunciation" (not damnation) of
orthodox religionists and orthodox politicians.'" The Express published
her correction, but it is doubtful if it ever was able to overtake the
original statement.
Miss Anthony was very anxious to influence the next legislature, through
the public sentiment which had been created, to submit a suffrage
amendment. For this purpose she laid out a plan of work to continue the
organization and petitions, and herself held meetings in a number of
counties. It was decided by the committee to go before the Republican
and Democratic State Conventions, which were to be held at Saratoga. An
address was prepared and a resolution asking for an endorsement of a
woman suffrage amendment. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Greenleaf and Mr.
Lauterbach went before the resolution committee, September 18, which
allowed five minutes for the three to present their case, and never gave
it one minute's attention afterwards.
Frances Willard and Lady Somerset came down from their mountain retreat
to attend this convention, and after their return Miss Willard wrote:
"... As for you, our leader of leaders, I wish I could transfer to your
brain all the loving thoughts and words of our trio toward you. As you
stood before that roomful of people, so straight and tall and masterful,
with that fine senatorial head and face, on which the strength and
heroism of your character are so plainly marked, I thought, 'There is
one of the century's foremost figures; there is the woman who has been
faithful among the faithless and true among the false!'"
[Illustration: Autograph: "I am with sisterly regard, Frances E
Willard"]
Five minutes allowed such women! Had they represented an enfranchised
class, the whole committee would have been at their feet.
Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Greenleaf went to the Democratic
convention and met with about the same experience. They were permitted
to address the resolution committee and bowed out as quickly as
possible. There was no especial rudeness or discourtesy, but they had no
constituency behind them, no political power, and in the hurry and worry
of a State convention the men did not care to waste time with them, even
had they been the most eminent women on the face of the earth.
Miss Anthony had a number of urgent invitations to spend the hot months
of July, August and September at various charming summer homes in the
mountains and at the seaside, but she declined all and resolutely
continued at work. The hardest for her to resist had been a triumphant
call from the women of Colorado to come and help them celebrate the
Fourth of July. It was to be the jubilee of their political
emancipation, the first since their enfranchisement. The State
president, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, wrote: "The women of Colorado feel
that their precious holiday will be less precious if the beloved
suffrage leader and the suffrage flag are not present." At first she
sent an acceptance, but later, affairs in New York became so pressing
that she was obliged, most reluctantly, to recall it. After filling an
engagement to lecture before the alumnae of the Girls' Normal School in
Philadelphia, October 13, she started on the 16th for the final struggle
in Kansas.
FOOTNOTES:
[89] In November of this year Miss Anthony called at the office of the
New York Sun and had an interview with Mr. Dana, who always had
maintained that when any considerable number of women expressed a desire
for the ballot, the men would grant it. She asked him how many names
would suffice and he replied: "If you can get a petition of 100,000
women it will be amply sufficient to compel the convention to submit the
amendment." Although more than twice this number signed the petition,
Mr. Dana's very first editorial after the convention had refused to
submit the amendment, declared the reason was that not enough women had
asked for it!
[90] A salary was voted to Mary Anthony which she declined to accept;
Mrs. Almy received $50 a month; the clerks either donated their services
or gave them for a mere trifle.
[91] The president's report pays this tribute:
"The corresponding secretary, Miss Mary S. Anthony, ostensibly had
charge of the department of distribution and State correspondence, but
all this was only a small fraction of the labor performed by her. Being
president of the local club of Rochester, she had charge of the canvass
of that city; and it is enough to say that no city or town equalled hers
in the work done or results obtained. As our chieftain was leading our
hosts through the State, the housekeeping, too, fell to the said
secretary's charge and, it being convenient for the speakers and
managers to stay at headquarters when in town, her family was seldom a
small one; and all this gratuitously, be it understood. I can not hope
to tell the story in full, but I trust I have said enough to cause you
all, when you say, "God bless Susan B. Anthony," to add "and her sister
Mary, also."
[92] During this time Miss Anthony gave ten days to the national
convention in Washington; and the day after the last of the mass
meetings she started for Kansas; stopped in Cincinnati for the Ohio
convention, speaking each of the three days; opened the Kansas campaign
May 4, spoke in that State every day for two weeks; and on May 21
presented herself, fresh and cheerful, at the Constitutional Convention
in Albany, N. Y.
[93] As has been noted, Miss Anthony spoke at Ann Arbor, Mich., January
13, 14, 15, 16 and 17; at Toledo the 19th, and was ready to open the New
York campaign the 22d.
[94] In December Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton had issued an address
calling upon the women of New York to unite in this grand effort for
political freedom. During the entire campaign Mrs. Stanton contributed
to the New York Sun masterly arguments for woman suffrage, which were
widely copied by the press of the State.
[95] Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker, a newspaper woman of Rochester, attempted
to organize a club there and secure a petition in opposition to the
amendment. Her efforts evidently did not meet with marked success for,
in a letter to the New York Evening Post, she says, "In offering the
'protest' for signatures, quality rather than quantity has been
considered." That prince of editors, Joseph O'Connor, at that time in
charge of the Rochester Post-Express, gave the lady a delicious dressing
down in an editorial beginning: "What is 'quality'?" and ending:
"Probably she means no more by the offensive words 'quality' and
'quantity' than this--that she has secured to the protest only the
signatures of a few representative women, no better and no worse than
many of their opponents. Such an interpretation saves the statement from
being insulting; but unhappily very many women in Rochester give it a
different interpretation."
[96] Mr. Choate might claim that he did not know the position of these
men on this question, but it was so well understood that Miss Anthony
and her associates felt all hope depart when they read the names of the
committee. John Bigelow and Gideon J. Tucker had favored a woman
suffrage amendment when they were members of the Constitutional
Convention in 1867, but, being now over eighty, were not able to make an
aggressive fight for it.
[97] The addresses made on this occasion were issued in pamphlet form
and presented to the suffrage association by Messrs. Lauterbach and
Towns, of the committee.
[98] Although their petitions contained 600,000 names and those of the
"Antis" 15,000.
[99] Mrs. Choate was one of the women who signed the first call for the
suffrage advocates to meet at Sherry's; just as, in 1867, Mrs. Greeley
canvassed her whole county to secure signatures to the woman's petition.
Horace Greeley, as chairman of the suffrage committee of that
Constitutional Convention, threw the whole weight of his influence
against the amendment, lest it might hurt the Republican party; just as
Mr. Choate did in this one, lest it might hurt the party and himself.
Significant answers to the threadbare assertion that the husband
represents the wife!
[100] From official report: Emily Howland generously contributed $1,200.
That staunch friend, Sarah L. Willis, of Rochester, gave $720. Abby L.
Pettengill, of Chautauqua county, gave $220. General Christiansen, of
Brooklyn, began the contributions of $100, of which there were, if I
mistake not, seven others from our own State--Semantha V. Lapham,
Ebenezer Butterick, of New York, Mrs. H. S. Holden, of Syracuse, Marian
Skidmore, of Chautauqua county, Hannah L. Howland, of Sherwood, Mr. and
Mrs. James Sargent and Colonel H. S. Greenleaf, of Rochester, completing
the number.