THE CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN.
1896.
In their State convention of 1894 the Republicans of California had
adopted the strongest possible plank in favor of woman suffrage and, as
the legislature the next year was Republican by a considerable majority,
Clara Foltz and Laura de Force Gordon, attorneys, and Nellie Holbrook
Blinn, at that time State president, Mrs. Peet, Madame Sorbier, Mrs.
Bidwell, Mrs. Spencer, of Lassen county, and others made a determined
effort to secure a bill enfranchising women. That failing, the
legislature consented to submit an amendment to the constitution to be
voted on in 1896. This bill was signed by Governor James H. Budd and the
women then prepared to canvass the State to secure a favorable majority.
Out of the officers of the State suffrage association and the amendment
committee, a joint campaign committee was formed and, in addition to
this, a State central committee.[118] These two constituted the working
force at State headquarters. There were also speakers and organizers,
and a regularly officered society in each county, co-operating with the
officials at headquarters.
At the request of the State committee Miss Anthony's niece, Lucy E., for
seven years Miss Shaw's secretary and thoroughly experienced in planning
and arranging meetings, went out early in February to assist Dr.
Elizabeth Sargent in the preparations for the first series of
conventions. She carried with her a complete list, made by Miss Anthony
herself with great labor and care, of every town of over two hundred
inhabitants in every county in the State, with instructions to plan for
a meeting there during the campaign. One scarcely can describe the
perplexing work of these young women in arranging this great sweep of
conventions, two days in every county seat, each convention overlapping
the next, getting the speakers from one to the other on time, finding
women in each town or city who would take charge of local arrangements,
and rounding up the whole series in season for the Woman's Congress in
May. In March the campaign committee invited Mary G. Hay, who had had
twelve years' experience in organization work, and Harriet May Mills,
the State organizer of New York, to manage the conventions; and Rev.
Anna Shaw and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates as speakers. It is impossible
to follow these meetings in detail further than to say that, with but
few exceptions, they were very successful, the audiences were large and
cordial, clubs were formed, much suffrage sentiment was created, and the
conventions considerably more than paid all expenses. The women of
California possessed ability, energy, patriotism and desire for
political freedom, but up to this time they had no conception of the
immense amount of money and work which would be required for a campaign.
As soon as they grasped the situation they were fully equal to its
demands and never in all the history of the movement was so much
splendid work done, or so large a fund raised, by the women of any
State.
[Illustration: Ellen Clark Sargent (Signed: "Ellen Clark Sargent.")]
It was unanimously agreed that Miss Anthony should remain in San
Francisco, answering the numerous calls for addresses in that city and
the surrounding towns, and having general oversight of the campaign.
Mrs. Sargent assigned to her the largest, sunniest room in her spacious
home, but her hospitality and her services to the cause of the amendment
did not end here. Another large apartment was appropriated to Rev. Anna
Shaw and her secretary. The room formerly used as the senator's
office was dedicated to the work, the typewriters ensconced there, and
it soon was crowded with documents, newspapers and all the paraphernalia
of a campaign. In a little while they encroached on the library and it
was filled with the litter. Then a typewriter found its way into one
corner of the long dining-room. The committee meetings were held in the
drawing-room; and, during the whole eight months, there was scarcely a
meal at which there were not from one to half a dozen speakers, members
of committees, out-of-town workers and others besides her family at the
table. Every hour of Mrs. Sargent's and Dr. Elizabeth's time was devoted
to the campaign. The latter was placed at the head of the literary
committee and also took entire charge of the petition work for the
State, involving months of most exacting labor. In addition to all this,
both gave most liberally in money. How much was accomplished by Mrs.
Sargent's quiet influence, her wise and judicial advice, her many
logical and dignified appeals in person and by letter, never can be
estimated.
The State board and committees were composed of women of fine character
and social standing, who commanded the highest respect; and during the
long campaign they put aside every other duty and pleasure and devoted
themselves, mind and body, to the success of the amendment. Across the
bay in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley were a large and active county
society, Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin, president, and city organizations of
women of equal ability and prestige, who were in daily communication
with State headquarters and performed the most valuable and
conscientious work. What was true here was equally so of the women in
all the counties from San Diego to Del Norte. It seems invidious to
mention a single name where so many gave such excellent service. It must
be admitted, however, that while hundreds of women worked for their
political freedom, thousands contributed absolutely nothing in either
money or service; and yet there were many among them who believed fully
in the principle of woman suffrage. They simply allowed domestic duties
or the demands of society or apathetic indifference to prevent their
rendering any assistance, and they could not be prevailed upon even to
give money to help those who performed the labor. If all such had lent
their influence, the women of California today would be enfranchised;
but they left the whole burden to be carried by the few, and these could
not do the work necessary for success, because human nature has its
limits.
The attitude of the press of California deserves especial mention
because to it was largely due the marked consideration which the
suffrage amendment received throughout the State. Miss Anthony met in
California an acquaintance, Mrs. Ida H. Harper, recently of the
editorial staff of the Indianapolis News, and requested her to act as
chairman of the press committee. As the press of San Francisco could
kill the amendment at the very start, if it chose to do so, they decided
to call upon the editors of the daily papers in that city and ascertain
their position. They visited the managing editors of the Call, Examiner,
Chronicle, Post, Report and Bulletin and, without a single exception,
were received with the greatest courtesy and assured that the amendment
and the ladies who were advocating it would be treated with respect,
that there would be no ridiculing, no cartooning and no attempt to
create a sentiment in opposition.
The Post came out editorially in favor of the amendment and established
a half-page department, headed "The New Citizen," which was continued
daily during the campaign, the largest amount of space ever given by any
paper to woman suffrage. Dr. Elizabeth Sargent assumed most of the
responsibility for this department, assisted by members of the staff.
The Report gave editorial endorsement and a double-column department
entitled "The Woman Citizen," edited every Saturday by Winnifred Harper.
The Bulletin expressed itself as friendly and later in the campaign
opened a suffrage department conducted by Eliza D. Keith; but the paper
contained editorials from time to time, which the friends did not
construe as favorable to the measure. The managing editor gave the
ladies to understand that there would be no opposition from the
Chronicle, and during the campaign it contained several strong
editorials, not advocating the amendment, but decidedly favorable to
woman suffrage. This paper also gave a prominent place to a number of
articles from Mrs. Harper and others. Two days before election, however,
it advised its readers to vote against the amendment.
The Examiner was friendly and offered a column on the editorial page of
the Sunday edition, throughout the campaign if Miss Anthony would fill
it. She protested that she was not a writer, but it was only upon this
condition that the space would be given. It was too valuable to be
sacrificed and so she accepted it, and for seven months furnished Sunday
articles of 1,600 words. These were widely copied, not only throughout
the State, but in all parts of the country. Every possible influence was
exerted to persuade William R. Hearst, the proprietor, who was residing
in New York, to bring out the paper editorially in favor of the
amendment. Miss Anthony wrote an earnest personal letter which closed:
"So, I pray you for the love of justice, for the love of your noble
mother, and for the sake of California--lead the way for the Democratic
party of your State to advocate the suffrage amendment. The Examiner has
done splendidly thus far in publishing fair and full reports of our
meetings and articles from our leading suffrage women. The one and only
thing we do ask is that it will editorially champion the amendment as it
will every other measure it believes in which is to be voted upon next
November." All pleadings were in vain and the great paper remained
silent. It did not, however, contain a line in opposition.
During Miss Anthony's visit to San Francisco the previous year, the
Monitor, the official Catholic organ of California, had come out in two
editions with full-page editorials in favor of woman suffrage, as strong
as anything ever written on that subject. When the two ladies called on
the editor, he assured them of his full sympathy and agreed to accept a
series of articles from the chairman of the press committee. These were
published regularly for a time and then suddenly were refused, and every
effort to ascertain the reason was unsuccessful. Miss Anthony called on
him several times and waited for half an hour in his anteroom, but he
declined to see her and, during the remainder of the campaign, the
amendment received no recognition from the Monitor.
The response from the other papers of the State was most remarkable. The
Populist press, without exception, was for woman suffrage. Every
newspaper in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley spoke in favor of the
amendment. The majority of those in Los Angeles and San Diego counties
endorsed it. All but one in San Jose, and all but one in Sacramento, did
likewise. Before the campaign closed, 250 newspapers declared
editorially for the suffrage amendment. Only two of prominence in the
entire State came out boldly in opposition, the Record-Union, of
Sacramento, and the Times of Los Angeles. The former ceased its
opposition some time before election; the latter continued to the end,
ridiculing, misrepresenting, denouncing, and even going to the extent of
grossly caricaturing Miss Anthony.
The Star, the Voice of Labor and other prominent journals published in
the interests of the wage-earning classes; those conducted by the
colored people; the Spanish, French and Italian papers; the leading
Jewish papers; the temperance, the A. P. A. and the Socialist organs;
and many published for individual enterprises, agriculture, insurance,
etc., spoke strongly for the amendment. The firm which supplied plate
matter to hundreds of the smaller papers accepted a short article every
week. There were very few newspapers in the State which did not grant
space for woman suffrage departments, and these were ably edited by the
women of the different localities. Matter on this question was furnished
to the chairman of the press committee by the San Francisco Clipping
Bureau, and these clippings were carefully tabulated and filed. At the
close of the eight months' campaign they numbered 9,000, taken from the
press of California alone. Twenty-seven papers came out in opposition;
these included a number of San Francisco weeklies of a sensational
character and a few published in small towns.
It must be remembered, in this connection, that the woman suffrage
organization had not a dollar to pay for newspaper influence, had no
advertising to bestow, and that even the notices for meetings were
gratuitous. All this advocacy on the part of the papers was purely a
free-will offering and represented the honest and courageous sentiments
of the editors. It is deemed especially worthy of notice because there
was never anything like it in previous suffrage campaigns. Toward the
end, when the influence of the opposition began to do its fatal work,
these papers were closely watched and in not one instance was there a
defection.
Notwithstanding this splendid support of the press, Miss Anthony was
firm in her decision that she would not remain through the campaign
unless the amendment could secure the endorsement of the political
parties, and every energy was directed toward this point. Several of the
Republican county conventions declared for it, and a number of
Republican leaders who were visited, announced themselves in favor of
the plank. The State Convention was to be held May 5. On May 3, the
Sunday edition of the San Francisco Call, the largest and most
influential Republican paper in the State, came out with flaming
headlines declaring boldly and unequivocally for woman suffrage! The
sensation created was tremendous, and amendment stock went up above par.
The Monday and Tuesday editions continued the editorial endorsement,
declaring that the Republican party stood committed to woman suffrage,
and that the Call constituted itself the champion and would carry it to
victory.
Tuesday morning the Republican convention opened at Sacramento. The
woman suffrage delegation, consisting of Mrs. Sargent, Mrs. John F.
Swift, Mrs. Blinn, Mrs. Austin Sperry, Mrs. Knox Goodrich, Miss Anthony,
Rev. Anna Shaw, Miss Hay, Miss Yates, Mrs. Harper, opened their
headquarters at the Golden Eagle Hotel, decorated their parlor with
flowers, spread out their literature and badges and waited for the
delegates. They had not long to wait. With the influence of the Sunday
Call, a copy of which had been laid on the seat of every delegate in the
convention hall, they had a prestige which found favor in the eyes of
the politicians. The visitors came early and stayed late; they went away
and returned bringing their friends to be converted. The Call account
said: "They went in twos and threes, in large groups and in entire
delegations, to pay homage to their more modest workers and apparently
to beg the privilege of serving them." The rooms were crowded until
after midnight.
The delegates put on the badges, and when the convention opened 250 of
them were wearing the little flag with its three stars. The ladies were
given the best seats in the great building. The delegates were divided
into two hostile camps, representing opposite wings of the party, and
the women had to move very carefully, as it was by no means certain
which faction would secure control of the convention. They also had to
frame many non-committal answers to the question, "How do you stand on
the A. P. A.?" The headquarters were thronged with reporters; every
woman was interviewed at length and her opinions telegraphed to the
great San Francisco dailies. Miss Anthony's interviews occupied a column
in the Examiner, each day of the convention. Those alarmists who fear
women will lose the respect of men when they are invested with political
influence should have had this object lesson.
The chairman of the convention was considered not favorable to woman
suffrage. Of the seven men appointed on the resolution committee, five
were said to be opposed to the plank. The spirits of the ladies began to
droop. In the evening permission was given them to address the platform
committee. Mrs. Harper wrote the San Francisco Call:
I wish I could picture that scene. In the small room, seated around
the table, were the seven men who held the fate of this question in
their hands. At one end stood Miss Anthony, the light from above
shining upon her silver hair until it seemed like a halo, and she
spoke as no one ever heard her speak before. On the face of every
delegate was an expression of the deepest seriousness, and before
she had finished tears were in the eyes of more than one. She was
followed by Miss Shaw, who stood there the embodiment of all that
is pure, sweet and womanly, and in a low, clear voice presented the
subject as no one else could have done. As we were about to leave
the room, the chairman said, "Ladies, we will take the vote now, if
you desire." We thanked him, but said no, we would withdraw and
leave them to consider the matter at their leisure.
Within a very few minutes we had their decision--six in favor of
the resolution and one opposed. Here I want to call attention to
one thing. Eight women knew of the favorable action of the
committee by 9 o'clock, but although we were besieged by reporters
and delegates until nearly midnight we gave no sign, and the
Wednesday morning papers could only say that it was probable there
would be a woman suffrage plank. It is charged that women can not
keep a secret, but this is one of those many ancient myths which
take a long time to die.
The plank was adopted next day in the big convention with only one
dissenting voice. The Woman's Congress was in session at San Francisco
and when Mrs. Cooper, its president, stepped forward on the platform and
read the telegram announcing the result, the enthusiasm hardly can be
described. The ladies went down from Sacramento to the Congress the next
day and received a continuous ovation throughout the rest of the
meetings.
Among the pleasant letters which came to Miss Anthony was one from
Abigail Scott Duniway, of Portland, Ore., in which she said: "Your
triumphs in California are marvellous. Hurrah, and again, hurrah! I
believe now the women of the Golden State will win. All honor to you and
your noble confreres!" And one from Lucy Underwood McCann, of Santa
Cruz, saying: "It is to you, most honored and revered of women, we owe
the fact, because of your long martyrdom in this great reform, that we
stand now, as we hope and pray, upon the brink of realization of our
rights. This has been made possible only through the patient toil of
such heroic souls as your own. Your wisdom in planning this campaign, in
which we confidently expect a glorious victory, is our mainstay, upon
which all other hopes depend."
Miss Anthony's happiness over the action of the Republicans knew no
bounds, and she began with renewed courage to prepare for the Populist
convention May 12. The prominent Populists who were visited assured the
ladies that they need not waste time or money going to Sacramento to
secure a plank in their platform, as woman suffrage was one of the
fundamental principles of their party. The suffrage leaders felt,
however, that this convention was entitled to the same courtesy as the
others and they attended in a body, headed by Miss Anthony and Mrs.
Sargent. When they entered the convention hall they were received with
cheers and waving of hats, escorted to the front seats, invited to
address the convention and surrounded by delegates during the recess.
Without any solicitation the resolution committee reported and the
convention adopted a strong woman suffrage plank, and then gave three
cheers for the ladies. They were told that not half a dozen men in that
body were opposed to the amendment.
From here they went to the Prohibition convention at Stockton, were met
at the station by a delegation of ladies, and received with
distinguished consideration by the convention. Miss Anthony was twice
invited to address them, and the plank endorsing the amendment was
adopted by a hearty and unanimous vote. A reception was then held at the
hotel and over a hundred ladies called.
One convention yet remained, the Democratic. While a few of the leaders
of this party were in favor of the amendment, most of them were opposed
and gave no encouragement to the attempt to secure a plank. The ladies,
however, carried out the program, and the same large delegation returned
to Sacramento June 16, the number increased by Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. E. O.
Smith, of San Jose, Mrs. Alice M. Stocker, of Pleasanton, and several
others. A month had intervened and the opposition had had time to
organize. Some of the county conventions had declared against the
amendment and many of the delegates had been instructed to vote against
it.
The suffrage representatives were disappointed in the hope that they
might come to this convention with the editorial endorsement of the
Examiner, but they were greatly pleased to receive from that paper, on
the morning of the opening, a package of 2,000 woman suffrage leaflets.
The Examiner had collected at its own expense a large amount of fresh
and valuable testimony from the leading editors and officials of
Colorado and Wyoming, as to its satisfactory practical working in those
States, and had arranged it in large type on heavy cream-tinted paper,
making the handsomest leaflet of the kind ever issued. These were placed
in the hands of the delegates, and also distributed throughout the
State.
The women's headquarters at the Golden Eagle were practically unvisited.
A few lone delegates, and two or three delegations that had been
instructed to vote for the amendment, strayed up to express their
sympathy, but most of them were too well subjugated by the political
bosses even to pay a visit of courtesy. A new element was introduced
here in the person of a woman of somewhat unpleasant record who claimed
to be the representative of the anti-suffrage organization. The platform
committee consisted of thirty-five and met in a large room filled with
spectators. The ladies presented a petition signed by 40,000 California
men and women asking for woman suffrage. The entire delegation of
speakers, with Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw at the head, was granted
twenty minutes to present its claims, and the one woman above referred
to was given the same amount of time. She did not occupy more than a
minute of it, simply saying that her anti-suffrage league was going to
organize all over the State and work for the Democratic party. The
resolution was laid on the table, almost before they were out of the
room.
A minority report was prepared by Charles Wesley Reed, of San Francisco,
and signed by himself, Mr. Alford, chairman of the committee, and two
others. In a letter to the Call, Mrs. Harper thus describes subsequent
events:
Mr. Reed assured the ladies that he would bring this report before
the convention and he kept his word, although he had other fights
on hand and endangered them by standing for woman suffrage. This
minority report, although properly drawn and signed by four members
of the platform committee, including the chairman, was "smothered"
by the secretary of the convention and its chairman, Mr. Frank
Gould. Every other minority report was read and acted upon by the
convention; that alone on woman suffrage was held back. In vain Mr.
Reed protested; the chairman ignored him and called for a vote on
the platform as a whole. It was adopted with a roar, and our fight
was lost! It was near midnight. We had sat two long hot days in the
convention, had slept but little, were worn out and very, very
wrathy. At this juncture John P. Irish addressed the convention,
stating that a distinguished lady was present, etc., and would they
hear Miss Susan B. Anthony? Thinking it was too late for her to do
any harm, she was received with loud applause.
It was impossible to say what the convention expected, but they got
a rebuke for allowing such action on the part of their chairman and
for treating the women of the State in this unjust and undemocratic
manner, which caused a hush to fall upon the whole body. It was a
dramatic and impressive scene, one not to be forgotten. At its
conclusion there were loud cries for Anna Shaw. The little fighter
was at the boiling point, but she stepped upon the platform with a
smile, and with that sarcasm of which she is complete master
supplemented Miss Anthony's remarks. As she stepped down, half the
convention were on their feet demanding the minority report. The
chairman stated that it was too late for that, but a resolution
might be offered. The original resolution was at once presented,
and then there was an attempt to take a viva-voce vote, but our
friends demanded a roll-call. It resulted in 149 ayes and 420 noes.
Mr. Gould's own county voted almost solidly in favor. Alameda
county, led by W. W. Foote, gave 32 noes and 3 ayes, yet this
county sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of any in
the State.
To secure more than a one-fourth vote of a convention which had been
determined not to allow the question even to come before it, was not a
total defeat.[119]
The battle was now fairly begun and it grew hotter with every passing
week for the next five months. A few days after the last convention the
women held a mass meeting in Metropolitan Temple to ratify the planks.
The great hall was crowded to the doors and hundreds stood during all
the long exercises. As the ladies who had been to the conventions came
upon the stage, the building fairly rang with applause. The Republican,
Populist, Prohibition, Democratic and Socialist-Labor parties were
represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage speeches.
Congressman James G. Maguire spoke for those individual Democrats who
believed in woman suffrage, among whom he was always a staunch
advocate. Miss Anthony was cheered to the echo and it seemed as if the
audience could not get enough of her bright, pithy remarks, as she
introduced the different speakers.
The suffrage advocates, elated with their victory in three conventions,
opened headquarters in the large new Parrott building and swung their
banner across the street.[120] Five rooms were filled with busy workers
directed by Mary G. Hay, chairman of the State central committee, while
the other members took turns in receiving the reporters, the people on
business and the throngs of visitors from all parts of the State. To
follow this campaign in detail, to name all of those most prominently
connected with it, would be obviously impracticable. It would be utterly
impossible to mention individually the hundreds of women who thoroughly
canvassed their own precincts and deserve a full share of the credit for
the large vote cast. A number of competent California women took up the
organization of the different counties. Every woman in the State who
could address an audience found her place and work. Mrs. Alice Moore
McComas and Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard headed the list of Southern
California speakers. Miss Sarah M. Severance spoke under the auspices of
the W. C. T. U. Mrs. Naomi Anderson represented the colored women. Rev.
Anna Shaw spoke every night during the campaign, except the one month
when she returned East to fill engagements. She paid the salary of her
secretary and donated her services to the headquarters for five months.
Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, of Maine, made about one hundred speeches.
The last two months Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national organizer, gave
several addresses each day. There were very few men who worked as hard
during that campaign as did scores of the women, each according to her
ability.
No description could give an adequate idea of the amount of labor
performed by Miss Anthony during those eight months. There was scarcely
a day, including Sundays, that she did not make from one to three
speeches, often having a long journey between them. She addressed great
political rallies of thousands of people; church conventions of every
denomination; Spiritualist and Freethinkers' gatherings; Salvation Army
meetings; African societies; Socialists; all kinds of labor
organizations; granges; Army and Navy Leagues; Soldiers' Homes and
military encampments; women's clubs and men's clubs; Y. M. C. A.'s and
W. C. T. U.'s. She spoke at farmers' picnics on the mountaintops, and
Bethel Missions in the cellars of San Francisco; at parlor meetings in
the most elegant homes; and in pool-rooms where there was printed on the
blackboard, "Welcome to Susan B. Anthony."
She was in constant demand for social functions, where her presence gave
an opportunity for a discussion of the all-absorbing question. One of
the handsomest of these was a breakfast of two hundred covers, given by
the Century Club in the "maple room" of the Palace Hotel, where were
gathered the leading women of San Francisco and other cities in the
State. Miss Anthony sat at the right hand of the president and responded
to the toast, "Those who break bread with us." The club privileges were
extended to her and, at the close of the campaign, she was made an
honorary member. This club was composed largely of conservative women,
but its president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, was one of the most prominent
of the suffrage advocates. She addressed the Woman's Press Association,
the Laurel Hall Club, the Forum, Sorosis, Association of Collegiate
Alumnae and most of the other women's organizations of San Francisco. An
invitation to luncheon was received from Mrs. Stanford signed, "Your
sincere friend and believer in woman suffrage," and a very pleasant day
was spent in her lovely home at Menlo Park.
A breakfast was given in her honor by the Ebell Club of Oakland, Mrs. G.
W. Bunnell, president. She rode in a beautifully decorated carriage at
the great Fabiola Fete, or floral festival, held annually in this city.
Many social courtesies were extended in the towns around the bay, among
them being dinner parties by Senator and Mrs. Fred Stratton, Mr. and
Mrs. A. A. Moore, Mrs. Henry Vrooman, Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Smith, Mrs.
Emma Shafter Howard, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Havens, Mrs. Alice H. Wellman,
of Oakland; Judge and Mrs. J. A. Waymire, of Alameda; Mr. and Mrs.
William A. Keith, of Berkeley. All this would have been very enjoyable
but for the fact that most of these occasions included a speech, and she
was usually obliged to come from just having spoken, or to rush away to
keep another engagement. One unique experience was a complimentary trip
tendered, through Mrs. Lovell White, by the proprietors of the new Mill
Valley and Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway, to Miss Anthony and a large
number of guests. From the top of this high peak, which overlooks the
Golden Gate, they enjoyed a view that for beauty and grandeur is not
surpassed in the world.
Miss Anthony visited also various towns throughout the central part of
the State and along the coast, speaking in wigwams, halls, churches,
schoolhouses and the open air, taking trains at all hours, travelling
through heat and dust, wind and cold; and there was never a word of
complaint during all the long campaign. She was always ready to go,
always on time, always full of cheer and hope.
The first week in June she went to Portland to attend the Woman's
Congress, Abigail Scott Duniway, president. Its officers were among the
prominent women of the city, and she was royally received. She spoke a
number of times during the nine sessions and was handsomely treated by
the press. Sarah B. Cooper joined her here, on her way home from the
National Federation of Clubs at Louisville, Ky. A number of receptions
were given in their honor, among them one by the Woman's Club. There was
an elaborate luncheon at "the Curtis;" and a reception was tendered by
the managers of the Woman's Union. No effort was spared to make their
visit in everyday delightful. Miss Anthony lectured in the opera house
at Seattle under the auspices of the Woman's Century Club, and a
reception was given by her hostess, Mrs. Kate Turner Holmes. Many
inducements were offered for her to extend the visit, but she was
desirous of returning to the field of work in California at the earliest
possible moment and was absent only nine days.
Miss Anthony was invited by both Republican and Populist managers to
address their ratification meetings in San Francisco, and received an
ovation from the great audiences representing the two parties. One wing
of the Democrats held their ratification meeting after night in the open
air and of course she was not invited to speak, but the other wing
extended a cordial invitation and she addressed them in Metropolitan
Temple, receiving an enthusiastic greeting. The suffrage women
themselves held a second mass meeting September 10, according to the
Call, "amid a mighty outburst of popular enthusiasm, the like of which
has seldom if ever been seen at a political meeting held in this city."
Here again the part taken by prominent men from all political parties
demonstrated the non-partisan character of the woman's campaign. This
was Mrs. Catt's first appearance before a California audience and the
papers said: "As she and the other ladies delivered their clear-cut,
logical speeches, cheers rent the air and handkerchiefs and hats were
waved with overmastering enthusiasm."
And so the months went by, with their cares and pleasures, their hopes
and fears, their elation and depression. In her letters to her sister,
Miss Anthony wrote: "Sometimes I have a homesick hour and feel as if I
must leave all and rush back to my own hearthstone, but then I pull
myself together and resolve to go through to the end." A similar
campaign was in progress in Idaho and Mrs. Catt was there in August at
the request of that State board, to represent the national association.
They were very anxious that Miss Anthony should come also, but to their
many letters she replied:
I should love dearly to go to Boise at once, as you request, and I
should have been in Idaho during the last two months had it been
possible for one human being to be in two places at the same
time.... I learn that the men who believe in suffrage in your
State, object to an open demand for party endorsement, but prefer a
"still hunt." I have seen this tried before, but our opponents
always can make a stiller hunt. Our only hope of success lies in
open, free and full discussions through the newspapers and
political party speakers.... Won't it be a magnificent feather in
our cap if we get both California and Idaho into the fold this
year? How beautiful the blue field will look with two more
stars--five little gold stars! Remember that the woman suffrage
stars are gold, not silver. Not that I think gold is better than
silver, but it is a different color from the forty-five on the
regular flag.[121]
There were, of course, some misrepresentations, both intentional and
unintentional, of Miss Anthony's attitude. The fact of her speaking on
the platforms of all political parties was something which many people
could not comprehend, and the party organs could not refrain from
twisting her remarks a little bit in the direction of their doctrines;
then would come a storm of protests from the other side, and she would
have to explain what she actually said. Thus, with the reporters
constantly at her elbow, the public watching every utterance and the
politicians on the alert to discover what party she and her
fellow-workers really did favor, she lived indeed for many months in
"the fierce light that beats upon a throne."
"O, that I had you by my side; what a team we would make!" she often
wrote to Mrs. Stanton, who answered: "I read all the papers you send and
watch closely the progress of the campaign. I feel at times as if I
should fly to your help. We are the only class in history that has been
left to fight its battles alone, unaided by the ruling powers. White
labor and the freed black men had their champions, but where are ours?"
In June the National Republican Convention was held at St. Louis. Miss
Anthony could not make the long journey but she sent the following
resolution and asked its adoption: "The Republican Party in national
convention assembled hereby recommends that Congress shall submit an
amendment to the Federal Constitution providing that the right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States, or by any State, on account of sex."
The platform committee labored and this is what it brought forth: "The
Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of women.
Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal
pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission
of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and welcome their co-operation
in rescuing the country from Democratic mismanagement and Populist
misrule."
Miss Anthony's indignation, anger and contempt when she read this
resolution can not be put into words. It required the combined efforts
of those who were nearest her to prevent the expression of her opinion
in reply to the many reporters and letters wanting to know how she
regarded this plank. "You must not offend the Republicans and injure our
amendment," they argued, and she would acquiesce and subside. Then,
after thinking it over, she would again burst forth and declare the
women of the country should not be compelled to submit to this insult
without a protest from her. "Women want the suffrage as a sword to smite
down Democratic and Populist misrule. Infamous!" she exclaimed again and
again. "That climaxes all the outrages ever offered to women in the
history of political platforms." To Mrs. Stanton she wrote: "O, that you
were young and strong and free, and could fire off of the planet such
ineffable slush as is being slobbered over our cause!" But she held her
peace, and all the brainy women who were conducting this great campaign
kept silent, although there was not one of them who did not feel exactly
like Miss Anthony in regard to this plank. Nor was there a woman in the
country, who was able to comprehend the resolution, that did not regard
it as an insult and feel that she would prefer never again to have women
mentioned in a national platform if the men who should make it had no
higher conception of justice than this.
On October 11, Miss Anthony started on a southern tour, speaking first
at San Luis Obispo to an audience which crowded the hall. From here to
Santa Barbara, through the courtesy of Superintendent Johnson, of the
narrow gauge railroad, the train was stopped at every station for a
ten-minute address. At some places a stage had been extemporized, at
others she spoke from the rear platform of the car. Her coming had been
announced and, even in those rather thinly settled regions, there would
be as many as a thousand people gathered at the station. When she
concluded, quantities of flowers would be thrown in her pathway and the
platform literally banked with them.[122] After a stage ride of forty
miles she received an enthusiastic welcome at Santa Barbara, where she
was the guest of Dr. Ida Stambach. The ovation was continued at all the
towns visited in the southern part of the State.
A little flurry had been caused early in the campaign by the
announcement that the National W. C. T. U. Convention would be held in
San Francisco during the autumn of 1896. Miss Anthony had written Miss
Willard that she thought this would be very injudicious. She then had
agreed to postpone it until after the election, and Miss Anthony again
had objected, saying:
I am glad you think it will be possible to postpone your convention
to November; but, you see, even to do that all California will be
full of your advertisements, and the papers all telling how the W.
C. T. U. is going to bring its convention to San Francisco
immediately after the women have the right to vote, so as to
educate them to destroy the wine-growing and brandy-distilling
business; in other words, that it is going to start in the first
thing to ruin what today is the one means of livelihood for immense
numbers of ranchmen throughout the State. So, I hope--nay, I
beseech that you will withdraw the convention altogether from
California for this year. I have had letters from the amendment
campaign committee, and every one of them deplores the coming of
the convention....
Now, my dear, hold your convention any place but in a State where
we are trying to persuade every license man, every wine-grower,
every drinker and every one who does not believe in prohibition,
as well as every one who does, to vote "yes" on the woman suffrage
question. If you only will do this, I am sure you will do the most
effective work in the power of any mortal to secure the end we all
so much desire.
Miss Willard replied in a cordial letter that she had not the slightest
wish to antagonize her or the suffrage movement and would use her
influence to have the place of the convention changed. To Mrs. B.
Sturtevant Peet, president of the California W. C. T. U., who was
somewhat in doubt as to the necessity for such change, Miss Anthony
wrote:
What you say of the good influence of your national convention in
San Francisco is true so far as concerns the actual Prohibition
men; but we must consider those who are making their daily bread
out of the manufacture as well as the sale of liquors. There are
many excellent men in California who are not total abstainers, but
who believe in wine as the people of Italy and France believe in
it; and I think that, in waging our campaign, we should be careful
not to run against the prejudices or the pecuniary interests of
that class. As I have said before, if it were a Prohibition
amendment which was pending I should think it exceedingly unwise to
run that campaign under the banner of woman suffrage. The average
human mind is incapable of taking in more than one idea at a time.
The one we want to get into the heads of the voters this year is
woman's enfranchisement, and we must pull every string with every
possible individual man and class of men to secure their votes for
this amendment. We should be extremely careful to base all our
arguments upon the right of every individual to have his or her
opinion counted at the ballot-box, whether it is in accordance with
ours or not. Therefore, the amendment must not be urged as a
measure for temperance, social purity, or any other reform, but
simply as a measure to give to women the right to vote yea or nay
on each and all of them. I want every woman in California to work
for the amendment, but I want her to work in the name of suffrage,
not of prohibition.
The national convention was withdrawn entirely from California, and the
W. C. T. U. women, in most places, worked under the one banner of the
suffrage amendment during the campaign. In proof that there was no
feeling on the part of the leaders against Miss Anthony, it may be
stated that she received official invitations to be present at the
birthday celebration of Mrs. Peet, in April; to address the State W. C.
T. U. Convention at Petaluma, in October; to attend the National
Convention at St. Louis in November; and to join in the farewell
reception to Miss Willard in New York on the eve of her departure for
Europe.
The managers of the woman's campaign supposed of course that the
endorsement by the Populist and Republican State Conventions meant not
only that the speakers of those parties would advocate the suffrage
plank just as they did the others in their respective platforms, but
that they also would permit the women themselves to speak for it in
their political meetings. When they applied to Mr. Wardall and the other
members of the Populist Central Committee, the schedule was promptly
furnished and they were assured that their speakers would be welcomed.
When they applied to the Republican Central Committee, to their
amazement, they were put off with an evasive answer. Meanwhile they had
Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Catt and other speakers waiting for
engagements and did not dare make dates ahead lest it might interfere
with the big Republican rallies which they wished them to address. Again
and again they went to the Republican Central Committee and asked for
the schedule of their meetings and the privilege of sending their
speakers to them. Finally, after weeks of anxious waiting, the chairman,
Major Frank McLaughlin, sent a letter to the suffrage headquarters
saying in effect: "The committee had decided not to grant this
privilege; in the language used at one time by Miss Anthony, it meant
'too many bonnets at their meetings,' and they wished to reach the
voters."
He added that they were at liberty to make any arrangements they chose
with the county chairmen. This meant, of course, that they must
ascertain the name and address of every county chairman in the State,
watch the papers for the announcements of meetings, hold their speakers
in reserve, and beg the privilege of having them heard. All this, when
the endorsement of the suffrage amendment was the first plank in the
Republican platform unanimously adopted by the State convention! There
was nothing, however, except to make the best of it; but when they
attempted to arrange with the county chairmen, they found Major
McLaughlin had written them not to allow the women speakers on their
platforms! While many of them refused to obey his orders, he had
practically destroyed the best opportunity for reaching the people.
The Republican State Convention had enthusiastically adopted a
resolution declaring for "the free coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to
1." When the National Convention met in St. Louis soon afterwards it
adopted a gold standard plank, and there they were! The Populists and
Democrats who agreed on a financial plank saw here an opportunity and,
in many counties, effected a fusion and held their meetings together.
This, of course, nullified the permission given the women to put
speakers on the Populist platform, since the Democrats, as a party, were
opposed to woman suffrage, and there they were! If they attempted to
hold simply suffrage meetings, they could get only audiences of women,
because all the men were in attendance at the political rallies. So the
only thing left was for the women in every city and town in the State,
whenever a political mass meeting was advertised, to go to the managers
and humbly beg to have one of their speakers on the platform.
This was not often refused, and it was just as easy to get this
permission from Democrats as from Republicans. The former felt that if
the amendment should carry they would not object to a little of the
credit, and they soon found also that the women were a drawing card.
Whenever there was a purely Populist meeting, a conspicuous place and
all the time desired were given to the women, but at Republican,
Democratic or Fusion meetings, they always were placed at the end of the
program and allowed only five or, at most, ten minutes. In order simply
to get this little word, the women speakers would make long journeys and
sit on the platform until every long-winded male orator had finished his
speech, and until they were ready to drop from their chairs. But the
audience waited for them, no matter how late, and never failed to
receive them with the wildest enthusiasm. Many times when the managers
would have been willing to sandwich them between other speakers, the
latter would object, saying the people would go home as soon as the
women had finished!
As the campaign wore on it became a fight for life with the political
parties. The Call, which had come out so valiantly for woman suffrage,
had been struck in a vital part, i.e., in the counting-room, by the
opponents of this measure, who withdrew valuable advertising and in
every possible way sought to injure the paper. Its support was used by
the other wing of the Republican party to create a prejudice against the
candidates it advocated; the principal stockholders were not friendly to
the amendment; as the organ of the Central Committee it was deprived of
independent action. So it was not surprising that, long before the close
of the campaign, the great fight which the Call agreed to make had
dwindled to an occasional skirmish when the pleading of the women grew
too strong to be resisted.
Almost without exception the Republican orators were silent on the
question of woman suffrage, even those who personally favored it. The
women wrote them, interviewed them and begged them to advocate the first
plank in their platform as they did all the rest, and occasionally when
they would go in a body and sit on the front seats to watch the speaker,
he would say a few mild words in favor of the amendment, but there were
several of the Democrats who did as much. Some of the Populists
advocated it, but the most prominent, who always before had spoken for
it, went through the entire campaign without so much as a mention, in
order to secure Democratic support. When Thomas B. Reed came into the
State, at the very end of the campaign, the women felt sure of an ally,
as he had long been a pronounced advocate, but he did not so much as
refer to the question in his tour of the State, although they bombarded
him with letters which would have impressed a heart of stone. At the
last grand rally in Oakland, the day before election, with Miss Anthony
on one side of him and Miss Shaw on the other, he did say that he "knew
of no more reason why a woman should not vote than why a man should
not"--but the battle then was already lost.
Up to within a few weeks of election, in spite of all the drawbacks, it
looked as if the amendment would win. The general sentiment throughout
the State seemed to be in favor. The mere mention of the subject at any
meeting was received with the greatest enthusiasm. Almost every delegate
body which assembled in convention during that summer adopted a
resolution of endorsement; this was true of most of the church
conferences, the teachers' institutes, the State Grange and farmers'
institutes, the Chautauqua assemblies and countless others. And still
the women watched and waited! There was one element more powerful than
all these combined, which had not yet shown its hand. It never had
failed in any State to fight woman suffrage to the death, and there was
no reason to believe it would not kill it in California.
Ten days before election the fatal blow came. The representatives of the
Liquor Dealers' League met in San Francisco and resolved "to take such
steps as were necessary to protect their interests." The political
leaders, the candidates, the rank and file of the voters recognized the
handwriting on the wall. From that moment the fate of the amendment was
sealed. The women had determined, from the beginning of the campaign,
that they would give the liquor business no excuse to say its interests
were threatened, and therefore the temperance question had been kept out
of the discussion as had the religious, the tariff and the financial
questions. They took the sensible view that it had no more place than
these in the demand for women's right to vote as they pleased on all
subjects. Therefore the action of the liquor dealers had no
justification in anything which the women had said or done. It simply
showed that they considered woman suffrage a dangerous foe. The
following letter, signed by the wholesale liquor firms of San Francisco,
was sent to the saloon-keepers, hotel proprietors, druggists and grocers
throughout the State:
At the election to be held on November 3, Constitutional Amendment
No. Six, which gives the right to vote to women, will be voted on.
It is to your interest and ours to vote against this amendment. We
request and urge you to vote and work against it and do all you can
to defeat it.
See your neighbor in the same line of business as yourself, and
have him be with you in this matter.
The men in the slums of San Francisco were taken in squads and, with
sample ballots, were taught how to put the cross against the suffrage
amendment and assured that if it carried there never would be another
glass of beer sold in the city. When the chairman of the press committee
went to a prominent editor, who was opposed to woman suffrage and knew
that these things were being done, and asked if there were no way by
which some suffrage literature could be given to those men so that they
might see there was no ground for these threats, he said: "Most of them
can not read and if they could the whiskey men would never allow a page
of it to get into their hands." In what way the liquor dealers worked
upon the political parties, it is not necessary to speculate. The
methods were not new and are pretty well understood. They control tens
of thousands of votes not only in California but in every State, which
they can deliver to either of the great parties that does their bidding
and regards their interests.
It is absurd, however, to attribute the defeat of the suffrage amendment
wholly to the liquor dealers, or to the densely ignorant, or to the
foreigners. In the wealthiest and most aristocratic wards of San
Francisco and Oakland, where there were none of these, the proportion of
votes against the amendment was just as great as it was in the slum
wards of the two cities. Those respectable, law-abiding citizens who
cast their ballots against the amendment, thereby voted to continue the
power of the above mentioned classes.
For weeks before the election, the most frantic efforts were made by the
politicians to register new voters and colonize them in the wards where
they would be most needed.[123] Columns of appeals were issued in all
the newspapers to get the vast numbers of lately arrived immigrants to
come to the city hall and register. Men were sent around ringing big
bells and calling upon them to do this, and interpreters were employed
to explain that it would not cost them a cent. Finally the registry
books were carried to the parks and other places where these men were
employed, in order to secure their names.
Meanwhile the intelligent, order-loving, sober and industrious women of
the State were making such efforts as never were made by any class of
men, to secure this same privilege of placing in the ballot-box and
having counted their opinions on questions relating to the public
welfare;--opinions, one would think, that ought to be considered of as
much value to the State as those which such strenuous attempts were
being made to obtain. It seems, however, that intelligence, morality and
thrift must wait the pleasure of ignorance, vice and idleness.
During the months of the early spring, through the efforts of a few
women who worked without pay and used only their spare moments, the
names of nearly 30,000 women were secured to a petition asking for the
suffrage. This, of course, represented only a fraction of those which
might have been obtained by continued effort, but a petition signed by
even 30,000 men would have been considered worthy of attention. The vast
majority of women have no money of their own and those who work for
wages, as a rule, receive but a pittance, and yet there were raised in
California for this amendment campaign almost $19,000, and the amount
contributed by men was so small as not to be worth mentioning. The
financial success was due very largely to the State treasurer, Mrs.
Austin Sperry. She not only made a donation of $500, but borrowed from
the bank on her personal note, when necessary, and signed blank checks
to be used when the treasury was empty and repaid when outstanding
pledges were collected. Mrs. Phoebe Hearst headed the list with $1,000.
Mrs. Stanford gave almost as much in railroad transportation to the
speakers and organizers. The next largest contributor was Mrs. Knox
Goodrich, of San Jose, who for nearly thirty years had stood in
California a faithful advocate of woman suffrage, giving time, money and
influence. She added to her past donations nearly $500 for this
campaign. Mrs. Sargent's munificence has been mentioned. A few women
subscribed $100 each, but all the rest was given in sums ranging down
to a few cents.
[Illustration: Sarah L. Knox Goodrich (Signed: "Sarah L. Knox
Goodrich")]
[Illustration: Autograph: "regard with deep respect your heroic life and
entire devotion to the cause you have consecrated it to. Yours very
sincerely. Phebe A. Hearst."]
The true record of these contributions would wring the heart of every
man in the State. A large photograph of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw was
given for every $2 pledge, and many poor seamstresses and washerwomen
fulfilled their pledges in twenty-five cent installments, coming eight
times with their mite. Often when there was not enough money on hand at
headquarters to buy a postage stamp, there would come a timid knock at
the door and a poorly dressed woman would enter with a quarter or
half-dollar, saying, "I have done without tea this week to bring you
this money;" or a poor little clerk would say, "I made a piece of fancy
work evenings and sold it for this dollar." Many a woman who worked hard
ten hours a day to earn her bread, would come to headquarters and carry
home a great armload of circulars to fold and address after night. And
there were teachers and stenographers and other workingwomen who went
without a winter cloak in order to give the money to this movement for
freedom. This pathetic story ought to be written in full and given to
every man who eases his conscience by saying, "The majority of women do
not want to vote;" and to every well-fed, well-clothed woman who
declares in her selfish ease, "I have all the rights I want."
Knowing that if the suffrage amendment were placed first or last among
the six which were to be voted on, it would be a target for those who
could not read, the ladies wrote to the Secretary of State asking that
it be placed in the middle of the list. He answered, June 26: "It shall
be as you request and the suffrage amendment be third in order as
certified by me to the various county clerks." When the tickets were
printed, however, it was placed at the end of the list and thus
necessarily at the end of the whole ticket, making it a conspicuous
mark. The explanation given was that Governor Budd had directed the
amendments to be placed on the ballot in the same order as they had
appeared in his proclamation. As this had not been issued until July 20,
a month after the official request of the ladies had been granted, one
must conclude there was a mistake somewhere. The results were exactly
what had been feared. In San Francisco alone hundreds of ballots were
cast on which there was only one cross and that against the amendment;
not even the presidential electors voted for.
There were 247,454 votes cast on the suffrage amendment; 110,355 for;
137,099 against; defeated by 26,734. The majority against in San
Francisco was 23,772; in Alameda county, comprising Oakland, Alameda and
Berkeley, 3,627; total, 27,399-665 votes more than the whole majority
cast against the amendment. Berkeley gave a majority in favor, so in
reality it was defeated by the vote of San Francisco, Oakland and
Alameda.[124] Alameda is the banner Republican county and gave a good
majority for the Republican ticket. There never had been a hope of
carrying San Francisco for the amendment, but the result in Alameda
county was a most unpleasant surprise, as the voters were principally
Republicans and Populists, both of whom were pledged in the strongest
possible manner in their county conventions to support the amendment,
and every newspaper in the county had declared in favor of it. The fact
remains, however, that a change of 13,400 votes in the entire State
would have carried the amendment; and proves beyond question that, if
sufficient organization work had been done, this might have been
accomplished in spite of the combined efforts of the liquor dealers and
the political bosses.
Near midnight of election day, a touching sight might have been
witnessed on a certain street in San Francisco: two women over seventy
years of age, one the beloved wife of a man whom California had selected
as its representative in the United States Senate and whom the
government had sent as its minister to the court of Germany; the other a
woman universally admitted to be the peer of any man in the country in
statesmanship and knowledge of public affairs--Mrs. A. A. Sargent and
Susan B. Anthony. In the darkness of night, arm in arm, they went down
the street, peering into the windows of the rough little booths where
the judges and clerks of the election were counting votes. The rooms
were black with tobacco smoke and in one they saw a man fall off his
chair too drunk to finish the count. They listened to the oaths and
jeers as the votes were announced against the suffrage amendment, to
which they had given almost their lives. Then in the darkness they crept
silently home, mournfully realizing that women must wait for another and
better generation of men to give them the longed-for freedom.
The next morning when Miss Anthony came down to breakfast she found a
group in the Sargent library reading the news of the election, and all
looked at her in sorrowing sympathy. She stood still in the center of
the room for a moment and then said sadly: "I don't care for myself, I
am used to defeat, but these dear California women who have worked so
hard, how can they bear it?"
Miss Anthony not only had donated her own services but had paid her
secretary's salary of $75 per month and permitted her to give her entire
time to the State headquarters for seven months, while she herself
attended to the drudgery of her immense correspondence whenever she
could get a spare hour. Even at the small sum of $25 for a regular
speech, she would have contributed over $3,000 to this campaign, in
addition to the scores of little parlor and club addresses. She gave her
services freely and willingly and did not regret them, but often said
that the California campaign was the most harmonious and satisfactory of
any in which she ever was engaged. There was not the slightest friction
between herself and the State association or State headquarters, and
most of those prominent in the work were of such refinement and nobility
of character that it was a pleasure to be associated with them. Not a
day passed that she did not receive some token of affection from the
women of the State. The Sargent home was filled with the flowers and
baskets and boxes of fresh and dried fruits, etc., which were sent to
her.[125]
On November 5, two days after the election, a large body of California
women met in Golden Gate Hall to hold the annual State Suffrage
Convention. Miss Anthony and all the national officers remained to help.
There was not a trace of defeat or disappointment; all were brave,
cheerful and ready to go to work again. Twelve hundred dollars were
raised to settle all outstanding bills and the campaign closed without a
dollar of indebtedness. As Mrs. Sargent was going abroad, a worthy
presidential successor was elected, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, wife of John
F. Swift, minister to Japan, a fine presiding officer, a lady of much
culture, travel and social prestige, who had rendered valuable service
throughout the campaign. The next evening the suffrage forces held a
grand rally in Metropolitan Temple. Every seat in that fine auditorium
was occupied and the aisles were crowded. It was not a meeting of the
adherents of a lost cause, but of one which had suffered only temporary
defeat. Miss Anthony presided and was given a true California ovation
and, as her voice rang out with all its old-time vigor, there was not
one in that vast audience but hoped she might return to lead her hosts
to victory.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Yours with Love, Mary Wood Swift"]
Saturday evening at 6 o'clock the seven eastern women started homewards,
laden with tokens of affection, accompanied across the bay by a large
number of loving friends, and moving off amidst smiles and tears and a
shower of fragrant blossoms.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] Joint campaign committee: Ellen C. Sargent, chairman; Sarah B.
Cooper, vice-chairman; Ida H. Harper, corresponding secretary; Harriet
Cooper, recording secretary; Mary S. Sperry, treasurer; Mary Wood Swift
and Sarah Knox Goodrich, auditors. State central committee: Mrs.
Sargent, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Sperry, Mrs. Blinn, with Mary G.
Hay, chairman.
[119] About 1 o'clock in the morning, after this eventful night, the
ladies were awakened by loud laughter and women's voices. They arose and
went to the window and there in the brilliantly lighted street in front
of the hotel were two carriages containing several gaily dressed women.
A number of the convention delegates came out and crowded around them,
three or four climbed into the carriages, wine bottles were passed and
finally, with much talk and laughter, they drove off down the street,
the men with their arms about the women's waists. The ladies returned to
their slumbers thoroughly convinced that they had not used the correct
methods for capturing the delegates of a Democratic convention.
[120] The use of these rooms was donated by the manager of the Emporium,
the large department store in the building. All through the summer and
autumn a number of most capable young women, who were employed as
stenographers, teachers, etc., gave every waking moment outside business
hours to the work at headquarters, carrying home with them great
packages of leaflets and circulars to be folded and addressed, looking
after their own precincts, and rendering services which could not have
been paid for in money. Although all were breadwinners they labored from
love of the cause and without a thought of thanks or remuneration.
[121] In Idaho all political State conventions, Republican, Populist and
Democratic, endorsed the amendment, it received a majority of the
popular vote, and the women now have full suffrage.
[122] To commemorate this journey Miss Selina Solomons, of San
Francisco, wrote a tender poem, beginning:
"She walks on roses! she whose feet
Have trod so long the stony way,
They tread who lead mankind to greet
The coming of a brighter day."
[123] Some of the women going the rounds with suffrage petitions in San
Francisco found a house consisting of one room with three cots, where
were registered twenty-seven voters.
[124] Los Angeles gave a majority of 3,600 in favor of the amendment.
[125] In her president's report, at the next annual convention, Mrs.
Sargent said: "Susan B. Anthony! We can never forget her labor of love
and devotion to the cause of woman suffrage in California. She counted
not her life dear to her so that she could help to awaken the interest
of men and women in the great principle to which she has devoted her
life. She was not cold, nor hungry, nor tired, nor sleepy, while there
was a chance to push forward the work. Throughout the campaign Miss
Anthony gave her own services and those of her secretary without money
and without price. She reminds one of the great Niagara, which would be
wonderful if its waters rolled and dashed for only a short period; but
when they roll and dash on ceaselessly, nor ever stop to rest, there the
wonder of it all comes in, and we can only gaze, admire and acknowledge
the great law or power behind it."