ALABAMA.[158]
Actual work for woman suffrage in Alabama began in 1890, at the time
the constitutional convention of Mississippi was in session. The
editor of the New Decatur _Advertiser_ opened his columns to all
matter on the question and thus aroused local interest, which in 1892
culminated in the formation in that town of the first suffrage club in
the State, with seven charter members. The women who thus faced a most
conservative public sentiment were Mesdames Harvey Lewis, F. E.
Jenkins, E. G. Robb, A. R. Rose, B. E. Moore, Lucy A. Gould and Ellen
Stephens Hildreth.
Before the close of the year a second club was formed in Verbena by
Miss Frances A. Griffin, who has since become noted as a public
speaker for this cause. Others were soon established through the
efforts of Mesdames Minnie Hardy Gist, Bessie Vaughn, M. C. Arter, W.
J. Sibert and Miss B. M. Haley.
In 1892 and 1893 the _Woman's Column_, published in Boston, was sent
by the National Association to 1,500 teachers, ministers, school
superintendents, editors, legislators and other prominent people, the
names being furnished by Mrs. Hildreth. A State organization was
effected in 1893, with Mrs. Hildreth, president, and Miss Griffin,
secretary.
In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association,
and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee,
who were making a southern tour, were asked by the New Decatur Club to
include that city in their itinerary. They were also invited by Mrs.
Alberta Taylor to address her society at Huntsville. These visits of
the great leader and her eloquent assistant aroused much interest, but
the financial depression prevented active work.
Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton was elected State president in 1896; Mrs.
Annie D. Shelby, Mrs. Milton Hume and Mrs. Taylor were made
vice-presidents; Mrs. Laura McCullough and Mrs. Amelia Dilliard,
recording secretaries; Mrs. Hildreth, corresponding secretary; and
Mrs. E. E. Greenleaf, treasurer. Mrs. Clopton represented the
association at the Tennessee Centennial in 1898. Opposition is so
great that it has been deemed wise to do nothing more than distribute
literature and present the arguments in the press.
A State convention was held at Huntsville, Oct. 1, 1900, Mrs. Taylor
presiding. Mrs. Clopton being obliged to resign, Miss Griffin was made
president. Mrs. Hume and Mrs. Robert Cunningham were chosen
vice-presidents; Mrs. Greenleaf, treasurer; Miss Julia Tutweiler,
State organizer.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In January, 1893, through the influence
of the suffrage association, Senator J. W. Inzer presented a bill to
amend the State constitution so as to permit women to vote on
municipal questions and prohibitory liquor enactments. It never was
reported from the Judiciary Committee.
In 1895, at the desire of the New Decatur Club, Representative Osceola
Kyle introduced a bill raising the "age of protection" for girls from
ten to fourteen years, and a similar one was offered for the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union. Although these efforts were not successful
then, public attention was drawn to the subject, and at the next
session, in 1897, the age was raised to fourteen years with a penalty
of death or imprisonment for not less than ten years in the
penitentiary.
Previous to 1886 legislation and public sentiment in Alabama were of
the most conservative kind, but at the Constitutional Convention held
that year changes in the statutes were made which gave to women many
rights and privileges not before possessed. Dower but not curtesy
obtains. If there are no lineal descendants, and the estate is
solvent, the widow takes one-half of the real estate for life, but if
the estate is insolvent, one-third only. If there are lineal
descendants, then the dower right is one-third, whether the estate is
solvent or not. If a husband die without a will, his widow, if there
are no children, is entitled to all of his personal property; if
there is but one child, she is entitled to one-half; if there are more
than one and not more than four children, then she is entitled to one
child's portion. A homestead to the value of $2,000 is exempt to her
from all creditors and no will can deprive her of it, unless she has
signed a mortgage on it. If a wife die without a will, her husband is
entitled to one-half of her personal property, whether there are
children or not, and to the life use of all her real estate.
A wife may will her property to whom she pleases, excluding her
husband from all share. He can do this with his property, but can not
impair her dower rights. She can not sell her real estate without his
written consent, but can sell her personal property without it. He can
mortgage or sell his real estate, except the homestead, and can
dispose of his personal property, without her consent.
A married woman may be agent, guardian or administrator. She may
acquire and hold separate property not liable for the debts of her
husband, though necessaries for the family can be a liability. Her
bank deposit is her own, and her earnings can not be taken by her
husband or his creditors. A wife can not become surety for her
husband. Property purchased with her money will be returned to her
upon application to the court.
A wife may engage in business with her husband's written consent. If
she does so without it she incurs no penalty, but it is necessary in
order that her creditors may recover their money. She must sue and be
sued and make contracts jointly with the husband.
If a woman commit a crime in partnership with her husband (except
murder or treason) she can not be punished; nor, if she commit a crime
in his presence, can he testify against her.
Common law marriage is valid and the legal age for a girl is fourteen
years.
The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death may
appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. If this is not done
she becomes the legal guardian of the girls till they are eighteen, of
the boys till fourteen.
Alabama is one of the few States which do not by law require the
husband to support the family.
The convicted father of an illegitimate child must pay to the Probate
Court for its support not exceeding $50 yearly for ten years, and must
give $1,000 bond for this purpose. Failing to do this, judgment is
rendered for not more than $625 and he is sentenced to hard labor for
the county for one year.
It is a criminal offense to use foul language to or in the hearing of
a woman, or by rude behavior to annoy her in any public place; or to
take a woman of notorious character to any public place of resort for
respectable women and men. Slander against a woman's character is
heavily punished; a seducer is sent to the penitentiary if his victim
previously has been chaste. Procurers may be sentenced to the
penitentiary.
The "age of protection for girls" is 14 years, and the penalty is
death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from ten years to life.
SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.[159]
OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any elective office. They
act as enrolling clerks in the Legislature. Two women, whose fathers
died while holding the position, were made registrars in chancery.
Women can not serve as notaries public.
There are no women trustees on the board of any State institution,
although the charitable and benevolent work is almost entirely in the
hands of women. A man is superintendent of the Girls' Industrial
School and the entire board is composed of men. Limited State aid is
extended to a number of institutions founded and controlled by women,
including the Boys' Industrial Farm.
OCCUPATIONS: Women are legally prohibited from acting as lawyers,
physicians or ministers. They are not allowed to engage in mining.
EDUCATION: All educational institutions admit women. The State
Polytechnic at Auburn was the pioneer, offering to women in 1892 every
course, technical, scientific and agricultural. The State University
at Tuscaloosa opened its doors to them in 1896. Two scholarships for
girls are maintained here, one by the ladies of Montgomery and one by
those of Birmingham. In 1900, out of a class of 178 boys and 23
girls, two boys and four girls took the highest honors.
The State Industrial School for Girls, at Montevallo, was established
in 1896. There are two co-educational Normal Schools at Florence and
Troy.
The colored men and women have excellent advantages in several Normal
Schools and Colleges. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute,
under the presidency of Booker T. Washington, has a national
reputation. Colored children have also their full share of public
schools.
There are in the public schools 2,262 men and 5,041 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $32; of the women, $25.35.
* * * * *
The most progressive movement in the State is that of the Federation
of Women's Clubs, formed in 1895, and including at present fifty-eight
clubs. Its work has been extremely practical in the line of education
and philanthropy. The most important achievement is the Boys'
Industrial Farm, located at East Lake near Birmingham. This is managed
by a board of women and has a charter which secures its control to
women, even if it become entirely a State institution. The club women
have for three years sustained five scholarships for girls, two at
Tuscaloosa and three at Montevallo. They have organized also a free
traveling library, and in four cities free kindergartens.
In conclusion it may be noted that the strength of the woman movement
in the State has been wonderfully developed in all directions during
the last five years.
FOOTNOTES:
[158] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Ellen Stephens
Hildreth of New Decatur, the first president of the State Woman
Suffrage Association.
[159] In the Constitutional Convention of 1901, an amendment providing
that any woman paying taxes on $500 worth of property might vote on
all bond propositions was adopted with great enthusiasm, but the next
day, under the influence of the argument that "it would be an entering
wedge for full suffrage," it was reconsidered and voted down. U. S.
Senator John T. Morgan urged this amendment. The new constitution did
contain a clause, however, providing that if a wife paid taxes on $500
worth of property her husband should be entitled to this vote.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ARIZONA.[160]
The Territory having elected delegates to a convention to be held in
Phoenix in August and September, 1891, to prepare a constitution for
Statehood, Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone of Massachusetts sent
Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas to Arizona in August to endeavor to
secure a clause in this constitution granting suffrage to women. She
was received in Tucson by Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, editors and proprietors
of an influential daily paper, who gave every possible assistance.
Mrs. Johns soon went to Phoenix, where the convention was in session,
and followed up a previous correspondence with the delegates
by personal interviews. She found a powerful champion in
ex-Attorney-General William Herring, chairman of the committee which
had the question of woman suffrage in charge. When she asked
permission to address this committee it set an early date and
suggested that it might be pleasanter for the ladies if the hearing
should be held in a private residence. Accordingly Mrs. E. D. Garlick,
formerly of Winfield, Kansas, opened her parlor, invited a number of
ladies who were interested and the committee met with them and
listened courteously to their plea for the ballot. A favorable report
was presented to the convention and General Herring, Mrs. Johns, Mrs.
Hughes and others spoke eloquently in favor of its acceptance. The
measure was lost by three votes.
So much interest had been manifested that a Territorial Suffrage
Association was formed, with Mrs. Hughes as president and Mrs. Garlick
as corresponding secretary. Mrs. Johns intended to organize the
Territory but was suddenly called home by a death in her family.
Four years later, in 1895, while she was working in New Mexico for the
National Association, she was requested by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
chairman of its organization committee, to speak at the annual
convention in Phoenix; and on the way she held preliminary meetings at
Tucson, Tempe and other places.
In January, 1896, Mrs. Hughes, whose husband was now Governor, went to
the convention of the National Association in Washington to interest
that body in Arizona, which it was then expected would soon enter
Statehood. She made a strong appeal, assuring the delegates that the
pioneer men of the Territory were willing to confer the suffrage on
the women who had braved the early hardships with them, and saying:
It is of the most vital importance that our women be enfranchised
before the election of delegates to the approaching
constitutional convention, as the Congressional enabling act
provides that all persons qualified as voters under the
Territorial law shall be qualified to vote for delegates to this
convention and for the ratification or rejection of the same.
If our women are enfranchised before the enabling act is passed,
then Arizona is safe and no power can prevent them from being
accorded their rights in the constitution, and if their rights
are not conceded they will see to it that the constitution fails
of ratification.
In March the National Association sent Mrs. Johns again into the
Territory and she remained until May. In company with Mrs. Hughes she
made a successful tour through the Salt River Valley, receiving
generous hospitality, addressing large audiences and forming local
clubs. The two ladies then crossed the Territory to Yuma, speaking at
various points on the way, and went from there to Prescott. Governor
Hughes himself spoke at the meetings held in Clifton. Mrs. Johns then
went to the Northern counties. Altogether most of the towns were
visited, and while the distances were great and the difficulties
numerous, the meetings were well attended and earnest advocates were
found even in small mining camps among the mountains.
Mrs. Johns returned in the winter of 1897 and addressed the
Legislature in behalf of a bill for woman suffrage but no action was
taken. Among the friends and workers not elsewhere mentioned were the
Hon. and Mrs. George P. Blair, ex-Mayor Gustavus Hoff, C. R. Drake,
John T. Hughes; the other officers of the suffrage association were
Mrs. C. T. Hayden, vice-president; Mrs. R. G. Phillips, corresponding
secretary; Mrs. Lillian Collins, recording secretary; Mrs. Mary E.
Hall, treasurer.
In the winter of 1899 the time seemed propitious for a vigorous
movement, and Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay spent a month at
Phoenix during the legislative session. Every possible effort was
made, there seemed to be a remarkable sentiment in favor of woman
suffrage among the better classes and it looked as if it would be
granted. The final result is thus described in Mrs. Chapman Catt's
report to the national convention the following April:
Our bill went through the House by an unprecedented majority, 10
yeas, 5 nays, and then, as in Oklahoma, the remonstrants
concentrated their opposition upon the Council. Here, as there,
the working opponents were the saloon-keepers, with the
difference that in Arizona they are often the proprietors of a
gambling den and house of prostitution in connection with the
saloons, and thus the opposition was more bitter and intolerant
because it was believed greater damage would result from the
votes of women. Every member of the Council received letters or
telegrams from the leading proprietors of such resorts,
threatening political ruin if he failed to vote against the
measure. It was well known that money was contributed from these
same sources. Here, as in Oklahoma, a majority were pledged to
support the bill, but here, too, they played a filibustering game
which prevented its coming to final vote. Pledges made to women
are not usually counted as binding, but these pledges, as in
Oklahoma, were made to men who were political co-workers. They
did not deem it prudent to break these pledges by an open vote
against the bill, but they held that they were not violated when
they kept the matter from coming to a vote. The opposition was
led by the proprietor of the largest and richest saloon in the
Territory.
I have never found anywhere, however, so many strong, determined,
able men, anxious to espouse our cause as in Arizona. The general
sentiment is overwhelmingly in our favor. At one time three
prominent men were in Phoenix to do what they could for the
suffrage bill, each of whom had traveled four hundred miles for
this express purpose. Governor N. O. Murphy recommended woman
suffrage in his message and did all that was possible to assist
its passage. The press is favorable, the intelligent and moral
citizens are eager for it, but the vicious elements, as
everywhere, are opposed. For a month the question was bitterly
contested, but its foes prevented a vote. So again a campaign,
which was sure of victory had each man voted his conviction,
ended in crime and bribery won the day. The pay of legislators in
the Territories is very small, and the most desirable men can not
afford to serve. In consequence there drifts into every
Legislature enough men of unprincipled character to make a
balance of power. It may interest you to know that in both
Territories we were told that all such legislation is controlled
by bribery, and that our measure could be put through in a
twinkling by "a little money judiciously distributed," but to
such suggestions we replied that what the suffragists had won
they had won honestly and we would postpone further advances till
they could come in the same way. In the future years of strife
over this question there will be many hands stained with guilt,
but they will be those of the remonstrants and not ours. Though
crime prevented the victory, yet we were abundantly assured of
the lasting results of the campaign.
LAWS: Curtesy and dower were abolished by Territorial legislation, but
in 1887 Congress passed an act granting a widow dower in all the
Territories. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving
descendants, out of the separate property of either the survivor has
one-third of the personal and a life use of one-third of the real
estate. If there are no descendants, the survivor has all of the
personal and a life use of one-half the real estate; if there are
neither descendants nor father nor mother of the decedent, the
survivor has the whole estate. The community property goes entirely to
the survivor if there are no descendants, otherwise one-half goes to
the survivor, in either case charged with the community debts. If the
widow has a maintenance derived from her own property equal to $2,000,
the whole property so set apart, other than her half of the homestead,
must go to the minor children. If the homestead was selected from the
community property it vests absolutely in the survivor. If selected
from the separate property of either, it vests in that one or his
heirs. It can not exceed $5,000 in value.
Married women have the exclusive control of their separate property;
it is not liable for the debts or obligations of the husband; it may
be mortgaged, sold or disposed of by will without his consent. The
same privileges are extended to husbands.
A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name
as regards her separate property, but she must sue jointly with her
husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered are community
property and in his control.
If a married woman desire to become a sole trader she must file a
certificate in the registry of deeds setting forth the nature and
place of business. She can not become a sole trader if the original
capital invested exceeds $10,000 unless she takes oath that the
surplus did not come from any funds of the husband. If the wife is not
a sole trader her wages are community property and belong to the
husband while she is living with him.
The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death
the mother becomes guardian so long as she remains unmarried, provided
she is a suitable person.
If the husband fails to support his wife, she may contract debts for
necessaries on his credit, and for such debts she and her husband must
be sued jointly and if he is not financially responsible her separate
property may be taken.
The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
1887, and to 18 in 1895. The penalty is confinement in the
penitentiary for life or for not less than five years.
SUFFRAGE: Since 1887 every person, male or female, twenty-one years
old, who is the parent or guardian of a child of school age residing
in the district, or has paid Territorial or county school tax,
exclusive of poll-tax, during the preceding year, is eligible to the
office of school trustee and entitled to vote for this officer at any
School District election. This includes all cities and towns in the
Territory.
OFFICE HOLDING: Women may legally serve as school trustees, court
commissioners, clerks of court, official stenographers, deputies and
clerks in Territorial, county and municipal offices, and notaries
public. Very few, however, are filling any of these offices.
Governor L. C. Hughes held that women were qualified to sit on any
State Board and appointed one on the board of the State Normal School
and one assistant superintendent of the Insane Asylum. None have since
been appointed. There are no women physicians in any public
institutions, and no police matrons at any jail or station-house.
OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
women.
EDUCATION: The State University is co-educational. In the public
schools there are 122 men and 257 women teachers. The average monthly
salary of the men is $73.23; of the women, $63.17.
FOOTNOTES:
[160] The History is indebted to Mrs. L. C. Hughes of Tucson, former
president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association, and to Mrs.
Laura M. Johns of Kansas for material used in this chapter.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ARKANSAS.[161]
In 1885 the first woman suffrage association in Arkansas was formed at
Eureka Springs by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins and Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, who
was made president. Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in February, 1889,
in Helena, Fort Smith and Little Rock, at the last place introduced by
Gov. James B. Eagle. On Sunday afternoon she spoke at a temperance
meeting in this city, to a large audience that manifested every
evidence of approval although she advocated woman suffrage. These were
the first addresses on woman's enfranchisement given in the State.
No regularly constituted State suffrage convention ever has been held,
but at the close of the annual Woman's Christian Temperance Union
convention it is customary for the members of this body who favor the
ballot for woman to meet and elect the usual officers for that branch
of the work.
For fifteen years before her death in 1899, Mrs. Clara A. McDiarmid
was a leader, was president of the association and represented the
State at the national conventions. Dr. Ida J. Brooks is an earnest
worker, and valuable assistance has been given by Mrs. Fannie L. Chunn
and Mrs. Bernie Babcock.
In 1896 Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Tennessee gave twelve lectures
under the auspices of the National Association. Miss Frances A.
Griffin of Alabama also spoke here on this subject.
Not even this brief history of the suffrage movement would be complete
without a mention of the _Woman's Chronicle_, established in 1888 by
Catherine Campbell Cunningham, Mary Burt Brooks and Haryot Holt
Cahoon. Mrs. Brooks was principal of the Forest Grove School, and Miss
Cunningham a teacher in the public schools of Little Rock, but every
week for five years this bright, newsy paper appeared on time. It was
devoted to the general interests of women, with a strong advocacy of
their enfranchisement. During the General Assembly it was laid each
Saturday morning on the desk of every legislator. Charles E.
Cunningham encouraged and sustained his daughter in her work.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The only bill for woman suffrage was that
championed in the Senate by J. P. H. Russ, in 1891, "An act to give
white women the right to vote and hold office, and all other rights
the same as are accorded to male citizens." This unconstitutional
measure passed third reading, but it is not surprising that it
received only four affirmative votes; fourteen voted against it and
fourteen refrained from voting.
In 1895 the law recognizing insanity after marriage as a ground for
divorce was repealed.
This year a law was passed requiring the councils of all first-class
cities to elect a police matron to look after woman prisoners.
Dower exists but not curtesy, unless the wife dies intestate and there
has been issue born alive. If there are children the wife is entitled
to one-third of the real property for her life and one-third of the
personal property absolutely. If there are no children living she
takes in fee simple one-half of the real estate where it is a new
acquisition and not an inheritance, and one-half of the personal
estate absolutely as against the collateral heirs; but as against
creditors she takes one-third of the real estate in fee simple and
one-third of the personal property absolutely. If either the husband
or the wife die without a will and there are neither father, mother,
nor their descendants, nor any paternal or maternal kindred capable of
inheriting, the whole estate, both real and personal, goes to the
surviving wife or husband.
The wife may sell or transfer her separate real estate without the
consent of the husband. He can do the same with his real estate but
can not impair her dower. A transfer of the homestead requires the
joint signature.
A married woman as sole trader may engage in business on her own
account and have the profits free from the interference of her
husband, but if she is simply working for wages he may sue for her
earnings and his receipt will bind her.
The father is the legal guardian of the children, having custody of
their persons and property, but "no man shall bind his child to
apprenticeship or service, or part with the control of such child, or
create any testamentary guardianship therefor, unless the mother
shall in writing signify her consent thereto." At the father's death
the mother may be guardian of the persons of the children but not of
their property unless derived from her.
There is no law requiring the husband to support his family.
The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 16 years in
1893, with a penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than
five years nor more than twenty-one. In 1899 the minimum penalty was
reduced to one year.
SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage except under the Three-Mile
Law. This provides that, on petition of a majority of the inhabitants
living within three miles of any church or school, the court shall
make it illegal for liquor to be sold within this limit for two years.
The law never has been utilized in the larger cities, but has been
tried in numerous small towns and hundreds of outlying districts,
where it has borne the test bravely, ruling out completely the public
drink-houses. Wherever it has been put into force, women have been a
strong factor, giving their own signatures in its favor and in many
instances making house to house canvasses to obtain signers.
OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible for any elective office. For
twenty-five years, however, they have held clerkships in both branches
of the General Assembly. In 1899 a bill to disqualify them from
holding these was defeated in the Lower House by a considerable
majority. But this same Legislature did not hesitate to declare women
not qualified to serve as notaries public, which they had been doing
for several years.
There are police matrons in Little Rock and Hot Springs.
For one year the "visiting committee" appointed by the School Board
was composed of three men and two women. The latter made a written
report, but the innovation was not repeated.
OCCUPATIONS: Women are not permitted to practice law. No other
profession or occupation is legally forbidden.
EDUCATION: All of the universities and colleges are coeducational,
even the Law and Medical Departments of the State University being
open to women.
In the public schools there are 4,515 men and 2,558 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $49.22, of the women,
$35.52.
FOOTNOTES:
[161] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
Miss Catherine Campbell Cunningham of Little Rock, one of the earliest
suffrage workers in the State.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CALIFORNIA.[162]
The first woman suffrage meeting on the Pacific Coast was held in San
Francisco in May, 1869, and a State association was formed in January,
1870. From that date meetings were held regularly and a committee of
women did faithful work at the Legislature every session, securing
many changes in the laws to the advantage of women.[163]
At the annual meeting of the association in San Francisco in December,
1884, Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon succeeded Mrs. Clara S. Foltz as
president and held the office for the next ten years. During this time
she attended a number of national suffrage conventions in Washington
and delivered addresses in many parts of the United States.
In the political campaign of 1888 Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Foltz were
employed as speakers by the Democratic Central Committee, and Miss
Addie L. Ballou by the Republican. The Populist and the Labor parties
selected women as delegates to their State conventions and placed them
on their tickets for various offices. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of
New York and Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker of New Hampshire visited the
Pacific Coast and gave very acceptable lectures to the suffrage
societies.
In 1889 Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent and Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich each
subscribed $100 to send Mrs. Gordon to Washington Territory to aid the
women there in securing the adoption of a suffrage amendment to the
State constitution. She canvassed the State, contributing her
services. The next year, through the efforts of these two ladies and
their own contributions, over $1,000 were sent to South Dakota to
assist the women in a similar attempt.
Suffrage meetings for various purposes were held in 1890, the largest
being a grand rally at Metropolitan Temple, July 4, to celebrate the
admission of Wyoming as a State with full suffrage for women, at which
there were addresses by the Hon. T. V. Cator, the Rev. C. W. Wendte,
James K. Barry, the Hon. P. Reddy, the Hon. Charles Summer, Mrs.
Gordon and others. This year the State Grange and the Farmers'
Alliance cordially indorsed woman suffrage at their conventions. The
annual suffrage meeting was held in Washington Hall, San Francisco,
September 26. Mrs. Gordon was appointed a committee to select her own
assistants and have full charge of the legislative work during the
winter.
In 1891 practically every organization of either men or women seemed
to be permeated with the agitation for woman suffrage. Among the most
effective speakers and writers were Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson,
Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, Miss Agnes Manning, Miss Ina D. Coolbrith, Mme.
A. L. Sorbier, Mrs. E. O. Smith and Mrs. Sara A. T. Lemmon.[164]
Many informal business meetings were held during the next two years in
Mrs. Gordon's law office. The adoption of equal suffrage by Colorado
in 1893 inspired the California women to renewed effort. An Equal
Rights League was formed of experienced suffrage workers. This was
followed by the Young Woman's Suffrage Club, Miss Fannie Lemme,
president, which became very popular. The Political Equality Club of
Alameda County was organized in April. The Portia Law Club, Mrs.
Foltz, dean, occupied a prominent place. The Woman's Federation also
was an active society.
In 1893 the Trans-Mississippi Congress met in San Francisco with five
regularly accredited women delegates in attendance. A woman suffrage
resolution was presented for their indorsement and eloquently
advocated by Mrs. Mary Lynde Craig. It was bitterly contested but
finally passed by 251 yeas, 211 nays, amidst cheers and the waving of
hats.
In 1894 was held the great Midwinter Fair, and the Woman's Congress
Auxiliary became an intellectual focus for gifted women. It culminated
in the brilliant convocation which was in session in Golden Gate Hall,
San Francisco, for a week in May. Its promoters were Mrs. John Vance
Cheney, Mrs. Horace Davis, Mrs. Cooper, Miss Hattie Cooper, Mrs. Mary
S. Sperry, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. William A. Keith, Mrs. Tupper
Wilkes, Mrs. Alice Moore McComas, Mrs. Gordon and others. Mrs. Irving
M. Scott, president of Sorosis, received the Congress socially in her
elegant home. A large reception was given also at the magnificent
country residence of Mrs. Frank M. Smith in East Oakland.
The Congress was followed by a mass meeting under the auspices of the
suffrage societies. The hall would scarcely hold the audiences, which
were especially distinguished by the large number of men, and noted
men were also among the speakers. The venerable Alfred Cridge of the
Single Tax League created much interest by a practical illustration of
proportional representation, the candidates for president and
vice-president being Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the
women doing the voting. Letters of regret at inability to be present
but expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting were received
from Gov. James H. Budd, President David Starr Jordan of Leland
Stanford University, U. S. Senator Perkins, Supreme Judge McFarland,
Judge James G. Maguire and others.
This year the State Association elected as its president Mrs. Nellie
Holbrook Blinn, who had been an ardent worker in the cause for a
number of years and a prominent speaker for the Republican party. Mrs.
Annie K. Bidwell was made vice-president; Mrs. Hester A. Harland,
recording secretary; Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens, corresponding secretary;
Mrs. Emma Gregory, treasurer. Meetings were held every fortnight in
St. George's Hall. In a short time General Warfield, proprietor of the
California Hotel, offered the society the use of its parlors, which
was gladly accepted.
In August a reception was given in honor of the National Press
Association, then holding a convention in San Francisco, at which
addresses were made by Mayor Adolph Sutro, the Hon. Samuel Shortridge
and others. During the autumn a number of large and enthusiastic
meetings were held.
In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
president and vice-president of the National Association, arrived in
San Francisco in response to a cordial invitation to assist in the
Woman's Congress which opened on the 20th. No meetings ever held were
more beautiful and inspiring than these, presided over by Mrs.
Cooper.[165] The best speakers in the State, men and women,
participated and every possible honor, public and social, was
conferred upon the two Eastern guests.
After the congress they accepted invitations to speak in San Jose, Los
Angeles, Pasadena, Riverside, Pomona and San Diego. The audiences
everywhere were large and cordial and their pathway was literally
strewn with flowers. They returned to San Francisco and again
addressed great audiences in that city and Oakland. Miss Shaw accepted
the invitation of the executive committee to be one of the orators at
the Fourth of July celebration in Woodward's Pavilion.
On July 2, 3, these ladies met with the State Suffrage Convention in
Golden Gate Hall. Under their wise counsel a board of officers was
elected which proved acceptable to all the members of the
association,[166] and a constitution was adopted which eliminated the
causes of past contentions.
The State was now thoroughly aroused over the submission by the
Legislature the preceding winter of an amendment conferring Full
Suffrage on women, which was to be voted on the next year. Auxiliary
societies were reported from Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, Los Angeles,
Fresno and other places and 300 new members were enrolled. The big
hall was crowded at the evening meetings and addresses were made by
Mrs. Sargent, the new president, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Cooper,
Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Blinn and others.
The officers elected at this time continued through all the long and
trying campaign of 1896, which is described further on. The amendment
was defeated at the election of November 3. The State convention was
called for November 5, 6, in order that the Eastern women might be
present, as they were to leave on the 7th. A magnificent farewell
meeting was held on the first evening in Metropolitan Temple, which
was crowded from pit to dome. The _Call_ declared, "It was more like
the ratification of a victory than a rally after defeat;" and at the
close of the convention said: "It furnished during its entire sessions
an example of pluck and patience such as should forever quiet the
calumny that women do not know how to govern themselves--that they
become hysterical in the face of defeat."
The committee[167] reported a set of strong, courageous resolutions
which were adopted with cheers. The last one declared: "While we
accept the verdict of the election we do not regard it as final, but
believing that our cause is just and must prevail, we will enter at
once on a vigorous campaign which will end only when the ballot is
placed in the hands of California women."
A systematic plan of work was adopted and, as Mrs. Sargent was about
to leave for a year abroad, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift was elected
president. Mrs. Goodrich and Mrs. Sargent were made honorary
presidents. Twelve hundred dollars were raised to pay all outstanding
campaign debts, and the convention closed with a good-bye reception to
Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and the other ladies
from the East.
The annual State meeting of 1897 was held in San Francisco, October 5,
6, with able addresses by the Rev. E. S. Chapman, Albert H. Elliott, a
San Francisco attorney, Doctors Beecher and Bushnell, representing the
women in their profession, Mrs. E. O. Smith and many others. Mrs.
Swift was re-elected president and continued to serve until 1900.
The convention of 1898 also was held in San Francisco, October 4-6,
and was made a jubilee meeting to celebrate the calling of the First
Woman's Rights Convention in 1848.
In 1899 the annual State meeting, held in San Francisco November 7, 8,
was greatly stimulated by the presence of Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman
of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, its
secretary. Active societies were reported in many counties and a large
amount of work done by the press committee of fourteen members, Mrs.
Mary L. Wakeman Curtis, chairman. It was announced that the Susan B.
Anthony Club would hold a public meeting in the audience room of the
Century Club, February 15, to celebrate that lady's eightieth
birthday, at which President Jordan and Albert H. Elliott would be the
orators. Addresses were given by Miss Sarah Severance, Mrs. Julia S.
Sanborn, Mrs. Mary McHenry (Wm. A.) Keith, Mrs. Smith, Miss Selina
Solomons and Miss Clara M. Schlingheyde.
On the evening of November 9 the convention was transferred to Oakland
and every seat in the large Unitarian church was filled. Mrs. Chapman
Catt was the speaker, introduced by the Rev. J. K. McLean. Mrs.
Baldwin, president of the Alameda County society, Mrs. Swift and other
prominent women occupied the beautifully decorated platform. During
the afternoon a reception had been given in the artistic home of Mrs.
Emma Shafter Howard.
The convention for 1900 was held in San Francisco as usual, December
14, 15. Mrs. Annie R. Wood was elected president.[168]
One of the largest auxiliary societies is that of Alameda County with
a dozen branches. The presidents have been the Rev. J. K. McLean, Mrs.
M. S. Haight, Mrs. Alice M. Stocker, Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin, Mrs. H.
J. D. Chapman and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson.[169]
The San Jose Club was formed for campaign work, Nov. 14, 1895, with
fifty-four charter members. It has continued to hold weekly meetings
under the presidency of Dr. Alida C. Avery.[170] There are a number of
other efficient clubs in Northern California.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: As early as 1868, and for many years afterwards,
Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon addressed the Legislature in behalf of
political rights for women, and from then until the present time there
have been few sessions which have not had the question brought before
them. A large number of legislators, lawyers and leading women have
contended that the constitution of the State is so worded that it is
within the power of the Legislature to confer the full franchise by
statute, but bills for this purpose always have been defeated by a
majority who hold that this can be done legally only by an amendment
to the constitution adopted by the electors. Mrs. Nellie Holbrook
Blinn has spent many winters at Sacramento in the interest of suffrage
bills, and Mrs. Clara S. Foltz has frequently made legal arguments
before joint committees. Beginning with 1891 Mrs. Sturtevant Peet,
president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, has
remained through every legislative session representing that
organization, with bills for temperance measures, suffrage and other
matters of especial interest to women. During all of these years the
suffrage bills before the Legislature have been reinforced by great
petitions and hundreds of personal letters from the women of Southern
California.
In 1889 Miss Sarah M. Severance, State Superintendent of Franchise for
the W. C. T. U., went to Sacramento with a large petition asking for
School Suffrage. Mrs. Gordon, a practicing lawyer, already had
prepared three bills asking for Municipal and School Suffrage
including the right to hold every educational office. All were
reported favorably from the Senate committee. The first was passed,
reconsidered and although again receiving a majority vote, had not the
constitutional two-thirds. The School Suffrage Bill passed by 24 ayes,
7 noes. In the Assembly it received 36 ayes, 22 noes, not the required
majority.
In 1891 a bill was presented to enfranchise women by statute. It was
championed by Senators McGowan, Dargie and Simpson of the northern,
and Carpenter and McComas of the southern part of the State. On
February 7 a hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committee, and Mrs.
Gordon gave a strong legal argument which was presented to the members
as a "brief;" and addresses were made by Miss Severance, Mrs. Addie
L. Ballou and Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens. Before the vote was taken in
the Legislature Mrs. Sturtevant Peet presented the great petition of
the W. C. T. U. containing 15,000 names, and many were offered by
senators from various counties. Individual appeals were sent by Mrs.
Ellen Clark Sargent, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Dr. Alida C. Avery,
Mrs. E. O. Smith and many other well-known women. The bill passed the
Senate by 21 ayes, 17 noes. It had been delayed so long, however, that
it was too late to reach the Assembly.
In 1894 the State Republican Convention adopted a plank as follows:
"Believing that taxation without representation is against the
principles of the Government we favor the extension of the right of
suffrage to all citizens of the United States, both men and women."
The Legislature of 1895 was strongly Republican and the time seemed to
be highly propitious for securing woman suffrage. To this end a number
of influential women visited Sacramento. The first bill presented
called for enfranchisement by special statute and was introduced and
championed in the Assembly by Judge E. V. Spencer. On the afternoon of
January 24 Mrs. Blinn and Mrs. Foltz addressed the Senate Judiciary
Committee, and in the evening a mass meeting took place in the Court
House, which the Judiciary and Elections Committees of the Senate and
House attended in a body, as did also a large number of the members.
Mrs. Gordon made the leading address and Mrs. Foltz the closing
speech. Another meeting, held in the Assembly Chamber February 8, was
addressed by Mrs. E. V. Spencer, Mrs. Blinn, Miss Laura Tilden, a
lawyer, Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Peet. Great assistance also was rendered
by Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mme. A. L. Sorbier, Dr. Lillian Lomax and
Mrs. Jennie Phelps Purvis.
The bill came to a vote in the Assembly February 11 and passed. A
defect was then discovered in the title and it was voted on again
February 19, receiving 46 ayes, 29 noes. In the Senate it met with
many vicissitudes which need not be recounted, as it eventually failed
to pass. This was largely because the members did not believe it would
be constitutional.
This question being settled, Senators McGowan of Eureka, and Bulla of
Los Angeles, Assemblyman Spencer of Lassen, and others championed a
resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male"
from the suffrage clause. This was adopted in March, 1895, by a
two-thirds majority of both Houses, and signed by Gov. James H. Budd.
The story of the campaign which was made to secure the adoption of
this amendment is related hereafter. It was defeated by the voters.
Although the experienced national officers told the California women
that it would be many years before they would be able to secure
another bill they did not believe it, but went to the Legislature of
1897 full of hope that an amendment would be submitted again and they
could make another campaign while their organizations were intact and
public sentiment aroused. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry
and Mme. A. L. Sorbier spent much of the winter in Sacramento, and
enough members were pledged to pass the bill. When it was acted upon,
however, while it received a majority in both Houses, it lacked seven
votes in the Assembly and one in the Senate of the necessary
two-thirds.[171]
In 1899 Representative W. S. Mellick of Los Angeles introduced a bill
giving women the right to vote for school trustees, and at elections
for school bonds or tax levy. It passed the Assembly with only one
dissenting vote, and the Senate by a majority of six. Gov. Henry T.
Gage refused to sign it on the old ground of unconstitutionality.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CAMPAIGN: The action of the Legislature of
1895 in submitting an amendment to the voters, instead of conferring
the franchise by statute, was somewhat of a disappointment to the
women as it precipitated a campaign which would come at the same time
as that for President of the United States, and for which there was
not sufficient organization. They were very much at sea for a while
but in the spring of 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna
Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association,
came to California to the Woman's Congress, and while here, having
had much experience, helped them plan their work and gave every
possible encouragement. In the autumn Miss Shaw returned and held
meetings throughout the State, managed by Miss Harriet Cooper. The
next year, at the urgent request of the State Association, Miss
Anthony and Miss Shaw came back and remained from the first of March
until after the election in November, rendering all the assistance
within their power in the longest and hardest campaign ever made for a
woman suffrage amendment. An amendment committee had been appointed at
the last annual convention and out of this and the State officers a
Campaign Committee[172] was formed and, in addition, a State Central
Committee was organized.
Mrs. Sargent opened her handsome home for headquarters the first three
months, and for eight months she and her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth C.
Sargent, gave every hour to this work, entertaining as guests Miss
Anthony, Miss Shaw and other workers and contributing large sums of
money. In February, Dr. Sargent and Miss Shaw's secretary, Lucy E.
Anthony, arranged a series of two days' conventions in every county in
the State. Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York,
experienced organizers, were invited to California to manage these
conventions and remained throughout the campaign.[173] The Rev. Miss
Shaw and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine were the speakers. The
audiences were large and cordial, clubs were formed and the meetings
more than paid expenses.
On Sunday, May 3, the San Francisco _Call_, the leading Republican
paper, under the management of Charles M. Shortridge, came out with
flaming headlines declaring for woman suffrage, and several hundred
copies were sent to the State Republican convention which met in
Sacramento the following Tuesday. A number of prominent women went to
this convention, as it was considered very important that it should
repeat its indorsement of the previous year. The delegation consisted
of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Sargent, State president, Mrs. Mary
Wood Swift, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Ida
Husted Harper and Miss Mary G. Hay, members of the campaign committee.
Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw addressed the Committee on Resolutions, and
the next day a plank declaring for the amendment was adopted by the
big convention with only one dissenting voice.
On May 12 most of these ladies attended the Populist Convention in
Sacramento. They were received with cheers, escorted to front seats,
invited to address the convention and the plank was unanimously
adopted. From here a part of them went to the Prohibition Convention
in Stockton, meeting a most cordial reception and a similar result.
The Socialist Labor and the National parties also indorsed the
amendment.
There was little hope for the indorsement of the Democratic
Convention, but the ladies, reinforced by Mrs. Sarah B. and Miss
Harriet Cooper, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs. Alice M. Stocker and Mrs.
E. O. Smith attended it on June 16. They were permitted to address the
Resolutions Committee and present a petition signed by about 40,000
men and women of the State asking for the amendment, but it was laid
on the table almost before they had left the room.[174]
A minority report was at once prepared by Charles Wesley Reed and
signed by himself, William H. Alford, chairman of the committee, and
two other members, but it was prevented from coming before the
convention by order of its chairman, Frank Gould of San Joaquin
County. After the platform had been adopted Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw
were invited to address the convention, which they did to such effect
that when they had finished the minority report was demanded. It was
too late for this but, in spite of the efforts of John P. Irish and W.
W. Foote of Alameda County,[175] and others, the original resolution
declaring for an amendment was brought to a vote, receiving 149 ayes,
420 noes, more than one-fourth the whole number.
The women opened their campaign a few days later with an immense
ratification meeting in Metropolitan Temple. All of the political
parties were represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage
speeches, Congressman James G. Maguire speaking for the fraction of
the Democratic party. Most of the ladies who had attended the
conventions made addresses and there was the greatest enthusiasm. Miss
Anthony was invited to speak at the ratification meeting of each of
the political parties and was most cordially received. No suffrage
campaign ever commenced so full of promise.
Headquarters were opened on Main Street in the fine new Parrott
Building, five rooms being donated for the purpose by the manager of
the Emporium, William Harper. The furnishings were contributed by
different firms and individuals, and a handsome banner was swung
across the street. Here a force of women worked day and night for five
months, most of them donating their services.[176]
The State Board and all the committees were composed of women of good
position and especial ability. The counties formed their own
organizations and all the important towns had active local clubs. The
report from Southern California appears in another part of this
chapter. In San Francisco Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper gave generously of her
valuable time and powerful influence. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift and Mrs.
Mary S. Sperry responded many times when the finances were at the
lowest ebb. It would be impossible to name even a small fraction of
those who freely and continuously gave labor and money.
Each of the eighteen assembly districts of San Francisco was organized
by precincts, regular meetings were held, a personal canvass was made
and an immense amount of literature was distributed. It is wholly
impracticable in a limited space to mention the work done by the
various counties, as in each where the amendment was carried it was
due largely to the wise, faithful and unwearying efforts of its own
women, and any distinction would be invidious.
The work of the W. C. T. U. deserves a prominent place in the history
of the struggle, as all the powers of its excellent organization and
experienced workers were devoted to the success of the amendment, and
the majority in several counties at least was due to its efforts.
For the usual necessary and legitimate campaign purposes a fund of
about $19,000 was raised and sent to headquarters, almost wholly the
contributions of women.
Miss Anthony remained in San Francisco addressing meetings in that
city and making many short trips to neighboring towns, speaking once
or more every day for eight months. During this time she made a tour
of Central and Southern California, lecturing in halls, churches,
wigwams, parlors, schoolhouses and the open air. In some places the
train was stopped and she spoke from the rear platform which was then
banked with flowers.
The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke every night for seven months; Miss
Yates made about one hundred speeches; Mrs. Chapman Catt spent the
last two months in the State giving several addresses every day. Miss
Sarah M. Severance spoke under the auspices of the W. C. T. U.
throughout the campaign. Mrs. Naomi Anderson represented the colored
people. Every California woman who could make a speech was pressed
into service for clubs, ward meetings, etc. Many handsome homes were
opened for parlor lectures. Miss Anthony herself 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 mountain tops, 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." Her services during the
entire time were a personal contribution.
The attitude of the press was one of the remarkable features. Mrs. Ida
Husted Harper was made Chairman of the Press Committee which had local
members in every community. In company with Miss Anthony every editor
in San Francisco was visited and assurances received that the
amendment would have respectful treatment. The _Call_, the _Record_
and the _Post_ gave strong editorial indorsement, the latter
maintaining a daily department, the responsibility being largely taken
by Dr. Sargent. Mrs. Harper had a long article each week in the
_Sunday Call_ and many weeks one in the _Chronicle_ also. The
_Examiner_ placed a column on the editorial page of its Sunday edition
at the disposal of Miss Anthony and she filled it for seven months,
but the paper gave no official approval. The _Report_ had a double
column every Saturday edited by Miss Winnifred Harper. The _Bulletin_
had one conducted by Miss Eliza D. Keith, but editorially it was not
friendly. Mrs. Mary L. Wakeman Curtis rendered especially valuable
service. The Populist press was universally favorable, as were the
_Star_ and other labor papers, the temperance, Socialist and A. P. A.
organs, the leading Jewish papers, those of the colored people,
several published in foreign languages and many in the interest of
agriculture, insurance, etc.
Before the close of the campaign the press chairman was in
communication with 250 papers in the State which declared editorially
for woman suffrage. Only 27 spoke openly against it, prominent among
these being the _San Francisco Chronicle_, _Argonaut_, _Sacramento
Record-Union_ and _Los Angeles Times_. From California papers alone
9,000 clippings were received on this subject.
Had it not been the year of a presidential election it is probable
that the amendment might have carried, but the bitter competition of
politics soon produced many complications and, although the suffrage
question was kept absolutely non-partisan, it could not escape their
serious effects. The demand for free silver had made such inroads on
the Republican party that it was threatened with the loss of the
State, and it was soon made to understand by the liquor element that
its continued advocacy of the suffrage amendment would mean a great
loss of money and votes. It was found that the chairman of the State
Central Committee, Major Frank M'Laughlin, was notifying the county
chairmen not to permit the women to speak at the Republican meetings,
and it became very difficult to persuade the speakers of that party
to refer to the amendment, although an indorsement of it was the first
plank in their platform.
The Populists and Democrats found themselves in accord on financial
questions and in most localities a fusion was effected. While the
former, for the most part, were loyal to the amendment they could not
fully control the speakers or platforms at the rallies and it was kept
out of sight as much as possible. The A. P. A. was strongly organized
in California and was waging a bitter war against the Catholic Church,
and both feared the effect of the enfranchisement of women, although
at the beginning the former seemed wholly in favor.
The women made a brave fight but these political conditions, added to
insufficient organization, too small a number of workers, lack of
necessary funds, the immense amount of territory to be covered, the
large foreign population in San Francisco and the strong prejudices in
general against the movement, which must be overcome everywhere, made
defeat inevitable. The final blow was struck when, ten days before
election, the wholesale Liquor Dealers' League, which had been making
its influence felt all during the campaign, met in San Francisco and
resolved "to take such steps as are necessary to protect our
interests." One of these steps was to send to the saloonkeepers, hotel
proprietors, druggists and grocers throughout the State the following:
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.
Although the women had the written promise of the Secretary of State
saying, "The amendment shall be third in order on the ballot, as
certified to me by the various county clerks," it was placed last,
which made it the easy target for the mass of voters who could not
read. Hundreds of tickets were cast in San Francisco on which the only
cross was against this 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 26,744. The majority against in San
Francisco County 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.[177] 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."[178]
As it is almost universally insisted that woman suffrage amendments
are defeated by the ballots of the ignorant, the vicious and the
foreign born, an analysis of the vote of San Francisco, which contains
more of these elements than all the rest of California, is of
interest. Not one of the eighteen Assembly Districts was carried for
the amendment and but one precinct in the whole city. It is not
practicable to draw an exact dividing line between the best and the
worst localities in any city, but possibly the 28th, or water front,
district in San Francisco may come under the latter head and the 40th
under the former. The vote on the amendment in the 28th was 355 ayes,
1,188 noes; in the 40th, 890 ayes, 2,681 noes, a larger percentage of
opposition in the district containing the so-called best people.
Districts 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 would probably be designated the most
aristocratic of the city. Their vote on the amendment was 5,189 ayes,
13,615 noes, an opposing majority of 8,426, or about 1,400 to the
district. This left the remainder to be distributed among the other
eighteen districts, including the ignorant, the vicious and the
foreign born, with an average of less than 1,300 adverse votes in each
district.
The proportion of this vote was duplicated in Oakland, the most
aristocratic ward giving as large a negative majority as the one
commonly designated "the slums."
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.[179]
In the spring of 1885 the first woman suffrage association of Southern
California was organized in Los Angeles at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth
A. Kingsbury, a lecturer and writer of ability and a co-worker with
the Eastern suffragists in pioneer days. This small band of men and
women held weekly meetings from this time until the opening of the
Amendment Campaign in 1896, when it adjourned--subject to the call of
its president--and its members became a part of the Los Angeles
Campaign Committee.
The principal work of this early suffrage society was educational.
Once a month meetings were held to which the public was invited,
addresses were given by able men and women, good music was furnished
and suffrage literature distributed. For five years Mrs. Kingsbury
continued its efficient president and then returned to her Eastern
home. She was succeeded by Mrs. Margaret V. Longley, another pioneer
worker from the East, who served acceptably for the same length of
time, when Mrs. Alice Moore McComas was elected. Under her regime was
called the first county suffrage convention ever held in the State.
All other organizations of women wholly ignored the suffrage
association during these years. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union
had its franchise department, but it was by no means so popular as the
other thirty-nine. Discouragement was met on every hand, but the
faithful few, adhering to the principles of political liberty, saw
year by year a slow but certain growth of sentiment in favor of the
ballot for women.
In the winter of 1887, an effort was made to secure a bill from the
Legislature conferring Municipal Suffrage upon women. Hundreds of
letters were written and a large petition was sent but no action was
taken.[180] Every year afterward a bill asking for some form of
suffrage was presented to the Legislature, accompanied by great
petitions signed by representative people, and an unremitting
agitation was kept up throughout Southern California, until a strong
sentiment was created in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Among
those who championed the cause in the Legislature in those days were
R. N. Bulla, R. B. Carpenter, Edward Denio and W. S. Mellick. U. S.
Senators George C. Perkins and Stephen M. White also gave their
influence in its favor.
In the autumn of 1892 the Southern California Woman's Parliament was
organized. While the fact was emphasized that it was "not a woman's
rights society;" the suffragists saw here an opportunity for good
work. The whole membership of their various organizations went into
this parliament and were active promoters of all the enterprises taken
up, fully realizing that, sooner or later, in a body where all phases
of woman's work--in the home, the church, the school and society--were
discussed, woman's political limitations could not fail to receive
attention. They were not mistaken for in a short time its sessions
might properly have been called "woman's rights meetings," but none
were more careful not to mention this fact than the "strong-minded"
members. The women who were afraid to be seen at suffrage meetings
were being so quietly converted that they had no idea of it. The
sentiment grew and grew--and so did the suffrage association--until,
after consultation with various members of the Legislature, it was
decided to ask for an amendment to the State constitution which would
enfranchise women.
Meanwhile the Los Angeles Suffrage Association called a convention of
delegates from the southern counties in April, 1894, and a central
committee was organized consisting of one representative woman from
each voting precinct. This was productive of systematic work, and when
the Legislature the following winter submitted an amendment, workers
in every city, town, hamlet and school district were ready for the
campaign.
County campaign committees were organized of which that of Los
Angeles was the leader, and from its headquarters the main work was
carried on. These, consisting of four large rooms on the second floor
of the Muskegon block, a fine stone building in the business center of
Los Angeles, were donated by T. D. Stimson. They were handsomely
furnished by friends with every requirement for office work and
semi-public meetings. Leo Alexander and William D. Hayward contributed
the typewriters. Their arrangement was in the hands of Mesdames J. H.
Braly, A. M. Davidson, R. L. Craig and Laura B. Fay. All through that
ever-to-be-remembered hot summer of 1896 these dainty, artistic rooms,
constantly supplied with fresh flowers, afforded a cool retreat for
the busy suffragists, as well as a resting place for their less active
sisters who were invited to visit them, even if not in sympathy, and
none left without some of the literature and a gentle hint as to their
obvious duty.
In San Diego the work was led by the president, Mrs. Flora M. Kimball.
Mrs. Kimball was the first woman ever elected Master of a Grange, and
was for eight years a member of the San Diego school board. She was a
most efficient manager and the beautiful grounds around her home were
the scene of many gatherings. A gifted writer also, her satires during
this campaign, over the signature "Betty Snow, an anti-suffragist,"
made many converts.
Prominent among the workers were Mrs. Annie Bristol Sloan, president
of the San Diego County W. S. A., the Rev. Amanda Deyo, Dr. Lelia
Latta and Mrs. Laura Riddell; Mrs. Helen Joslin Le Boeuf (Tustin),
organizer of Orange County; Mrs. Lizzie H. Mills, secretary of the
Southern California W. C. T. U., and its president, Mrs. N. P. J.
Button, who kept the question prominently before the people of
Riverside County. Mrs. Ida K. Spears led the work in Ventura County
with pen and voice. Kern County though less densely settled had in its
little clusters of humanity staunch friends of the cause under the
leadership of Mrs. McLeod, and gave also its majority for the
amendment. San Bernardino was ably marshaled by Mrs. Ella Wilson
Merchant, the county president. In Santa Barbara County Mrs. Emily
Wright had stood sponsor for the cause for many years, and Mrs. S. E.
A. Higgins assisted with her facile pen. This county in its favorable
vote ranked next to Los Angeles. The work was tremendous but the
result was compensating.
The key-note of the campaign was to reach every voter without regard
to race or rank. Therefore, women of all castes and conditions were
set to work where their direct influence would be most effective.
Hundreds of precinct meetings were held during the whole summer. Each
precinct had its own organization officered by its own people--men and
women--a vice-president being appointed from each of its churches, and
this was called Campaign Committee Precinct No. ----, pledged to work
only until election. The meetings numbered from five to eighteen a
day, and one day in August twenty-two were held in a single county. In
the city of Los Angeles the highest number in any one day was nine
precinct meetings and one public rally in the evening, near the close
of the campaign. Mrs. McComas addressed four of these meetings and
spoke at the rally--which was not unusual work for the speakers in the
field. From the afternoon meetings, held generally in the largest
homes in the precinct, hundreds of leaflets were sent out and every
effort was made to increase the interest among women, for it was
believed that if these did their duty the votes could be secured. The
evening meetings were held principally in halls or churches, though
frequently the larger homes and hotel parlors were thrown open for a
reception where men were the honored guests.
The churches of all Protestant denominations were offered for debates
and entertainments. In several the Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard--the
salaried campaign speaker--preached Sunday evenings on texts pertinent
to the subject, and many pastors delivered special sermons on equal
rights. Leading hotels gave their parlors for precinct meetings and
many of the halls used for public gatherings were donated by the
owners. Noontide meetings were held in workshops, factories and
railroad stations, and while the men ate their lunch a short suffrage
talk was given or some good leaflet read aloud. The wives of these men
were invited to take part, or to have full charge, and many earnest,
competent workers were found among them who influenced these voters as
no one else could do. The large proportion of foreign citizens were
thus reached in a quiet, educational manner.
Another most effective method of work was carried on by the public
meeting committee. Every political organization had in its ranks some
father, husband, son or brother who was pledged to watch the suffrage
interests and report to this committee--composed of men from these
organizations and women from the campaign committees--when and where a
wedge could be put in for the amendment. Its main duty was to present
at political meetings, through the most distinguished speaker on the
program, a resolution favoring the amendment. In this way it was
treated as one of the general issues and, being brought before the
voters by one of their own speakers, did not give the annoyance that
is sometimes felt when a lady is introduced for this purpose. In every
instance, the speaker would call upon the voters to "honor themselves
in honoring the women." This method became very popular and won many
votes where, otherwise, a hearing could not have been secured.
Another popular plan was that of utilizing the young people, who
proved effective helpers. Every boy and girl who could sing, play,
declaim, write an essay or in any other way entertain was enlisted for
oratorical debates, prize essays and public meetings.[181] Through
their work many a young man cast his first vote for his mother.
Hearings were secured before clubs and organizations, when short
addresses were made and resolutions adopted.[182]
The W. C. T. U. was throughout the campaign, active, efficient and
helpful, while its members were found on all the suffrage committees.
Valued assistance was given also by the Woman's Parliament, the church
auxiliaries, labor unions, Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth
Leagues, theosophical societies and the Southern California
Federation of Woman's Clubs--which devoted a whole session of its
annual meeting to the question.
The Afro-American Congress, convening in Los Angeles, gave up an
afternoon session to listen to Mrs. Naomi Anderson, the salaried
organizer. This was followed up with faithful work by the Colored
Woman's Club, its president, Dr. Mary T. Longley, assisted by Mesdames
Washington, White, Jackson, Knott, Campbell, Clarkson and others,
being instrumental in converting many of the colored men to a belief
in suffrage for women. A number of them indeed became active workers,
the most prominent being the Rev. John Albright. Mrs. McComas
addressed the Los Angeles County Republican Convention, which put in
its platform a resolution in favor of the amendment.
Literature in small, concise leaflets was hung up in the street cars,
railroad offices, hotels, theaters and post-offices; wrapped in
dry-goods and grocery parcels and placed in profusion in the public
libraries, many of these being compiled especially to suit certain
localities. This required unceasing labor and watchfulness on the part
of the press committee. Much original matter was used to show the
people that the women of their community were fully capable of
expressing their ideas and giving their reasons for desiring the
ballot.
Fourteen of the papers published in Los Angeles were friendly to the
amendment and gave it more or less editorial support, while three used
their influence against it. The Los Angeles _Times_ was unyielding in
its opposition throughout the campaign, although it published fair
reports of the meetings. The _Sunday World_ kept pace with the _Liquor
Dealer_ in its coarse hostility, while the Pasadena _Town Talk_ was a
good second to both. The majority of the newspapers in Southern
California were favorable to the proposed measure and were largely
responsible for its success in this section of the State.[183]
The most harmonious spirit existed at headquarters and among all the
workers. Enough money was raised to pay salaries to county presidents,
organizers, corresponding secretary and one speaker. All others
donated their services. Among the series of county conventions called
by the State board, Los Angeles not only paid its own expenses but
contributed $67 to the general State fund. This money was freely given
by friends and workers, no special assessments being levied and no
collections taken at public meetings. Those who could not give largely
worked the harder to secure contributions from those who could. Great
credit is due to the excellent management of the financial secretary,
Mrs. Almeda B. Gray, who labored constantly at headquarters from May
to November, besides contributing a monthly instalment to the county
fund. Much of it was also due to the wise and conservative policy of
the president of the campaign committee, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Meserve.
It would be impossible to give even the names of all who assisted in
this long and arduous campaign. The work was far-reaching, and many
were modest home-keepers who gave effective service in their own
immediate neighborhood.[184]
The amendment was defeated--for many reasons. Among the most
conspicuous were ignorance of the real merits of the issue;
indifference--for thousands of voters failed to vote either way; a
secret but systematic opposition to woman's voice in legislative
affairs from the only organization against it--the Liquor Dealers'
Association; and, most potent of all, a political combination which
would not have occurred except at the time of a presidential election.
Every county in Southern California gave a majority for the amendment,
Los Angeles County leading with 4,600. Miss Anthony, who spent the
summer in California aiding and encouraging the women with her wisdom,
cheerfulness and hope, said on leaving: "The campaign was a
magnificent one, and it has developed many splendid workers who will
be ready for the next which is sure to come."
After the disappointing result the Campaign Committee held a meeting,
passed resolutions of fealty to the cause and adjourned _sine die_.
But in order to perpetuate the work already done and be ready for "new
business" at any time, the Los Angeles County Woman Suffrage League
was organized the following week, Mrs. Elmira T. Stephens, president;
Mrs. Gray, chairman of advisory board; Mrs. Craig, secretary. The
natural reaction after defeat followed and no work was done for
several years.
In November, 1900, the State president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, came to
Los Angeles and gave a parlor talk at the home of her hostess, Mrs. I.
G. Chandler, and later an address at a public meeting in the Woman's
Club House, of which Mrs. Caroline M. Severance was chairman.
Practically all were in favor of reviving the old Woman Suffrage
League and an executive committee was appointed, Mrs. Sarah Burger
Stearns (formerly of Minnesota), chairman.
At its call a meeting was held December 1, and the league reorganized:
President, Mrs. Severance; vice-president, Mrs. Shelley Tolhurst;
secretary, Mrs. Carl Schutz; treasurer, Mrs. Amelia Griffith; chairman
of executive committee, Mrs. Stearns. A leaflet announcing the
formation of the league, its plan of work, etc., was largely
circulated. A committee was appointed who went before the Legislative
Conference, which was held later in the Chamber of Commerce, and
expressed the thanks of the league for the efforts of the Southern
California members who had worked and voted for the School Suffrage
Bill at the previous session of 1899.
The executive committee meets once a month and special sessions are
called whenever necessary. The plan of work, as outlined by Mrs.
Stearns, was sent to the State convention at San Francisco and
cordially approved.
In February half of a show window on Broadway was secured, with ample
floor space back of it. With the donation of $100 by a Los Angeles
woman both were made attractive with flags, engravings and
furnishings. Above a handsome desk the suffrage flag with its four
stars is draped and photographs of prominent women adorn the walls.
The suffrage papers are kept on file and quantities of fresh
literature are ready for distribution. Stationery, photographs,
medallions, etc., are for sale, a register is open for the enrollment
of friends and a member of the league is always in attendance. When
another amendment campaign is to be made Southern California will be
found ready for work and will declare in its favor by a largely
increased majority.
* * * * *
LAWS: The original property law of California is an inheritance from
the Mexicans, which it incorporated in its own code, and it is quite
as unjust as those which still exist on the statute-books of some
States as a remnant of the barbarous old English Common Law. Community
property includes all which is accumulated by the joint labors of
husband and wife after marriage. This is in the absolute control of
the husband. Previous to 1891 he could dispose of all of it as if he
had no wife, could will, sell, mortgage, pledge or give it away. That
year the Legislature enacted that he could not make a gift of it or
convey it without a valuable consideration, unless the wife consented
in writing, although he could still dispose of it in ordinary business
transactions without her knowledge or consent. The decision in the
Spreckles case apparently nullified this law, as the gift was made in
1893 and the Supreme Court in 1897 declared it legal.[185]
In 1895 it was provided that at the husband's death the wife is
entitled to one-half of what remains, subject to one-half of the
debts. At the death of the wife the whole belongs absolutely to the
husband without administration. If some portion of it may have been
set apart for her support by judicial decree, this is subject to her
testamentary disposition, or, if she makes none, it passes to her
heirs.
A homestead to the value of $5,000, which must continuously be
occupied by the family, may be selected from the community property,
or from the husband's separate estate, or from the wife's with her
consent. If from the first-named it belongs to the survivor, if from
the separate property it descends to his or her heirs, subject to the
power of the court to assign it to the family for a limited period.
During marriage it can not be mortgaged or conveyed without the
signature of both. In case of divorce, if it has been selected from
community property, it may be assigned to the innocent party
absolutely or for a limited time, or it may be sold and the proceeds
divided, according to decree. If selected from separate property it
shall be returned to the former owner, but the court may assign it for
a limited time to the innocent party.
In 1897 a law was passed that if the estate is less than $1,500 it
shall be assigned to the widow, subject to incumbrances, funeral
charges and expenses of settlement.
Separate property consists in what was possessed before marriage or is
received by gift or inheritance afterwards. If the deceased leave wife
or husband and only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the
separate estate is divided in equal shares. If there be more than one
child or the issue of one, the widow or widower is entitled to
one-third. If there is no issue the survivor takes one-half and the
other half goes to the father, mother, brothers and sisters of the
deceased. If none exists, the survivor is entitled to the whole
estate.
Either husband or wife may dispose of separate property without the
consent of the other. Until 1894 it rested upon the wife to prove that
property was her separate possession, but now the proof rests upon the
contestants. Until 1897 she was compelled to prove that it was not
paid for with community earnings. Neither of these recent laws applies
to property acquired previous to May 19, 1889.
A married woman may be administrator or executor. (1891.)
The wife may engage in business as sole trader and her husband is not
liable for her contracts, but her earnings, and also any wages she
may make by her labor, are community property and belong absolutely to
him, and suit for them must be brought by him. By becoming a sole
trader she makes herself liable for the support of the family.
A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in regard to
her separate property, but in torts of a personal nature she must be
sued jointly with her husband, although the wife may defend in her own
right.
Until 1899 common law marriage was legal, and this consisted merely in
a promise and the mutual assumption of marital rights, duties and
obligations. That year a law was passed requiring a license and a
civil or religious ceremony. The law declares specifically that "the
husband is the head of the family and the wife is subject to him."
The wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce.
The father is the guardian of the minor children and entitled to their
custody, services and earnings. At his death, or if he has abandoned
his family, the guardianship belongs to the mother, if suitable.
The husband is expected to give his family proper maintenance. There
is no penalty for not supporting a wife but he can be arrested for
failure to support the children. If he have no property or is disabled
from any cause, then the wife must support him and the family out of
her property or her earnings. The husband decides what are necessaries
and may take even her personal belongings to pay for them.
In 1887 the W. C. T. U. asked to have the "age of protection" for
girls raised from 10 to 18 years, but secured only 14. In 1895 they
succeeded in having a bill passed for 18 years but it was vetoed by
Gov. James H. Budd. In 1897 they obtained one for 16 years which he
signed and it is now the law. The penalty is imprisonment in the
penitentiary for not less than five years.
SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
In 1900, to make a test case, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent brought suit
before Judge M. C. Sloss, of the Supreme Court of San Francisco, to
recover her taxes for that year, about $500. The city through its
attorney filed a demurrer which was argued March 29 by George C.
Sargent, son of the plaintiff and a member of the bar. He based his
masterly argument on the ground that a constitution which declares
that "all political power is inherent in the people" has no right to
exclude one-half of the people from the exercise of this inherent
power. He quoted the most eminent authorities to prove that taxation
and representation are inseparable; that the people of the United
States would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed the
constitutional right of granting or withholding their own money; that
it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people that no taxes
can be imposed upon them except with their consent given personally or
by their representatives. He said in closing:
If Article I of the State constitution defines inalienable rights
and Article II abrogates them, it is monarchy. The Code of Civil
Procedure says that where one of two constructions is in favor of
natural right and the other against it, the former shall be
accepted. The question is whether the Court shall grant this
right, or whether by toil and struggle it shall be wrung from the
consciences of the electors.
The court decided that the case required a mandamus before the
Registrar. Application was then made for a writ of mandate against the
Registrar of Elections to compel him to place Mrs. Sargent's name upon
the list of voters. Should this be denied she asked to have her taxes
returned. Both demands were refused by Judge Sloss in the Superior
Court. He took the ground that if Mr. Sargent's argument should be
carried to its logical conclusion it would enfranchise idiots,
lunatics and criminals; that if there is a conflict between the two
sections of the constitution cited it should be settled in favor of
limiting the suffrage to males, as where a general and a particular
provision are inconsistent the latter is paramount to the former. He
quoted various State Supreme Court decisions and declared that he
decided the case according to the law.[186]
As Mrs. Sargent had every assurance that this judgment would be
sustained by the Supreme Court she did not carry the case further. It
attracted attention and comment in all parts of the country and she
received encouragement and wishes for her success from all classes of
society.
OFFICE HOLDING: The Legislature of 1873 made women eligible to all
School offices. None ever has been elected State Superintendent of
Public Instruction but there is scarcely a county where women have not
served as superintendents. At present seventeen are acting in this
capacity. They have frequently been elected School Trustees and a
woman is now president of the San Francisco school board at a salary
of $3,000 per annum.
The constitution is interpreted to prohibit women from holding any
other office. It is claimed by some that this does not include the
boards of State institutions, but out of twenty-six such boards and
commissions only one ever has had a woman member--Mrs. Phoebe A.
Hearst, who is on the Board of Regents of the State University.
There are women on local library boards. A woman has been assistant
State Librarian, and there have been women deputies and clerks in
county and city offices. At present in the offices of the
Attorney-General, Board of Examiners, State Department of Highways and
Debris Committee women hold positions as clerks at salaries of from
$1,200 to $1,800. They may serve as notaries public.
In the autumn of 1899 the California Woman's Club resurrected an old
law which never had been enforced, providing for the appointment of
assistant women physicians at the hospitals for the insane "provided
there are already three assistant male physicians." They petitioned
the proper authorities and the matter was presented to the State
Lunacy Commission by Gov. Henry T. Gage with his earnest indorsement.
From highly qualified candidates, whom the club had in readiness, two
were appointed, and the promise was made that others should be at an
early date. In a short time the superintendent of one hospital wrote
that he did not see how they ever had managed without a woman
physician.
A woman physician is on the Board of Health in Oakland.
In 1891 a law was passed providing for jail matrons in cities of
100,000 and over. This included only San Francisco and was not
mandatory. In 1901 a law was secured requiring all cities of over
15,000 to have a matron at jails and city prisons, to be appointed
for two years at a salary of $50, $65 or $75 a month, according to the
size of the city.
OCCUPATIONS: After the hard struggle to obtain a law admitting women
to the bar in 1877, a long contest followed to secure their admission
to the Hastings College of Law, a branch of the State University,
which ended in a favorable decision of the Supreme Court.[187] As a
result of these efforts the constitutional convention of 1879
incorporated a provision that "No person shall, on account of sex, be
disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business,
vocation or profession." This does not, however, include appointive or
elective offices.
EDUCATION: This same constitution of 1879 provided also that "No
person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate
departments of the State University on account of sex." Most of the
smaller colleges are co-educational.
The assertion will hardly be questioned that the gifts of women for
educational purposes in all parts of the Union, in all time, do not
equal those made by the women of California within the last decade. As
a memorial to their son, U. S. Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford
erected the Leland Stanford, Jr., University at Palo Alto in 1890 and
endowed it with many millions of dollars. Mr. Stanford's death before
it was fully completed threw the estate into litigation for a number
of years, the legality of even some portion of the university
endowment being in doubt. He left the bulk of his great fortune to his
wife, and, after the estate was settled and free from all
encumbrances, she reaffirmed the titles of all previous gifts and
added the largest part of her own property. The endowment is now about
$30,000,000, all but $4,000,000 of this having been given by Mrs. Jane
Lathrop Stanford. This is the largest endowment ever made by any one
person for one institution, and places Stanford at the head of the
endowed universities of the world. It has been co-educational in all
departments from the beginning and the tuition is practically free.
In 1894 Mrs. Miranda Lux of San Francisco left a bequest of $750,000
for a school of manual training for both sexes. In 1898 Miss Cora Jane
Flood of San Francisco conveyed to the University of California her
magnificent estate at Menlo Park and 4,000 shares of stocks, valued at
not far from $1,000,000. The request was made that the income should
be devoted to some branch of commercial education. Mrs. Jane Krom
Sather of Oakland has given about $200,000 to the University. The
donations of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst have been thus far about $300,000,
but this is merely preliminary to the great endowment of millions for
which she has arranged. It is exclusive also of $30,000 a year for
several archaeological expeditions. Liberal gifts have been made by
other women.
In the public schools there are 1,722 men and 6,425 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $81.08; of the women $64.76.
As a law of 1873 requires equal pay of teachers for equal work, these
figures show that the highly salaried positions are largely occupied
by men.
* * * * *
Women's clubs play a very prominent part in the social life. Of these,
111 with a membership of over 7,000 belong to the State Federation.
The oldest in the State is the Ebell of Oakland, organized over
twenty-five years ago, and having now a handsome club house and a
membership of 500. It raised $20,000 to purchase a site for the new
Carnegie Library. The Century Club of San Francisco with 275 members
is one of the oldest and most influential; the California Club has an
active membership of 400; and there are a number of other flourishing
clubs in that city, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and Sacramento, of from
175 to 250 members. The Friday Morning Club of Los Angeles, with a
membership of 500, owns a beautiful club house. The Ebell of that city
has 300 members, and clubs of from 150 to 200 are found in various
places in Southern California.
FOOTNOTES:
[162] The History is indebted for most of the material in this chapter
to Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent of San Francisco, honorary president, and
Miss Carrie A. Whelan of Oakland, corresponding secretary, of the
State Woman Suffrage Association.
[163] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. LIII.
[164] Other names which appear in the scant records are Dr. Cora
Morse, Mesdames William A. Keith, A. W. Manning, Helen Moore, Emily
Pitt Stevens, Julia Schlessinger, Gertrude Smythe--of San Francisco
and the towns around the bay; E. L. Collins of the Stockton _Daily
Mail_, Mrs. D. P. Burr and Mrs. James Gillis of Stockton.
[165] For full description see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony,
Chap. XLV.
[166] President, Mrs. Ellen Clark (Aaron A.) Sargent; first
vice-president, Mrs. Annie K. (General John) Bidwell; second
vice-president, Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn; third vice-president, Mrs.
John Spalding; corresponding secretary, Mrs. George Oulton; recording
secretary, Mrs. Hester A. Harland; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah Knox
Goodrich; auditors, Mrs. Mary Wood (John F.) Swift and Mrs. Isabel A.
Baldwin.
[167] Ida Husted Harper, the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mary Wood
Swift, Dr. Ida V. Stambach, Harriet E. Cotton, Ada H. Van Pelt.
[168] The others who have held office in the State association since
1896 are--first vice-presidents, Mesdames Frank M. Smith, C. R.
Randolph, H. J. D. Chapman, Mary Wood Swift, second vice presidents,
Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mrs. E. O. Smith, third vice-presidents, Mrs.
Elmira T. Stevens, Mrs. R. H. Pratt, Mrs. A. K. Bidwell, corresponding
secretaries, Mrs. Harriet E. Cotton, Miss Mary E. Donnelly, Dr. Amy G.
Bowen, Miss Carrie A. Whelan, recording secretaries, Mrs. Nellie
Holbrook Blinn, Miss Mary G. Gorham, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs.
Dorothy Harnden, treasurers, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry (six years), Miss
Clara M. Schlingheyde; auditors, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. George
Oulton, Miss Mary S. Keene, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Mrs. Mary Mc. H.
Keith, Mrs. Anna K. Spero.
[169] Among those who have been officially connected with the work are
Col. P. T. Dickinson, Col. George and Mrs. Olive E. Babcock, Drs.
Alice Bush, Susan J. Fenton, Kellogg Lane, Carra B. Schofield, Rev. C.
W. Wendte, Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Howard, Mr.
and Mrs. Maurice Woodhams, Mesdames A. E. S. Banks, S. C. Borland, J.
C. Campbell, Ella E. Greenman, L. G. Judd, Mary McHenry Keith, A. A.
Moore, M. B. Pelton, Emily M. Vrooman, C. L. Wood, J. A. Waymire, John
Yule; Misses Mollie E. Connors, Mary S. Keene, Mary Snell, Winifred
Warner, Carrie A. Whelan.
[170] Among the most active members are Mesdames M. B. Braley, Fred L.
Foster, Sarah Knox Goodrich, J. H. Henry, H. Jennie James, A. K. de
Jarnette (Spero), E. O. Smith, Laura J. Watkins, Alice B. Wilson.
[171] Immediately afterwards the ladies said to one of the members,
"Why did you break your pledge to us and vote against the bill?"
Without a moment's hesitation he answered, "Because I had a telegram
this morning from the Liquor Dealers' Association telling me to do
so."
[172] Chairman, Ellen Clark Sargent; vice-chairman, Sarah B. Cooper;
corresponding secretary, Ida Husted Harper; recording secretary,
Harriet Cooper; treasurer, Mary S. Sperry; auditors, Mary Wood Swift
and Sarah Knox Goodrich.
State Central Committee: Mrs. Sargent, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Swift, Mrs.
Sperry, Mrs. Blinn, with Mary G. Hay, chairman.
[173] Later Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlitt of Colorado, Mrs. Laura M. Riddell
of San Diego and other State women were added to the organizing force.
[174] Dr. Elizabeth Sargent was chairman of the Committee on Petitions
for Northern and Mrs. Alice Moore McComas for Southern California. As
the names had to be collected in the winter months preceding the
spring campaign, the distances to be covered were long and the labor
was the free offering of busy women, it is surprising that the list
was so large. It by no means represented the suffrage sentiment in the
State.
[175] Alameda had sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of
any county in the State, and San Joaquin afterwards gave a big
majority vote for the amendment.
[176] A number of young women who were engaged the greater part of
every day in teaching, stenography, bookkeeping, etc., gave every hour
that could be spared to the work at headquarters, a free will
offering. Among those who deserve special mention are Misses Mary,
Louise and Sarah Donnelly, Mary Gorham, Clara Schlingheyde, Effie
Scott Vance, Evelyn Grove, Mrs. N. W. Palmer, Winifred and Marguerite
Warner and Carrie A. Whelan. Mrs. Lelia S. Martin also contributed
five months' time.
[177] Los Angeles County gave a majority of 4,600 in favor of the
amendment.
[178] Many personal incidents and anecdotes of this campaign will be
found in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLVII.
[179] This portion of the chapter was prepared by Mrs. Alice Moore
McComas, former president of the Los Angeles Woman Suffrage
Association and chairman of the Southern California press committee
during the amendment campaign of 1896. A considerable amount of space
is given because it presents so admirable an example of the manner in
which the work in such a campaign should be done.
[180] The first paper to establish a Suffrage Column was the Los
Angeles _Express_, in 1887, H. Z. Osborne, editor. This was conducted
by Mrs. McComas for three years.
[181] Among the many were Gertrude Foster, the young California
actress, who added attraction to many programs with her brilliant
readings, and Jessie, daughter of Superior Judge Waldo York, who won
the prize of $75 offered by Dr. Ella Whipple Marsh, superintendent of
franchise of the Southern California W. C. T. U., for the best essay
on woman suffrage, one hundred young people of both sexes competing.
An oratorical contest for young college men--original orations on
woman suffrage--resulted in a $20 prize to Edwin Hahn of Pomona
College, five young men participating. Clare, daughter of Judge C. C.
McComas, gave highly-appreciated recitations on the woman question,
and Miss Nina Cuthbert, the young teacher of elocution, delighted many
audiences with her readings and wonderful imitations.
[182] Prominent among these were the Single Tax Club, Royal Arcanum,
Foresters, Native Daughters of the Golden West, Socialist League, Y.
M. C. A., Carpenters' Union, Woman's Relief Corps, Y. W. C. A., Friday
Morning Woman's Club and the Fraternal Brotherhood.
[183] It is regretted that the carefully compiled list of these
papers, sent by Mrs. McComas, is too long to be used. [Eds.
[184] In addition to men and women already mentioned the following is
a partial list of those who aided in various ways: Annie B. Andrews,
Alice Armor, Prof. W. C. and Sarah A. Bowman, Mary M. Bowman, Mrs.
(Dr.) B. W. Beacher, Mary E. Benson, Mary E. Bucknell, Alice E.
Broadwell, Rollo K. Bryan, James G. Clark, Mary L. Crawford, Lucy E.
Cook, Mary Lynde Craig, Pauline Curram, Gen. A. B. Campbell, Edith
Cross, Adelaide Comstock, Prof. G. A. Dobinson, the Hon. C. H. Dillon,
Florence Dunham, Virginia W. Davis, Sallie Markham Davis, Ella H.
Enderline, Katheryne Phillips Edson, Dr. and Mrs. Eli Fay, Ada C.
Ferriss, Mary E. Fisher, Miss M. M. Fette, Kate Tupper Galpin, Mary E.
Garbutt, Prof. Burt Estees Howard, Emma Hardacre, Mary I. Hutchinson,
Rachel Handby, Mrs. C. E. Haines, Georgia Hodgeman, Judge and Mrs.
Ivan, Mrs. Mary E. and Miss Kinney, Mrs. E. A. and Miss Lawrence,
Alice Beach McComas, Ben S. May, Susie Munn, Mattie Day Murphy, Dr.
Mary Nixon, Mrs. C. W. Parker, Delia C. Percival, Ursula M. Poats,
Mary Rankin, Rachel Reid, Aglea Rothery, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. B.
Randolph, Caroline M. Severance, Mrs. Fred Smith, Dora G. Smith,
Drusilla E. Steele, Annie B. Smith, Gabrella Stickney, Mrs. A.
Tichenor, Mrs. R. H. F. Variel, Dr. Theoda Wilkins, Mrs. (Dr.) Wills,
Fanny Wills, Attorney Sarah Wild, Judge Waldo York, Jessie York.
[185] Claus Spreckles gave his son Rudolph a large amount of sugar
stock which was community property, and Mrs. Spreckles did not join.
Afterwards he sued to recover and the Supreme Court, all the Judges
concurring, decided the gift was legal. Justice Temple rendered the
decision as follows:
"All these differences point to the fact that the husband is absolute
owner of the community property. The marital community was not
acquired for the purpose of accumulating property, and the husband
owes no duty to the community or to the wife, either to labor or
accumulate money, or to save or to practice economy to that end. He
owes his wife and children suitable maintenance, and if he has
sufficient income from his separate estate he need not engage in
business, or so live that there can be community property. If he earns
more than is sufficient for such maintenance, he violates no legal
obligation if he spends the surplus in extravagance or gives it away.
The community property may be lost in visionary schemes or in mere
whims. Within the law he may live his life, although the community
property is dissipated. Of course I am not now speaking of moral
obligations."
[186] During this trial Mrs. Sargent and her friends in attendance
were caricatured in the most shameless manner by the San Francisco
_Call_, which had passed under a new management.
[187] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 757.
CHAPTER XXIX.
COLORADO.[188]
After the campaign of 1877, when a woman suffrage amendment was
defeated in Colorado, the first really important step forward was the
organization at Denver, in 1890, of a little club to aid the campaign
in South Dakota. In April Miss Matilda Hindman, who was working there,
came from that State to ask assistance and formed a committee of six,
who pledged themselves to raise $100. They were Miss Georgiana Watson,
president; Mrs. Susan Sharman, secretary; Mrs. Mary J. Nichols,
treasurer; and Mesdames Amy K. Cornwall, Jennie P. Root and Lavinia C.
Dwelle.
Shortly afterward Mrs. Louise M. Tyler removed from Boston to Denver,
bearing a letter from Lucy Stone urging Colorado suffragists to unite
in an organization auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage
Association. Mrs. Tyler heard of this small band, called with Mrs.
Elizabeth P. Ensley, delivered her message, and their names were added
to the list of members. The organization was completed and became an
auxiliary.
About this time Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake followed her lecture,
delivered under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
by an appeal to the women of the audience to join the suffrage
association; and among those who responded were two whose ears had
longed for such a gospel sound, Mrs. Emily R. Meredith and her
daughter Ellis. Temperance women who repeatedly had found their work
defeated by the lack of "the right preservative of rights," such women
as Mrs. Anna Steele, Mrs. Ella L. Benton, Mrs. Eliza J. Patrick and
others, thought truly that a society whose sole aim should be the
ballot was a necessity. At this time the meetings were held in Mrs.
Tyler's parlor. Miss Watson was much occupied with school duties, and
in the fall of 1890 Mrs. Tyler was chosen president in her stead.
In 1891 a petition for the right of suffrage by constitutional
amendment was presented to the Legislature, but the bill not being
introduced within the specific time it went by default. Ashamed of
their lack of political acumen, the women then persuaded
Representative F. F. O'Mahoney, who had a bill prohibiting foreigners
from voting on their first naturalization papers, to strike the word
"male" from his measure, thus making it an equal suffrage enactment,
but bill and rider were defeated. The ladies who worked for suffrage
were treated with such scant courtesy by some of the legislators, and
the general sentiment was so adverse, that ultimate success looked
very distant to the most sanguine friends.
Some of the club even questioned the advisability of giving an
afternoon a week, as they had been doing, to the study of a government
in which they had no part and might never hope to have. Mrs. Sharman,
a small, delicate woman, who already had passed four-score years, was
its inspiration. She advised the members to remain united, ready for
active effort when opportunity offered, and in the meantime to
continue as seed-sowers and students of citizenship in the preparatory
department.
The membership slowly increased. Mrs. Tyler served as president until
1892, when Mrs. Olive Hogle was elected. Mrs. Benton (Adams) had given
the use of her rooms in the central part of Denver, and the society
remained with her until, having outgrown its quarters, it accepted the
hospitality of Dr. Minnie C. T. Love early in 1893.
In the spring of 1891 a small majority of its members had put up a
woman candidate for the East Denver school board and tried their
"prentice hands" at voting. It is a settled fact that a partial
suffrage seldom awakens much interest. The school ballot had been
given to women by the constitution when Colorado became a State, but
here, as elsewhere, they exercised it only when aroused by some
especial occasion. Mrs. Scott Saxton was the candidate selected. The
wiser of the suffragists thought the work should have been undertaken
sooner, if at all, as there was not then sufficient time for
canvassing, and the result proved they were right. More women voted
than ever before, but the men opposed to women on the school board
came out in still greater numbers. Twelve hundred ballots were
cast--by far the largest school vote ever polled in the district. Of
these about 300 were for Mrs. Saxton.
Two years later this effort was repeated and other organizations of
women aided the suffragists. Mrs. Ione T. Hanna was the candidate.
There were four tickets in the field and over 6,000 votes were cast.
This time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter
opposition, Mrs. Hanna was elected by 1,900 majority.
A bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should
be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by
J. Warner Mills and presented in the House early in 1893 by J. T.
Heath. On this, and all other occasions when advice or assistance was
needed, Mr. Mills gave his legal services without charge.
This was indeed the golden opportunity, the tide which taken at the
flood might lead on to fortune. The Populist party, which was in
power, had a suffrage plank in its State platform; in both the other
parties there were individuals who favored it; and, if the bill
passed, the Governor's signature was a certainty. But there are as
many vicissitudes in the life of a bill as in that of an infant. It is
thrown in the midst of its fellows to struggle for existence, and the
outcome is not a question of the survival of the fittest but of the
one that receives the best nursing. If it escapes the death that lurks
in the committee room, it still may be gently crowded toward the edge
until it falls into the abyss which awaits bills that never reach the
third reading.
Mrs. Tyler, chairman of legislative work, gave a large share of her
time during the entire session to looking after the bill in the House,
and Miss Minnie J. Reynolds was equally untiring in the Senate. Three
other suffrage bills were introduced that session but two yielded
precedence to the one prepared by the association. The author of the
third believed that women could obtain suffrage only through a
constitutional amendment, which was what his bill called for. The
women received such contradictory advice on this point as to awaken
much anxiety. However, they read in their meetings a copy of the
statutes of Colorado, and possessing only plain common sense and not
the legal ability which would have qualified them for a place in the
Supreme Court, concluded that the referendum to the voters, which
their bill provided for, was the proper thing to request.
The opposition came from the usual sources. After the bill was
presented, the _Remonstrance_, the organ of the anti-suffrage society
in Boston, soon appeared on the desk of every legislator. The liquor
influence also was prominent in the lobby.
The bill was reported from the committee to the House on Jan. 24,
1893, with the recommendation that it should not pass and a minority
report in favor. The former was rejected by a vote of 39 to 21. The
bill was brought to a final vote on March 8. A number of the members
of the suffrage club and some other women who approved their cause
were present by request of the friends in the House. Some of the
arguments used were peculiar. Ruth didn't vote and she married very
well (at least at the second trial) nor did any of the women referred
to in the Bible, so why should the women of the United States do so?
One Representative said he always attended to affairs out of doors and
left those within to his wife. He thought that was the right way and
didn't believe his wife would vote if she could. "But she says she
would," declared another, who was prompted by Mrs. Tyler, and a ripple
of laughter arose at the speaker's expense.
There was the customary talk about neglected homes and implied
disbelief in woman's ability to use the ballot rightly, but only one
man tried the weapon of insult. Robert W. Bonynge spoke so slightingly
of the character of women who upheld equal suffrage that one incensed
woman, not a member of the association and presumably ignorant of
parliamentary courtesy, gave a low hiss. Immediately he assumed the
denunciatory and threatened immediate expulsion of all persons not
members from the House. Frank Carney then arose and referred to the
fact that the anti-suffrage speakers had received repeated applause
from their adherents and no notice had been taken of it, although it
was equally out of place. Mr. Bonynge subsided from his position and
continued his speech.[189]
The bill finally passed by 34 ayes, 27 noes; divided politically as
follows: Ayes, 22 Populists, 11 Republicans, 1 Democrat; noes, 3
Populists, 21 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
Hamilton Armstrong had introduced the bill into the Senate, where it
had been tabled to await the action of the House. It passed on April 3
by 20 ayes, 10 noes: Ayes, 12 Populists, 8 Republicans, no Democrat;
noes, one Populist, 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats.
The bill received the signature of the Populist governor, Davis H.
Waite, without delay.
A general election was to be held in the fall of 1893, so that the
verdict of the voters was soon to follow. At the annual meeting of the
State Woman Suffrage Association that spring the officers chosen were:
President, Miss Martha Pease; vice-president, Mrs. Ellis Meredith;
secretary, Mrs. C. S. Bradley; treasurer, Mrs. Ensley; chairman
executive committee, Mrs. Tyler. On motion of Mrs. Meredith, the name
of the society was changed to the Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage
Association of Colorado, as in the word "equal" there is an appeal to
justice which does not seem to exist in the word "woman."
The women realized the conflict before them in the near future, and
Mrs. Ellis Meredith volunteered to visit the Woman's Congress, which
was to meet at Chicago in May, during the World's Fair, and appeal for
aid to the representatives of the National Association who would be
there. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and other notables were
present and appointed a meeting to listen to appeals. These asked help
for the Constitutional Convention Campaign in New York and the Kansas
Amendment Campaign, which were both considered very hopeful compared
to what was thought in the East to be the almost hopeless campaign in
Colorado. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake presented the claims of New York,
Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, and Mrs. Meredith of Colorado. "Why was
your campaign precipitated when our hands are so full?" was one of
the discouraging questions. "Are all those Mexicans dead?" asked Miss
Anthony, referring to the heavy vote against equal suffrage in the
first Colorado campaign of 1877. "No," said Mrs. Meredith, "the
Mexicans are all there yet;" but she explained that there were
favorable influences now which did not then exist. In the labor unions
women members voted, and this fact inclined the men belonging to them
to grant the full franchise. The W. C. T. U., now organized throughout
the State, had become a firm friend and advocate, and the ruling
political party was favorable. Clearly this was the time to strike.
A promise of consideration and such aid as the National Association
was able to furnish was given. Later they decided to send Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt and guarantee her expenses in case she was not able to
raise them in the State. From her past record, they thought it likely
she would not only do that but put money in the treasury, and the
result justified their expectations. She was a financial help, but,
much as money was needed, her eloquence and judgment were worth more,
and she always will have a warm place in the hearts of Colorado women
who were active in the campaign of 1893.
When that campaign opened, there were just $25 in the treasury. Lucy
Stone sent a donation of $100. Iowa and California gave aid, and there
were small contributions in money from members of the E. S. A. and
from auxiliary clubs formed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in different parts of
the State.
Besides these, others already had been organized. In Longmont a club
was formed in the spring of 1893 by Mesdames Mary L. Carr, Orpha
Bacon, Rosetta Webb and Jane Lincoln. They took up the study of laws
relating to the property rights of women and endeavored to awaken
interest in the question to be settled the following November. The
majority which Longmont gave for suffrage is a testimony to the value
of their work. In Colorado Springs Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford was
president of a large local society which afterward became auxiliary to
the State association, with Mrs. Ella L. C. Dwinnell as president, and
did excellent work in El Paso County. In Greeley many of the workers
of 1877 were still active. Mrs. Lillian Hartman Johnson organized a
club in Durango and spoke for the cause. Mrs. A. Guthrie Brown formed
one in Breckinridge of which Mesdames H. R. Steele, C. L. Westermann
and E. G. Brown were active members.
All these clubs, large and small, scattered throughout the State,
assisted in arousing public sentiment, but the situation in Denver was
the one of most anxious interest. It is always in cities that reforms
meet defeat, for there the opposing interests are better organized and
more watchful. In no other State is the metropolis so much the center
of its life as is Denver of Colorado. Through this modern Palmyra,
which stands in the center of the continent and of the tide of
commerce from East and West, flow all the veins and arteries of the
State life. Arapahoe County, in which it is situated, contains more
than one-fourth of the population of the entire State. Upon the women
of Denver, therefore, was imposed a triple share of responsibility.
Besides the importance of the large vote, there rested particularly
upon the members of its suffrage club the burden of having invited
this contest and made it a campaign issue.
In the early fall, the City League of Denver was organized with 100
members and Mrs. John L. Routt, wife of the ex-governor, as president.
Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson and Mrs. N. P. Hill were prominent workers in
this club. A Young Woman's League was formed by Misses Mary and
Margaret Patterson and Miss Isabel Hill, and there were other leagues
in various parts of the city. In all this work Mrs. Tyler was
indefatigable.
Miss Minnie J. Reynolds, chairman of press work, enlisted the help of
seventy-five per cent. of the newspapers. In some cases editorial
approval and assistance were given, in others space was allowed for
suffrage matter. In August Mrs. Elizabeth Tabor donated the use of two
rooms in the opera house block, one large enough to seat several
hundred persons, the other a suitable office for the corresponding
secretary. Dr. Minnie C. T. Love had acted gratuitously in that
capacity and opened communication with suffragists throughout the
State, but it was now deemed necessary to employ some one who could
devote her entire time to the work. Miss Helen M. Reynolds was chosen
and added to unusual capability the most earnest zeal. The rooms were
furnished through loans of rugs, desks, chairs, etc.
Equal suffrage was indorsed by the county conventions of the
Republican, Prohibition and Populist parties, and also at a called
meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee. Many ministers and
lawyers spoke in its favor. Among the latter were Charles S. Thomas,
since governor of the State, J. Warner Mills, Judge L. C. Rockwell,
Charles Hartzell, Eugene Engley and Attorney-General I. N. Stevens,
who was one of the most trusted advisers.
There were also women speakers of experience: Mrs. Therese Jenkins of
Wyoming, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts; Mrs. Dora Phelps
Buell, Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, president of the Woman's Relief Corps
in the Department of Colorado and Wyoming and also president for
several terms of the State W. C. T. U., who made a five-months'
speaking tour; Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake of St. Louis, who spoke
efficiently under the auspices of the Knights of Labor. Mrs. Laura
Ormiston Chant of England delivered an address on her way westward.
Some women made speeches who never had been on the platform before but
have since developed much oratorical ability. When needed, women who
did not dare risk an unwritten address read papers. Meetings were held
all over the city and State. "I should think," said a banker, "from
the campaign the women are running that they had a barrel of money;"
but he was a contributor to the fund and knew it was very limited. In
all about $2,000 were raised, over $300 of which were spent for
literature. Some of the most efficient leaflets were written by
members of the association and printed in Denver. Nearly 150,000 of
these were issued.
In the city press Mrs. Patience Mapleton represented the cause in the
_Republican_; Mrs. Ellis Meredith in the _Rocky Mountain News_. There
were house to house canvassers, distributors of literature and others
who rendered most valuable assistance and yet whose names must
necessarily remain unrecorded. The most of this service was given
freely, but some of the women who devoted all their time received
moderate salaries, for most of the workers belonged to the
wage-earning class. The speakers asked no compensation but their
expenses were frequently borne. Halls and churches had to be paid for
and on several occasions opera houses were rented. When in the final
report the expenses of election day were given as $17 a murmur of
amusement ran through the audience.
The women who "had all the rights they wanted" appeared late in the
campaign. Some of them sent communications to the papers, complaining
of the effort to thrust the ballot upon them and add to the already
onerous duties of life. When told that they would not be compelled to
vote and that if silent influence was in their opinion more potent
than the ballot, it would not be necessary to cast it aside for the
weaker weapon, they responded indignantly that if they had the
franchise of course it would be their duty to use it. Let it be noted
that many of them have voted regularly ever since they were
enfranchised, though some have reconsidered and returned to their
silent influence.
The liquor element slept in fancied security until almost the eve of
election, as they did not believe the amendment would receive popular
sanction. When they awoke to the danger they immediately proceeded to
assess all saloon keepers and as many as possible of their prominent
patrons. They got out a large number of dodgers, which were put into
the hands of passers-by. These were an attack upon equal suffrage and
the women who advocated it, and at the bottom of the first issue was a
brewer's advertisement. This dodger stated that "only some old maids
like Lucy Stone, Susan Anthony, Frances Willard, Elizabeth Stanton and
Mary Livermore wanted to vote." They also employed an attorney to
juggle the ballots so that they might be thrown out on a technicality.
There was consternation among the suffragists when the ballot was
finally produced bearing the words "For the Amendment," "Against the
Amendment," for it was well known that the measure was not an
"amendment." The best legal talent in Denver was consulted and an
opinion rendered that the ruse would prove of no avail, as the
intention was still clear. The women, however, issued a leaflet
instructing the voters just where to put the cross on the ticket if
they wished to vote for equal suffrage.
The suffragists were divided in opinion as to the presence of women at
the polls on the election day which was to decide their fate. Some
thought it might be prejudicial, but the friends among the men
strongly approved their presence in order to influence voters. What
future election could be of more importance to women than this, and
why should they hesitate to show their interest? Under directions from
suffrage headquarters workers at the polls distributed the leaflets,
often supplementing them by their own eloquence. No woman received any
discourtesy.
The night of November 7 was an anxious one. Women went home and lay
awake wondering whether they had done everything possible to insure
success, or whether failure might be the result of some omission. When
the returns published the next morning, although incomplete, showed
that success really had crowned their efforts it seemed almost too
good to be true. All day long and in the evening people were coming
and going at suffrage headquarters with greetings and congratulations.
Women of all classes seemed drawn together by the new tie of
citizenship.
The full returns gave the result as follows: For suffrage, 35,798;
against. 29,451; an affirmative majority of 6,347.
* * * * *
What were the causes of this unique success? First, it may be claimed
that Western men have more than others of that spirit of chivalry of
which the world has heard so much and seen so little. The human mind
inclines to justice, except when turned aside by prejudice, and there
is less prejudice against and a stronger belief in equal rights in the
newer communities. The pressure of hard times, culminating in the
panic of 1893, undoubtedly contributed to the success of the Populist
party, and to its influence the suffrage cause owes much. A new party
boldly accepts new principles while the old parties are struggling to
conform to precedents. This is shown clearly in both the legislative
and the popular vote. It was in the counties giving Populist
pluralities that the majority of 6,818 in favor of equal suffrage was
found. The counties which went Republican and Democratic gave a
majority of 471 against the measure. The fact, however, that in all
parties there were friends who were willing to work and speak for it,
and also the number of suffrage bills which had been introduced at
this time, showed that the State was ready for it.
[Illustration:
LAURA A. GREGG.
Omaha, Neb.
MARY WOOD SWIFT.
San Francisco, Cal.
ELLIS MEREDITH.
Denver, Colo.
EMMA SHAFTER HOWARD.
Oakland, Cal.
DR. CORA SMITH EATON.
Minneapolis, Minn.
]
The favorable influence of the W. C. T. U. and the labor organizations
has been referred to. There was but little active opposition from
women and, as the campaign progressed, indifference often turned into
sympathy. Women who had kept silent even at home for fear of ridicule
were surprised and delighted to hear their husbands express approval.
Those of all classes of society worked unitedly and well. They could
not have done this if they had not been used to organized effort in
other directions. How many doors stand open now through which women
freely pass, unmindful of the fact that they were unlocked by the
earlier workers in the suffrage cause!
The first feeling was the one common in all victories, that of joy and
exultation, but the weight of responsibility was soon felt. At the
first meeting of the executive board of the equal suffrage association
after the election, Mrs. Routt, a woman of queenly presence, said as
she took the hand of another member, "I never felt so weak in all my
life." Mrs. Routt was the first woman in the State to register.
It was natural that other women should look to the suffragists for
direction, and as long as headquarters were kept open there were
frequent calls for advice and instruction. Foreign women came to ask
concerning the measures which would make them naturalized citizens;
there were inquiries about registration, and the question often came
from those in humble life: "Now that I have received this new right,
what books shall I get to teach me how to exercise it?" Surely such an
awakening of conscience ought to have a purifying effect! One firm in
Denver stated that they sold more books on political economy in the
first eight months after the suffrage victory than in twenty years
before. The suffrage club took up the study of Fiske's Civil
Government and of parliamentary law, and as long as it existed in the
old form was actively devoted to political subjects.
The day after the election a German woman came out of her house and
accosted one of the members of the club with the exclamation, "Ach,
Yon he feel so bad; he not vote any more; me, I vote now!" When
assured that John had not been deprived of any of his rights, with
more generosity than can be attributed to many of the Johns, she
called her husband, exclaiming delightedly: "Yon, Yon, you vote too;
we bofe vote!"