A leaflet by one of the leading remonstrants, circulated during the
campaign, asserted that "not one citizen of sound judgment in a
hundred is in favor of woman suffrage;" but nearly one-third of the
male voters who expressed themselves declared for it. There was the
smallest affirmative vote in the most disreputable wards of Boston.
Nearly 2,000 more votes of men were cast for suffrage than had been
cast for prohibition in 1889. The proportion of votes in favor was
almost twice as large as in Rhode Island, the only other New England
State in which the question had been submitted, although in that there
was no anti-suffrage association in the field. Outside of Boston the
largest negative vote by women was cast in Cambridge and Newton, which
have the reputation of being remonstrant strongholds. In 238 of the
322 towns not one woman voted "No." In most of these the anti-suffrage
association had no branches, and there is no reason to suppose that
the women ever had heard of its eleventh-hour advice to women not to
vote. In every county, and in every Congressional, Senatorial and
Representative district the women's vote was in favor at least ten to
one. The "mock referendum" answered the main purpose of its promoters,
however, for it did seriously cut down the vote for suffrage in the
Legislature for several years thereafter, but it made a host of
converts among the people at large and gave a fresh impetus to the
activity of the State Suffrage Association, which ever since has
steadily grown in membership.
* * * * *
_1896_--The usual petitions for suffrage were presented from 79 cities
and towns, with 7,780 signatures. The Joint Special Committee on Woman
Suffrage, which had been appointed annually for many years, was
discontinued, with the good result that the suffragists ever since
have had their hearings before two more influential committees, those
on Constitutional Amendments and on Election Laws. On February 26 the
latter gave a hearing for Municipal Suffrage. Mr. Blackwell opened the
case for the petitioners and the usual number of fine addresses were
made. Thomas Russell spoke for the remonstrants, and Miss Blackwell
replied to him. On February 27 the Committee on Constitutional
Amendments gave a hearing. Addresses were made by Mrs. Howe, Mr.
Garrison, the Rev. Florence E. Kollock, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mr.
Ernst, Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows, Miss Cora A. Benneson and Clyde
Duniway, formerly of Oregon. Mr. Russell again spoke for the
remonstrants and was answered by Miss Blackwell, Miss Gail Laughlin
and Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith.
On March 4 a hearing was given to the petitioners for License
Suffrage. Just after the hearing closed Mr. Russell arrived to
remonstrate, but too late.
On March 9 a hearing was given on the petition of the State W. S. A.
that the times of registration should be the same for women (school)
voters as for men.
The Committee on Constitutional Amendments recommended that the
question of submitting a suffrage amendment be referred to the next
Legislature--three dissenting and favoring its submission this year.
On March 23 consideration of the question was voted down and the yeas
and nays were refused.
On March 31 and April 1 License Suffrage was discussed and finally
defeated by 93 yeas, 116 nays, including pairs.
The Committee on Election Laws reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage
but the bill was defeated.
The Supreme Court decided that women could not be made notaries public
because they are not distinctly named as eligible in the State
constitution.
Thomas F. Keenan, an opponent of woman suffrage, introduced a bill to
license houses "for commercial sexual intercourse," which he alone
voted for.[322]
_1897_--It was decided to ask this year for a thorough revision and
equalization of the statutes bearing on domestic relations, in view of
the fact that the last Legislature had appointed a committee of
lawyers to revise and codify the laws. Especial attention was called
to the need of a law making fathers and mothers joint guardians of
their children. Mr. Ernst, in behalf of the association, prepared a
bill equalizing the property rights of husbands and wives. Mr.
Russell, in behalf of the M. A. O. F. E. S. W. (which had for years
been circulating leaflets declaring that the laws of Massachusetts
were already more than just to women) prepared a bill tending in a
similar direction; and a Judge of Probate prepared a more limited
bill. All three appeared before the revising committee and, after
repeated conferences, a bill making some improvements was recommended
by the committee and enacted by the Legislature, but with a proviso
that it should not go into effect until the following year, in order
that the next Legislature might have a chance to amend it.
On February 10 the committee gave a hearing to the petitioners for the
submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. It was addressed by
Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Boland, the Rev. Thomas Scully, the
Rev. Mr. Ames, the Rev. Augusta Chapin, Miss Blackwell and others. No
remonstrants appeared. The committee reported favorably, but on
February 18 the bill was defeated by 74 yeas, 107 nays.
On February 24 the Committee on Election Laws heard arguments for
Municipal and Presidential Suffrage, and also on the petition of the
W. C. T. U. for License Suffrage. The committee had before it 144
largely signed petitions for suffrage and none against it. Mrs. Howe
and Mr. Blackwell spoke in behalf of the measures asked for by the
suffrage association, and a large number of prominent women for the W.
C. T. U. Mr. Russell, Mrs. J. Elliott Cabot, Frank Foxcroft, Miss
Dewey, Dr. Walter Channing, Mrs. A. J. George, A. Lawrence Lowell and
Miss Mary A. J. McIntyre spoke against all three bills. Miss
Blackwell, at the close, replied in behalf of both associations.
Members of the committee asked the president of the anti-suffrage
association, Mrs. Cabot, and almost all the women who spoke on that
side whether they would vote for or against license if they had the
ballot. Everyone answered that she would vote for license. Mr. Russell
had declared that if women were allowed to vote, "no license would be
carried in every town and city of the commonwealth, contrary to the
will of the people." The committee gave a majority report against all
the bills.
On March 10 the question of accepting the adverse report on License
Suffrage came up in the Legislature. The vote stood, 100 yeas, 100
nays, and Speaker John L. Bates gave his casting vote in favor of
substituting the bill for the adverse report. On March 18 the question
was debated and the vote resulted in 108 yeas, 125 nays. There was
much public interest and a lively discussion in the papers. Municipal
and Presidential Suffrage were lost without a roll-call. A bill to
make the Boston School Board appointive instead of elective, which
would have deprived women of their School Suffrage, was defeated.
_1898_--The hearing on February 2 was conducted by Mr. Blackwell for
the petitioners; Mr. Russell for the remonstrants. A letter from
ex-Gov. William Claflin in favor of suffrage was read. Mrs. Anna
Christy Fall, Mr. Garrison, ex-U. S. Attorney Frank B. Allen, Mrs.
Helen Adelaide Shaw, Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the _Journal of
Education_, and others spoke for suffrage; Mrs. Arthur D. Gilman, Mrs.
Egbert C. Smythe, Mrs. Rothery of Wellesley, Mrs. Lincoln R. Stone
and Mrs. George against it. Miss Blackwell replied for the
petitioners. The committee reported "leave to withdraw." On February
14, after debate in the House of Representatives, the vote stood 44
yeas, 97 nays.
On February 23 the committee gave a hearing on Municipal Suffrage and
on License Suffrage, both of which were eloquently urged. Mrs. Cabot,
Mrs. Charles E. Guild, the Rev. Thomas Van Ness, the Rev. Reuen
Thomas, Mrs. Henry F. Durant, Mrs. William T. Sedgwick, Mr. Foxcroft
and Mr. Russell spoke in opposition. Municipal Suffrage was not
debated, but after discussion on March 10 and 11, in the House of
Representatives, the vote on License Suffrage, including pairs, stood
60 yeas, 116 nays.
The record for 1899 and 1900 presented no variations except that a
number of local associations petitioned for Municipal Suffrage for
Taxpaying Women. The State association did not officially ask for
this, though the majority of its officers favored the measure. The
annual hearings were given, the usual large crowds were in attendance,
the ablest men and women in the State advocated the granting of
suffrage, those heretofore mentioned spoke in opposition,[323] and the
negative vote was in about the same proportion as before the
"remonstrants" made their appearance.[324]
LAWS: Until 1845 the women of Massachusetts suffered to the fullest
extent the barbarities of the English Common Law. After that date the
changes were gradual but very slow. From 1884 there was but little
improvement in the property laws until 1899, when a radical revision
was effected by a legislative committee and approved by the
Legislature. As there was to be a general revision of the statutes and
the new book would not be issued until Jan. 1, 1902, it was decided
that all should go into effect at that date. The new property law for
women provides as follows: No distinction is made between real and
personal property in distributing the estate. The surviving husband or
wife takes and holds one-third if the deceased leaves children or
their descendants; $5,000 and one-half of the remaining estate if the
deceased leaves no issue; and the whole if the deceased leaves no
kindred. This is taken absolutely and not for life. Curtesy and dower
have not been abolished but the old-time curtesy, which is a life
interest in the whole of a deceased wife's real estate, is cut down to
a life interest in one-third, the same as dower; and in order to be
entitled to dower or curtesy the surviving husband or wife must elect
to take it in preference to abiding by the above provisions.
Either husband or wife can make a will under the new law without the
consent of the other, but the survivor, if not satisfied with the will
of the deceased, can waive it within a year and take the same share of
the estate that he (or she) would have taken if there had been no
will, except that, if he would thus become entitled to more than
$10,000 in value, he shall receive, in addition to that amount, only
the income during his life of the excess of his share of such estate
above that amount; and except that, if the deceased leaves no kindred,
he, upon such waiver, shall take the interest he would have taken if
the deceased had died leaving kindred but no issue.
A discretionary amount may be assigned by the Probate Court to the
widow for the support of herself and minor children and takes
precedence of the debts of the deceased. The old law took this
allowance out of the personal estate only, and often the widow was
not able to receive the immediate assistance she needed, because the
property was all in the form of real estate. The new law permits the
real estate to be used if necessary. It also gives $100 to a minor
child for his immediate necessities, if there is no widow; the old law
gave $50. The new law permits the widow to remain in her husband's
house for six months after his death. The old law gave her only forty
days.
A married woman has full control of her separate property, and can
dispose of her real estate subject only to the husband's interests. If
she has been deserted or if the court has decreed that she is living
apart from him for justifiable cause, she can by will or deed dispose
of all her real and personal estate as if unmarried. The husband can
do the same.
A married woman can be executor, administrator, guardian or trustee.
She may make contracts with any one except her husband; may sue and be
sued, carry on business in her own name, by complying with the legal
requirements; control and invest her earnings and enter into
partnerships. She is responsible for her contracts and debts and her
property may be held for them. The husband is not liable on any
judgments recovered against the wife alone, and her separate property
is not liable on any judgment or execution against the husband. Suits
between husband and wife are not allowed except for divorce.
The father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor
children; he has power to dispose of them during the lifetime of the
mother and may appoint a guardian at his death.[325]
For non-support of wife and minor children the husband may be fined
not exceeding $20 or imprisoned in the house of correction not
exceeding six months. At the discretion of the court the fine is paid
in whole or part to the town, city, society or person actually
supporting such wife and children. (1893.)
The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years in
1886; to 14 in 1888; to 16 in 1893. The penalty is imprisonment in the
State prison for life or for any term of years, or for any term in any
other penal institution in the commonwealth. This may be one day in
the city jail.
Among various laws passed in the interests of women was one in 1895
making army nurses eligible to receive State aid. One of 1896 requires
the State to inter the wife or widow of an honorably discharged
soldier, sailor or marine who served during the Civil War, if she did
not leave sufficient means for funeral expenses, provided she was
married prior to 1870. In 1900 it was enacted that the State should
perform a similar service for the mothers of said soldiers, sailors or
marines, and that this should not be with the pauper dead, in either
case.
Massachusetts has detailed laws regarding the employment of women,
among them one restricting the hours of work in any mercantile
establishment to fifty-eight in a week, except in retail stores during
the month of December. Ten hours is a legal workday for women in
general.
Separate houses of detention are required for women prisoners in
cities of over 30,000.[326]
SUFFRAGE: The original charter of Massachusetts in 1691 did not
exclude women from voting. In 1780 the first constitution prohibited
them from voting except for certain officers. The new constitution of
1820 limited the suffrage strictly to males.
In 1879 the Legislature enacted that a woman twenty-one years of age,
who could give satisfactory evidence as to residence and who could
stand the educational test (_i. e._, be able to read five lines of the
constitution and write her name), and who should give notice in
writing to the assessors that she wished to be assessed a poll tax
(two dollars) and should give in under oath a statement of her taxable
property (which was not required of men, as they had the option of
letting the assessors guess at the amount) should thereupon be
assessed and should be entitled to register and vote for members of
school boards.[327] In order to keep her name on the registration
list this entire process had to be repeated every year, while a man's
name once placed on the list was kept there without further effort on
his part, and the payment of the same poll tax entitled him to full
suffrage.
In 1881 the poll tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the law was
changed so that women's names should remain on the registration list
so long as they continued to reside and pay their taxes in the place
where they were registered. Even now, however, it requires constant
watchfulness on their part to have this done. In 1890 the poll tax as
a prerequisite for voting was abolished for men, and in 1892 for
women. Only a few weeks in each year were set apart when women might
register until 1898, when it was enacted that the time of registration
should be the same for both.
The School Suffrage includes only a vote for members of the school
board and not for supervisors, appropriations or any questions
connected with the public schools. Women are not authorized to attend
caucuses or have any voice in nominations of school officers. As they
were thus deprived of all voice in selecting candidates, an
association, Independent Women Voters, was formed in Boston in 1889 by
Mrs. Eliza Trask Hill, who served as president until 1896, when she
removed from the city, and Mrs. Sarah J. Boyden has filled the office
since then. This organization, which was entered at the registration
office as a political party, holds a caucus in each ward between
January 1 and April 1 every year and nominates candidates for the
School Board. Such nomination by 100 or more legal voters entitles
their names to be placed on the Australian ballot. Some of the
nominees of the Independent Women Voters are often accepted by the
regular parties, but even when this is refused they are sometimes
elected over the Republican or Democratic candidates.
Because of the conditions attached and the small privilege granted it
is remarkable that any considerable number of women should have voted
during these past years. When School Suffrage was first granted, in
1879, only 934 women voted, and for the first seven years the average
was only 940. Since then there has been a large increase of interest.
During the past seven years the number never has fallen below 5,000.
In 1898, 5,201 women voted; in 1899, 7,090; in 1900, 9,542; and this
year (1901) there were 15,545 names on the register and 11,620 voted.
The highest number was reached in 1888, when under special
circumstances 25,279 women were registered and 19,490 voted.
OFFICE HOLDING: Women have served as School Committee (trustees) since
1874. For some time previous to 1884 they could hold by appointment
the offices of overseers of the poor, trustees of public libraries,
school supervisors, members of the State Boards of Education and of
Health, Lunacy and Charity, without special legislation. It was
required that there should be women on the boards of the three State
Primary and Reform Schools, State workhouse, State almshouse and Board
of Prison Commissioners, and that certain managers and officers of the
Reformatory Prison for Women at Sherborn should be women.
In 1884 a bill was passed requiring the appointment of two women on
the board of every Hospital for the Insane and one woman physician for
each. In 1885 it was enacted that women might be assistant registers
of deeds; in 1886 that they might be elected overseers of the poor. In
1887 a law was passed requiring police matrons in all cities of 30,000
inhabitants or more. There had been matrons in Boston fifteen years.
In 1890 the Supreme Court decided that a woman could not act as notary
public. In 1891 it was enacted that there should be women factory
inspectors; in 1895 that a woman could be appointed assistant town or
city clerk; in 1896 that county commissioners might appoint a woman
clerk _pro tempore_!
The evolution of the Special Commissioner shows the laborious
processes by which women make any gains in Massachusetts. In 1883 a
law was passed that women attorneys could be appointed Special
Commissioners to administer oaths, take depositions and acknowledge
deeds. In 1889 it was amended to give Special Commissioners the same
powers as justices of the peace in the above respects and also that of
issuing summonses for witnesses. In 1896 it was provided that any
woman over twenty-one, the same as any man, whether a lawyer or not,
could be appointed commissioner; a change of name by marriage should
terminate her commission but should not disqualify her for
re-appointment. In 1898 the powers were extended to appointments of
appraisers of estates. In 1899 the powers of the Special Commissioner
were made coincident with those of justice of the peace, but the
authority to perform the marriage ceremony was taken from justices
generally and is now given to specified ones only.
Women can not be justices of the peace. They may be appointed by the
State to take acknowledgments of deeds but not to perform the marriage
ceremony unless regularly ordained ministers.
Women at present are serving on State Boards as follows: Commissioners
of Prisons, Charity and Free Public Library--two each; trustees of
Insane Hospitals at Danvers, Northampton, Taunton, Worcester and
Medfield--two each, and at Westborough, three; School for
Feeble-minded, one; Hospital for Epileptics, two; for Dipsomaniacs and
Inebriates, one; Hospital Cottages for Children, one; State Hospital
and State Farm, two; Lyman and Industrial Schools, two.
It has been impossible to ascertain the number of women serving as
School Trustees later than 1898. Then the records showed 194 on boards
in 138 towns, but, as in many cases only the initials of the prefixes
to the names were given, this is probably an underestimate. Women
serve on the boards of public libraries.
Women are found in the following official positions in Boston:
trustees of public institutions, two; of children's institutions,
three; of insane hospitals, two; of bath departments, two; overseers
of the poor, two; city conveyancer in law department, one; Superior
Court stenographer, one; probation officers, two; chief matron House
of Detention, one; supervisor of schools, one; members of school
committee, four.
OCCUPATIONS: Massachusetts claims the first woman who ever practiced
medicine in the United States--Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, who studied with
her father and began in 1835, long before a medical college in the
country was open to women. In 1881 Lelia J. Robinson applied for
admission to the bar in Boston and the Supreme Court decided a woman
to be ineligible. The Legislature of 1892 enacted that women should be
admitted to the practice of law. No professions or occupations are now
legally forbidden to them.
EDUCATION: One of the first seminaries for women in the United States
was Mt. Holyoke at South Hadley, Mass., now a college with 550
students; the largest college for women in the world is Smith at
Northampton, with 1,131 students; one that ranks among the four
highest in existence, Wellesley, has 819; Radcliffe at Cambridge, has
407. The requirements of admission and the examinations are the same
for Radcliffe as for Harvard and the courses of instruction are
identical. The teaching is done by members of the Harvard faculty,
over one hundred of them. All degrees must be approved by the
President and Fellows of Harvard, the diplomas are countersigned by
the President and bear the University seal. Nevertheless Radcliffe is
not recognized as having any official connection with the ancient
university. A number of graduate courses in Harvard are open to women
but without degrees.
Boston University, with 1,430 students, is co-educational in all its
departments, including law, medicine and theology. The same is true of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the State Agricultural
College. There has been no distinction of sex in Tufts College
(Univers.) since 1892; or in Clark University (post-graduate) in
Worcester, since 1900. The College of Physicians and Surgeons and
Tufts Colleges of Medicine and Surgery, in Boston, admit women. They
are excluded from Andover Theological Seminary (Cong'l), Newton
Theological Institute (Baptist), Amherst College, Williams College and
Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
In the public schools there are 1,197 men and 12,205 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $136.23; of the women,
$51.41. Omitting the High School salaries, the average amount paid to
men per month is $130.09; to women, $49.61. In some counties over
one-half as much is paid to women teachers as to men, but in Essex
County the monthly ratio is $127.82 to men, and $47.17 to women, and
in Suffolk County $200.07 to men and $63.44, or less than one-third,
to women. Boston has 215 men teachers at an average monthly salary of
$213.61; and 1,762 women at an average of $69.68. In no other State is
the discrepancy so great in the salary of men and women teachers.
The women's clubs of Massachusetts are as the sands of the sea. Of
these 169, with a membership of 21,451, belong to the State
Federation. The New England Woman's Club was organized in 1868, the
same year as Sorosis in New York and about one month earlier. These
two are generally spoken of as the pioneers of women's clubs as they
exist to-day.
THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.[328]
When the third volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1885
it left this association three years old, with Mrs. Harriette Robinson
Shattuck, president, Dr. Salome Merritt, vice-president, and thirteen
other vice-presidents who represented the same number of counties. To
these leaders and others it seemed necessary that Massachusetts should
have this society in order to give a support to the officers and the
methods of the National Woman Suffrage Association, which they were
not receiving from the State society, at that time auxiliary to the
American Association. In those three years conventions had been held
in some twenty cities.
Mrs. Harriet M. Emerson was then engaged in preparing petitions, to
which she secured many signers, asking for "a statute to enable a
widow who desires it, to become on reasonable terms a co-executor with
those appointed by her husband's will." For several years she spent
much time on this work and had the help of many of the best citizens
of Boston. It was ably presented at each session of the Legislature,
but no action was taken.[329]
Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson, the corresponding secretary, has published
Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement, The New Pandora, a
woman's play, Capt. Mary Miller, etc.; Mrs. Shattuck, The Woman's
Manual of Parliamentary Law, Advanced Rules for Large Assemblies.
Another member, Mrs. Sara A. Underwood, has done valuable work on the
newspapers of Boston, New York and other cities, and before the
Legislature. The writings of Mrs. Evaleen L. Mason are well known.
[Illustration:
HARRIET MAY MILLS.
Syracuse, N. Y.
FLORENCE HOWE HALL.
Plainfield, N. J.
REV. ANNA GARLIN SPENCER.
Providence, R. I.
LUCRETIA L. BLANKENBURG.
Philadelphia, Pa.
LAVINA A. HATCH.
E. Pembroke, Mass.
]
In 1888 certain historical text-books which were objected to by the
Roman Catholics were removed from the schools and replaced by others.
This caused great excitement, over 25,000 women registered to vote,
and for two successive years helped to defeat all the Catholic
candidates for the school board and to elect a number of women. The
members of this association maintained the non-partisan side and
opposed the extremists who urged that Catholics should be excluded
from the board, thus depriving it of some of its most experienced and
faithful men.
In April, 1888, the association applied for a charter and became the
first incorporated body of woman suffragists in the State. In December
a petition was sent to Congress asking for an amendment to the United
States Constitution prohibiting disfranchisement on account of sex.
In 1889 a petition from this association was introduced in the
Legislature to require assessors to ask at every house whether there
are women there who wish to be assessed a poll tax. A petition was
also sent in for a law providing that one-third of the membership of
the school committee consist of women. These were presented by Mr.
Barker of Malden.
At the eighth annual meeting in May, 1890, C. W. Ernst gave an
instructive address on political topics.
In October, 1891, a special meeting was called to discuss the question
of discontinuing auxiliaryship to the National-American Association,
and continuing work as an independent organization. After a full
discussion the vote resulted in remaining auxiliary, only one opposed.
In March, 1892, a plan was laid before the association by Dr. Merritt
for action in the various cities and towns of the State to secure the
nomination in caucuses of such senators and representatives only as
would declare themselves in favor of woman suffrage. A committee was
formed to confer with other organizations, and at the next meeting it
reported that the Boston Suffrage League, Mrs. Ellen Battelle
Dietrick, president, had approved the plan and called a meeting where
nine wards were represented and a compact signed. In May this
agreement was adopted by the Suffolk County Committee, who were to
work in Boston while the association was to manage outside counties.
One thousand copies were printed and circulated but the final results
showed not enough interest to make the measure a success.
At this time Mrs. Shattuck resigned the presidency, "being engaged in
work more imperative," and Mrs. Robinson gave up her office of
corresponding secretary. At the October meeting Miss Hatch was elected
a member of the executive committee of the National Association for
the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Sarah A. P. Dickerman acted as
president during the remainder of the year. Valuable discussions were
held on State and National Banks, Should the Governor Exercise the
Veto Power? Shall Immigration Be Restricted? Which Would Benefit
Boston Most, License or No License? and other timely questions.
In January, 1893, it was voted to petition the Legislature that women
be allowed to vote on a constitutional amendment affecting their
property rights. A special effort was made in petition work both for
Congress and the Legislature. In one small village where forty-two
signatures were obtained, only four persons refused to sign. In May
Dr. Merritt was unanimously elected president of the association, and
remained in office until her death in 1900. At this meeting a
statement was made that in Massachusetts there were from 105,000 to
110,000 families with widows or single women as heads, not represented
by one vote. In December a committee was appointed to confer with the
legislative committee of the State School Suffrage Association to
secure an extension of the time (then only two or three days) which
was allotted to the registration of women.
At the legislative hearing in January, 1894, petitions were presented
by this association from seven counties, covering twenty-one towns. At
this date 186 women were reported as holding office, eleven being
district superintendents of schools. The following May the
registration laws were so changed that women have since had the same
time as men in which to register. Under the present law, the assessors
in their regular rounds are required to take the names of women voters
having the same residence as on a previous voting list. These are then
entered on the register for the ensuing campaign without further
trouble.
In September, 1895, a special meeting was called to decide how best to
help the work for the referendum which had been submitted by the
Legislature in order to ascertain how many women desired to vote.
Twenty-five dollars were appropriated toward defraying the expenses of
the State committee appointed to conduct this campaign.
In 1896 much time was spent on measures helpful to women and children.
One of these was to secure the early closing of stores, the result
being that through the entire summer all the principal stores in
Boston were closed at 5 P. M. every day, and on Saturdays at 12 M., as
they have been each summer since.
House Bill 625 of 1896 started with a most innocent appearance under
the title, "A bill to enlarge the powers of the police commissioners
of Boston." In reality it asked that the powers of the police force be
so extended as to allow them to issue permits for the keeping of
houses of ill-repute, with authority for their inspection and control.
Other organizations joined this one in opposition, with the result
that the bill was defeated.
The association also advocated "A bill to prohibit child insurance,"
on account of the injury done to families by absorbing the means which
should be expended for food, clothes and other necessaries in the
payment of policies. It was considered, moreover, in the nature of a
premium for child murder by neglect.
The most interesting event of 1898 was the celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. Dr. Merritt spoke
of the rise of the movement, saying that 1848 was as marked an epoch
in the rights of women as was 1776 in the rights of men. Miss Hatch's
paper gave the trend of events previous to the Seneca Falls
Convention, showing that these molded public sentiment and gave rise
to the calling of this memorable meeting. Speeches, letters from
absent members and a roll of honor, each giving the name of an old
worker and adding appropriate remarks, followed.
In addition to the usual petitions was one to Congress in behalf of
the Hawaiian women. A protest was also sent against the admission to
Congress of Brigham H. Roberts of Utah, a polygamist and an enemy to
woman suffrage.
Since 1884 this association has held 128 public meetings. It has been
represented by active working delegates at every convention of the
National Association since becoming an auxiliary in 1882. The
recording secretary has held that office for seventeen years, never
having been absent from a monthly meeting unless because of illness or
attendance at the national conventions. She has been a delegate to the
latter for fourteen years.
This association did much pioneer press work. From its first session a
report of the same, with items made up of whatever had occurred in any
part of the world advantageous to woman's advancement since the
previous meeting, has appeared next day in the leading Boston dailies,
with scarcely an omission during the eighteen years.
Besides those already mentioned the following have held office and
been faithful workers: Mesdames A. M. Mahony, Sarah A. Rand and Lydia
L. Hutchins; and the Misses Hannah M. Todd, Elizabeth B. Atwill,
Charlotte Lobdell, Agnes G. Parrott and Sophia M. Hale. In 1901 the
society united with the Massachusetts State Association.
FOOTNOTES:
[303] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_ (Boston)
and recording secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association since 1890. It is due to the _Woman's Journal_, founded in
1869, that so complete a record of the State work has been obtained.
[304] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 215.
[305] Among many names which appear in connection with these annual
meetings are those of the Revs. Daniel P. Livermore, Charles W.
Wendte, S. S. Herrick, Philip S. Moxom, Charles F. Thwing, L. B.
Bates, F. A. Abbott, S. W. Bush, William J. Potter, C. P. Pitblado,
George Willis Cooke, Fielder Israel, Eben L. Rexford, Christopher R.
Eliot, David A. Gregg, Edward A. Horton, B. F. Hamilton, George A.
Gordon, Charles F. Dole, Nathan E. Wood, W. W. Lucas, the Revs. Ida C.
Hultin, Lorenza Haynes, Mary Traffern Whitney, Lila Frost Sprague, J.
W. Clarke, of the Boston Traveller, D. H. Beggs, President of the
Central Labor Union, Judge Robert Pitman, the Hon. Joseph H. Walker,
Francis J. Garrison, John Graham Brooks, John L. Whiting, Sam Walter
Foss, Sherman Hoar, W. L. Haskel, Mesdames Martha Perry Lowe, E. N. L.
Walton, Martha Sewall Curtis, O. A. Cheney, Ellie A. Hilt, Abby M.
Davis, Judith W. Smith, Misses Anna Gardner, Lucia T. Ames, Eva
Channing, Amorette Beecher, Alice Parker, all of Massachusetts. The
Rev. J. W. Bashford, Delaware College, Ohio, the Rev. Florence E.
Kollock, Illinois, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, California, Mrs. Helen
Coffin Beedy, Mrs. Etta H. Osgood, Maine, U. S. Senator Henry W.
Blair, Mrs. Armenia S. White, Miss Mary N. Chase, New Hampshire, Mrs.
M. L. T. Hidden, Mrs. A. D. Chandler, Vermont, Mrs. Elizabeth B.
Chace, Dr. John C. Wyman, Dr. Ira Aldrich, Jeanette S. French, Louise
Tyler, Rhode Island, Mesdames Emily O. Kimball, Josephine M. Bissell,
Emily J. Leonard, Annie C. S. Fenner, Judge Joseph and Miss Elizabeth
Sheldon, Connecticut, Mrs. Cornelia Collins Hussey, New Jersey, Judge
William S. Peirce, Philadelphia, Miss Anna Gordon, Illinois, Dr. Ida
Joe Brooks, Arkansas, Ellis Meredith, Denver, Giles B. Stebbins,
Michigan, Lloyd McKim Garrison, New York, Amelia B. Edwards, Mrs.
Percy Widdrington, England.
[306] As this board was continued for many years with but little
change, and as it indicates clearly the personnel of the association,
the remainder is given in full. Vice presidents, Mrs. Mary A.
Livermore, John G. Whittier, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Theodore D. Weld, ex Gov. William
Claflin, Judge Samuel E. Sewall, William Lloyd Garrison, Mrs. Ralph
Waldo Emerson, the Hon. John Hopkins, Miss Abby W. May, A. Bronson
Alcott, Marie E. Zakrzewska, M. D., Col. Thomas W. Higginson, Miss
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Wendell Phillips, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, the
Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, the Rev. William
I. Haven, Judge Thomas Russell, Lucy Sewall, M. D., Robert C. Pitman,
George A. Walton, Mrs. C. B. Redmund, Charles W. Slack, Seth Hunt,
Mrs. Eliza K. Church, the Rev. Jesse H. Jones, Uretta McAllister,
Julia M. Baxter; recording secretary, Charles K. Whipple; treasurer,
Miss Amanda M. Lougee; executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, chairman,
Mrs. Mary C. Ames, Miss Mary F. Eastman, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Mrs.
Henrietta L. T. Wolcott, Mrs. W. I. Bowditch, Mrs. S. E. M. Kingsbury,
Mrs. E. N. L. Walton, Mrs. S. C. Vogl, S. C. Hopkins, Mrs. E. P.
Nickles, Mrs. Fenno Tudor, Dr. J. T. Leonard, Miss Alice Stone
Blackwell, Miss Eva Channing, the Rev. J. W. Bashford, Mrs. Harriet W.
Sewall, Miss Kate Ireson, Frederick A. Claflin, Arthur P. Ford, Miss
M. Ada Molineux, S. Frank King, Miss Cora Scott Pond, J. Avery
Howland.
[307] In the 111 Granges of the State, 70 women were secretaries and
39 lecturers this year.
[308] Mrs. Helen Campbell spoke on Women in Industry, Mrs. Howe on
Women in Literature, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell on Women in
the Ministry, Mrs. Charlotte Emerson Brown, president of the General
Federation, on Women's Clubs, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, president of
the State W. C. T. U., on Women's Work for Temperance, Mary A. Greene,
LL. B., on Women in Law, Dr. Emily Blackwell on Women in Medicine,
Mrs. Sallie Joy White, late president of the New England Women's Press
Association, on Women in Journalism, and Miss Eastman on Steps in
Education for Girls from Dame School to College. The opportunities for
women at Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Boston University and Mt.
Holyoke were presented respectively by Dr. Emma B. Culbertson, Prof.
A. Eugenia Morgan, Miss Cora A. Benneson, Miss E. D. Hanscom and Miss
Sarah P. Eastman, president of the Boston Mt. Holyoke Alumnae. Mrs.
Cheney read a paper on Women in Hospitals and Miss Alla Foster gave
reminiscences of her mother, Mrs. Abby Kelly Foster. Lucy Stone spoke
on the Gains of Forty Years, Colonel Higginson on Landmarks of
Progress, Mr. Blackwell on Kansas and Wyoming. Woman Suffrage by State
and Federal Legislation; Mr. Garrison on Women Needed as Political
Helpmeets; and the Rev. Ada C. Bowles on the Suffrage Revival in
Worcester in 1869. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates spoke on Suffrage, and
the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Our Debt to the Pioneers.
Letters were read from U. S. Senators Joseph M. Carey and Francis E.
Warren of Wyoming, ex-president James H. Fairchild of Oberlin, the
Hon. Charles Robinson of Kansas, Thomas Davis, husband of Paulina
Wright Davis, Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas Historical
Society, Theodore D. Weld, Mesdames Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, Elizabeth
B. Chace, Frances H. Drake, Caroline Healy Dall, J. Elizabeth Jones,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Caroline M. Severance, Clara B. Colby, Miss
Mary Grew, Miss Anna L. T. Parsons, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of
England, and others.
[309] Mrs. Livermore, the Rev. Charles G. Ames, Mrs. Cheney, Prof.
Ellen Hayes of Wellesley, the Hon. Alfred S. Roe, Mrs. Phebe Stone
Beeman, Mrs. Sallie Joy White and Mr. M. H. Gulesian of Armenia, with
a poem by Mr. Garrison.
[310] The best known of these names are included in the list of
eminent persons in the Appendix.
[311] There were addresses by Fletcher Dobyns and Oswald Garrison
Villard of Harvard, Miss Maud Thompson of Wellesley College, Edson
Reifsnyder of Tufts, and Miss Mabel E. Adams, with music by the Boston
Choral Society.
[312] Miss Elva Hurlburt Young, president of the senior class of
Wellesley College, A. M. Kales and Raymond M. Alden of Harvard, W. H.
Spofford Pittinger of Providence, R. I. A poem by Mrs. Stetson, Girls
of To-day, was recited by Miss Marion Sherman of the Boston School of
Oratory.
[313] Other officers have been Recording secretary, Miss Alice Stone
Blackwell, treasurers, Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall,
Francis J. Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, chairmen of the executive
committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Miss Blackwell. Vice
presidents for 1900 are the Hons. George F. Hoar, John D. Long,
William Claflin, W. W. Crapo, Josiah Quincy, George A. O. Ernst, J. W.
Candler, Lieut. Gov. John L. Bates, Col. T. W. Higginson, the Rev.
George Willis Cooke, William I. Bowditch, William Lloyd Garrison,
Prof. Ellen Hayes, Mesdames Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Ward, Pauline Agassiz Shaw (Quincy A.), Oliver Ames, Fanny B. Ames,
Abby Morton Diaz, Susan S. Fessenden, Ole Bull, Emma Walker
Batcheller, Martha Perry Lowe, Mary Schlesinger, Miss Mary F. Eastman,
Miss Lucia M. Peabody.
[314] Mr. Blackwell was corresponding secretary from 1871 to 1893,
Miss Laura Moore of Vermont, one year, and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles of
Rhode Island, from 1894 to the present time, recording secretaries,
Charles K. Whipple, Mrs. O. Augusta Cheney, Mrs. Ellie A. Hilt, Miss
Eva Channing, treasurers, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall, John L. Whiting,
Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Francis J. Garrison. The vice presidents are
the presidents and prominent members of the New England State
Associations.
[315] Limited space has prevented any resume of the speeches made
during these years in the conventions or before the legislative
committees. The reader is referred to the files of the _Woman's
Journal_ which have been placed in a number of public libraries. The
names of legislators who have advocated woman suffrage will be found
at the close of Legislative Action.
[316] The one to the Republican members was signed by Alanson W.
Beard, William Claflin, William W. Crapo, Henry L. Dawes, Frank P.
Goulding, Thomas N. Hart, George F. Hoar, John D. Long, Samuel May,
Adin Thayer and John G. Whittier; the other to the Democratic by
Josiah G. Abbott, Edward Avery, John M. Corse, John E. Fitzgerald,
John Hopkins, George E. McNeil, Bushrod Morse, Frederick O. Prince,
Albert Palmer and Charles H. Taylor.
[317] These letters have been doing duty ever since, being quoted in
adverse reports of congressional committees, Legislatures, speeches
and documents of the opponents, etc.
[318] This was the last time Lucy Stone addressed a legislative
committee. She had presented her first plea in 1857. Every year since
1869 she had made her annual pilgrimage to the State House to ask for
the rights of women.
[319] The remonstrants in past years had gone repeatedly before
legislative committees, and since 1897 they have appeared and spoken
every year in opposition to any form of suffrage for women.
[320] Mr. Saunders, when asked by a reporter of the Boston _Record_ if
it was true that he received $150 per month for his services, declined
to say, but stated that he should consider that a small amount, as he
was giving practically all of his time and effort.
[321] The M. A. O. F. E. S. W. says that this was not done by the
association officially. It was certainly done by some of its prominent
members.
[322] On one occasion, after Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and her associates
had made their appeals, Mr. Keenan referred to them in the legislative
debate as "women masquerading in pants," and said, "I never knew a
woman who loved her children or her home that wanted to vote."
[323] Dr. Lyman Abbott of New York, Miss Heloise E. Hersey, Miss Sarah
E. Hunt, Mesdames Barrett Wendell, W. W. Vaughan, Judith Andrews,
Nathaniel Payne, James H. Robbins, Frank B. Fay and Henry Thompson
also "remonstrated."
[324] It seems desirable to preserve the names of those who have
championed and voted for a measure so bitterly opposed. Those of the
eighty four opponents may drop into oblivion. Honor roll Senators S.
Stillman Blanchard, Arthur B. Breed, Gorham D. Gilman, Robert S. Gray,
Charles H. Innes, Francis W. Kittridge, Joel D. Miller, Henry S.
Milton, Joseph O. Neill, Isaac N. Nutter, Representatives John E.
Abbott, Charles H. Adams, Frederick Atherton, Frank E. Badger, Thomas
C. Batchelder, John L. Bates, Alanson W. Beard, Amos Beckford, Frank
P. Bennett, Thomas W. Bicknell, John B. Bottum, Harvey L. Boutwell,
George A. Brown, Walter J. D. Bullock, Edward B. Callender, James F.
Carey, George D. Chamberlain, Albert Clarke, Charles Carleton Coffin,
Henry Cook, Louis A. Cook, Charles U. Corey, Fred E. Crawford,
Franklin Cross, Arthur B. Curtis, Francis W. Darling, William D.
Dennis, Solomon K. Dexter, E. Walter Everett, George H. Fall, Frank E.
Fitts, Jubal C. Gleason, Samuel L. Gracey, James W. Grimes, Thomas E.
Grover, Luther Hall, Harris C. Hartwell, Martin E. Hawes, William R.
Hayden, Alfred S. Hayes, Ehhu B. Hayes, Charles E. Haywood, Edmund
Hersey, John Hildreth, John G. Horan, Charles R. Johnson, George R.
Jones, William E. Judd, Alfred F. Kinney, John Larrabee, Mahlon R.
Leonard, Frederic O. MacCartney, Samuel W. McCall, James H. Mellen,
John M. Merriman, Charles H. Miller, Daniel L. Milliken, Charles P.
Mills, Bushrod Morse, James J. Myers, H. Heustis Newton, Herbert C.
Parsons, George W. Penniman, Francis C. Perry, Albert Poor, Josiah
Quincy, Francis H. Raymond, Alfred S. Roe, (Judge) Thomas Russell,
Thomas E. St. John, Howard K. Sanderson, Charles F. Shute, George T.
Sleeper, Frank Smith, Metcalf J. Smith, George L. Soule, Eugene H.
Sprague, Ezra A. Stevens, Hazard Stevens, Stephen S. Taft, George F.
Tucker, John E. Turtle, O. W. H. Upham, Horace G. Wadlin, Jesse B.
Wheeler, Frederick L. Whitmore, John W. Wilkinson, John A. Woodbury,
Charles L. Young.
[325] In 1847 Lucy Stone began to advocate giving the mother equal
guardianship of the children with the father. During the past thirty
years the State Suffrage Association has repeatedly petitioned the
Legislature to this effect. In 1902 many other organizations joined in
the effort, and the petition for equal guardianship was indorsed by
34,000 women. The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported
adversely. Representative George H. Fall's Equal Guardianship Bill was
debated on two days and finally passed both Houses and was signed by
Gov. W. Murray Crane in June.
The only society of women that has ever ranged itself publicly on the
opposing side of this question is the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage
Association. For years it circulated with its official imprint a
leaflet in defense of the law which excluded mothers from the custody
and guardianship of their children.
[326] For information in regard to the laws the History is indebted to
Mrs. Anna Christy (George H.) Fall, a practicing lawyer of Malden.
[327] This was purely class legislation, as the woman who had paid
property tax was not required to pay poll-tax, and poor women could
not vote without paying two dollars each year. The law was not asked
for by the Suffrage Association.
[328] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Lavina Allen
Hatch of East Pembroke, recording secretary of the association from
its beginning in 1882, and also corresponding secretary from 1892.
[329] In 1884 the Boston Political Class was formed as an auxiliary.
While the idea of such an educational scheme originated with Sara A.
Underwood, its successful development is due to Harriette Robinson
Shattuck, who became president of the class. Lavina Allen Hatch kept
its records, and Dora Bascom Smith gave the use of her parlors for its
fortnightly meetings.
CHAPTER XLVI.
MICHIGAN.[330]
From the time of the defeat of the suffrage amendment to the State
constitution in 1874 there was no central organization in Michigan for
ten years, although a few local societies maintained an existence.
Through a conjunction of these forces a convention was called at
Flint, May 21, 1884, which resulted in the forming of a State Equal
Suffrage Association, officered as follows: President, Mary L. Doe;
vice-president, Gov. Josiah W. Begole; corresponding secretary, Nellie
Walker; recording secretary, Fannie Holden Fowler; treasurer, Cordelia
F. Briggs.
The second State convention was held in Grand Rapids, Oct. 7-9, 1885,
with Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell in attendance. Letters were
received from Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association,
and Thomas W. Palmer, U. S. Senator from Michigan. The latter said: "I
hope that you will put forward the economic aspect of the
question--its effect upon taxation. Women are the natural economists."
In lieu of the annual meeting in 1886 four political State
conventions--Prohibition, Greenback, Republican and Democratic--were
memorialized for a plank indorsing a Municipal Suffrage Bill. Sarah E.
V. Emery appeared before the Prohibition convention, which adopted the
plank. She also attended the Democratic, where she was invited to the
platform and made a vigorous speech, which was received with applause,
but the suffrage resolution was not adopted. Emily B. Ketcham attended
the Republican convention but was refused a hearing before the
Committee on Resolutions. After its report had been accepted friends
obtained an opportunity for her to address the meeting, but she was
received with considerable discourtesy. Mrs. Fowler secured the
adoption of the plank by the Greenback convention.
The association met in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 13, 14, 1887.
Miss Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association,
gave an address in Representative Hall. She was introduced by Gov.
Cyrus G. Luce, and many senators and representatives were in the
audience.[331]
The convention of 1888 took place in Bay City, June 6-8. The Rev. Anna
Howard Shaw and Helen M. Gougar of Indiana addressed large audiences
in the opera house on successive evenings. Immediately afterward a
series of two days' meetings was held by Mrs. Gougar, assisted by May
Stocking Knaggs, at Saginaw, Flint, Port Huron, Detroit, Battle Creek
and Grand Rapids, societies being organized at several places.
In November the Association for the Advancement of Women met in
Detroit. Many suffragists were in attendance and the State president,
Mrs. Doe, called a council in the parlors of the Church of Our Father.
Fifty responded and it was unanimously decided to renew the effort for
Municipal Suffrage.
The annual meeting was held in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 19-21,
1889. A letter was received from Senator Palmer, enclosing a draft for
$100 and saying: "Equal suffrage in municipal affairs means better
statutes, better ordinances, better officers, better administration,
lower taxation, happier homes and a better race." This generous gift
enabled the association to keep a committee--Helen Philleo Jenkins,
Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. Ketcham and Mrs. Knaggs--at the capital for
several weeks, where they worked systematically to convert members and
to secure victory.
The convention met at Detroit, Feb. 13, 14, 1890. Mrs. Doe, who had
been the leader of the State forces since their organization, declined
renomination and Mrs. Jenkins was chosen president.
The association convened at Lansing again Feb. 10-12, 1891; and its
speakers were given a joint hearing in Representative Hall on the
Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was then before the Legislature.
Addresses were made by Harriet J. Boutelle, Belle M. Perry, Sarah E.
V. Emery and Martha Snyder Root.
Miss Anthony was present at the State convention, which took place in
Battle Creek, May 4, 5, 1892. Articles of incorporation were adopted
and Mrs. Ketcham was elected president.
In June the State Republican Convention met at East Saginaw. Mrs.
Ketcham, with Mrs. Doe, chairman of the legislative committee, pleaded
before the Committee on Resolutions for recognition of this measure.
They were courteously treated and when about to retire their opinion
was asked on a list of resolutions presented from Genesee County,
_viz._: That women professors be appointed at Michigan University
until their number should bear a fair proportion to the number of
women students; that women be appointed on boards of control of the
State penal, reformatory and charitable institutions; that Municipal
Suffrage for women be recommended, and that an amendment to the State
constitution, striking out the word "male" as a qualification for
voters, be submitted to the electors. The ladies indorsed all except
the fourth proposition, but none of them was adopted.
After the nominations for the Legislature had been made, letters were
written to candidates of all parties to ascertain their attitude
toward the Municipal Suffrage Bill. Many favorable and some evasive
replies were received, while not a few letters were wholly ignored. A
suffrage lecture course was arranged in eight cities, from November,
1892, to March, 1893, inclusive, with Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw,
president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association and
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Mrs.
Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether
of Tennessee, as speakers.
The next annual convention was held in the Capitol, Feb. 1-3, 1893.
Mrs. Colby had preceded it in January with her address on Wyoming,
given in Representative Hall, the facts and figures of which left a
strong impression.[332] The speakers addressed the Legislature in
behalf of the Municipal Suffrage Bill.
In January, 1894, Miss Anthony lectured at Ann Arbor before the
University Association. By the efforts of Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, her
hostess and friend of many years, preparations had been made for a
mass meeting, in which the State E. S. A. participated, Miss Shaw also
being present. It convened in Newberry Hall, January 15-17, with a
large attendance and resulted in the organization of the Ann Arbor E.
S. A., with one hundred members and Mrs. Hall as president. On the
last evening she gave a large reception at her home in honor of the
two ladies, which was attended by President and Mrs. George B. Angell
and many of the university faculty.
This year's convention assembled at Grand Rapids, May 7-10, with the
Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois as the principal speaker.
The meeting of 1895 took place at Saginaw, May 7-9. In the evening
Representative George H. Waldo gave a review of his efforts in behalf
of the Equal Suffrage Bill, and an enthusiastic indorsement of the
measure. This convention had the assistance of Mrs. Chapman Catt, who
made the chief address. Mrs. Ketcham retired from the presidency and
the association elected Mrs. Knaggs. A new standing committee of five
was appointed to secure women physicians and attendants in public
institutions for the care of women and girls. After adjournment the
Saginaw Political Equality Club was formed.
In 1896 the State convention met in Pontiac, May 19-22. Senator Palmer
was the orator of the occasion.
The following July Mrs. Knaggs and Carrie C. Faxon addressed the
Democratic State Convention at Bay City, through the courtesy of the
Hons. John Donovan and O'Brien J. Atkinson. They were accorded an
attentive hearing with much applause, and given a rising vote of
thanks, emphasized by an exhortation from the chairman, the Hon.
Thomas Barkworth, that the party prepare to concede to the women of
the State their political rights.
The annual meeting of 1897 took place in Vermontville, May 11-13. On
November 22, 23, a national conference was held in Grand Rapids by
Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, together with the
officers of the State association and many other Michigan women.
In 1898 the convention met in Bay City, May 3-5. On the last evening
Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave a brilliant address on The
Duties of Women Considered as Patriots. Its strong peace sentiments
aroused deep interest, as this was at the beginning of the
Spanish-American War.
The invitation of the Susan B. Anthony Club of Grand Rapids to the
National W. S. A., to hold its annual convention in that city in 1899,
having been accepted, the date was fixed for April 27 to May 3,
inclusive, and it was decided that the State meeting should
immediately follow. This national gathering was full of interest,
affording as it did an opportunity of attendance to many women of the
State who were unable to go to the convention at Washington.[333]
Grand Rapids women were generous in their hospitality, all visitors
being entertained free of expense. The executive ability of Mrs.
Ketcham was evident from first to last. The State association held a
business session May 4, and was addressed by Mr. Blackwell and Mrs.
Colby. Mrs. Lenore Starker Bliss was elected president.
An immediate result of the national meeting was the organization of
the Anna Shaw Junior Equal Suffrage Club of Grand Rapids, with
seventeen youthful members.
In December the American Federation of Labor held its annual
convention in Detroit. Miss Anthony addressed it by invitation and
urged the members to adopt a resolution asking Congress for a
Sixteenth Amendment forbidding the disfranchisement of United States
citizens on account of sex. Her speech was most enthusiastically
received and the resolution she offered was immediately adopted, and,
in the form of a petition which represented nearly 1,000,000 members,
duly forwarded to Congress.
Prior to the State convention of 1900 Mrs. Chapman Catt, assisted by
Miss Shaw, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Root, held two
days' conventions at Hillsdale, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor,
organizing suffrage clubs at the first three places. The annual
meeting convened in Detroit, May 15-17, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman
Catt giving addresses on consecutive evenings. Mrs. Bliss declining
renomination, Mrs. Ketcham was unanimously replaced at the head of the
State association.[334]
In July, at the request of Miss Anthony, the Columbia Catholic Summer
School held in Detroit extended an invitation for a speech on
suffrage. Mrs. Chapman Catt was selected, all arrangements being made
by Mrs. Jenkins and others. Father W. J. Dalton, who introduced her,
said he hoped to see women voting and filling all offices, even that
of police commissioner.
The Greenback and the People's parties have welcomed women as
assistants. Prominent among these have been Marian Todd, Martha E.
Strickland and Elizabeth Eaglesfield. In 1896 Mrs. Emery and Mrs. Root
were placed upon the State Central Committee of the People's Party.
The Prohibitionists also have received women as party workers.
Besides those already named, others who have been foremost in every
plan to forward equality for women are Giles B. and Catharine A. F.
Stebbins, Sara Philleo Skinner, Lila E. Bliss, H. Margaret Downs,
Delisle P. Holmes, Wesley Emery, Brent Harding, Smith G. Ketcham and
John Wesley Knaggs; among the younger women, Florence Jenkins Spalding
and Edith Frances Hall.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Prior to 1885 the charters of twelve cities made
inoperative the early State law which gave School Suffrage to women.
By appealing to the Legislature of that year the charters of Grand
Rapids and Bay City were so amended that the right to vote at school
meetings was conferred upon women.
The new State association organized in 1884 adopted as its principal
plan of work a bill which had been drawn by the Hon. Samuel Fowler and
introduced in the Legislature of 1883, to grant Municipal Suffrage to
women.
In 1885 this bill was presented in the Senate by John W. Belknap, a
strong supporter. Independent of the State association, Theodore G.
Houk introduced in the House a joint resolution to strike the word
"male" from the constitution. The Joint Judiciary Committees granted a
hearing to the friends of woman suffrage in February. The Municipal
Bill came to a vote in the Senate on May 21, which resulted in 14
ayes, 15 noes, but was not acted upon in the House. The Houk joint
resolution passed the House by 81 ayes, 10 noes, but was not brought
up in the Senate.
In 1887 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again taken up, being
introduced simultaneously in both Houses, in the lower by Henry
Watson, in the upper by Charles J. Monroe, both staunch friends. A
hearing was had before the Senate Judiciary and the House Committee on
Elections in March. Miss Frances E. Willard aided the suffragists by a
brief address. On April 12 the House committee reported in favor of
striking out all after the enacting clause, thus completely
obliterating the bill, which report was accepted by a vote of 50 ayes,
33 noes. The Senate Bill was not considered.
In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced in the Senate by
Arthur D. Gilmore and in the House by Dr. James B. F. Curtis. It was
referred to the Judiciary Committees, and at their request the hearing
was had before the entire Legislature during the annual convention of
the State E. S. A. No outside lecturers were invited, because the
friends of the measure were met by a strongly-expressed wish that the
women of Michigan should speak for themselves. Short speeches were
made by May Stocking Knaggs, Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Emily B.
Ketcham, Lucy F. Andrews, Elizabeth Eaglesfield, Frances Riddle
Stafford, Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. R. M. Kellogg, Phebe B. Whitfield and
Mary B. Clay of Kentucky who was then residing in the State. Mrs.
Clara Bewick Colby being present, she was invited to make the closing
remarks.
Just before this hearing the bevy of officers and speakers passing
through the corridor on their way to the House were warned by Joseph
Greusel, a friendly journalist, that a circular of protest had been
placed upon the desk of each member. This was headed: "Massachusetts
Remonstrants against Woman Suffrage, to the Members of the Michigan
Legislature;" and contained the familiar array of misrepresentations.
With the co-operation of Lucy Stone, a reply was printed immediately
after the convention and likewise distributed in the Legislature.
The House Bill remained under the judicious guardianship of Dr.
Curtis. The chairman of the legislative committee, Mrs. Knaggs, was in
constant attendance and secured valuable information on the practical
working of Municipal Suffrage from Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey,
Attorney-General Simeon B. Bradford, ex-Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg
and Laura M. Johns, all of Kansas. The Hon. Charles B. Waite of
Chicago prepared by request an exhaustive legal opinion on The Power
of the Legislature of Michigan in Reference to Municipal Suffrage. The
Judiciary Committee--John V. B. Goodrich, Russell R. Pealer, Byron S.
Waite, Norris J. Brown, Oliver S. Smith, Thomas C. Taylor, James A.
Randall--gave a unanimous report in favor of the bill, which included
this opinion and the Kansas reports. Senator Thomas W. Palmer, who had
been appointed Minister to Spain, went to Lansing on the very eve of
leaving this country and, in an address to the joint Houses of the
Legislature, made a strong plea for the measure.
As the day fixed for the consideration of the bill approached, the
suffrage committee found itself confronted by an arrangement, quietly
made by the opponents, to have an address delivered in Representative
Hall by a Mrs. Mary Livermore, who had been holding parlor meetings in
Detroit for pay and speaking against woman suffrage; and the false
report was industriously circulated that this was the great suffragist
of like name, who had discarded her lifelong convictions and gone over
to the enemy.
The bill was considered May 15, 1889. By the courtesy of J. B.
Mulliken, general manager of the D. L. and N. R. R., a special train
which carried a large delegation of women was sent from Detroit. Some
came from other parts of the State and the societies of Lansing were
well represented. The galleries were filled and the floor of the House
was lined with interested women. After a largely favorable discussion
the vote was taken, resulting in 58 yeas, 34 noes. The bill was
immediately dispatched to the Senate. That body lost no time, but at
once brought the measure under consideration and after a brief
discussion it was defeated by one vote--11 ayes, 12 noes.[335]
That evening Mrs. Livermore gave her belated dissertation and, upon
motion, was followed by Adele Hazlitt, who with great courtesy slew
her weak arguments.
At this session the charters of East Saginaw and Detroit were amended
to give women of those cities the school ballot; the former through
the efforts of Representative Rowland Connor.[336]
In 1891 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented to the
Legislature, in the House by Samuel Miller and in the Senate by Alfred
Milnes, both champions of the measure. The State suffrage convention
was in session at the capital February 10-12, and the Legislature gave
a joint hearing in Representative Hall to its speakers, all Michigan
women. The Senate Bill was taken up March 25, discussed and lost by 14
ayes, 12 noes. It was then tabled and taken up again May 13, receiving
14 ayes, 15 noes. Just prior to this consideration of the bill
ninety-five petitions in its favor, representing eighty-eight towns
and bearing several thousand signatures, were presented.
This discussion was the most trying of all during the ten years of
effort to secure Municipal Suffrage, owing to the character of the
chief opponent, Senator Frank Smith, who represented the basest
elements of Detroit. Knowing his illiteracy, the reporters had
expected much sport by sending his speech to the papers in full, but
in the interests of decency they refrained from publishing it. Women
came down from the galleries white with anger and disgust, and avowed
that if they never had wanted the ballot before they wanted it now.
The suffrage committee received many friendly courtesies from
Lieut.-Gov. John Strong, besides a substantial gift of money. When
asked for the use of the Senate Chamber for one evening of the
convention he said: "Certainly; your money helped to build the State
House. You have as much right to it as any of us."
In March, 1893, the bill was introduced by Henry Wirt Newkirk in the
House and Samuel W. Hopkins in the Senate. Both were lawyers of
distinguished ability, and among the most earnest advocates the
measure ever had. The State suffrage convention was in session while
it was being considered. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev.
Caroline Bartlett made addresses before the Legislature, the latter
speaking on Woman's Legitimate and Illegitimate Work in Politics.
These speeches took the place of the customary committee hearing. The
evening before the bill was voted on Miss Anthony addressed the
Legislature with her customary acumen and force.
The measure had been made the special order for 2:30 P. M. the next
day. The House assembled at 2 o'clock. Following the roll-call the
usual order was the presentation of petitions. At this time a member
in the rear, at a sufficient distance from the Speaker's desk to give
impressiveness to what would follow, rose and presented "A petition
from the people of Chippewa County in favor of the Municipal Woman
Suffrage Bill." A page sprang forward and taking the document, which
was prepared upon paper of an extra size and ornamented with long
streamers of red and green ribbons, ran with it to the clerk's desk,
and that officer proceeded to read it at length, including a long list
of signatures which comprised Patrick O'Shea, Annie Rooney, Spotted
Tail, etc. This petition was followed by two others of similar
character, bearing Indian names of such significance as the wit of the
opposition could invent. After this dignified prelude the House
discussed the measure at length, and defeated it by a vote of 38 ayes,
39 noes. A reconsideration was moved and the bill tabled.
This Municipal Suffrage Bill was taken up again in May and passed the
House on the 19th with an educational amendment: "Women who are able
to read the constitution of Michigan in the English language." The
vote was 57 ayes, 25 noes. On May 25 it was considered in the Senate
and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of 18 ayes, 11
noes. Gov. John T. Rich affixed his signature May 27, and apparent
victory was won after ten years of effort. Representative Newkirk and
Senator Hopkins received the heartfelt gratitude of those for whom
they had given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee
meetings. The newspapers of the State were unanimous in expressing
welcome to the new class of voters.
Mary L. Doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing
municipal franchise leagues for the study of city government, and
everywhere was met with eager interest. She left a league in every
place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. Thus in
conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various
municipalities passed the summer and early autumn of 1893.
Mayor Pingree of Detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient
additional number of registration books, but Edward H. Kennedy and
Henry S. Potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against
Hazen S. Pingree and the Common Council to restrain them from this
extra purchase. Mary Stuart Coffin and Mary E. Burnett "countered" by
filing a mandamus September 30, to compel the election commissioners
to provide means for carrying out the law. As these were cases for
testing the constitutionality of the law they were taken directly to
the Supreme Court. They were set for argument October 10, at 2 P. M.,
but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till 4
o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three
advocates on each side. Two of the women's lawyers, John B. Corliss
and Henry A. Haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the
first attorney, Col. John Atkinson.
A decision was rendered October 24, the mandamus denied and the
injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the
Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters. Those
who gave this decision were Chief Justice John W. McGrath and Justices
Frank A. Hooker, John D. Long, Claudius B. Grant and Robert M.
Montgomery.[337]
In spite of this Waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten
years' struggle, in the various sessions of the Legislature, stood as
champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory.
Besides those already given are Lieut-Gov. Archibald Butters,
Senators Edwin G. Fox, James D. Turnbull, Charles H. McGinley and C.
J. Brundage, and Representative Fremont G. Chamberlain. In both
Houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of
woman's equality.
No further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but
in 1895 George H. Waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the
House a joint resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the
word "male." This was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother
and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the
enfranchisement of women if elected. Although the officers of the
State association did not believe the time to be ripe for the
submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly
hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. The resolution was lost by
one vote.
This Legislature passed what was known as "the blanket charter act,"
in which the substitution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the
right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth class as
to create a general disturbance. It resulted in an appeal to
Attorney-General Fred A. Maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining
the suffrage of women in those cities.
In 1897 the main efforts of the association were directed toward
securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the State
Asylums for the Insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of
women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and
in the Home for the Feeble-Minded. These measures were both lost; but
on April 15 Governor Pingree appointed Jane M. Kinney to the Board of
Control of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac for a
term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the Senate confirmed
the appointment.
Interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns
of 10,000 inhabitants or more, which this year became law.
In 1899 a bill was again introduced into the Legislature to make
mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the
insane, the Industrial Home for Girls, the Home for the Feeble-Minded,
the School for Deaf Mutes and the School for the Blind. This measure
had now enlisted the interest of the State Federation of Women's Clubs
and many other organizations of women, and thousands of petitions
were presented. Emma J. Rose led the work of the women's clubs in its
behalf. It passed the Legislature and became a law.
LAWS: In 1885 a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women
must furnish seats for them; in 1889 that no girl under fifteen years
of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period
than fifty-four hours in a single week; in 1893 that no woman under
twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment
longer than sixty hours in any one week; in 1895 that no woman under
twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[338]
A law enacted in 1897 prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene
or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a
penalty for its violation.
Dower but not curtesy obtains. The widow is entitled to the life use
of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues
and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her
husband. She may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive
reasonable support for one year. She is entitled to her apparel and
ornaments and those of her husband, $250 worth of his household
furniture and $200 worth of his other personal property, which she may
select. If he die without a will and there are no children she
inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her
husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all
debts are paid, does not exceed $1,000. If there is excess of this it
is distributed like real estate. This reservation is not made for the
widower, but "no individual, under any circumstances, takes any larger
interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased
wife."
Where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or
bequeath it as if she were "sole." The husband can not give full title
to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower.
The wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband,
but he may give to his wife her services rendered for another,
whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for
them in her own name. Damages for the loss of such services and
society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to
the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. Her obligation to
render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to
support her. She can sue in her own name for personal injuries.
Husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal
property owned by them jointly she is entitled to her share the same
as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint
tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other
proceedings.
A wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may
form a business partnership with another. She can not become security.
All persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound
mind, may submit differences to arbitration.
The father is legally entitled to the custody of the persons and
education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for
the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections
to the Probate Judge and appeal from his decision.
The husband must provide the necessities of life according to his
station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. If she is
deserted or non-supported, the Circuit Court of the county shall
assign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary
for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real
estate, which provision holds during their joint lives.
In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14
years. In 1895 a bill to raise the age from 14 to 18 was introduced in
the Senate by Joseph R. McLaughlin. More than 10,000 persons
petitioned for its passage, two similar bills having been introduced
in the House. A hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committees, at
which speeches were made by Senator and Mrs. McLaughlin, Clara A.
Avery, Mrs. Andrew Howell, Dr. E. L. Shirley, the aged Lucinda
Hinsdale Stone, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root. Mrs. Root also
addressed the Legislature in Representative Hall. The bill was amended
to 17 years and passed in the Senate. The next day, after its friends
had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to 16
years, passing both Houses in this form. The penalty is imprisonment
for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum
penalty being named.
SUFFRAGE: When at the close of the Civil War the States eliminated the
word "white" from their constitutions, Michigan in 1867 amended her
School Law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a
qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for
school trustees. In 1881 this law was further amended to include
parents or guardians of children of school age. No woman can vote for
county or State Superintendents, as these officers are provided for
under the constitution. Tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and
appropriations for school purposes.
The year of 1888 was marked by a test of the constitutionality of this
School Law, which involved the right of the Legislature to confer any
form of suffrage whatever upon women. The test was made through the
prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of Flint by Mrs.
Eva R. Belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being
a qualified voter under the State law. Mrs. Belles won her case which
was then appealed to the Supreme Court. This affirmed the decision of
the lower court and sustained the law.
In May, 1893, the Legislature conferred Municipal Suffrage on women,
but in October the Supreme Court decided it unconstitutional on the
ground that "the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of
voters." (See Legislative Action.) The Court held that it could,
however, confer School Suffrage as "the whole primary school system is
confided to the Legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the
constitution." By this decision women can have no other form of the
franchise except by constitutional amendment.
OFFICE HOLDING: Hundreds of women are serving as officers and members
of school boards throughout the State, as township school inspectors
and as county school commissioners and examiners.
A number are acting as deputy county clerks, and one as deputy clerk
of the United States District Court. The latter frequently opens the
court. Women serve as notaries public.
For thirty years women have filled the office of State Librarian, the
present incumbent being Mary C. Spencer.
Dr. Harriet M. C. Stone has been for several years assistant physician
in the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo.
The State Industrial School for Girls has two women on the Board of
Guardians, one of whom, Allaseba M. Bliss, is the president and is
serving her second term of four years, having been reappointed by Gov.
Hazen S. Pingree.[339] Since 1899 the law requires women physicians in
asylums for the insane and other State institutions where women and
children are cared for.
In the autumn of 1898 Mrs. Merrie Hoover Abbott, law-partner in the
firm of Abbott & Abbott of West Branch, was nominated on the
Democratic ticket as prosecuting attorney of Ogemaw County. She was
elected and entered upon her duties Jan. 1, 1899. _Quo warranto_
proceedings were instituted by Attorney-General Horace M. Oren to test
her right to the office, and October 17 the Supreme Court filed its
opinion and entered judgment of ouster. In the meantime Mrs. Abbott
had discharged successfully the duties of the position. The opinion
was as follows: "Where the constitution in creating a public office is
silent in regard to qualification to office, _electors_ only are
qualified to fill the same, and since under the constitution women are
not electors, they are not eligible to hold such offices. The office
of prosecuting attorney is a constitutional office which can only be
held by one possessing the qualification of an elector."
From this opinion Justice Joseph B. Moore dissented, making an able
argument. In closing he said:
The statutes of this State confer upon woman the right to
practice law. She may represent her client in the most important
litigation in all the courts, and no one can dispute her right.
She may defend a person charged with murder. Can she not
prosecute one charged with the larceny of a whip? To say she can
not seems illogical.... Individuals may employ her and the courts
must recognize her employment. If the people see fit, by electing
her to an office the duties of which pertain almost wholly to the
practice of the law, to employ her to represent them in their
litigation, why should not the courts recognize the
employment?... Where the constitution and the statutes are silent
as to the qualification for a given office, the people may elect
whom they will, if the person so elected is competent to
discharge the duties of the office.... None of the duties of
prosecuting attorney are of such a character as to preclude one
from their performance simply because of sex.
Charles S. Abbott, Allen S. Morse and T. A. E. Weadock were the
advocates for Mrs. Abbott, and she also made a strong oral argument in
her own behalf. Unfortunately the case was not one which permitted an
appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.
OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden by law to women.
EDUCATION: All universities and colleges admit women. The University
of Michigan (Ann Arbor), one of the largest in the country, was among
the first to open its doors to them. (1869.) Mrs. Lucinda Hinsdale
Stone was a strong factor in securing their admission. In having women
on its faculty, it is still in advance of most of those where
co-education prevails.
In the public schools there are 3,471 men and 12,093 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $44.48; of the women, $35.35.
* * * * *
Michigan may truly be called the founder of Woman's Clubs, as the
first one for purely literary culture of which we have any record was
formed in Kalamazoo, in 1852, by Mrs. Stone, to whom the women of the
State are deeply indebted in many ways. At present (1902) there are
133 in the General Federation with a membership of about 10,000, and a
number are not federated. This State also leads all others in the
number of women's club houses, ten of the leading clubs possessing
their own. There are two of these in Grand Rapids--the St. Cecilia
(musical) costing $53,000, and the Ladies' Literary costing $30,000,
both containing fine libraries, large audience rooms and every
convenience.
FOOTNOTES:
[330] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary L. Doe and
Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs, both of Bay City and former presidents of
the State Equal Suffrage Association.
[331] This year strong societies were formed in Detroit, Bay City and
Battle Creek. Michigan sent three representatives, Melvin A. and
Martha Snyder Root and Emily B. Ketcham, to the New England Woman
Suffrage Bazaar held at Boston in December. Mr. and Mrs. Root had
spent much time and money canvassing the State to arouse interest and
secure contributions for this, and at its close New England gave to
Michigan the total proceeds of her sales.
[332] Melvin A. Root presented at this convention a compact digest of
The Legal Condition of Girls and Women in Michigan, which was
published the following year. It has been used widely, not only in
this but in other States, and has proved of inestimable service. A
liberal gift of money came from the Hon. Delos A. Blodgett of Grand
Rapids, a constant friend.
[333] See Chap. XVIII.
[334] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Clara B. Arthur;
corresponding secretary, Alde L. T. Blake; recording secretary, Edith
Frances Hall; treasurer, Martha Snyder Root; auditors, Margaret M.
Huckins, Frances Ostrander; member national executive committee,
Lenore Starker Bliss.
[335] Many petitions in favor of the bill had been sent unsolicited,
this not being a part of the plan of work. After the quick defeat in
the Senate it was found that the chairman of the committee to which
these had been referred had on file the names of 5,502 petitioners
(2,469 men, 3,033 women) out of twenty-one senatorial districts. These
were in addition to many thousands sent in previous sessions, when
petitioning had been a method of work.
[336] Although the Detroit women obtained the change in their law just
before the spring election, they made a house to house canvass to
secure registration and polled a vote of 2,700 women, electing
Sophronia O. C. Parsons to the school board.
[337] It is interesting to note that in Wayne County women registered
and attended primary meetings prior to this decision, but their votes
were held not to invalidate the nominations, although at least one of
the Judges of the Recorder's Court owed his election to being
nominated through the votes of women.
[338] In April, 1896, a large number of the philanthropic women of
Detroit, including many suffragists, organized the Protective Agency
for Women and Children, opening an office in the Chamber of Commerce
Building and employing an agent on salary. Since then it has done
admirable work and has obtained some good legislation.
[339] Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs has been appointed (1901) a member of
the Board of Control of the State Industrial School for Girls, by Gov.
Aaron T. Bliss. [Eds.
CHAPTER XLVII.
MINNESOTA.[340]
The first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in Minnesota,
and the first petitions to the Legislature to grant it, began
immediately after the Civil War, through the efforts of Mrs. Sarah
Burger Stearns and Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, and the first suffrage
societies were formed by these ladies in 1869. The work has continued
with more or less regularity up to the present.
From 1883 to 1890 the State Suffrage Association held its annual
meetings regularly in one or the other of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis
and St. Paul. Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Julia
Ward Howe, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Mary A. Livermore, the Rev.
Ada C. Bowles, Abigail Scott Duniway and other eminent advocates were
secured as speakers at different times. Dr. Martha G. Ripley succeeded
Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns as president in 1883, and was re-elected
each year until 1889. She was followed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble for
that year, and Dr. Mary Emery for 1890.
The association contributed toward sending Mrs. Julia B. Nelson to
South Dakota to speak in the suffrage campaign of 1890. On November
18, 19, the State convention was held in St. Paul, Mrs. Stearns
presiding. Mrs. Nelson was elected president. Among the speakers were
Attorney-General Moses E. Clapp, the Reverends Mr. Vail and Mr.
Morgan, Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. Priscilla M. Niles, Mrs. Ella
Tremain Whitford and the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin.
In the autumn of 1891 the convention met at Blue Earth City. This
place had not lost the savor of the salt which Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Susan B. Anthony and Phoebe W. Couzins had scattered in the vicinity
thirteen years before, and the meetings were enthusiastic and
well-attended. The Rev. W. K. Weaver was the principal speaker.
It was largely as the superintendent of franchise of the State Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, which was better organized, that Mrs.
Nelson, president of the suffrage association from 1890 to 1896, was
able to secure thousands of signatures to the petitions for the
franchise which were sent to each Legislature during those years.
The meeting of 1892 took place at Hastings, September 6-8, and was
welcomed by the Rev. Lewis Llewellyn. Letters were read from many
noted people, and addresses given by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Stearns
and several local speakers.
The convention met in Lake City, Aug. 24, 25, 1893, with the usual
fine addresses, good music and representative audiences.
In 1894 Woman's Day was celebrated at the State Fair, its managers
paying the speakers.
In the spring and autumn of 1895 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois and
Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, national organizers, lectured
throughout Minnesota and formed a number of clubs. They also attended
the State convention, which was held in the Capitol at St. Paul,
September 10, 11. Gov. D. M. Clough was among those who made
addresses.
In 1896 the president, Mrs. Nelson, gave one month to lecturing and
visiting societies.
In October, 1897, the acting president, Mrs. Concheta Ferris Lutz,
made an extended lecture tour. The annual meeting convened at
Minneapolis in November, at the same time as a conference of the
officers of the National Association. All arrangements were made by
Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Niles. The meetings in the
First Baptist Church, one of the largest in the city, were very
successful. On Sunday evening the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
vice-president-at-large of the National Association, preached in the
Universalist Church, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
national organization committee, lectured in the Wesley M. E. Church,
both to crowded houses. The next evening, when Miss Anthony, national
president, and the latter spoke, every foot of standing ground was
occupied, and on Tuesday, when Miss Shaw gave her lecture on The Fate
of Republics, the church was equally well-filled.
Mrs. Nelson, after seven years' service, relinquished the office of
president and Dr. Eaton was elected. Professional duties soon made it
necessary for her to resign and her place was filled by Mrs. Lutz.
Political equality clubs were formed in six different wards of
Minneapolis by Dr. Eaton.
The convention of 1898 was called October 4, 5, at Minneapolis, with
Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. The meetings were held in the G. A.
R. Hall, the Masonic Temple and the Lyceum Theater. Mrs. Martha J.
Thompson was elected president and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd corresponding
secretary.
In 1899 the convention met in the court-house of Albert Lea, October
9, 10. On the first evening Mrs. Chapman Catt was the speaker, her
theme being A True Democracy. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois
lectured on The Crowning Race. Miss Laura A. Gregg and Miss Helen L.
Kimber, both of Kansas, national organizers, gave reports of county
conventions conducted by them throughout Minnesota, with the
assistance of Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa Equal
Suffrage Association. The records showed ninety-eight suffrage
meetings altogether to have been held during the year.
In 1900 the convention took place at Stillwater, October 11, 12. The
officers elected were: President, Mrs. Maude C. Stockwell;
vice-president, Mrs. Jennie E. Brown; corresponding secretary, Miss
Delia O'Malley; recording secretary, Mrs. Maria B. Bryant; treasurer,
Dr. Margaret Koch; auditors, Sanford Niles and Mrs. Estelle Way;
chairman executive committee, Mrs. Martha J. Thompson.[341]
Judge J. B. and Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, C. W. and Mrs. Martha A.
Dorsett have been among the oldest and most valued suffrage workers
in the State. Miss Martha Scott Anderson, on the staff of the
Minneapolis _Journal_, gives efficient help to the cause. Three
presidents of the State W. C. T. U., Mesdames Harriet A. Hobart,
Susanna M. D. Fry and Bessie Laythe Scoville have been noted as
advocates of equal rights.[342]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In February, 1891, at the request of Mrs.
Julia B. Nelson, president, and Mrs. A. T. Anderson, chairman of the
executive committee of the State association, S. A. Stockwell
introduced in the House a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage upon
women. Mrs. Nelson spent several weeks at the capital looking after
the petitions which came from all parts of the State, interviewing
members of the Legislature, distributing literature and trying to get
the bill out of the hands of the Committee on Elections, to which it
had been referred. After repeated postponements a hearing finally was
granted, at which she made a strong plea and showed the good results
of woman suffrage in Kansas and Wyoming. The bill was indefinitely
postponed in Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 52 yeas, 40 nays.
Among the leaflets placed on the desk of each member was one
especially prepared by Mrs. Nelson, entitled Points on Municipal
Suffrage. One of its twelve points was this: "If the Legislature has
the power to restrict suffrage it certainly has the right to extend
it. The Legislature of Minnesota restricted the suffrage which had
been given to women by a constitutional amendment, when it granted to
the city of St. Paul a charter taking the election of members of the
school board entirely out of the hands of women by giving their
appointment to the mayor, an officer elected by the votes of men
only."[343]
Early in the session of 1893 Mrs. Nelson had a conference with
Ignatius Donnelly, leader of the Populists, who was then in the
Senate. He was willing to introduce a suffrage bill, but as the
Republicans were in the majority it was thought best to have this done
by John Day Smith, the leader of that party in the Senate. Mr. Smith
consented, with the understanding that Mr. Donnelly should help by
championing the bill. "Municipal Suffrage for women with educational
qualifications," was all this bill asked for. Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Anna
B. Turley and Senator Donnelly made addresses before the Judiciary
Committee at a hearing in the Senate Chamber, with an interested
audience present. Mrs. Nelson also gave an evening lecture here on The
Road to Freedom.
In place of this bill one to submit an amendment to the voters was
substituted. The suffragists were averse to this, but accepted it with
the best grace possible, and enthusiastically worked for the new bill
to amend the State constitution by striking the word "male" from the
article restricting the suffrage. Senators Smith, Donnelly and Edwin
E. Lommen spoke for the bill, and it passed the Senate by 31 yeas, 19
nays.
In the House it was persistently delayed by the chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, George H. Fletcher, and the friends could not get
it upon the calendar in time to be reached unless it should be made a
special order. Edward T. Young endeavored to have this done, but as
there were several hundred other bills to be considered and less than
three days of the session left, his motion was lost. On the last
night, Mr. Young and H. P. Bjorge made an effort to have the rules
suspended and the bill put upon its final passage. The vote on this
motion was 54 yeas, 44 nays, but as a two-thirds vote is necessary it
was lost. Speaker W. E. Lee voted with the affirmative.[344]
Three Suffrage Bills were introduced into the Legislature of 1895, two
in the House and one in the Senate. The first, for an amendment to the
State constitution, was offered by O. L. Brevig and was indefinitely
postponed. S. T. Littleton presented the second, which was to give
women a vote upon all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. This
found favor in the eyes of the W. C. T. U., as did also the County
Option Bill of J. F. Jacobson, but both were unsuccessful. George T.
Barr introduced a Municipal Suffrage Bill into the Senate, but too
late for it to be acted upon.
In 1897 Ignatius Donnelly secured the introduction of a bill to
enfranchise taxpaying women. A hearing was given by the Judiciary
Committee, at which Mrs. Nelson argued that in simple justice women
who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure or be exempted
from taxation, but the bill was not reported.
This year the State Federation of Clubs secured a resolution to submit
an amendment to the electorate in 1898, giving women the privilege of
voting for and serving on Library Boards.
In 1899 the Local Council of Women of Minneapolis obtained the
Traveling Library Bill.
During this year no petitioning or legislative work was done by the
suffragists. The previous legislature had submitted an amendment,
which carried, providing that all amendments hereafter must receive a
majority of the largest number of votes cast at an election, in order
to be adopted. The precedent had been established in 1875 of requiring
a vote of the electors on the granting of School Suffrage to women,
and in 1898, of Library Suffrage, and it was held that _the same would
have to be done_ on granting Municipal or any other form of the
franchise.
Dower and curtesy were abolished March 9, 1875. If either husband or
wife die without a will, the survivor, if there is issue living, is
entitled to the homestead for life and one-third of the rest of the
real estate in fee-simple, or by such inferior tenure as the deceased
was possessed of, but subject to its just proportion of the debts. If
there are no descendants, the entire real estate goes absolutely to
the survivor. The personal property follows the same rules. If either
husband or wife has wilfully and without just cause deserted and lived
separately from the other for the entire year immediately prior to his
or her decease, such survivor shall not be entitled to any estate
whatever in any of the lands of the deceased.
The estate of a child who dies without a will and leaves neither wife
nor children, goes to the father; if he is dead, to the mother.
The wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without
the joinder of her husband. The husband can sell or mortgage all his
real estate without her joinder, but subject to her dower. They are
both free agents as to personal property.
If divorce is obtained for the adultery of the wife, her own real
estate may be withheld from her, but not so in case of the husband.
In case of divorce, the court decides which parent is more fit for the
guardianship of children under fourteen years of age; over fourteen,
the child decides. Except when children are given to the mother by
decree of court, the father is the legal guardian of their persons and
property. He may appoint by will a guardian for a child, born or
unborn, to the exclusion of the mother.
The husband must support the family according to his means. Failure to
do so used to be considered a misdemeanor but it has recently been
made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one
to three years unless he give bond for their maintenance. This is
likely to be of little effect, however, because of the law of
"privileged communications" which makes it impossible for the wife to
testify against the husband.
In 1891 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16
years, after thousands of women had petitioned to have it raised to
18. If the child is under 10 years the penalty is imprisonment in the
penitentiary for life; between 10 and 14 not less than seven nor more
than thirty years; between 14 and 16 not less than one nor more than
seven years, or it may be imprisonment in the county jail not less
than three months nor more than one year.
SUFFRAGE: An amendment to the constitution was adopted in 1875, giving
women a vote on all questions pertaining to the public schools. It
being held afterward that this did not enable them to vote for county
superintendents, an act for this purpose was passed by the Legislature
in 1885. (!) The constitution was further amended by popular vote in
1898, granting to women the franchise for members of Library Boards,
and making them eligible to hold any office pertaining to the
management of libraries. On as harmless an amendment as this 43,600
men voted in the negative, but 71,704 voted in the affirmative; and it
was adopted.
This was probably the last election at which any amendment whatever
could have been carried; for, among four submitted in the same year,
was one providing that thereafter no amendment could be adopted by
merely a majority of those voting upon it, but that it must have a
majority of the largest number of votes cast at that election.[345]
None ever has been submitted which aroused sufficient interest to
receive as large a vote of both affirmative and negative combined as
was cast for the highest officer. Therefore in Minnesota it is
impossible for women to obtain any further extension of the franchise.
Their only hope for the full suffrage lies in the submission of an
amendment to the Federal Constitution by Congress to the Legislatures
of the various States.
OFFICE HOLDING: An act of 1887 declares that a woman shall retain the
same legal existence and legal personality after marriage as before,
and shall receive the same protection of all her rights as a woman
which her husband does as a man; and for any injury sustained to her
reputation, person or property, she shall have the same right to
appeal, in her own name alone, to the courts for redress; but this act
shall not confer upon the wife the right to vote or hold office,
except as is otherwise provided by law. By a constitutional amendment
adopted in 1875 women were made eligible to all offices pertaining to
the public schools and to public libraries. They have served as State
librarians.
Miss Jennie C. Crays was president of the Minneapolis school board for
two years. There are forty-three women county superintendents at the
present time, each having from 100 to 130 districts to visit. Women
have served as clerks and treasurers of school districts.
A law of 1889 gave to women as well as men the powers of constables,
sheriffs or police officers, as agents of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
A law of 1891 enabled women to be appointed deputies in county
offices.
Dr. Adele S. Hutchison is a member of the State Medical Board which
examines physicians for license to practice. She was appointed by Gov.
John Lind and is the first woman to hold such a position. Women can
not sit on any other State boards.
There is no law requiring police matrons but they are employed in
Minneapolis and St. Paul by the city charters.
The State hospitals for the insane are required by law to have women
physicians. The steward's clerk in the State Institute for Defectives
is a woman. The State Public School for Dependent and Neglected
Children has a matron, a woman agent and a woman clerk. The State
Training School, once called the Reform School, has women for agent
and secretary.
The State Prison has a matron for the eight women prisoners. There are
about 500 men prisoners (1900).
The Bethany Home at Minneapolis was established by women in 1875, and
is entirely officered by them. In 1900 it cared for 126 mothers and
226 infants, and had a kindergarten and a training school for nurses.
The city hospitals send all their charity obstetrical cases here, and
about half of its support comes from the city.
The Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children was founded by women
in 1882, and until 1899 was entirely officered and managed by them.
The Maternity Hospital for unfortunate women was founded by Dr. Martha
G. Ripley in 1888. In 1899 it cared for 103 mothers and 99 infants.
OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law.
Women were admitted to the bar in 1877 by act of the Legislature.
There are sixty-eight women doctors registered as in actual practice
in the State. In Minneapolis there is an active Medical Women's Club
of physicians of both schools. Women ministers are filling pulpits of
Congregational, Universalist, Christian and Wesleyan Methodist
churches, and the superintendent of the State Epworth League is a
woman.
Women are especially conspicuous in farming, which is one of the
greatest industries of the State.[346]
A number of women own and publish papers, and each of the large
metropolitan dailies has one or more women on its staff.
EDUCATION: Women have been admitted to all departments of the State
University since its foundation, and there are women professors and
assistants in practically every department, including that of
Political Science and the College of Engineering and Mechanic Arts. Of
the four officers of the Department of Drawing and Industrial Art,
three are women. The College of Medicine and Surgery also has women
professors in every department, and women are on the faculty of the
College of Dentistry.
The State School of Agriculture was established in the fall of 1888.
In October, 1897, women were admitted to the regular course of study.
In the Academic Department their class work is with the men, but
instead of the especial branches of carpentry, blacksmithing and field
work, they have sewing, cooking and laundering. They also have a
department of home management, home economy, social culture, household
art and domestic hygiene, Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith, preceptor.
All the other educational institutions are open to women, and the
faculties of the Normal Schools are largely composed of women.
In the public schools there are 2,306 men and 9,811 women teachers.
The average monthly salary of the men is $46; of the women, $35.
* * * * *
The State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Lydia P. Williams,
president, is in effect a suffrage kindergarten, many of its members
working on committees of education, reciprocity, town and village
improvements, household economics, legislation, etc.
In Minneapolis a stock company, capitalized at $80,000, is being
formed to erect a club house for the women's societies.
The Local Council of Women of Minneapolis, organized 1892, is one of
the strongest associations of the kind in the United States. During
the past seven years it has been composed of nearly one hundred
different organizations in the city, and now comprises twelve
departments: reform and philanthropy, church, temperance, art, music,
literature, patriotism, history, education, philosophy, social and
civic. Honorary president, Mrs. T. B. Walker, acting president Mrs. A.
E. Higbee, and corresponding secretary, Mrs. J. E. Woodford, are
largely responsible for the success of the Council. (1900).
The School and Library Association was formed in 1899 at a meeting
called by representatives of the Political Equality, the Business
Women's, the Medical Women's and the Teachers' Clubs of Minneapolis.
Eleven hundred signatures are required for the nomination of a member
of the school board, but the women secured over 5,000 names on each
petition for their candidates for school and library trustees, the
largest one having 5,470. The association sent out dodgers with
pictures and brief write-ups of the candidates, and also leaflets
explaining to the women how to register and vote. Mrs. A. T. Anderson
has been at the head of this work.
Women attend the conventions of the Prohibition and the People's
parties as delegates, and are welcome speakers. Miss Eva McDonald
(Valesh) was secretary of the Populist Executive Committee. Both
Prohibitionists and Populists have passed woman suffrage resolutions
in their State conventions. The Federation of Labor and the Grange
have done the same.
FOOTNOTES:
[340] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Julia B. Nelson
of Red Wing, who for twenty years has been the rock on which the
effort for woman suffrage has been founded in this State. She
acknowledges much assistance from Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Ethel E.
Hurd, both of Minneapolis.
[341] Among the officers of the State association at different times
have been Mesdames Harriet Armstrong, Sarah C. Brooks, S. P. T. Bryan,
E. G. Bickmore, Fxine G. Bonwell, Annie W. Buell, Charlotte Bolles,
Jessie Gray Cawley, E. L. Crockett, L. B. Castle and Hannah Egleston,
Prof. S. A. Farnsworth, Mesdames Eleanor Fremont, Sarah M. Fletcher,
May Dudley Greeley, Mary A. Hudson, Julia Huntington, Dr. Bessie Park
Hames, Oliver Jones, Miss Anna M. Jones, Mrs. Charles T. Koehler, Miss
Ruth Elise Kellogg, the Rev. George W. Lutz, Mrs. Julia Moore, William
B. Reed, Mesdames Susie V. P. Root, Lottie Rowell, Antoinette B. St.
Pierre, H. G. Selden, Miss Blanche Segur, Mesdames Martha Adams
Thompson, T. F. Thurston, Mr. J. M. Underwood, Miss Emma N. Whitney,
Mesdames Belle Wells, Roxana L. Wilson and Mattie B. Whitcomb.
[342] It would be impossible to name all of the men and women, in
addition to those already mentioned, who have rendered valuable
assistance. Among the more conspicuous are Miss Pearl Benham, Mesdames
R. Coons, M. B. Critchett, J. A. Clifford, Edith M. Conant, Lydia H.
Clark, Miss A. A. Connor, Mesdames Eliza A. Dutcher, L. F. Ferro, H.
E. Gallinger, Doctors Chauncey Hobart, Mary G. Hood, Nettie C. Hall,
Mesdames Norton H. Hemiup, Rosa Hazel, Julia A. Hunt, Doctors Phineas
A. and Katherine U. Jewell, Mrs. Lucy Jones, Miss Eva Jones, Mesdames
Leland, Kirkwood, A. D. Kingsley, V. J. D. Kearney, Frances P.
Kimball, M. A. Luly, Viola Fuller Miner, Paul McKinstry, Jennie
McSevany, the Rev. Hannah Mullenix, Mesdames E. J. M. Newcomb,
Antoinette V. Nicholas, the Reverends Margaret Olmstead, Alice Ruth
Palmer, Mesdames Pomeroy, E. A. Russell, D. C. Reed, the Rev. W. W.
Satterlee, Mesdames Rebecca Smith, Abigail S. Strong, C. S. Soule,
Anna Smallidge, M. A. Van Hoesen, Dr. Mary E. Whetstone, Mesdames L.
May Wheeler, Sarah E. Wilson and E. N. Yearley.
[343] Mrs. Nelson published at this time, through financial aid from
Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, a little paper for gratuitous distribution,
called the _Equal Rights Herald_.
[344] This Legislature of 1893 provided for the adoption of a State
Flag, and appointed a committee of women to select an appropriate
design. At the request of a few women the Moccasin Blossom was made
the State Flower by an act of the same Legislature, which was passed
with great celerity.
[345] The vote on this was 69,760 for, and 32,881 against, a total of
102,641; yet the whole number of votes cast in that election of 1898
was 251,250. The amendment itself could not have been adopted if its
own provisions had been required!
[346] The woman farmer turns up the soil with a gang-plow and rakes
the hay, but not in the primitive fashion of Maud Muller. She is
frequently seen "comin' through the rye," the wheat, the barley or the
oats, enthroned on a twine-binder. The writer has this day seen a
woman seated on a four-horse plow as contentedly as her city cousin
might be in an automobile. Among the many plow-girls of Nobles County
is Coris Young, a genuine American of Vermont ancestry, who has plowed
120 acres this season, making a record of eighty acres in thirteen
days with five horses abreast.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
MISSISSIPPI.[347]
In 1884 the idea of an organization devoted exclusively to the
advancement of the "woman's cause" in Mississippi had not assumed
tangible form, granting that even the audacious conception had found
lodgment in the brain of any person. The nearest approach seems to
have been a Woman's Press Club, which sprung into being about this
time, but was short-lived, due to the fact, it is charged, that a
little leaven of "woman's rights" having crept in, "the whole lump"
was threatened.
To the Women's Christian Temperance Union the State is largely
indebted for the existence of its Woman Suffrage Association, which
was organized in Meridian, May 5, 1897, immediately upon the
adjournment of a convention of the State W. C. T. U. The seed sown in
1895 by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
organization committee, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and
in 1897 by Miss Ella Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford
of Colorado, now produced a harvest of clubs, and resulted in a roster
of friends in twenty-four towns. Mrs. Nellie M. Somerville was elected
president of the association, and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson
corresponding secretary.
The first annual convention was held in Greenville, March 29, 30,
1898. The second and third took place at Clarksdale, the former April
5, 6, 1899, and the latter in May, 1900.[348] At this meeting the
report of the superintendent of press, Mrs. Butt, showed that
twenty-two newspapers had opened their columns to suffrage articles.
Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, were
present, and the former gave an address to a large and sympathetic
assemblage. She was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven
other towns, among them Jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the
House of Representatives. A work conference was held at Flora in
September of this year.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The W. S. A. has not attempted any
legislative work, other than the one effort made in 1900 to secure a
bill providing for a woman physician at the State Hospital for the
Insane. This was introduced and championed in the Senate by R. B.
Campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation
of a valuable pamphlet on The Legal Status of Mississippi Women). It
passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the House.
The measure which provided for the State Industrial Institute and
College for Women (white) was the conception of Mrs. Annie Coleman
Peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, Judge S. R.
Coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. It was sent to the
Legislature as early as 1877, but was not at that time even
considered. Mrs. Peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and
succeeded in having it introduced in 1880 and in 1882, but it was
twice defeated. By the time the Legislature convened in 1884, however,
its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men
and women of the State that the bill was passed at that session. Wiley
P. Nash and Mac C. Martin were its earnest champions on the floor of
the House; while Col. J. L. Power, the present Secretary of State,
Major Jonas, of the Aberdeen _Examiner_, and Mrs. Olive A. Hastings
were among the ablest coadjutors of Mrs. Peyton.
In 1900 the suffrage association petitioned Gov. A. H. Longino to
appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly
for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be
unconstitutional.
In 1880 the Legislature abrogated the Common Law as to its provisions
for wives, being a pioneer among the Southern States to take such
action. It declared:
The Legislature shall never create any distinction between the
rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of
property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference
thereto. Married women are hereby emancipated from all
disabilities on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent
the Legislature from regulating contracts between husband and
wife; nor shall the Legislature be prevented from regulating the
sale of homesteads.
The property belonging to the wife at the time of marriage no longer
passes to her husband, although it is still largely under his control.
He becomes her debtor and is accountable to her for her separate
property; and she must have him account to her annually for the income
and profits which he may receive from it, otherwise she will be
barred. If the wife permit the husband to employ the income or profits
of her estate in the maintenance of the family, he will not be liable
to her therefor.
Dower and curtesy are abolished. If either husband or wife die without
a will, leaving no children nor descendants of any, the entire estate,
real and personal, goes to the survivor. But if there are one or more
children or descendants by this or by a former marriage, the surviving
wife or husband has a child's share of both real and personal estate.
Each has equal rights in making a will, although if the provisions are
not satisfactory to the survivor he or she can take under the law, but
this can not be done if separate property is owned equal to what would
be the inheritable portion of the estate.
If the residence is upon the property of the husband, that is the
homestead and exempt from his debts and he is the head of the family.
If it is upon the property of the wife, that is the homestead and
exempt from her debts, and she is the head of the family. In neither
case can it be mortgaged or sold unless both join, but the one owning
it may dispose of it by will.
A married woman may qualify as executor or administrator of the estate
of a deceased person, and as guardian of the estate of a minor or
person of unsound mind.
She may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own
name as if unmarried and her earnings belong to her.
The father is the legal guardian of the minor children and by will may
appoint a guardian of their property, but he can not deprive the
mother of the custody of their persons.
The husband is required by law to support and maintain his family out
of his estate and by his services unless the wife sees fit to allow
him to use her property for this purpose.
Alimony is allowed to the wife whether the suit for divorce is brought
by her or against her, or whether she asks simply for separation; but,
even if divorced, unchastity on her part will bar her right to further
alimony.
The "age of protection" for girls remains at 10 years. The penalty is
death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.
The Constitutional Convention of 1890 provided that no Legislature
should repeal or impair the above property rights of married women.
This convention was called primarily to change the constitution with
reference to the elimination of the negro vote. It was composed of
representative men thoroughly alive to what they construed as the best
interests of the State. As one way of circumventing the threatened
supremacy of this vote, the enfranchisement of women was variously
considered. The first amendment for this purpose was submitted by
Judge John W. Fewell:
_Resolved_, That it is a condition necessary to the solution of
the franchise problem, that the right to vote shall be secured by
proper constitutional enactment to every woman who shall have
resided in this State six months, and who shall be 21 years of
age or upward, and who shall own, or whose husband, if she have a
husband, shall own real estate situate in this State of the clear
value of $300 over and above all incumbrances.
The vote of any woman voting in any election shall be cast by
some male elector, who shall be thereunto authorized in writing
by such woman so entitled to vote; such constitutional amendment
not to be so framed as to grant to women the right to hold
office.
This was referred to the Committee on Franchise, composed of
thirty-five members, but was defeated. The idea was that a great many
white women owned property, while very few negro women did, hence the
woman vote would furnish a reserve fund which could be called out in
an emergency, the author of the measure himself being "not an advocate
of female suffrage generally," according to his remarks before the
convention. Many, perhaps a majority, at one time favored the scheme,
it was said, though comparatively few of the committee recognized the
justice of woman's enfranchisement _per se_.
J. W. Odom offered, among other measures from the "California
Alliance" of DeSoto County, a proposition that the right of suffrage
be conferred upon women on "certain conditions" not specified. John P.
Robinson and D. J. Johnson also submitted sections providing for
"female suffrage under certain conditions." Jordan L. Morris offered
the following:
The Legislature shall have power to confer the elective franchise
on all women who are citizens of the State and of the United
States, 21 years of age and upwards, who own, in their own right,
over and above all incumbrances, property listed for taxation of
the value of $500 or upwards, or who, being widows, own jointly
with their own or their husband's children, property of said
value listed for taxation; or who are capable of teaching a
first-grade public school in this State, as prescribed by law,
and who never have been convicted, and shall not thereafter be
convicted of any crime or misdemeanor and not pardoned therefor,
to such extent and under such restrictions and limitations as it
may deem proper to prescribe.
All of these noble efforts resulted in no action whatever to
enfranchise women.
SUFFRAGE: Since 1880 a woman as a freeholder, or leaseholder, may vote
at a county election, or sign a petition for such an election to be
held, to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting
stock to run at large. She may also, if a widow and, as such, the head
of the family, manifest by ballot her consent or dissent to leasing
certain portions of land in the township, known as the "sixteenth
sections," which are set apart for school purposes. As a patron of a
school, which presupposes her widowhood, she may vote at an election
of school trustees, other than in a "separate school district," which
practically limits this privilege to women in the country.[349]
As a taxpayer a woman can petition against the issuance of bonds by
the municipality in which she resides (except where the proposed
issuance is governed and regulated by a charter adopted previous to
the code of 1892), but if a special election is ordered she can not
vote for or against issuing the bonds.
The Legislature in dealing with the liquor traffic may make the grant
of license depend upon a petition therefor signed by men and women, or
by women only, or upon any other condition that it may prescribe; and
it seems to be equally true that the Legislature may grant to women
the right to vote at elections held to determine whether or not local
option laws shall be put in force, but it never has done so.
OFFICE HOLDING: The constitution provides that "all qualified
electors, and no others, shall be eligible to office."
In the constitutional convention of 1890 Jordan L. Morris offered a
resolution "that the Legislature may make women, with such
qualifications as may be prescribed, competent to hold the office of
county superintendent of schools." This amendment was tabled. J. W.
Cutrer submitted a section "making eligible to all offices connected
with the public schools, except that of State Superintendent of Public
Education, all women of good moral character, twenty-five years or
upwards of age," which was not favorably reported. A clause was
introduced by W. B. Eskridge making "any white woman twenty-one years
old, who has been a _bona fide_ citizen of the State two years before
her election, and who shall be of good moral character," eligible to
the office of chancery or circuit clerk; and another, that "any white
woman, etc., shall be qualified to hold the office of keeper of the
Capitol and State librarian."
The last office, as recommended in a separate measure by George G.
Dillard, which was adopted, is the only one to which women are
specifically eligible, but none has held it.
In some counties the constitution has been liberally interpreted to
make women eligible to serve on school boards; this, however, is
regulated usually by the judgment of the county superintendent. Women
are elected to such positions occasionally in the smaller towns.
The code of 1892 created the text-book committee, whose duty is to
adopt a uniform series of books for use in the public schools of a
county. An official record is kept of its specific functions, all
members being required to "take the oath of office," etc., and thus
constituted public officers according to a recent ruling of the
Attorney-General. The majority of these committees are women
teachers, appointed by the county superintendents, but no provision
has been made for their remuneration.
Women can not serve as notaries public.
OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
women. They are licensed to practice medicine, dentistry and
pharmaceutics. It is believed that the statute would be construed to
enable them to practice law, but the test has not been made. Several
women own and manage newspapers.
EDUCATION: The State University has been open to women for twenty
years, and annually graduates a number. Millsaps College, a leading
institution for men, has recently admitted a few women to its B. A.
course, and this doubtless will become a fixed policy. The
Agricultural and Mechanical College and the State Normal School (both
colored) are co-educational. Several women hold college
professorships.
In the public schools there are 3,645 men and 4,254 women teachers:
The average monthly salary of the men is $32.18; of the women, $26.69.
* * * * *
The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and has a
membership of fifteen societies.
Women have never actively participated in public campaigns except in
local politics where the liquor question has been the paramount issue.
Miss Belle Kearney is a temperance lecturer of national reputation,
and a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage.