MARYLAND. PART I.[73]
When the fourth volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1900
it left the Maryland association just eleven years old. Since 1894,
when the Montgomery County and the Baltimore City Associations united,
it has been represented by accredited delegates in every national
convention. These thirty-one years of organized effort by no means
represent all of the suffrage agitation in the State.[74]
As Baltimore is the only large city and contains more than half the
population of the State it is not surprising that this city has been
the real battleground of the movement. Twenty-five State conventions
have been held here, continuing one or two days, and two State
conferences of two days each. The first of the conferences was
arranged by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the new national president, and
held in Baltimore in 1900, at which time Miss Susan B. Anthony was the
guest of honor and was presented with a purse of gold for her 80th
birthday by the Maryland women. The second conference was held in
1902. The speakers at these conferences besides the national officers
were Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Annie L. Digges of Kansas,
Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., Dr. Cora Smith Eaton of
Minneapolis and Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago. The day sessions
were devoted to business and discussions, followed by addresses in the
evening. The State convention of 1901 met in the Friends' Meeting
House; that of 1902 in Heptasophs Hall, with a bazar and supper; that
of 1903 in the Friends' Meeting House. The local speakers were Dr. O.
Edward Janney, R. Henry Holme, Lizzie York Case, Annie Davenport, Emma
Maddox Funck and Mary Bentley Thomas. Out of town speakers were Mrs.
Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president at large; Harriet
May Mills of New York and Emma M. Gillett, a lawyer of Washington, D.
C. The convention of 1904 met in the Church of the Disciples. A supper
was served between sessions and Dr. Shaw and the Rev. Peter Ainslie
spoke to crowded houses at night.
The convention of 1905 was held in the Harlem Avenue Christian Church.
Memorial services were held for George W. Catt, husband of the
national president. The following departments of work were adopted:
Peace and Arbitration, Church, Enrollment, Finance, Legislation and
Press. Dr. Shaw spoke in the evening on The New Democratic Ideal.
Invitations were given in 1904 and 1905 to the National American
Suffrage Association to hold its annual convention in Baltimore. The
second was accepted and the convention took place Feb. 7-13, 1906.
Half of the $1,200 raised for it was given to the National
Association. Most of the delegates were entertained in homes. The
meetings were held in the Lyric Theater and the audiences at the
evening sessions numbered from 1,500 to 3,000. The State association
sent out 20,000 invitations. Music was provided for every session by
the Charles M. Stieff Piano Company and clergymen came from various
churches for the opening devotional services. Three men gave unlimited
time and assistance to the work of the convention, Dr. J. William
Funck, Dr. Janney and Charles H. Holton. As this was the native city
of Miss Mary Garrett and Dr. M. Carey Thomas they united as hostesses
of the association during the convention and thereafter became
important factors in the national work.[75] This was the last
convention attended by Miss Anthony, who died a month later. A
memorial service was held in Baltimore, the following taking part: the
Rev. Alexander Kent of Washington, Mary Badders Holton, Mrs. Funck,
Mrs. Janney, Mrs. Holme and Miss Maddox. Music was furnished by the
Cecilian quartette of women's voices.
The State convention of 1906 was held in the Friends' Meeting House,
addressed by Ellen Spencer Mussey of Washington. In 1907 the
convention met in Arundell Hall November 21 and in the Hampden
Methodist Church the 22nd. The afternoon program included interesting
talks by six Baltimore men--Henry White, Dr. Funck, Dr. Janney, R.
Henry Holme, State Forester Albert M. Beasley and the Rev. B. A.
Abbott, pastor of the Harlem Avenue Christian Church. A large number
of fraternal delegates were present. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Boston
spoke at both evening sessions.
In 1908 the annual meeting was held in McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins
University, with Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Maud Nathan of New York
and Rachel Foster Avery of Philadelphia as speakers. Dr. Lewellys F.
Barker presided at the evening meeting. In 1909 the convention took
place in the Baltimore Business College, Nov. 23, 24, with Dr. Barton
O. Aylesworth of Colorado and the Rev. John Roach Straton of the
Seventh Baptist Church as the orators at the evening sessions.
Memorial services were held for Henry B. Blackwell. A supper and bazar
were pleasant features. In 1910 the convention was held in Osler Hall,
Cathedral Street, with both sessions devoted to business. A noteworthy
event of the year was the election of Miss Sarah Richmond, a pioneer
suffragist, as president of the State Teachers' Association, the first
woman to be accorded this honor in the fifty years of its existence.
Prizes of $25 were offered for essays on woman suffrage by girls in
the high school.
At the convention of 1911 in Heptasophs Hall the California victory of
October 11 was celebrated with a banquet attended by 400 men and
women, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Washington presiding. The meeting on
the next evening was addressed by Miss A. Maud Royden of London on The
Economic, Spiritual and Religious Aspect of Woman Suffrage. During the
year a leaflet had been issued entitled Opinions of Representative Men
of Maryland on Woman Suffrage, through Miss Mary B. Dixon, chairman of
publicity, and 600 suffrage posters were placed in the counties. In
Baltimore they were made into double faced placards and men were
employed to carry them through the business sections. Suffrage
petitions and resolutions had been endorsed by the State Federation of
Labor, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Ladies of the Maccabees,
Grange and Jewish Council of Women.
The convention of 1912 was held in the Baltimore Business College, the
afternoon devoted to discussions of plans of work, reports, etc.,
followed by a supper and bazar. A report was given of the organization
of a Men's League for Woman Suffrage by Dr. Donald R. Hooker, Dr.
Funck, Dr. Janney, the Rev. James Gratten Mythen, Dr. Warren Lewis,
Jacob M. Moses, S. Johnson Poe, Frank F. Ramey and William F. Cochran.
In the evening there was a debate on the enfranchisement of women by
the boys of the Polytechnic Institute, Samuel M. North, a member of
the faculty and a pioneer suffragist, presiding. At the convention of
1913 the twenty-fourth anniversary of the State association was
celebrated in Veteran Corps Hall with a supper, dance and addresses by
Laura Clay of Kentucky, Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, Ella S.
Stewart of Illinois and Lucy Burns of New York. The convention of 1914
was held in the Royal Arcanum Building. The speakers were Mrs. Robert
LaFollette of Wisconsin, Mrs. Nathan of New York, Mrs. Louis F. Post
of Illinois and Mr. Western Star. It was reported that at the great
suffrage parade held the preceding March in Washington Maryland had
the largest delegation.
The business session of 1915 was held in the W. C. T. U. Building and
the evening session in the Universalist Church, whose pastor, the Rev.
C. Clifton Clark, spoke on the pro-suffrage side. This year a union of
all the organizations in the State was effected under the name of the
Woman Suffrage Party of Maryland. Mrs. Funck was elected president and
served two years.
The annual meeting of 1916 was held on the lawn at the home of
Elizabeth Bruce Gwynn; that of 1917 on the grounds of the Young
Woman's Christian Association; in 1918 at Tolchester Beach and in 1919
at the home of Evelyn Albaugh Timanus. The workers during these years
always were volunteers, who served without financial compensation. The
association is indebted for the past ten years to Mary Elizabeth Ward
for all stenographic work and to Margaret A. Maddox for most of the
publicity work.
Among those who have represented their counties in State conventions
are the following: Montgomery county, Mary Bentley Thomas, Sarah
Miller, Rebecca Miller, Mary E. Moore, Mary Magruder; Baltimore
county, Elizabeth Herring, Josephine E. Smith, Julia F. Abbott, Anna
S. Abbott, Ella Warfield, Kate Vanhorn, Mrs. Charles Weed, Mrs. James
Green, Mary C. Raspe, Ethel C. Crosby; Harford, Annie H. Hoskins,
Lydia Reckord, Eliza Edell; Carroll, Maggie Mehring; Cecil, Alice
Coale Simpers; Somerset, Florence Hoge; Caroline, Miss Eliza
Messenger; Anne Arundel, Mrs. Wilhelmina Nichols; Howard, Miss
Elizabeth B. Wilson.
BALTIMORE CITY CLUB. For more than twenty years this club averaged
from four to twenty public meetings annually in theaters, churches and
suffrage headquarters. Scores of business and executive meetings were
held and sociables, suppers, lawn fetes, banquets, excursions and
bazars were given. The club opened the first headquarters in 1902 at
107 West Franklin Street, one of the city's noted thoroughfares. In
1908 they were established on North Gilmore Street, West Baltimore,
and in 1912 on the corner of Baltimore and Carey Streets. At both
localities the plate glass windows were decorated with pictures of
suffrage leaders, cartoons, platforms of political parties and
literature; afternoon tea was served and public meetings held at
night. It also inaugurated Sunday afternoon meetings which became very
popular and it was responsible for bringing to Baltimore many men and
women of national and international distinction. The first English
"militant" to speak in Baltimore was Mrs. Annie Cobden Sanderson, on
My Experience in an English Jail, in January, 1908, in the Christian
Temple, the Rev. Peter Ainslie, the pastor, introducing the speaker,
who made a profound impression. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst came next,
speaking in Osler Hall on Ideal Democracy, followed by Sylvia
Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden, the latter speaking at the Seventh
Baptist Church, the pastor presiding.
In 1909 at a mass meeting one Sunday afternoon in the Lyric Theater
an audience of over 2,000 was present, more than half of them men,
with Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Florence Kelley the speakers; Judge Jacob M.
Moses of the Juvenile Court presided and a number of men of
distinction were seated on the platform. Mrs. Catt spoke at a mass
meeting in the Academy of Music in March, 1913, at which Miss Eliza H.
Lord of Washington, D. C., presided and Senator William E. Borah of
Idaho was a guest. Other Sunday afternoon meetings were held in
Ford's, Albaugh's, the Garden and the New Theaters with well known
speakers. Baltimore clergymen assisting at these meetings, besides
those already mentioned, were the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Ellis and the Rev.
Dr. J. W. Wills; the Reverends Kingman Handy, Henry Wharton and W. H.
Baylor of the Baptist Church; George Scholl and Thomas Beadenkoph of
the Lutheran Synod; Richard W. Hogue and George W. Dame of the
Episcopal, E. L. Hubbard of the Methodist and Wynne Jones of the
Highlandtown Presbyterian Churches.
Through the State Woman Suffrage Association and the Baltimore City
Club much educational work was done from 1900 to 1910 in the way of
public and parlor meetings. The pictures of suffrage leaders were
placed in the public schools. The History of Woman Suffrage and the
Life of Susan B. Anthony were given to public libraries. Boys and
girls were trained for suffrage debates and prizes given for essays.
Subscriptions were solicited for _Progress_ and the _Woman's Journal_;
press work was pushed; opportunities were sought to speak before all
kinds of organizations and there was a wide distribution of suffrage
literature. Handsomely engrossed resolutions were presented in 1902 to
Senator Jacob M. Moses in appreciation of his having introduced the
bill in the Legislature to permit women to practice law in Maryland;
and to Miss Maddox, the first to be admitted to the bar, a gold pin
bearing the State coat-of-arms as an expression of esteem for her
onerous work in securing its passage.
In 1906 and thereafter by specially appointed committees suffrage
planks were requested in the platforms of the political parties but
with no success. In 1907 a delegation appeared before the State
Federation of Labor asking for its endorsement of woman suffrage,
which was refused.
For 1908 the slogan was, Convert the public school teachers. To this
end a mass meeting was held in Baltimore with Miss Grace C. Strachan,
a district superintendent of the public schools of New York; the Rev.
Olympia Brown of Wisconsin and Mrs. Emma Smith Devoe of the State of
Washington as speakers. Mrs. Funck attended tri-county conventions of
teachers, speaking on woman suffrage and distributing 5,000 leaflets.
Three women attended the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee
of Congress in the interest of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Funck
addressing the committee. Independence Day was observed by a parade
and street speaking by Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Timanus and others.
In 1911 the first debate on woman suffrage took place before the Men's
Club of the Harlem Park Methodist Church, Mrs. Funck taking the
affirmative side against two members of the Anti-Suffrage Society,
Mrs. Francis T. Redwood and Mrs. Haslup Adams. The following year
another debate was held at the State Normal School by the pupils. In
both instances the affirmative won.
In 1914 a large suffrage bazar was held under the auspices of all the
clubs in the Fifth Regiment Armory with good financial results. This
year the association entered the political arena, the logical
culmination of previous years of work. Legislation and Publicity was
the slogan. It specialized in ward work, besieged legislative and
political leaders with telegrams and letters, visited their offices
and homes, watched at the polls, worked to defeat anti-suffrage
candidates; addressed shop and factory employees, spoke on street
corners and at county fairs, made use of suffrage posters and unique
advertisements and had parades.
The State Woman Suffrage Association has had but two presidents, Mary
Bentley Thomas of Ednor, 1894-1904 and Emma Maddox Funck, 1904-1920.
The latter was president of the Baltimore City Society 1897-1920.
Others who served as State officers ten years and more were Mary
Badders Holton, Evelyn Albaugh Timanus, Etta H. Maddox, Anne Webb
(Mrs. O. Edward) Janney, Pauline W. Holme, Mary Young Taylor, Edna
Annette Beveridge, Nellie C. Cromwell, Florence E. Barnes, Mary E.
Moore, Margaret Smythe Clark and Annie H. Hoskins. Space will not
permit the names of the many women who were loyal and helpful during
these years. Women were not left entirely alone to fight the battle
and many men besides those mentioned assisted and encouraged.
The Maryland Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was organized in
Baltimore in 1911, opening its first headquarters in North Charles
Street with Mrs. N. C. Talbott as executive secretary. Later there was
some organization in the counties. The members through public
meetings, legislative hearings and distribution of literature
vigorously carried on their opposition to women's enfranchisement. The
society was affiliated with the National Anti-Suffrage Association and
was organized for the purpose of fighting the movement to enfranchise
women by both Federal and State amendments. The presidents were Mrs.
John Redwood, Mrs. Oscar Leser, Mrs. Rufus Gibbs and Mrs. Robert
Garrett, the last named serving until after the Federal Amendment was
adopted. Other women active in opposition were Mrs. Michael Wild, Mrs.
Rosalie Strauss, Mrs. W. P. E. Wyse, Mrs. P. Lea Thom, Mrs. Coyle
Haslup Adams, Mrs. George A. Frick and Mrs. William L. Marbury. This
association gave substantial aid in money and other ways to the
Maryland legislators who went to Virginia, North Carolina and
Tennessee to work against the ratification of the Federal Amendment by
their Legislatures.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Maryland Woman Suffrage Association in
connection with its suffrage activities worked in the Legislature for
other progressive measures, among them the use of the public schools
for social centers; equal pay for equal service; appointment of women
on boards of education and on all public institutions; the abolition
of capital punishment; initiative and referendum; co-education;
abolition of child labor.
1906. Legislators declined to introduce any suffrage measure and
treated the request as a joke.
1907. A special committee appointed by the Legislature to revise the
election laws was asked that the word "male" be stricken out. No
attention was paid to the request.
1910. The resolution for submitting an amendment was framed by Etta H.
Maddox, introduced by Delegate William Harry Paire, the Republican
floor leader, and referred to the Committee on Constitutional
Amendments. The hearing was held in the House of Delegates at
Annapolis on February 24 before the committee and an audience that
taxed the chamber's capacity. Miss Maddox presided and introduced the
speakers--Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage
Association; the Rev. John Roach Straton, the Rev. Peter Ainslie,
Attorney John Grill, Dr. Flora Pollack, Mrs. Mary Badders Holton, Mrs.
Funck, the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, Dr. J. William Funck and
Miss Belle Kearney of Mississippi. An evening meeting also was held in
the same place in the interest of the amendment. On March 24 Carville
D. Benson of Baltimore county moved to lay it on the table which was
done by a vote of 61 ayes, 18 noes. No action was taken by the Senate.
1912. All the suffrage societies united in asking for the submission
of a State amendment for full suffrage. Their best speakers appeared
before the committees. A petition was presented to both Houses, signed
by 30,000 voters, but it polled only 22 affirmative votes in the
House. Soon after a limited suffrage bill, sponsored by the Equal
Suffrage League, failed by a vote of 16 noes, 9 ayes in the Senate.
1914. The amendment resolution was introduced in the House by Charles
H. McNab of Harford county and in the Senate by William Holmead of
Prince George county. It was supported by all the suffrage societies,
and ably advocated but lost by 34 ayes, 60 noes in the House and
defeated in the Senate. A resolution introduced in the Senate asking
for the full suffrage for women with an educational and property
qualification, endorsed only by the Equal Suffrage League, failed to
get a hearing. One in the Senate requiring a literacy test only was
not reported.
1916. The constitutional amendment for full suffrage was introduced in
the House by Lloyd Wilkinson (Democrat) of Baltimore and in the Senate
by Sydney Mudd (Republican) of Charles county and strongly supported.
House vote was 36 ayes, 64 noes. The Senate committee reported
favorably and the vote stood 17 ayes, 7 noes, William F. Chesley the
only Republican who voted no. The lobbyists were Mrs. Hooker, Mrs.
Dora Ogle, Mrs. Robert Moss, Miss Lucy Branham, Miss Maddox, Miss
Gwendolyn Willis, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Charles E. Ellicott,
Mrs. Ross Thompson, Miss Emma Weber, Mrs. William H. Maloy, Mrs.
Calvin Gabriel, Mrs. Timanus, Mrs. Howard Schwartz, Mrs. Funck. This
was the last time a State amendment was asked for.
1917. At the special session a bill for Presidential suffrage,
supported by the State association and the Just Government League,
passed the Senate by a vote of 18 ayes, 6 noes, after a joint hearing
held in the State House, where the outside speakers, were Dudley Field
Malone, U. S. Senator Shafroth and Representative Jeannette Rankin. In
the House it failed by a vote of 41 ayes, 56 noes.
1918. The Presidential suffrage bill received in the House 42 ayes, 53
noes; in the Senate 12 ayes, 13 noes.
RATIFICATION. For twenty-five years the women of Maryland tried to get
some form of suffrage from their Legislature without success and it is
not surprising that they felt obliged to look to a Federal Amendment
for their enfranchisement. The delegation in Congress was divided on
its submission, Senator Joseph I. France (Republican) voting in favor
and Senator John Walter Smith (Democrat) in opposition; two
Representatives in favor and five in opposition. After it had been
sent to the Legislatures for ratification in June, 1919, pressure was
brought to bear on Governor Emerson C. Harrington to call a special
session, as it was reported that a majority in favor might be secured.
U. S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer urged it in a letter July
10, saying: "Pennsylvania has already ratified and it will be a
service to our party if a Democratic State like Maryland will promptly
follow suit." The Governor advised waiting till the regular session as
"this Legislature was not elected with the question of this amendment
before the people."
The regular session convened Jan 7, 1920, and Albert Cabell Ritchie
had been elected Governor. Mrs. William Milnes Maloy was chairman of
the Suffrage Campaign Committee and Mrs. Robert Moss of the
legislative work in Annapolis, and the committee was composed of
prominent suffragists from all the societies. A mass meeting took
place on January 20 in the State Armory at Annapolis, with addresses
by U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee, State Senator Oliver
Metzerott and Mrs. Donald R. Hooker. State Senator George Q. Bartlett
read letters from Senator France advocating ratification. Many members
of the Legislature were seated on the platform. At the close of the
meeting Mrs. Maloy offered a resolution in favor of ratification,
which was carried by a large majority.
On Friday, February 6, Governor Ritchie submitted the Federal Woman
Suffrage Amendment to the General Assembly. Senator Metzerott
(Republican) introduced a resolution for ratification in the Senate
and Representative Cobourn (Democrat) in the House. It was sent to the
Senate Committee on Federal Relations, Senator Grason, chairman; to
the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Mr. Roberts
chairman. A hearing was set for February 11 but on being informed that
most of the suffrage leaders would be in Chicago attending the
national suffrage convention at that time and that others of their
speakers could not be present, Senator Grason said that, with Mr.
Robert's consent, the hearing would be postponed until the 18th.
The suffragists heard no more and great was the surprise of those of
the committee who were left to find on returning to Annapolis February
10, when the session reconvened, that Mr. Roberts absolutely refused
to delay and the hearing would take place on February 11. A hasty
canvass of his committee showed that a majority was in favor of
deferring it until the 18th, so the suffragists returned to their
homes. The next morning the Baltimore papers announced that it would
be held that day. The suffragists learned that the preceding night
Speaker Tydings had transferred the suffrage amendment from the
Committee on Constitutional Amendments, which was favorable to it, and
had put it into the Committee on Federal Relations, which was hostile!
There were of course no members of the suffrage committee present at
the hearing. Mrs. Rufus Gibbs, president of the State Anti-Suffrage
Association, urged the defeat of ratification. William F. Marbury made
a strong argument against it. Senator Legg of Queen Anne's, who had
announced that he "would do just what Governor Ritchie desired," spoke
against it. Delegates Cobourn, Shartzer, Curry and the minority floor
leader, Vernon Simmons, explained how the suffragists had been
deceived and made an earnest plea for fair play.
It had been intended to bring the measure to a vote immediately but
the feeling against this was so intense that it was finally set for
the 17th. The suffragists demanded a hearing but the House committee
refused it and made an adverse report on the resolution to ratify. The
Senate committee granted one for the morning of the 17th. Long before
the hour set suffragists from many places began to gather. At 10:30
the larger delegations arrived, heralded by Farson's band, and marched
straight into the State House. Their number was so large that Chairman
Grason adjourned from the committee room to the Senate Chamber. Mrs.
Hooker presented resolutions and petitions for ratification from
organizations representing over 125,000 residents of Maryland. They
were from many State labor associations, patriotic societies, the
Grange, Federation of Women's Clubs, Women's Trade Union League,
Teachers' Association, Graduate Nurses, Goucher College Alumnae, clubs
for every conceivable purpose. She was followed by Mrs. Edward
Shoemaker, chairman of the women's State branch of the National
Council of Defense, who made an eloquent appeal for the proposed
amendment. Judge J. Harry Covington, member of Congress, gave a strong
legal and political argument, answering that of Mr. Marbury. Mrs.
Henry Zollinger represented the Women's Anti-Suffrage Association and
Judge Oscar Leser spoke in opposition. The Hon. Thomas Parran summed
up for the suffragists.
At twelve o'clock the suffragists went to the reception room of the
Governor, who announced that he wished to give them all the time that
they desired to present their case. The speakers were Mrs. Sydney M.
Cone, Mrs. Shoemaker, Miss Kate McLane, prominent in war work; Mrs.
Robert Moss, Guion Miller representing the Society of Friends; Mrs.
Robert H. Walker, the college women; Miss Hunt, the nurses; Miss Mary
Dubrau, the eastern shore. The Governor, answering, said that the
ratification was a question for the Legislature alone to determine;
that the platform on which he ran pledged the Democratic party
against it and that he could not ask the legislators to repudiate the
platform. Mrs. Hooker in vigorous language held him wholly responsible
for the action they took on it.
In the afternoon Representatives Cobourn, McBride, Shartzer, Demarco,
Jones and Gambrill spoke for ratification. The vote stood 64 noes, 36
ayes. The same afternoon Senators Metzerott, Gibson, Bartlett and
Robins earnestly urged ratification; Senators J. Frank Parran,
McIntosh and Legg spoke against it. The vote stood 18 noes, 9 ayes,
seven Republicans and two Democrats. In the House 32 of the 45
Republicans and 4 of the 56 Democrats voted in favor.
Undaunted by their defeat the suffragists gathered in front of the
State House and with colors flying and band playing martial airs
marched two by two around the Capitol, receiving many cheers and good
wishes from the spectators. A brief meeting was then held at which
resolutions of appreciation were passed for all the brave men who had
fought so valiantly for democracy.
Committees of both Houses had reported a resolution of definite
rejection, which the Senate passed, and a delegation of women from the
Anti-Suffrage Association, headed by Mrs. Gibbs, carried it to
Washington and presented it to the Acting Secretary of State, serving
formal notice that "the State of Maryland denies the lawful right and
power of Congress to propose the amendment for woman suffrage and the
validity of such an amendment as part of the Federal Constitution even
if ratified by three-fourths of the States."
The Maryland Legislature was by no means satisfied with its
demonstration of State's rights in defeating the ratification of the
Federal Suffrage Amendment but it undertook to interfere with the
rights of other States. On February 24 the House of Delegates voted by
54 to 44 for a joint resolution to send a delegation of seven
anti-suffrage members to West Virginia to urge its General Assembly to
follow the course of Maryland in rejecting the amendment. This was
adopted by the Senate with little delay and three of its members were
appointed to accompany four selected by the House. The next day two
resolutions drawn up by Mr. Marbury were introduced in the
Legislature. One was to "repeal, rescind and recall the resolutions
ratifying the so-called Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States." The other authorized and requested the Governor to
call on the national government, in behalf of the State of Maryland,
to "have the so-called Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act
declared null and void." The reason for his opposition to woman
suffrage was clearly apparent.
On March 30 by a vote of 20 ayes, 7 noes, the Senate passed a joint
resolution introduced by George Arnold Frick authorizing and directing
the Attorney General of Maryland to bring suit or suits to prevent the
Secretary of State of the United States from proclaiming the Federal
Amendment prior to the holding of a referendum thereon in certain
States, and to test the validity, should the same be ratified by the
elected Legislatures of three-fourths of the States. This also passed
in the House. The opponents thought that now they had spiked every gun
but in September it was discovered that the vote on ratification had
been pigeonholed instead of being sent by the Governor to the
Secretary of State in Washington. Immediately there was hustling to
bring it again before the two Houses and on September 22 it was
rejected in the Senate by a vote of 17 to 8 and in the House by 51 to
42, nearly a month after the Federal Amendment had been proclaimed!
A Men's Anti-Suffrage Association had been formed under the name of
the Maryland League for State Defense and a suit was brought by its
board of managers. This was called the case of Leser vs. Garnett,
Judge Leser and his associate lawyers representing this League, Mr.
Garnett representing the Board of Registry of the 7th Precinct of the
11th Ward of Baltimore. On Oct. 12, 1920, Judge Leser challenged the
registration there of Cecilia S. Waters (white) and Mary D. Randolph
(colored) in order to test the validity of what the "antis" called the
"alleged" 19th Amendment. The plea was that it exceeded the amending
power of Article V in the Federal Constitution and that it was not
legally ratified by 36 States. The States arraigned as having
illegally ratified were West Virginia and Missouri. The case came
before the court of common pleas, Judge Heuisler presiding. Besides
Mr. Marbury the attorneys for the petitioners were Thomas Cadwalader,
Senator Frick and Everett P. Wheeler of New York. The defendants were
represented by George M. Brady, Roger Howell, Jacob M. Moses and
Assistant Attorney General Lindsay C. Spencer. The case occupied four
full days and the petitioners lost. Judge Heuisler ruled that the
power to amend the Constitution of the United States granted by the
Fifth Article thereof is without limit except as to the words, "equal
suffrage in the Senate." He added: "The court is further of the
opinion from all the exhibits and other evidence submitted that there
was due, legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the
required number of State Legislatures." Mr. Wheeler contended that
three-fourths of the States had not legally ratified, to which the
Court answered: "There was one legal and proper ratification of the
amendment by the required number of State Legislatures."
The case was carried up to the State Court of Appeals and argued on
April 7. On June 28 the Judge affirmed the decision of the lower
court. The case was then taken to the U. S. Supreme Court, which gave
a decision adverse to all these claims and established the validity of
the Federal Suffrage Amendment beyond all further controversy.
MARYLAND. PART II.[76]
The Woman Suffrage League of Maryland was organized Feb. 27, 1917, in
Baltimore at a meeting called with the approval of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association. Mrs. J. Ross Thompson of Garrett
Park was elected president and served for two years. The league
started with a sustaining membership of 1,400, including organizations
in Baltimore and thirteen counties. By 1920 the city was organized by
congressional districts and some of these by wards; twenty of the
twenty-three counties had organizations, some of them strong branch
leagues, others merely small groups with a chairman.
The history of the league must be traced through its mother, the Equal
Suffrage League of Baltimore, back to the Mary A. Livermore League, a
society of Friends, which had been founded in 1905 with Mrs. Edward
O. Janney as president. In the spring of 1909 this league, in order to
broaden its scope, became the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore. Mrs.
Elisabeth King Ellicott was elected president and filled this office
with wisdom and rare executive ability until her death in May, 1914.
The league, as a branch of the State Suffrage Association, sent Miss
Julia Rogers as a delegate to the national convention held in Seattle
in 1909. This year a mass meeting was held in McCoy Hall, Johns
Hopkins University, Dr. Thayer of the Medical School presiding. Miss
Ethel Arnold of England was the speaker and made many converts.
In 1910 the league had a bill introduced in the Legislature giving
Municipal suffrage to "every bona fide resident of the city of
Baltimore, male or female, 21 years of age.... (a) If such person is
qualified to vote for members of the House of Delegates; or (b) can
read or write from dictation any paragraph of more than five lines in
the State constitution; or (c) is assessed with property in said city
to the amount of $300 and has paid taxes thereon for at least two
years preceding the election...." The league was fortunate in securing
as attorney Judge Jacob M. Moses of the Juvenile Court. He conducted a
hearing on February 16 in the House of Delegates attended by both
branches of the Legislature. Six hundred women and men went on a
special train to Annapolis, carrying a petition for the bill
representing 173,000 names. The speakers were Dr. Howard Kelly of
Johns Hopkins, president of the Men's League; Dr. Mary Sherwood of the
medical department; Judge Moses, Mrs. Ellicott, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper
of New York, Miss Janet Richards of Washington, Misses Julia Rogers,
Mary E. Lent, Ellen La Mott and Sarah Brookes. The House committee
reported eight to one in favor. The advocates in the House were Robert
H. Carr, who introduced the bill, H. Pairo, R. F. Beacham and Mr.
Henderson. It received 67 noes, 24 ayes and did not come before the
Senate. Three other woman suffrage bills were defeated this session.
In 1909-1910 Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, chairman of the Lecture Committee,
was instrumental in securing many noted speakers for public meetings.
In 1910 she formed the Just Government League of Maryland, which was
affiliated with the National Association for six years. Miss Lent was
president two years and then Mrs. Hooker continuously.
In 1910 a field secretary was engaged by the Equal Suffrage League,
ward organization progressed and money was raised through rummage
sales, lawn fetes, suppers at headquarters, etc. In 1911 the _New
Voter_ was started, a lively suffrage paper, with Miss Anne Wagner as
editor-in-chief. A committee was appointed, with Mrs. Charles E.
Ellicott chairman, to investigate methods in the Criminal Court of
conducting trials when young girls were witnesses in cases of assault,
etc. This committee attended trials and employed a woman to keep
records of cases and decisions. Later it had the first woman probation
officer appointed and paid her salary until 1916, when Mayor Preston
agreed to its payment by the city temporarily.
The State Equal Franchise League was founded in 1911 and became
auxiliary to the National American Association. Mrs. Elisabeth King
Ellicott was the president for two years and she was succeeded by Mrs.
W. J. Brown, who was president for one year. The affiliated societies
were the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore, Woman Suffrage Club of
Montgomery county, Just Franchise League of Talbot county, Junior
Suffrage League of Walbrook, College Suffrage League of Frederick,
Equal Franchise Leagues of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Junior Suffrage
League of Bryn Mawr School and Political Equality League of Baltimore
county. It joined in the work of the other associations for various
bills in the Legislature until 1914, when it disbanded, and, the
constitution of the National Association now permitting the direct
affiliation of any suffrage society numbering 200 members, the Equal
Suffrage League of Baltimore became a direct auxiliary. In May, 1914,
it met with a great loss in the death of Mrs. Ellicott, who had
organized and held it firm for the non-partisan, non-political,
educational principles of the National Association. She left $25,000
in the hands of trustees, the interest to be used by the league until
equal suffrage had been obtained in Maryland. Mrs. Charles E. Ellicott
then became president and successfully continued the work. The
extensive development of the Children's Playground Association under
her leadership is well known throughout the State.[77]
The Woman Suffrage League of Maryland was formed in February, 1917,
and the Baltimore City Committee took the active place of the Equal
Suffrage League, which became a funding body to carry out the bequest
of Mrs. Ellicott, with Miss Caroline Roberts as president, whose
unwearying and ceaseless service had been for years an inspiration to
her fellow workers. Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, chairman of Campaigns
and Surveys for the National Association, went to Baltimore this
month, meeting there Miss Emma MacAlarney and Miss Eleanor Furman, two
of the national organizers, and planning a speaking and organization
route. The organizers remained in Maryland two months and were very
successful in interesting new groups of people all over the State, who
joined the new Woman Suffrage League. Later Miss Alice Hunt, a
national organizer, took up this work for four weeks. The total cost
to the National Association was over $600.
In the spring of 1917 a Suffrage School was held in Baltimore by the
league to which all were invited. The National Association sent some
of its best teachers, among them Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore, Mrs. Halsey
W. Wilson and Mrs. Shuler, members of its official board. The climax
of the week was a parade, street speeches and a mass meeting, at which
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, was the principal
speaker. An outcome of the school was the printing in Maryland
newspapers of the suffrage literature supplied by the National
Association.
When the United States entered the World War Mrs. Ellicott, president
of the league, was appointed by the Governor a State member of the
Woman's Council of National Defense and the league cooperated in all
of the departments of war work created by the National Suffrage
Association. A Red Cross Circle was established in its headquarters
and it entered actively into the sale of Liberty Bonds. Its war work
brought into it many new members.
In the work for ratification of the Federal Amendment the League
joined the other suffrage societies in the headquarters at Annapolis
and in public meetings, house to house canvass, interviews with
legislators and the other work of a vigorous campaign. The officers
were: Mrs. Ellicott, president; Mrs. Edward Shoemaker, Mrs. William
Milnes Maloy and Mrs. Sidney Cone, vice-presidents; Miss Julia Rogers
and Mrs. Robert Moss, corresponding and recording secretaries; Mrs.
Frank Ramey, treasurer; Mrs. George Crawford and Mrs. William Silver,
auditors.
The officers of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore were Miss
Caroline Roberts, president; Miss Clara T. Waite, vice-president; Mrs.
William Chatard, secretary; Miss Mary Claire O'Brien, treasurer: with
eight directors.[78]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. This has been described. A Ratification Committee
of Men was formed in 1919 with N. Winslow Williams chairman, De Courcy
W. Thom vice-chairman, Arthur K. Taylor secretary, Donald R. Hooker,
treasurer. Prominent members of the Allied Building Trades Council,
Carpenters' Union and other labor organizations were on the committee
and every county had a chairman. In Allegany it was Francis J. Drum,
president of the Maryland and D. C. Federation of Labor; in Baltimore
county B. John Black, master of the State Grange. In other counties it
was a member of Congress or the Legislature or a Judge or some one of
influence.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emma Maddox
Funck, president of the Baltimore Suffrage Club twenty-five years and
of the State Woman Suffrage Association eighteen years.
[74] Dr. William Tindall, of Washington, has the records to prove that
in 1838, when the people of Georgetown voted on a proposal to withdraw
from the State of Maryland, 63 women cast their ballots. As early as
1867, through the efforts of Lavinia C. Dundore, a large equal rights
society of men and women was organized in Baltimore, which continued
until 1874 and was represented in the national conventions by its
president, Mrs. Dundore. A Baltimore paper of April 4, 1870, says: "A
petition, asking for the right of suffrage and political justice, was
presented to the House of Delegates, signed by Eliza S. White, Lavinia
C. Dundore, Ellen M. Harris and 150 other ladies. It was referred to
the Committee on Federal Relations."
[75] For full account of the convention see Chapter VI, Volume V.
[76] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Clara Turnbull
Waite, vice-president of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore.
[77] Additional names of women who held office or were prominent in
work of the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore or the State Equal
Franchise League of Maryland are Drs. Fannie Hoopes, Lillian Welsh,
Mary Sherwood, Florence Sabin, Claribel Cone, Nellie Mark; Mesdames
Pauline Holme, George Lamb, S. Johnson Poe, J. Williams Lord, Frank
Ramey, C. C. Heath, George H. Wright, J. H. Webb-Peploe, Jacob M.
Moses, Mary N. Parry and W. W. Emmart; Misses Mary Bartlett Dixon,
Elisabeth Gilman, A. Page Reid, Henrietta Norris, Romaine McIlvaine
and Emma Weber.
[78] Among these directors, active members of the city committee,
chairmen of standing committees and devoted workers not elsewhere
mentioned were Mesdames Edwin Rouse, Jr., chairman of the city
committee; Caleb Athey, Harvey Bickel, C. C. Peffer, J. W. Putts, John
Parker, A. Morris Carey, C. C. Heath; Esther Moses and Esther Katz.