CHAPTER XX.

MASSACHUSETTS.[79]

From the beginning of the present century the Massachusetts Woman

Suffrage Association, organized in 1870, steadily gained in membership

year after year. Its annual conventions for many years were held in

Boston in January and those of the New England Woman Suffrage

Association in May, when the two united in a great Festival, which

generally took place in Faneuil Hall. The day sessions usually were

held in the rooms of the New England Women's Club, the evening

sessions in some large place, in 1901 at Faneuil Hall.

At the State annual meeting Jan. 23, 1901, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, who

had been president since 1893, presided and among the speakers were

Mrs. Helen Campbell, the Rev. Charles W. Wendte, Dr. Emily B. Ryder

and the Rev. Ida C. Hultin. Mrs. Livermore was re-elected and Mrs.

Maud Wood Park succeeded Miss Alice Stone Blackwell as chairman of the

State Board of Directors. The office of president had always been

mainly honorary and the actual work was done by the chairman of this

board. The other officers chosen were Henry B. Blackwell,

corresponding secretary; William Lloyd Garrison, treasurer; Miss Eva

Channing, clerk; Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Richard P. Hallowell,

auditors; Mrs. Judith W. Smith, member National Executive Committee.

There was a long list of distinguished vice-presidents. Mr. Blackwell

had been secretary for over twenty years and was re-elected.

At the Festival on May 22, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe presided, Miss Sarah

Cone Bryant was toastmistress and there were addresses by William M.

Salter, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and others of note. On May 23

at the annual meeting of the New England Association, organized in

November, 1868, reports were made from the New England States, and

addresses by the Rev. Florence Kollock Crooker, Mrs. Isabel C.

Barrows, Mrs. Inez Haynes Gillmore and others. Mrs. Howe, who had been

its president since 1893, was re-elected, with a board composed of

eminent men and women.

During the year the State association sent out 1,246 press articles,

circulated many thousand pages of literature and printed several

leaflets. It held well-attended fortnightly meetings at its

headquarters, No. 3 Park Street, and gave a brilliant reception in

honor of Mrs. Livermore's 80th birthday. It compiled a list of about

forty persons ready to give addresses on suffrage and sent a speaker

free to every woman's club or other organization willing to hear the

subject presented. It held ten public meetings and sent out 11,000

circulars to increase the women's registration and school vote in

Boston. Many addresses under its auspices were given by Mrs. Abby

Morton Diaz, Professor Anna May Soule of Mt. Holyoke and Señorita

Carolina Holman Huidobro of Chile. Massachusetts contributed

four-fifths of the money given to the Oregon campaign of 1900 from

outside that State, and the Massachusetts booth (named the Lucy Stone

booth) at the National Suffrage Bazar that year took in more money

than that of any other State except New York. The College Equal

Suffrage League's prize of $100, for the best essay in favor of

suffrage by a college student, was won by Ava M. Stoddard of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The above is a sample of the

activities carried on year after year by the association during the

first decade of the century.

In 1901 the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government was

organized through the efforts of Mrs. Mary Hutcheson Page, with

Pauline Agassiz (Mrs. Quincy A.) Shaw as president, Mrs. Fanny B.

Ames, chairman of Executive Committee, and Mrs. Park as executive

secretary.[80] It continued to be a power in the State till suffrage

was won and aimed to devote itself not only to suffrage but to all

activities in which women could be especially useful to the community.

The National Woman Suffrage Association of Massachusetts, a smaller

organization, disbanded in 1901 after nearly twenty years of

existence. Mrs. Sarah A. P. Dickerman was acting president, Miss

Lavina A. Hatch secretary. It had held eleven monthly meetings during

the past year, done congressional work and contributed to the Susan B.

Anthony table at the national bazar in New York.

1902. At the annual meeting on January 23, Mrs. Park presided and a

work conference was substituted for the usual public meeting. The

Festival was held on May 28 with the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer

presiding. Other speakers were the Rev. Dr. James H. Ecob, Professor

John Graham Brooks, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, Colonel T. W. Higginson

and the Rev. Charles F. Dole. Miss Vida Goldstein of Australia

addressed a number of meetings this year. An enrollment of suffragists

was begun. There was an increase of women's registration for the

school vote in fourteen cities, in Boston of about 5,000. An

investigation of the tax records by Mr. Blackwell showed that in

Boston alone 18,500 women paid taxes on several hundred million

dollars' worth of property.

1903. At the annual meeting of the State association on January 13,

Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Park presided. Mrs. Livermore was made honorary

president and Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead president, Mrs. Mary Schlesinger,

vice-president; Miss Harriet E. Turner, corresponding secretary;

William Lloyd Garrison, treasurer; Mrs. Otto B. Cole, clerk; Mr.

Blackwell, member of the National Executive Committee. Mrs. Page,

chairman of the Organization Committee, reported that forty towns had

been visited. There were speeches by Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Enid

Stacy Widdrington of England. Miss Blackwell presided at the New

England annual meeting May 27 and the Rev. Charles G. Ames at the

Festival the next day. On August 13 Lucy Stone's birthday anniversary

was celebrated by a pilgrimage to the old farm house near West

Brookfield where she was born. About 400 persons gathered from various

States, even California being represented. Her niece, Mrs. Phebe Stone

Beeman, president of the Warren Political Equality Club, presided and

there were addresses by Mrs. Livermore, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. Mary

A. Safford and others. The beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery

combined with the beautiful memories to make it a memorable occasion.

Mrs. Livermore wrote afterwards: "It was greater and grander than any

public day, not specially devoted to religion, that I have ever known.

The hill was a Mount of Transfiguration, the faces of the people

shone."

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw addressed a series of meetings throughout

the State. Mrs. Page, Mrs. Park, Mrs. Diaz, Mrs. Esther F. Boland,

Miss Bryant and George H. Page spoke repeatedly for the association.

Work conferences were held in various counties and equal rights plays

by Mr. Page were performed for the benefit of the cause. The State

headquarters were moved from Park Street to a house at No. 6 Marlboro

Street, the use of which was given by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw.

Massachusetts this year contributed more money to the National

Association than did any other State. The time of the State annual

meeting was changed to October and it began to be held outside of

Boston, a second one for this year in the Newtons, October 29 and 30.

It opened with a reception by the Newton League at the Hunnewell Club

House, where Mrs. Electa N. L. Walton presided and Mayor Weeks of

Newton and the Hon. Samuel L. Powers gave addresses of welcome. The

following day at West Newton Mrs. Livermore presided, the Hon. Gorman

D. Gilman gave the address of welcome and Mrs. Florence Kelley and Dr.

Shaw spoke. The Enrollment Committee reported obtaining 11,169

signatures. A resolution of tribute was passed to Miss Harriet E.

Turner, who retired after 21 years' devoted service at headquarters,

where she had suggested some of the most successful lines of work.

Mrs. Page was chosen as chairman of the State board, Mrs. Susan S.

Fessenden succeeding her later in the year.

1904. The Festival was held on May 10, Mrs. Howe presiding. The

speakers were Judge Edward E. Reynolds of Portland, Maine, the Rev.

Florence Kollock Crooker of Michigan, Frank K. Foster of the State

Federation of Labor, Mrs. Livermore, Professor George E. Gardner of

the Boston University Law School, Mrs. May Alden Ward, president of

the State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Mead.

The State meeting was held at Attleboro, October 21, in the Opera

House, with the usual list of well known speakers. The International

Peace Congress, held in Boston this year, gave an impetus to the

movement. The men from abroad were much impressed by the American

women. Other notable events were the celebration by the State W. C. T.

U. of the quarter centennial of the granting of School suffrage and a

conference of women ministers of different denominations, called by

Mrs. Howe. There was a Suffrage Day at the big Mechanics' Fair in

Boston, with addresses by Miss Jane Addams, Miss Sheriff Bain of New

Zealand and W. P. Byles of England. A library of books bearing on the

woman question was started at headquarters with a fund given by Miss

M. F. Munroe in memory of Mary Lowell Stone.

1905. There was a very large attendance at the Festival on May 10,

with Mrs. Mead presiding. Professor Edward Cummings was toastmaster,

ex-Governor Garvin of Rhode Island and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt spoke

and the Festival then resolved itself into a celebration of Mr.

Blackwell's 80th birthday (May 4), with the presentation of a silver

pitcher from the State association and addresses by William Lloyd

Garrison and Mrs. Livermore. She had insisted upon coming, although by

no means able. She said, "Mr. Blackwell and I have worked together for

nearly half a century; we have gone anywhere and everywhere for woman

suffrage. This evening he has been doing his best to persuade me to go

out to the Oregon convention. I can not say half that ought to be said

of his character, his devoted service, his fraternal spirit." She died

a few days later and there was profound sorrow for her loss.

At the meeting of the New England Association on May 11 Miss Blackwell

presided. Francis J. Garrison was elected treasurer. The State annual

meeting was held at Holyoke, October 24, 25, in the Second Baptist

Church and Mayor Nathan P. Avery gave the address of welcome. Miss

Blackwell was made chairman of the board of directors; Mrs. Mead was

elected president; Mrs. Schlesinger vice-president. The association

took part in the celebration of the centennial of William Lloyd

Garrison on December 10. He had been a life-long champion of equal

rights for women and his last public speech was made at a suffrage

hearing in the State House. There was a noteworthy memorial meeting

for Mrs. Edna D. Cheney, long a pillar of the suffrage association and

of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Catherine

Breshkovsky, "the little grandmother of the Russian revolution,"

visited Massachusetts this year and addressed a number of meetings

arranged by the suffragists, including a large one in Faneuil Hall.

The convention was held in October, 1906, at Lowell in the Trinitarian

Congregational Church. Harriet A. Eager gave a stone from the pavement

of the little church at Delft Haven in Holland, where the Pilgrims

attended their last religious service before sailing for America and

the association presented it to the Cape Cod Memorial Association to

be placed in the monument. The World's W. C. T. U. convention in

Boston this month aroused much interest and enthusiasm. At the opening

banquet Miss Blackwell gave the address of welcome in behalf of the

women's organizations.

1907. The annual meeting took place in Worcester at Trinity Church.

Letters were read from Colonel Thomas W. Higginson and Mrs. Elizabeth

Smith Miller, the only two survivors of the 89 men and women who

signed the Call for the first National Woman's Rights Convention, held

in Worcester in 1850; and a poem from the Rev. Antoinette L. Brown

Blackwell, D. D., the only survivor of the speakers on that occasion.

Dr. Shaw gave an address and conducted a question box and there was a

symposium on Why I am a Suffragist by five young women, one a

grandniece and namesake of Margaret Fuller.

A noteworthy meeting was held on March 23, 1907, by the Boston Equal

Suffrage Association to consider "the indebtedness of women of

collegiate and professional training to the leaders of the suffrage

movement." Every woman's college in the State was represented, as well

as law and medicine. Mrs. Fanny B. Ames presided and college girls in

cap and gown acted as ushers. The speakers were Mrs. Howe, Miss

Georgia L. White, Assistant Professor of Economics at Smith College;

Professor Helen M. Searles of Mt. Holyoke; Dr. Emma Culbertson of the

New England Hospital for Women and Children; Miss Emily Greene Balch,

Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology at Wellesley; Miss

Caroline J. Cooke, instructor in Commercial Law at Simmons, and Mrs.

Park of Radcliffe.

On August 13 suffragists from different parts of the State again made

a pilgrimage to Lucy Stone's old home, West Brookfield, to celebrate

her birthday. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, a daughter of Richard Cobden, one

of the "militant" English suffragettes, spoke at the women's colleges

and elsewhere. The Boston association, in connection with the Women's

Educational and Industrial Union, gave courses in citizenship,

addressed by heads of State and city departments. Mrs. Fessenden

conducted many classes in Parliamentary practice (these were continued

year after year), and there was a "suffrage day" in the woman's

department of the great Food Fair.

The Association of Collegiate Alumnæ celebrated its quarter centennial

in Boston November 5-9, which brought many distinguished suffragists

from other States. In 1872 the New England Women's Club had given a

reception for the only three college women then in this city. In 1907

this association had 3,147 members, several hundred of them in Boston

alone. At the Whittier Centennial celebration at Amesbury on December

17 the poet's championship of equal rights for women was recalled with

his work for other reforms. The Boston Federation of Suffrage

Societies was organized by the Association for Good Government. The

State Federation of Labor and the State Letter Carriers' Association

endorsed woman suffrage.

The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of

Suffrage to Women changed its organ _The Remonstrance_ from an annual

to a quarterly and sent out a copy broadcast. The suffragists followed

with an answer. The _Woman's Journal_ pointed out that the M. A. O. F.

E. S. W., according to its own official reports, had sold $40.86 worth

of literature in 1905, $13.50 worth in 1906 and $12.30 worth in 1907,

and that in 1906 the total receipts were $2,907, of which $2,018 were

expended on salaries.[81]

1908. The State annual meeting was held in Boston October 27, 28. Mrs.

Mead presided and Mrs. Ethel Snowden of England was the chief speaker.

There was a reception to Mrs. Howe, with addresses by Mrs. Maud Howe

Elliott, Mrs. Carota Von Koch of Sweden and Mrs. Howe. Miss Jane

Addams gave suffrage lectures this year at Radcliffe, Smith, Mt.

Holyoke and Wellesley colleges and Boston University, arranged by the

College Equal Suffrage League, with large audiences and much

enthusiasm. Mrs. Snowden spoke for the State association at Faneuil

Hall and a reception was given by the College and Boston suffrage

associations. Another large suffrage meeting in Faneuil Hall was

addressed by Professor Charles Zueblin. Mrs. Park and Mrs. Eager held

a series of meetings in Berkshire county, arousing much interest. At

the suffrage booth in the Boston Food Fair, in charge of the Newton

League, 6,255 names were added to the enrollment. The association by

this time had more than 100 local branches. This year 145 labor unions

endorsed equal suffrage. The association carried on a "poster

campaign," putting up posters in towns and at county fairs. Mrs.

FitzGerald composed the inscriptions and Mrs. George F. Lowell with a

group of friends put them up. At the Biennial of the General

Federation of Women's Clubs held in Boston every mention of suffrage

was cheered and no one got such an ovation as Mrs. Howe, the fraternal

delegate from the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

1909. The College Equal Suffrage League of Massachusetts attained a

membership of 320 this year and a suffrage club was formed at

Radcliffe College. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology any

notices put up by the suffragists were at once torn down. The State

annual convention was held in Boston October 22, 23, with the evening

meeting in Tremont Temple, and Miss Blackwell was elected president.

For the first time the report of the Legislative Committee was given

by Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, who continued to be its chairman for

years.

Ex-Governor Long presided at a memorial meeting for Henry B.

Blackwell, with addresses by Edwin D. Mead, Julia Ward Howe, the Rev.

Charles G. Ames, Professor Sumichrast, Moses H. Gulesian, Francis J.

Garrison, James H. Stark of the Victorian Club, Meyer Bloomfield and

Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows. Mr. Blackwell was called by Mrs. Catt "one of

the world's most heroic men." He was the only man of large abilities

who devoted his life to securing equal rights for women. In his youth

a reward of $10,000 was offered for his head at a public meeting in

the South because of his leading part in the rescue of a young slave

girl. He made his first speech for woman's rights at a suffrage

convention in Cleveland in 1853. Two years later he married Lucy

Stone. She had meant never to marry but to devote herself wholly to

the women's cause but he promised to devote himself to the same cause.

He was the unpaid secretary of the American Woman Suffrage Association

for twenty years, of the Massachusetts association for thirty years

and of the New England association for nearly forty years. He traveled

all over the country organizing suffrage societies, getting up

conventions and addressing Legislatures. He attended the Republican

national conventions year after year trying to get a suffrage plank

and in 1872 secured a mild one in the national platform and a strong

one in that of Massachusetts. He took part in constitutional amendment

campaigns in Kansas, Vermont, Colorado, Michigan, Rhode Island and

South Dakota. In 1889, when Washington, Montana and North Dakota were

about to enter the Union as States, he attended the constitutional

convention of each to urge equal suffrage. He was an editor of the

_Woman's Journal_ from its founding in 1870 till his death. An able

writer, an eloquent speaker, he was widely beloved for his kindness,

humor and geniality.

Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the "militant" suffragettes of

England, visited Boston this year. She was met at the station by the

suffragists with automobiles and flags and was taken through the

streets to the headquarters--Boston's first suffrage procession--and

later addressed in Tremont Temple a huge audience, critical at first,

highly enthusiastic at the close. A reception was given by prominent

suffragists to Miss Ethel M. Arnold of England, and there were

lectures by her and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman; a series of

"petition teas" and meetings addressed by Dr. Shaw, Miss Leonora

O'Reilly, a labor leader of New York; Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver;

Charles Edward Russell, the Rev. Thomas Cuthbert Hall; and by Mrs.

Snowden, Dr. Stanton Coit and the Misses Rendell and Costello, all of

England.

In June the first of the open-air meetings that later became so

important a feature of the campaign was held on the Common at Bedford.

The speakers were Mrs. FitzGerald, Mrs. Leonora S. Little, Mrs. Mary

Ware Dennett, Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick and Mrs. Crowley. The

attendance was small; people were shy at first of seeming to

countenance such an innovation but the crowds grew as the meetings

continued and it was found to be the best if not the only way to reach

the mass of voters. A summer campaign of 97 open-air meetings was

held, the speakers traveling mainly by trolley, covering a large part

of the State and reaching about 25,000 persons.[82] Suffrage buttons

and literature were distributed, posters put up, and sometimes mammoth

kites flown to advertise the meetings. Mrs. H. S. Luscomb had

presented a kite big enough to hold up a banner six feet wide by forty

deep. The campaigners were resourceful. At Nantasket, when forbidden

to speak on the beach, they went into the water with their Votes for

Women banner and spoke from the sea to the audience on the shore.

1910. Among the speakers at the Festival in May were Mrs. Frances

Squire Potter, former Professor of English at the University of

Minnesota; Professor Max Eastman of Columbia University, secretary of

the New York Men's League for Woman Suffrage, and Professor Henry S.

Nash of the Episcopal Theological School. At the State annual meeting

in Lowell, October 27, 28, Philip Snowden, M. P., of England was a

speaker. In connection with the convention Mrs. Park spoke before the

Woman's Club; Rabbi Fleischer before the Board of Trade; Miss Alice

Carpenter at the Congregational Church in Tewksbury; four factory

meetings were held; the suffrage slides were exhibited twelve times at

the Merrimac Theater; Miss Foley and Miss Anne Withington addressed

seven trade unions; 27,000 fliers were distributed and four street

meetings held.

An eight-weeks' summer campaign of open-air meetings was conducted

through the great industrial cities of eastern Massachusetts, with

from four to six regular and occasional special speakers. Three

Englishwomen, Miss Margaret G. Bondfield, Miss M. M. A. Ward and Miss

Emily Gardner, reinforced the American speakers, Miss Foley, Mrs.

FitzGerald, Mrs. Glendower Evans, Miss Emily Pierson of Connecticut,

and others. In each city, besides the outdoor meetings, there was some

special feature; in two, garden parties; in Brockton, the women joined

the circus parade, driving in a decorated team and giving out fliers.

In Fall River they got two popular stores to wrap a colored flier in

every parcel. In Taunton they had an evening band concert on the

Common, accompanied with red fire and speeches. In Lawrence Miss Foley

made a balloon ascension and showered down rainbow literature upon an

eager crowd. Several times the women spoke from the vaudeville stage

and showed colored lantern slides. They spoke in parks and pleasure

resorts and outside the factories as well as in the streets and at one

Yiddish and one French meeting. They held 200 meetings and talked to

about 60,000 persons. Afterwards they held outdoor meetings in and

about Boston and sent an automobile of speakers and literature to the

Aviation Meet. A fall campaign of open-air speaking followed. Mrs.

Park came home from a tour around the world and lectured on the women

of different countries. Mrs. A. Watson-Lister of Australia and Mrs.

Dora B. Montefiore of England addressed a number of meetings.

A week of meetings took place in Springfield, State speakers

cooperating with the local suffragists, among them Mrs. Henry

Phillips, president of the suffrage league; Mrs. McDuffie and Mr.

Myrick, publisher of the "Farm and Home" and "Good Housekeeping."

Headquarters were opened in a vacant store with daily meetings and

teas; addresses were given before the Board of Trade, the teachers,

the Woman's, the Mothers', the Socialist and the College Clubs, the Y.

M. C. A. training school and other groups; colored slides of suffrage

events were shown and prominent local women opened their homes for

social affairs. Much interest was aroused and permanent Springfield

headquarters were opened soon afterwards. Boston started to organize

by wards and invitations were printed in various languages. The first

meeting, in Ward 8, arranged by Mrs. Leonard, was attended by nearly

1,000 women and there were speeches in English and Yiddish. A class to

train suffrage speakers was started. A suffrage club was organized in

the College of Liberal Arts of Boston University. The suffragists sent

Alfred H. Brown to help the campaign in the State of Washington.

The general sorrow for the death of Julia Ward Howe on October 17

brought support to the suffrage movement. In her later years people

had revered her as they revered the flag and all her great influence

had been placed unreservedly at the service of this cause. A large

memorial meeting was held in Faneuil Hall on December 16.

1911. The State convention was held in Boston October 27, 28, the

evening meeting at Tremont Temple addressed by Dr. Shaw and Professor

Edward Howard Griggs. The Boston association raised $1,100 for the

campaigns in Oregon, Kansas, Wisconsin and Michigan and gave Mrs.

Park's services to Ohio and Michigan. A Men's League for Woman

Suffrage was organized at Harvard University under the presidency of

A. S. Olmstead. At the meeting of the New England Association Miss

Blackwell was elected president. Mrs. Howe had held the office

twenty-six years.

Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, one of the few surviving pioneers,

passed away this year. He had been a champion of women's rights for

more than sixty years. When a young minister he spoke for the cause.

He signed the Call for the First National Woman's Rights Convention in

1850. He married Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell in 1855 and

prefixed an approving foreword to their published protest against the

inequalities of the marriage laws. He took part in organizing the

American Woman Suffrage Association, was its president for a year and

an officer in the New England and Massachusetts associations until his

death. For years he was a great power as a lecturer and writer and

addressed suffrage conventions in many States. Beginning with 1870 he

contributed a long series of brilliant editorials to the _Woman's

Journal_. He wrote four books on the woman question and gave 1,000

books about women to the Boston Public Library. The founder of Smith

College said she was led to leave her fortune for that purpose by

reading his article, Ought Women Learn the Alphabet?

1912. The State annual meeting was held in Boston, October 11, with an

unusually large attendance from western Massachusetts. In 1913 it met

in Boston May 27, 28. The executive secretary, Mrs. Marion Booth

Kelley, reported that 111 indoor meetings and 45 outdoor meetings had

been held in the past six months. It was voted to have a suffrage

parade in Boston the following spring. There was much doubt of the

propriety of this but when a rising vote of the women present was

taken to see how many would march almost the whole convention rose.

1914. The State annual meeting was held in Boston May 1 and 2, and

again in 1915 on May 13-15. The latter opened with a brilliant banquet

at the Hotel Somerset, attended by about 800. Mrs. Park presided and

among the speakers were ex-Governor Bass of New Hampshire, ex-Governor

Foss of Massachusetts, Dr. Hugh Cabot and Mrs. Judith W. Smith, aged

93. Suffrage clubs were reported at Wellesley, Smith and Mt. Holyoke

Colleges, the last formed largely through Miss Mildred Blodgett,

assistant professor of geology. A band concert and a mass meeting on

the Common closed the convention.

1916. At the State annual meeting in Boston May 18, 19, dues were

abolished and provision made for organizing the State along political

party lines, as recommended by the National Association. Mrs. B. F.

Pitman of Brookline gave a large reception. The treasurer reported

receipts of $67,232, expenditures of $63,483.[83]

1917. At the annual State meeting on May 10 resolutions were adopted

calling upon the 125,000 enrolled members to "show their patriotism by

doing their utmost to help their country and the world," especially

along the five lines recommended by the National Suffrage Association;

urging nation-wide prohibition as a war measure and commending the

efforts to minimize moral dangers at the training camps; protesting

against "any attempt to lower educational standards or to weaken the

laws safeguarding the workers, especially women and children," because

of the war emergency. The Twentieth Century Club rooms were crowded at

the New England Conference and Festival. Miss Blackwell presided. A

greeting from the National Association was brought by Mrs. Nettie

Rogers Shuler, its corresponding secretary, and speakers were present

from all the New England States. Pledges and a collection were taken

for the Maine campaign and it was voted to give $2,000, a bequest from

Miss Marian Shannon, to the National Association, to help it.

1918. At the winter business meeting held in Fitchburg February 26

Mrs. Pitman reported that more than $30,000 had been raised by the

association for war work. The State annual meeting in Boston on May

24, 25 was crowded and exciting. A resolution pledging the

association's support to the country in the war was passed by

acclamation, and it responded to the request of Mrs. Catt, president

of the National American Suffrage Association, to follow its program

of war work. The convention voted with enthusiasm to take up the

circulation of the national petitions for the Federal Amendment and

also to give $600 to the National Association to finance an organizer

in Oklahoma, where a suffrage campaign was in progress and the

Massachusetts "antis" were financing the opposition. In the evening a

magnificent meeting was held in the Opera House with Mrs. Grace A.

Johnson presiding and addresses by Mrs. Catt and Dr. Shaw. The

collection of $1,124 was given to the Red Cross.

On August 13 the State and Boston associations celebrated the

centenary of Lucy Stone's birth by a luncheon at the Hotel Somerset,

Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird presiding, with addresses by ex-Governor

Walsh, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, D. D., 93 years of age;

Mrs. Judith W. Smith, almost 97; Miss Blackwell and Mrs. Maud Howe

Elliott. Letters and telegrams of appreciation were received from

President Wilson's secretary in his behalf; from Theodore Roosevelt,

ex-Governor McCall, Mrs. Catt, Mayor Andrew James Peters of Boston

and many others. The fall meeting was held in Boston November 30, when

Miss Mary Garrett Hay, national vice-president, spoke on the national

suffrage situation and there were addresses by heads of civic and

philanthropic organizations.

1919. The mid-winter meeting was held in Worcester February 15 and

eight young girls presented to Miss Blackwell the national petition

bearing 16,434 names, many more than the quota for this city. The

State meeting was held May 21, 22, in Boston. While it was in session

the news came that the Federal Suffrage Amendment had passed the U. S.

House of Representatives. This called out great enthusiasm and it was

voted to telegraph Mrs. Maud Wood Park: "Three cheers for our

Congressional Chairman! Very proud that Mrs. Park is a Massachusetts

woman!" The following Sunday the Boston association held a meeting in

Tremont Theater to rejoice, with Samuel L. Powers, a prominent

Republican lawyer, presiding, and addresses by Mrs. Park, Joseph

Conry, a prominent Democrat, and Secretary of State Langtry for

Governor Coolidge.

1920. The annual meeting was again held in Boston, May 27, 28, Mrs.

Bird presiding. She stated that it was the 100th anniversary of the

birth of Julia Ward Howe, to whose work for suffrage and other good

causes a heart-felt tribute was paid. Mrs. Bird presented Miss

Blackwell with a laurel wreath as representing the pioneers and as

having been at the head of the association when victory was won. As

the complete ratification was almost at hand it was voted to take

legal steps to dissolve the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.

Later it was decided, in accordance with the policy of the National

Association, to continue it as a skeleton organization with the same

officers until all possible need for it should be over. The State

League of Women Voters was organized, with Mrs. George R. Fearing,

Jr., as chairman and Miss Blackwell as honorary president, the

delegates and members of the association enrolling in the new society.

The New England Woman Suffrage Association never formally disbanded

but simply ceased to meet.

From 1910 onward what had tended most to increase membership was the

formation of the Woman Suffrage Party to work as the State

association, with a non-dues-paying membership of men and women,

similar to the political parties, having district leaders, precinct

captains and ward chairmen, strictly non-partisan and solely to

promote woman suffrage. The first chairman was Mrs. Gertrude Halladay

Leonard. A convention was held in Faneuil Hall on March 5, 1912, at

which time twenty-three of the twenty-six Boston wards had been

organized, also Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Newton and many

other cities and towns. The membership was 25,000 and by the

referendum campaign in 1915 it had advanced to about 250,000.

This change in the type of organization was indicative of a change in

the whole suffrage movement. It was recognized that more widely

diffused education on the subject was needed and that suffrage must

become a political issue. The suffrage leagues were changed into

political district organizations; the parlor meeting gave place to the

outdoor meeting; State headquarters were moved from No. 6 Marlboro

Street, a residential section, to 585 Boylston Street in a business

building, and local societies were kept in touch. Every effort was

made to reach labor unions and other organizations of men with

speakers and educational propaganda and to carry information to the

man in the street, who often had never heard of the Woman Suffrage

Association. The executive board met every two weeks and later every

week or oftener. Mrs. Page, its chairman, was followed in 1911 by Mrs.

Marion Booth Kelley; in 1912 by Mrs. Gertrude B. Newell, and in May,

1913, Mrs. Leonard was elected and served to October, 1917. Upon her

resignation Mrs. Grace A. Johnson was chosen, who was succeeded by

Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird.

In 1912 a new State organization, called the Political Equality Union,

was formed, with Miss Mabel Gillespie as chairman, Mrs. FitzGerald as

secretary and Dr. Lily Burbank as treasurer, which made a special

effort to reach the labor men and women. As the vote on the

constitutional amendment approached, in order that there might be no

overlapping, ten per cent. of the State was assigned as a field for

the work of the Union and the rest for that of the State association.

The two cooperated in legislative work. The Union disbanded in

November, 1916, advising its members to join the State association.

CAMPAIGN. Through the campaign year of 1914, preceding the vote on a

constitutional amendment, which had been submitted by the Legislature,

the association kept five salaried speakers continually in the field,

besides numerous volunteers. On the list of the speakers' bureau there

were 125 women and 76 men. The State and the Boston headquarters had a

large office force, and in the field were nine organizers, giving full

or half time. The State College Equal Suffrage League handled the

retail literature for the association and took charge of the office

hospitality. The Equal Franchise Committee, Mrs. Robert Gould Shaw,

president, had an important part in the campaign. The Men's League for

Woman Suffrage was reorganized with Oakes Ames as president and Joseph

Kelley as secretary. The Harvard Men's League cooperated in many ways.

The use of one of the University Halls for a speech by Mrs. Pankhurst

was refused to it, much to the chagrin of liberal-minded graduates and

undergraduates, but she held a very successful meeting in a nearby

hall. The use of a hall was refused also for Mrs. Florence Kelley,

although she had spoken at Harvard on other subjects. In order to

avoid further trouble the Harvard Corporation voted that thereafter no

woman should be allowed to lecture in the college halls except by its

special invitation. This rule was abandoned later and Miss Helen Todd

of California spoke on suffrage in Emerson Hall before a large

audience.

Other suffrage organizations sprang up or were enlarged, the Writers'

League, the Players' League, etc. Local branches were built up rapidly

under the leadership of Mrs. Pinkham, State organization chairman, and

by the spring of 1914 there were 138 leagues and committees. Just

before the vote in November, 1915, these had grown to 200. Monthly

conferences of the district leaders were held at State headquarters. A

systematic effort was made to build up strong suffrage organizations

in the cities outside of Boston. Workers and speakers were sent

through the State to help the local workers. In 1914 a series of

two-day conferences was held in eleven of the sixteen counties, the

first day devoted to discussion of work with local leaders and the

second to holding often as many as twenty meetings by a corps of

speakers, at factories, stores, men's clubs, labor unions, church

organizations, on the street, etc.

To educate the men who were to vote upon the question, a State-wide

canvass of voters was begun by Mrs. Crowley, which was carried on up

to election day. A body of from five to seven intelligent women,

informed on the question, re-enforced by local volunteers, called from

house to house, talking to the voter or his wife, leaving suffrage

literature and if possible getting the voter's signature to a card

pledge to vote yes. These canvassers moved from city to city and from

town to town, reaching from one-half to two-thirds of the registered

voters, averaging about 1,500 calls per week and leaving the rest of

the work to be carried on by local women. By election day over 250,000

voters had been interviewed, 100,000 had signed pledge cards and more

than 50,000 others had expressed themselves as favorable.

Much of this work was made possible by the activities of the Ways and

Means Committee of the State Association, under the chairmanship of

Mrs. B. F. Pitman, who, during the many years that she served in that

capacity, repeatedly rescued the association from the verge of debt

and filled up its treasury. Her committee accomplished this by a Bay

State Bazaar held every year at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston; by

balls, theatrical performances, outdoor fêtes, pageants and other

entertainments.

As an extra provision for the campaign of 1915, the Bay State Finance

Committee was formed in 1914 by Mrs. Park, chairman, which with the

State association raised and spent about $54,000 in the campaign. This

was exclusive of the money spent by the various leagues and branches

throughout the State, including $10,820 by the Boston Association for

Good Government.

For two years educational work was pushed in every way. It was carried

into the country districts by systematic trolley and automobile trips,

parties of workers carrying out well planned itineraries in different

parts of the State, involving usually from two to four open-air

meetings per day. Audiences were secured in all the small and

scattered places, even the most remote, by postal notices mailed from

State headquarters several days in advance to every registered voter.

Among the means employed to draw attention were huge "Votes for

Women" kites, voiceless speeches (a series of placards held up to view

in a store window or other public place), distribution of literature

in the baseball parks; a suffrage automobile or a section in the

parades on Labor Day, Columbus Day, etc.; a pilgrimage to Worcester on

the anniversary of the First National Woman's Rights Convention, led

by Miss Florence Luscomb in old-fashioned costume, in Lucy Stone's

carriage; the running of propaganda films in the moving pictures and

the placing of 100,000 brightly painted tin Blue Birds in conspicuous

places throughout the State, each bird bearing the words "Votes for

Women, Nov. 2, 1919." There were speakers and debates at men's clubs,

church organizations, labor unions, in factories, granges, at cattle

shows and at conventions of all sorts.

Large indoor meetings were held, addressed by distinguished visitors

to the State, among them Philip Snowden and Mrs. Snowden, Senator

Helen Ring Robinson of Colorado, U. S. Senators Clapp of Minnesota,

Kenyon of Iowa and Thomas of Colorado. Mrs. Pankhurst and her daughter

Sylvia spoke in Boston and Cambridge with great success. Louis D.

Brandeis, afterwards Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, came out for

woman suffrage. In Boston, under the direction of Miss Mabel Caldwell

Willard, innumerable street meetings were held for a year before the

vote, with mass meetings every Sunday in the Tremont Theater and on

the historic Common.

Press material was supplied to city and country papers. The newspapers

as a whole grew more favorable as time went by but their editorial

pages were much more friendly than the news columns, which frequently

carried stories that were unfair or wholly untrue. The Boston _Sunday

Herald_ printed regular suffrage notes for some months before the vote

and once the daily edition gave the suffragists a full page. The

Boston _American_ let them issue a special supplement, in charge of

Mrs. Jennette A. S. Jeffrey and Mrs. Leonard, and this example was

followed by other papers in the State. As always, the _Woman's

Journal_ did much to hold together, encourage and stimulate the

workers. A special committee distributed more than 100,000 copies of

suffrage speeches made in Congress and more than 300,000 pieces of

other literature within the last few months before the election.

The most impressive publicity put forth by the State association was

the two parades in Boston; the first held May 2, 1914, and the second,

Oct. 16, 1915, just before the election. The first one caused a

sensation. It contained about 12,000 women, with a small section of

men, and was conducted under the chairmanship of Mrs. Leonard, with

Mrs. Page, Mrs. Johnson and nine sub-committee chairmen. It was

extremely well organized and the large mass of totally untrained

marchers was handled so efficiently as to surprise all who saw it.

Delegations from all over New England took part and one from

Australia; women in national costumes; nurses in uniform; delegations

from all the women's colleges in the State and men and women from the

universities; also a singing chorus trained by Dr. Archibald Davidson,

Jr., of Appleton Chapel, Harvard. In the procession were a son, three

grandsons, a granddaughter and two granddaughters-in-law of William

Lloyd Garrison; the daughter of Abby Kelley Foster, the

daughter-in-law of Angelina Grimké and Theodore Weld and the daughter

of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell. The Concord banner was carried

by the grandniece of Louisa M. Alcott. Arrangements had been made for

a delegation from the Boston Central Labor Union but when the time

came the sole marcher to appear was the president, who courageously

marched alone carrying the banner of the union.

The second, called the Victory Parade, was even more successful. It

included about 15,000 marchers with a substantial men's section and

was viewed by 500,000 people. It was reviewed by Governor David I.

Walsh in front of the State House and Mayor James Michael Curley in

front of the City Hall and was followed by a tremendous mass meeting

in Mechanics' Building, addressed by the Mayor and others. Parades

were held also in other large cities.

The State Federation of Women's Clubs at its annual meeting in 1915

endorsed woman suffrage, on motion of Mrs. Herbert J. Gurney, by a

vote of 203 to 99. The extreme to which bitter feeling ran was shown

by a widely advertised attempt to organize a Non-partisan League among

the club women in consequence but only a few hundred joined out of a

federation membership of 65,000. It had been endorsed by the General

Federation and by 28 State federations but in no other had the

defeated minority undertaken to organize another society.

Thirty county fairs out of thirty-seven were covered systematically.

Special help in the campaign work was given by Ohio, Nebraska, Nevada,

New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The question of woman

suffrage was presented before 621 organizations of men through the

efforts of a committee formed for that purpose, under Mrs. Evelyn

Peverly Coe's chairmanship. Women attended nearly all the primaries

and town meetings, distributing literature and urging the men to vote

yes.

As the election approached the work along all lines grew more

intensive. Well-organized victory automobile tours ran steadily

throughout the summer and fall, in the eastern part of the State under

the direction of Mrs. Walter G. Morey and in the western under Miss

Luscomb. Meetings were held at the fashionable hotels on the north and

south shores and outdoor meetings at the popular beach resorts.

Comparatively few were held indoors but 1,675 were supplied with

speakers. Big meetings were addressed in Boston and other large cities

by U. S. Senator William E. Borah and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw. An

elaborate luncheon was given by the Men's League and the State

association at the Hotel Bellevue to the Governors' conference held in

Boston. Valuable help at this time was rendered by Governor Walsh and

the favorable opinions of the Governors of equal suffrage States were

published at length in the Boston papers by the Men's League. At the

last moment mass meetings were held in Boston at Symphony Hall and in

the largest halls of many other cities. A symbolical and picturesque

flag-raising took place on Boston Common. A last-minute circular was

sent to each of the State's 600,000 registered voters. The day before

the vote the railroad stations in Boston were visited morning and

evening and thousands of pieces of literature were given to the

commuters.

On election day, Nov. 2, 1915, practically all the polling places in

the State were covered by 8,000 women, who stood for hours holding

aloft placards reading, "Show your Faith in the Women of

Massachusetts; vote 'Yes' on Woman Suffrage." And yet after all this

strenuous effort and self-sacrificing devotion the amendment was

defeated by a vote of 295,489 to 163,406, a majority of 132,000. The

vote in Boston was: Noes, 53,654; ayes, 31,428; opposing majority,

22,226.

Louis D. Brandeis said in an address on Columbus Day: "I doubt if

there has been carried on ever in Massachusetts--certainly not in my

lifetime--a campaign which for intelligence, devotion and intensity

surpassed the campaign of the women for suffrage. It should silence

any doubt as to their fitness for enfranchisement." The suffragists,

however, had to contend with serious and insuperable difficulties. The

population of the State had changed radically since the early days

when Massachusetts had been the starting point of liberal movements.

For more than half a century its most progressive citizens had been

going west and their places had been filled by wave after wave of

immigration from Europe, largely ignorant and imbued with the Old

World ideas as to the subjection of women. The religious question also

entered in, and, while the Catholic Church took no stand as to woman

suffrage, many Catholics believed that it would be a step toward

Socialism, against which the church was making a vigorous contest. On

the other hand, many Protestants believed that the Catholic women's

votes would be unduly influenced by the priests.

Massachusetts was the home of the oldest and most influential

anti-suffrage organization of women in the United States under the

leadership of Mrs. Charles Eliot Guild, Miss Mary Ames, Mrs. James

Codman, Mrs. Charles P. Strong and others. Few of its members did any

active work but they were connected through the men of their families

with the richest, most powerful and best organized groups of men in

the State, who worked openly or behind the scenes against woman

suffrage. They had an influence out of all proportion to their

numbers. Most of the literature, most of the money and a liberal

supply of speakers for anti-suffrage campaigns all over the country

had emanated from this association. While always posing as a woman's

protest, the real strength of the movement was in the men.

In May, 1912, a Man's Anti-Suffrage Association had been organized,

its Executive Committee consisting of ten lawyers, one cotton broker,

one Technology Professor, the treasurer of Harvard College and the

treasurer of the Copley Society. Other societies were organized

later. All through the summer and fall of 1915 the women's and the

men's organizations and various groups and combinations of men, who

for one reason or another did not want equal suffrage, worked publicly

and privately in every conceivable way against the amendment. They

held meetings, mostly indoor, sent out speakers, advertised in street

cars, prepared and mailed to every voter at great expense an elaborate

pamphlet, The Case Against Woman Suffrage, full of misrepresentations,

and did all an active opposition could do, and they had an efficient

and highly paid Publicity Committee. The liquor interests fought the

amendment from start to finish. Pink slips were passed out in saloons

on election day, saying, "Good for two drinks if woman suffrage is

defeated."

The vote was curiously uniform. Every part of the State gave an

adverse majority; so did every city and town except Tewksbury and

Carver; and generally in about the same proportion--places with strong

suffrage organizations and places with none; whether the work done in

them had been much or little; even towns where a majority of the

voters had signed pledge cards promising to vote for the amendment

voted adversely and in about the same ratio. The vote was the largest

ever cast on any amendment in the State. By appealing adroitly to all

kinds of prejudices, as on the religious question, the opposition got

out an enormous number of men who generally did not vote at all.

Both sides were required by law to file at the State House a record of

their campaign expenses. An analysis of the lists showed that the bulk

of the anti-suffrage campaign fund was made up of personal

contributions, four-fifths of them from men, and more than

three-fifths of the total from 135 men, whose average donation was

$235. The slogan of their campaign had been that women did not want to

vote. The official figures showed that those who claimed to speak for

"80 per cent. of the women" received 80 per cent. of their

contributions from men, and not from the rank and file of men but

chiefly from bankers, brokers and powerful directors of the monied

section of Boston. The bulk of the suffrage campaign fund came from

fairs, sales and entertainments and of the personal contributions more

than four-fifths were from women, their average donation being $17.

After the election in 1915 there was started a State branch of the

Congressional Union, later called the National Woman's Party, formed

some years before to push the Federal Amendment. It was under the

leadership of Mrs. Morey, chairman, and other women most of whom had

been active with the State association during the campaign. The defeat

of the State amendment caused the work of all organizations to be

directed toward the submission of the Federal Amendment.

At the annual meeting of the State association in May, 1916, a budget

of $30,000 was adopted and $20,000 toward it was pledged on the spot.

Through the preceding winter the association had five paid organizers,

two of them working in Boston, and a large number of volunteer field

workers, at least 230 in Boston alone. Besides the chairmen for the

sixteen congressional districts, each of the forty senatorial

districts had its chairman, all working under the State Chairman of

Organization, Mrs. Sara S. Gilson. She was followed by Mrs. Mary P.

Sleeper and by Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton, who formed an Advisory Council

of 100 influential men in preparation for the campaign to ratify the

Federal Amendment.

After the United States entered the World War in 1917 the suffrage

organizations, State and local, devoted their efforts largely to

various forms of war work, called for by the Government. They served

on all committees, took part in all "drives," sold Liberty Bonds and

continued their service till the last demand had been met.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Massachusetts Legislature began in 1869 to

grant hearings to women asking for the franchise and it continued to

do so every year thereafter. These hearings usually crowded the

largest committee room at the State House, the throng often extending

far out into the hall. Able arguments were presented by eminent men

and women but it was impossible to obtain favorable action. There was

at least one hearing every year and often several on different

measures. In later years they were generally conducted by Mrs. Maud

Wood Park, Miss Amy F. Acton, a young woman lawyer, or Miss Alice

Stone Blackwell for the petitioners; and by Thomas Russell, Aaron H.

Latham, Charles R. Saunders or Robert Luce, as attorney for the

Anti-Suffrage Association. Miss Blackwell usually replied for the

petitioners. In recent years the suffragists had influential

politicians of both parties to speak at the hearings, thus making

woman suffrage a political question.

1901. The State association asked for the Municipal and Presidential

franchise and for the submission to the voters of a constitutional

amendment giving full suffrage. At the hearing on the latter, held

February 18, the crowd broke all records and members of the committee

who came late had to reach their seats by walking on top of the long

table. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was among the speakers.[84] The

measure was defeated March 11 by a vote, including pairs, of 156 to

53. Individuals petitioned for Municipal suffrage for women taxpayers,

which was referred to the next Legislature without a roll call.

1902. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was

debated in the House on March 5 and defeated by a vote (including

pairs) of 153 to 61. Petitions from individuals for Municipal suffrage

for taxpaying women and that women qualified to vote for school

committee might vote in the primaries on the nominations for it and a

petition of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that women might

vote on licenses, were all rejected, after lively hearings. The

Anti-Suffrage Association opposed all of them.

The great legislative triumph of 1902 was the passage of the Equal

Guardianship bill. Ever since Lucy Stone in 1847 began to urge the

amendment of the old law, which gave the father absolute control, the

suffragists had endeavored to have it changed. Bill after bill, drawn

by Samuel E. Sewall and others, had been introduced and rejected and

it required a tragedy to obtain a new law. Mrs. Naramore of Coldbrook,

Mass., went insane and killed her six young children when she learned

that their father intended to give them away and could legally do so.

This deeply stirred the Rev. Charles H. Talmage, who had conducted the

funeral service, with the six little coffins ranged before the pulpit.

He made a careful inquiry into all the circumstances and gave a full

account of them in the Boston _Herald_ of April 15, 1901 (republished

in the _Woman's Journal_ of April 27). He gave his time and the State

Suffrage Association paid his expenses while he went through the State

enlisting the support of different organizations of women to secure a

change in the law. Mr. Blackwell also put in much time for this

purpose.

When the Equal Guardianship bill was introduced by Representative

George H. Fall of Malden it was backed not only by the suffrage

association but by the State Federation of Women's Clubs, the State W.

C. T. U., the Women's Relief Corps, the Boston Children's Friend

Society and more than a hundred other organizations, aggregating

34,000 women. Among them the Anti-Suffrage Association was not

included. For six years it had been circulating, under its official

imprint, a leaflet against the proposal to give mothers equal custody

and control of the children and in defense of the law as it stood.

The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported adversely by 8 to 3.

The outlook for its passage seemed so dark that Mr. Fall came to the

_Woman's Journal_ office and asked if it might not be better to drop

it and await a more propitious time. Miss Blackwell urged him to push

it to a test. On May 27 it was debated in the House. Representative

Marshall of Gloucester said that the Probate Judges were all opposed

to it; that its advocates were "sentimentalists" and that "it would

create strife, separation and divorce." He added: "Those who appeared

for it before the committee were practically the same crowd that

appeared for woman suffrage." Representative Sleeper exclaimed: "If

you want to enact legislation which will disrupt the home and sunder

the tenderest and most sacred relations, pass this bill!" The House

rejected the committee's adverse report by a viva voce vote and the

next day passed the bill without further debate. It passed the Senate

by a large majority. Thanks and praises were showered upon

Representative Fall, who modestly said that two-thirds of the credit

for working up the case belonged to his wife, Mrs. Anna Christy Fall.

1903. The bill for taxpayers' Municipal suffrage was defeated February

5 without a roll call; the association's petition for a constitutional

amendment by 99 to 87.

1904. Governor John L. Bates recommended woman suffrage in his

Message. The association asked for Municipal suffrage for women having

the same qualifications required of men. The bill was debated in the

House on February 16 and defeated without a roll call. The bill to let

women vote on nominations for school trustees was defeated by 62 to

30.

1905. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was

rejected without a division and without even discussion. Petitions

were rejected for License suffrage, for a vote on school nominations

and to enable women to vote for the appointing officer if the Boston

school board should be made appointive instead of elective. The

association always joined with other societies in asking for measures

for the public welfare.

1906. The association's petition for a constitutional amendment was

debated March 23 and defeated without a roll call. One headed by John

Golden, president of the Textile Workers, for Municipal suffrage for

wage-earning women was also defeated without a division, as were the

petitions for License suffrage and for a vote on school nominations.

1907. The constitutional amendment was debated February 20 and

defeated by 125 to 14. The Good Templars asked for License suffrage

for women. At the hearing the bill was supported by representatives of

the Anti-Saloon League, the W. C. T. U., the Christian Endeavorers,

etc., and opposed by the Anti-Suffrage Association and the attorney of

the Wine and Spirits Wholesale Dealers' Association. A bill requiring

that the same measures be taken to keep the names of women voters

(school) on the register as the names of men failed to pass.

1908. Municipal suffrage for all women, asked for by the association,

was vigorously debated and voted down by 99 to 30. Municipal suffrage

for women taxpayers, asked for by individuals, was defeated without a

roll call.

1909. At the hearing on February 23 the Boston _Herald_, which was not

in favor of equal suffrage, estimated that 2,000 women besieged the

State House. They crowded the corridors and the large portico until

two great overflow meetings were held in the open air at either end of

the broad stairway leading up to the entrance. Later the overflow

meeting moved on to the Common. The huge crowd of women made a deep

impression and was largely featured in the press, which said that

nothing like it had ever been seen in Boston.[85] The hearing was

conducted for the petitioners by Mrs. Crowley and for the "antis" by

Mr. Saunders. He was so impressed by the crowd that his usual sneering

and jeering manner was wholly changed. The suffrage speakers were Dr.

Shaw, John F. Tobin, president of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union;

Rabbi Charles Fleischer, Miss Josephine Casey, secretary of the

Women's Trade Union League; Henry Abrahams of the Central Labor Union;

Miss Rose Brennan of Fall River, Miss Blackwell, Miss Eleanor Rendell

of England, Winfield Tuck and Mrs. Belle Davis. Mrs. Gorham Dana,

Professor Sedgwick and Mrs. George spoke for the "antis." Mrs. Julia

Ward Howe and Ex-Governor Bates, who were to have spoken for suffrage,

could not get into the room.[86] The constitutional amendment was

debated March 23. The galleries were reserved for women, yet many were

turned away. The vote stood 171 noes to 54 ayes, including 11 pairs.

1910. The hearing February 23 on a constitutional amendment was

unusually impressive. It was held in the evening to enable women busy

by day to attend. In the past two or three members of the Legislature

not on the committee had sometimes dropped in. This year about sixty

were present. Mrs. Crowley and Mrs. Luce conducted the hearing for the

two sides. The petitioners had arranged delegations representing

different groups of women--mothers, home-makers, leisure women,

lawyers, mission and church workers, artists, authors and journalists,

doctors and nurses, Socialists, W. C. T. U., the "unrepresented"

(widows and single women), business women, trade unions, teachers,

social workers, taxpayers, saleswomen, clerks and stenographers and

college women. These 1,500 or more marched to the State House from

Ford Hall, each group under its own banner, and presented themselves

before the committee in turn, the spokeswoman of each group telling

briefly why she, and women like her, wanted the ballot. Then they went

over to Ford Hall, where a big rally was held and the main address was

made by Mrs. Fanny Garrison Villard. An overflow meeting was held on

the State House steps addressed by Edwin D. Mead and others. In order

to line up the labor vote in the Legislature, resolutions by different

labor unions, signed by their secretaries, were sent to each

legislator, under the direction of Mrs. Page. The measure was defeated

March 31 by 148 to 47.

1911. For the first time in many years, the Legislative Committee of

the State association, Mrs. Crowley, chairman, appeared, before the

Resolutions Committee of the political parties to urge the adoption of

a suffrage plank. The Democratic party inserted one favoring the

submission of the question to the voters; the Republican party ignored

it. The legislators were interviewed both at the State House and by

representative suffragists within their districts, and they received

suffrage literature. The hearing on February 23 was unusually

successful from a political and publicity standpoint. It was conducted

by Mrs. Crowley and was addressed by Mrs. Park and Mrs. Katharine

Dexter McCormick; John Sherman Weaver, representing the State branch

of the American Federation of Labor, and Henry Abrahams for the Boston

Central Labor Union. Sylvia Pankhurst addressed the committee in a

simple and effective way. Two of the opposition speakers were Mrs.

George and Professor Sedgwick. The debate was spirited and was

conducted for the suffragists by prominent Senators and

Representatives. Four members spoke in opposition. The vote in the

House was ayes, 69, noes, 161; in the Senate, ayes, 6, noes, 31.

During all these years a quiet but effective opposition had been

working at the State House under the direction of Charles R. Saunders,

legislative counsel for the Anti-Suffrage Association.

One of the most significant features in the fall of 1911 was the

political work of Miss Margaret Foley, as it marked the beginning of a

new type of effort. She had made a special trip to England the year

before with Miss Florence Luscomb and Miss Alice Carpenter to observe

the methods of the English suffragettes, who were then receiving great

publicity. After her return she began by attending with other women

the political rallies of the various candidates for the State

Legislature and at the close of each rally asking the candidate how he

stood on the question of Votes for Women. By her knowledge of crowd

psychology and gift as a speaker, she was able not only to handle but

to win the roughest crowd to the consternation of the candidates. When

the candidates for Governor started on their campaign, Miss Foley,

with a group of workers, followed the Republican candidate in a fast

automobile, attended all his meetings, spoke to the crowd on suffrage

after the Republican speeches were over and questioned the candidates

for Governor and other State officers as to their stand on suffrage.

This unique and somewhat sensational method was taken up with avidity

by the newspapers, which gave it front-page articles with

illustrations. Later she turned her attention to the Democratic

candidates. This was kept up until election and suffrage facts and

arguments were presented to thousands of voters who would never

otherwise have heard them.

In 1912 the Legislative Committee, Miss Mary Gay, chairman, conducted

the hearing on February 26. Afterwards a special letter of thanks was

sent to Professor Lewis J. Johnson of Harvard and the Hon. Joseph

Walker for their help at the hearing. The amendment had able support

from members and the campaign work began to show results. The vote in

the House was ayes, 96, noes, 116; in the Senate, aye's, 14, noes, 17.

In the autumn the method was introduced which many believed was

ultimately responsible for putting the amendment through the

Legislature. It was the defeating of individual legislators who had

been prominent opponents by making an active political campaign in

their districts. The first was begun at the primaries against State

Senator Roger Wolcott of Milton, chairman of the Constitutional

Amendments Committee in the preceding Legislature. The women compiled

a record of his negative votes on many liberal measures, including

suffrage, and spread this record before his constituents. This work

was done at the suggestion and under the direction of Mrs. Fitzgerald,

who conducted open-air meetings in the district. The effort to defeat

his renomination in the primary failed, however, largely through their

inexperience. The Legislative Committee at the time consisted of Mrs.

Crowley, chairman, Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Park, Mrs. Page, Miss Foley and

Mrs. Mary Agnes Mahan and remained substantially the same during the

next two or three years, with the addition of Mrs. Marie Burress

Currier, Miss Cora Start and Mrs. Evelyn Peverley Coe. Then they made

a fight against Mr. Wolcott's election and by a most thorough campaign

defeated him at the polls and a Democrat was returned from that

district for the first time in many years.

This year marked the high tide of the Progressive party in

Massachusetts. It had put a straight suffrage plank in its platform

and its members in the Legislature were very helpful. The defeat of

Wolcott, the publicity, the increasing vote in the Legislature and the

general stirring of the suffrage question, had caused the opponents to

fear that the constitutional amendment would be submitted.

Consequently a bill was filed calling for another referendum like the

one in 1895 which would have no effect after it was taken. The

Executive Board of the State association protested against it but the

situation looked extremely dark. Levi H. Greenwood, President of the

Senate, and Grafton D. Cushing, Speaker of the House, were bitter

opponents of woman suffrage and on the Committee on Constitutional

Amendments there was only one avowed friend, Lewis H. Sullivan of

Dorchester. The association's Legislative Committee worked strenuously

to pledge votes against the bill. A visit to every editor in the city

by Mrs. Page and Mrs. Crowley enlisted them against it and the

numerous editorials that followed were sent day by day to the

legislators: The bill's support dwindled, and on April 18 it was

defeated in the House by 117 to 73, although the Speaker left the

chair for the only time that session to argue in favor of it.

At the hearing on the submission of the constitutional amendment,

Louis D. Brandeis, ex-Congressman Samuel L. Powers, Joseph Walker and

Professor Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard spoke in favor and letters

were read from Samuel W. McCall, afterwards Republican Governor;

Charles Sumner Bird, the Progressive leader, and Thomas W. Riley, an

influential Democrat. For the first time since 1895 woman suffrage

commanded a majority in the House, the vote standing ayes, 144, noes,

88, but this was not the necessary two-thirds and the Legislative

Committee consented that it might be voted down in the Senate,

provided the "straw" vote bill was defeated at the same time.

It now seemed practically certain that the amendment would pass the

next Legislature. In the fall of 1913 the Boston Equal Suffrage

Association defeated Walter R. Meins of the 21st Suffolk District; the

Legislative Committee of the State Association defeated

Representatives Butler of Lowell and Underhill of Somerville at the

primaries, and Bliss of Malden and Greenwood, president of the Senate,

at the election. This being the first time for many years that a

Democrat had been returned from Greenwood's district, his defeat

caused a sensation.

In 1914 the Progressive party, the State Federation of Labor, the

Socialists and the State Suffrage Association all introduced suffrage

measures. The Progressive and Democratic parties had planks in their

platforms recommending the submission of the constitutional amendment

to the voters and Governor Walsh was in favor of it. The suffragists

were unable to get a plank in the Republican platform. For reasons of

political expediency, Mrs. Crowley turned over the conduct of the

hearing to John Weaver Sherman, representing the State Federation of

Labor. There were speeches in favor by Guy A. Ham, chairman of the

Resolutions Committee of the State Republican convention; Henry

Sterling, representing the American Federation of Labor; Mrs. William

Lloyd Garrison, Jr., Mrs. Pinkham and Mrs. Katherine Lent Stevenson,

president of the W. C. T. U. Letters were read from ex-Governor Bates

and Sherman K. Whipple, Republican and Democratic leaders. The Women's

Political Equality Union had speakers from the Textile Workers' Union

of Boston and the unions of the telephone operators, candy-makers and

street-car men. The debate in the House was successfully led by

Sanford Bates, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.

The resolution to submit the amendment passed by 168 to 39 in the

House and 34 to 2 in the Senate, commanding the required two-thirds

for the first time, but it had to pass a succeeding Legislature.

In 1915 the legislative work was less onerous and the amendment passed

the House by 193 to 33, the Senate by 33 to 3 and was signed by

Governor Walsh, who presented the pen to Mrs. Crowley. His signature

was not necessary but he wished to show his approval.

Under the Corrupt Practices Act a political committee, so-called, of

at least five men, had to be formed to handle the funds of any group

that spent more than $20 to carry or defeat a constitutional

amendment. A bill was passed which allowed women to form the committee

in the case of the equal suffrage amendment and the following were

named: Miss Blackwell, chairman; Mrs. Blanche Ames, treasurer; Mrs.

Crowley, Mrs. Leonard and Miss Foley. The strenuous campaign and the

defeat of the amendment after a struggle of more than half a century

to have it submitted, have been described.

In 1916 no suffrage bill of any kind was presented to the Legislature

by the State Association but it turned its attention to congressional

work. This was skilfully conducted by Mrs. Grace A. Johnson, chairman;

members of Congress were interviewed, letters and telegrams sent to

the Congressional Judiciary Committee and delegates to the National

party conventions were urged to support suffrage planks. When these

planks were secured in the national platforms of all parties during

the summer the victory was celebrated with a mass meeting in Faneuil

Hall.

In 1917 Massachusetts held a Constitutional Convention. The Act

calling it, in describing those to whom its recommendations should be

submitted for ratification, used the word "people." A bill drawn by

Mrs. Crowley was filed in the Legislature by the State Suffrage

Association asking that women be considered people within the meaning

of this Act. The Senate asked the opinion of the State Supreme Court

as to its constitutionality and she filed a brief. The Supreme Court

decided adversely and in view of the rapid advance of the Federal

Suffrage Amendment the association decided that no State amendment

should be submitted by the convention.

The directions of the National Suffrage Association for congressional

work were carried out. Federal Amendment meetings were held, thousands

of letters sent to members of Congress from their districts and about

500 telegrams sent just before the vote was taken in 1918. The

amendment lacked but one vote of passing the U. S. Senate and it

became necessary to defeat at least one among the anti-suffrage

Senators who were coming up for re-election, so it was decided to

defeat Senator John W. Weeks in Massachusetts. His reactionary record

was spread before the Republican voters by 370,000 circulars and

advertisements in Republican papers. A special campaign among the

working men was made by members of the Women's Trade Union League,

under the leadership of Miss Mabel Gillespie, and among the Jewish

voters, who were normally Republican, under the leadership of Mrs.

Joseph Fels and Mrs. Lillian E. deHaas of New York. The great

popularity of President Wilson at this time was of assistance and also

that of the Democratic candidate for the Senate, ex-Governor Walsh. A

special letter was sent to every listed member of the State

association asking that at least one vote be secured against Mr.

Weeks, with a spirited appeal by Mrs. Ames, who belonged to a

prominent Republican family. Mr. Walsh was elected by about 20,000

majority, the first Democratic U. S. Senator from Massachusetts since

the Civil War.

The Congressional Committee, Mrs. Ames, chairman, sent more than 5,000

letters and telegrams asking suffragists in the State to write and

telegraph the Massachusetts Senators and members of Congress to vote

for the Federal Amendment. Concentrated work was done upon three

doubtful Representatives, one of whom was secured, Carter of Needham.

This proved most fortunate as the House gave exactly the two-thirds

vote.

The work done in 1918 on the great petition for the Federal Amendment

was very successful despite the influenza epidemic. In Worcester,

Springfield, Pittsfield and North Adams women signed numbering more

than 51 per cent. of the men's last vote for President and in Boston

62,000 names were secured or 60 per cent. of that vote. The

anti-suffragists in twenty-four years had accumulated only a little

over 40,000 signatures in the whole State, according to their own

figures. In less than one year the suffragists obtained 70,792 in the

above cities and over 100,000 in the State.

RATIFICATION. When the Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress on

June 4, 1919, the Legislative Committee of the State Association, Mrs.

Anna C. M. Tillinghast, chairman, was expanded into a Ratification

Committee. It had already polled the Legislature, which was in

session. A hearing was held before the Federal Relations Committee

conducted by Mrs. Tillinghast for the suffragists and by Mrs. Henry

Preston White for the "antis," who asked for a referendum to the

voters in place of ratification. The suffrage speakers were Frank B.

Hall, chairman of the Republican State Committee; Joseph Walker,

Progressive Republican; Josiah Quincy, Democrat, Joseph Walsh,

Democrat, of the Senate; Mrs. Bird, Mrs. FitzGerald, Mrs. Pinkham, who

presented a petition of 135,000 names from representative sections of

the Commonwealth; Mrs. Mary Thompson, representing the working women;

Miss Margaret Foley, a prominent Catholic; a representative of the

State W. C. T. U.; Charles J. Hodgson, legislative agent for the

American Federation of Labor. The speakers for the Woman's Party were

Mrs. Morey, Miss Betty Gram, Michael O'Leary, chairman of the

Democratic State Committee, and Mrs. Louise Sykes. On the

anti-suffrage side sixteen women representing the sixteen

congressional districts told of their vote against suffrage in 1915.

Miss Blackwell spoke in rebuttal for the suffragists, Miss Charlotte

Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., for the "antis." B. Loring Young, Republican

floor leader in the House, acted as chairman of the suffrage Steering

Committee in the House and Joseph Knox in the Senate. The committee

reported in favor of ratification with two dissenting.

The debate in the House on June 25 was notable, about fifteen members

speaking on each side. An amendment calling for a referendum was

defeated by 166 to 67 and ratification carried by 185 ayes to 47

noes. The Senate ratified by 34 ayes, 5 noes. Massachusetts was the

eighth State to ratify. Mrs. Tillinghast expressed especial gratitude

for the assistance given by Governor Calvin Coolidge, Lieutenant

Governor Channing M. Cox, Edwin T. McKnight, President of the Senate,

Joseph E. Warner, Speaker of the House, B. Loring Young, Republican,

and William H. McDonnell, Democratic floor leader, Leland Powers of

the House, Joseph Knox of the Senate and the chairmen of the

Republican and Democratic State committees.

After women had been enfranchised the State and the Boston suffrage

associations conducted citizenship schools in every county to instruct

them in their new duties.

LAWS. [The very complete digest of the legislation of the past twenty

years in relation to women and children, especially to those in the

industries, prepared by Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, attorney at law, and

filling nine typewritten pages, has to be omitted for lack of space.]

FOOTNOTES:

[79] The History is indebted for the first part of this chapter to

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, an officer of the National American Woman

Suffrage Association from 1890 to 1912 inclusive; president of the New

England Woman Suffrage Association from 1911, and president of the

Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association almost continuously from 1909

to 1920; and for the second part of the chapter to Mrs. Teresa A.

Crowley, chairman of the Legislative Committee of the State

association from 1909 for many years.

[80] Later presidents were Mrs. Page, Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley, Mrs.

Robert Gould Shaw and Mrs. J. Malcolm Forbes. When Mrs. Park was

called to Washington to become national congressional chairman in 1916

Mrs. Wenona Osborne Pinkham succeeded her as executive secretary.

[81] At the annual meeting of the M. A. O. F. E. S. W. on May 1,

officers were elected as follows: President, Mrs. G. Howland Shaw;

vice-presidents, Mrs. J. H. Coolidge, Miss Anna L. Dawes, Mrs. Charles

D. Homans, Miss Agnes Irwin, Mrs. Henry M. Whitney; corresponding

secretary, Miss L. C. Post; recording secretary. Miss Elizabeth

Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. James M. Codman; executive committee, the

officers and Miss Sarah H. Crocker, Mrs. Gorham Dana, Mrs. Charles

Eliot Guild, Miss Katherine E. Guild, Miss Elizabeth H. Houghton, Miss

Sarah E. Hunt, Mrs. Francis C. Lowell, Mrs. J. H. Millet, Mrs. B. L.

Robinson, Mrs. R. H. Saltonstall, Miss E. P. Sohier and Mrs. Henry M.

Thompson.

[82] Additional speakers through the summer were Miss Margaret Foley,

Miss Gertrude Y. Cliff, Miss Edith M. Haynes, Mrs. Marion Craig

Wentworth, Miss Florence Luscomb, Miss Katherine Tyng, Miss Alfretta

McClure and Miss Rosa Heinzen, the last four college girls.

[83] Much help was given for years by the steady financial support of

Mrs. R. D. Evans, Mrs. Robert Gould Shaw and Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw. The

last named paid the rent of the suffrage headquarters during many

years and her heirs continued this assistance for some time after her

death in 1917.

[84] Many of the same persons appeared at these hearings year after

year. Among those not mentioned who spoke for suffrage between 1900

and 1910 were Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev.

Charles G. Ames, Mrs. Fanny B. Ames, Miss Sarah Cone Bryant, the Rev.

Charles F. Dole, Mrs. Anna Christy Fall, Mrs. Helen Campbell, Miss

Mary Ware Allen, Miss Eva Channing, Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, Miss

Lillian Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott, Frank B. Sanborn, Mrs.

Eliza R. Whiting, Mrs. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, Mrs. A. Watson Lister,

of Australia; ex Governor John D. Long. Letters in favor were read

from Professor Borden P. Bowne, of Boston University, U. S. Senator

George F. Hoar, ex Governor George S. Boutwell, Dr. J. L. Withrow of

Park Street Church, Congressman Samuel W. McCall, Professor W. O.

Crosby of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mrs. Sarah Platt

Decker, president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. May

Alden Ward, president of the State Federation, Mrs. F. N. Shiek,

president of the Wyoming Federation, and Judge Lindsey of the Denver

Juvenile Court.

Among those who spoke in opposition were Professor William T. Sedgwick

of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Mrs. Sedgwick, Mrs A.

J. George, Mrs. Barrett Wendell, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Foxcroft and Dr.

Lyman Abbott of New York. A number of women spoke every year who

opposed the suffrage because it would take women into public life.

[85] The suggestion to get out a record-breaking crowd was made by

Representative Norman H. White of Brookline, the first man for some

years to lead a serious fight in the Legislature for woman suffrage.

The work of getting it out was engineered by Mrs. Crowley, Mrs. Page

and Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, who also arranged the great procession at

the hearing of the following year.

[86] Among the speakers at the overflow meetings on the steps were the

Misses Rendell and Costello, Miss Foley, Mrs. George F. Lowell, Mr.

Blackwell, Mrs. Fitzgerald, John Golden and Franklin H. Wentworth. At

the overflow meeting on the Common Mrs. Fitzgerald presided and Dr.

Shaw was the chief speaker. A great meeting in Faneuil Hall had been

addressed by Dr. Shaw and others the night before.