MINNESOTA.[91]
The great event for the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association in 1901
was the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association
May 30-June 5 in Minneapolis. Large audiences night after night filled
the First Baptist Church to listen to the eloquent addresses of Miss
Susan B. Anthony, honorary president; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
president, and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president of the
association; Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_,
Rachel Foster Avery and other speakers of national fame. The officers
were entertained at West Hotel and the 200 delegates in the homes of
suffragists. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, who was the chairman of
arrangements, was elected second auditor of the National Association.
The State convention of 1901 was held in Mankato in October, with Mrs.
Catt as the principal speaker. Mrs. Maud C. Stockwell and Mrs. Jennie
Knight Brown were re-elected president and vice-president and Mrs. A.
H. Boostrom appointed chairman of press. Through the generosity of
Mrs. E. A. Russell of Minneapolis Miss Anna Gjertsen was engaged to
organize the Scandinavian women. Among the names enrolled in the
suffrage booth at the State Fair were those of Theodore Roosevelt,
Vice-President of the United States; Gen. Nelson Miles, Gov. Samuel R.
Van Sant and Archbishop Ireland. The annual convention of 1902 was
entertained in June by the St. Paul Club, which had been organized a
few months before. Mrs. Hannah Egelston was elected vice-president.
The press chairman stated that fifteen newspapers were using suffrage
articles and the enrollment and the petition work for Presidential
suffrage was being successfully carried on. The association was
incorporated this year.
In September, 1903, the State convention was held in Austin with Dr.
Shaw the chief speaker. The former officers were re-elected. Reports
showed old clubs revived and new ones formed through the efforts of
Miss Gail Laughlin, one of the national organizers. Mrs. Eugenia B.
Farmer was this year appointed chairman of press and held the office
till 1915 when she was made honorary chairman. She did not relinquish
the work but continued to assist her successor, Mrs. W. H. Thorp. For
eight years Mrs. Farmer kept press headquarters in the Old Capitol,
St. Paul. She added new papers to the list which accepted suffrage
matter till it had 500, about all of them, and much of the suffrage
sentiment in the State can be traced to her years of work. The
quarterly bulletin was edited by Mrs. Julia B. Nelson.
In October, 1904, the convention met in Anoka and Dr. Shaw addressed
large audiences. Miss Marion Sloan of Rochester was made
vice-president. During the year the association offered prizes for the
best essay on woman suffrage to the students of the four Normal
Schools, many competing. The annual meeting for 1905 was held in
Minneapolis in November. In answer to the many calls a Lecture Bureau
of twenty well-known speakers directed by Dr. Annah Hurd had been
organized; a generous contribution was sent to Oregon for its
campaign.
In March, 1906, an impressive memorial service was held in Minneapolis
for the beloved leader, Susan B. Anthony. Another was held in
Monticello in November during the State convention. It was reported
that the Governor had appointed Dr. Margaret Koch, one of the active
suffragists, to the State Medical Board; that many organizations had
passed resolutions endorsing suffrage and that in June Mrs. Stockwell
had presented the greetings of the National Association to the General
Federation of Women's Clubs in convention in St. Paul. In October,
1907, the convention met in Austin. During the year a Scandinavian
association had been formed by Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, with Mrs. Jenova
Martin president, and a College Equal Suffrage League at the State
University by Professors Frances Squire Potter and Mary Gray Peck,
with Miss Elsa Ueland president. Miss Laura Gregg, sent by the
National Association, had organized suffrage committees in twelve
towns. It was decided to circularize the teachers of the State.
In November, 1908, the convention was held in Minneapolis with Dr.
Shaw and Professor Potter as speakers. Mrs. Martin was elected
vice-president. The energy of all suffrage workers had been turned
toward the great petition to Congress for the Federal Amendment
planned by the National Association and directed in the State by Mrs.
F. G. Corser of Minneapolis. Mrs. Maud Wood Park made a tour of the
State in March speaking in eight colleges in the interest of the
National College Equal Suffrage League. In October, 1909, the State
convention went to St. Paul. The _Bulletin_, official organ of the
association and a valuable feature of its work, had had to be
abandoned because of lack of funds. It had been edited for ten years
by Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, recording secretary, who sometimes mimeographed
it herself, sometimes had it typewritten and when possible printed,
always herself addressing and mailing copies to the State members. An
important event of the year was the unanimous endorsement of woman
suffrage by the State Editorial Association, secured by Miss Mary
McFadden, a journalist. For the first time a speaker was supplied to
the State convention of the Federation of Women's Clubs.
In November, 1910, the State convention was entertained by the
Minneapolis Political Equality Club, organized in 1868. Mrs.
Stockwell, who had served as president for ten years, asked to be
relieved from office and Miss Emily Dobbyn of St. Paul was elected
president with Dr. Margaret Koch, who had been treasurer ten years,
first vice-president. The petition was reported as finished with
20,300 names. It was sent to Washington and presented to Congress by
Senator Moses E. Clapp with an earnest plea for its consideration. In
October, 1911, the convention again went to St. Paul and Mrs. A. T.
Hall of this city was elected president.
The convention of 1912 was held in Minneapolis in September. Under
direction of Mrs. A. H. Bright of this city the first automobile
suffrage parade took place, the route extending from the court house
where the convention was held to the Fair grounds where addresses were
made. Eleven new clubs were reported. The Woman's Welfare League of
St. Paul joined the State association and did excellent work for
suffrage. Mrs. Hall was re-elected president and removing from the
State later Mrs. P. L. De Voist of Duluth was selected to fill out her
term.[92]
In October, 1913, at the annual convention in St. Paul, Mrs. Bright
was elected president. The Minneapolis Equal Suffrage Club, which had
been organized independently by Mrs. Andreas Ueland, joined the State
association and later became the Hennepin County suffrage
organization. A Women Workers' Suffrage Club was formed with Mrs.
Gertrude Hunter, president.
In November, 1914, at the convention in Minneapolis, Mrs. Ueland was
elected president and served for the next five years.[93] It was
reported that the Everywoman Suffrage Club of colored women had been
organized in St. Paul with Mrs. W. T. Francis president. The clubs of
St. Paul and Minneapolis, at the request of the National Association,
had joined in the nation-wide demonstration May 2 with mass meetings
in each city, a street meeting and parade in St. Paul at noon and a
joint parade in Minneapolis in the afternoon with 2,000 men and women
in line.
In October, 1915, the convention took place in St. Paul. Up to this
time headquarters had been maintained free of charge in Minneapolis,
at first in the office of Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Margaret Koch and
for many years in the office of Drs. Ethel E. and Annah Hurd. This
year they were opened in the Essex Building of that city and a paid
secretary installed. Organization by districts was arranged for. In
conformity with plans sent out from the National Association,
quarterly conferences were held in different sections of the State.
"Organization day" on February 15, Miss Anthony's birthday, was
celebrated in fifteen legislative districts with meetings and
pageants. During the national convention in Washington this year
deputations of suffragists from Minnesota called on the State's two
Senators and ten Representatives asking them to promote the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. To assist the campaign the services of the State
organizer, Mrs. Maria McMahon, were given to New York for September
and October; Mrs. David F. Simpson and Miss Florence Monahan
contributed their services as speakers and $400 were sent to the New
Jersey campaign.[94]
In October, 1916, at the convention in Minneapolis, a delightful
feature was a banquet of 500 covers at the Hotel Radisson, where
President George E. Vincent of the State University made his maiden
speech for woman suffrage. Mrs. Simpson presided. There were favorable
reports from officers, committee chairmen and organizers. At the
request of the National Association deputations had called upon the
State delegates to the national Republican and Democratic conventions
urging them to work for suffrage planks in their party platforms.
Twenty-five Minnesota women marched in the parade in Chicago at the
time of the Republican National Convention and many went to the
National Democratic Convention in St. Louis on a "suffrage barge,"
holding meetings on the boat and at a number of stopping places. In
May the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference was entertained in
Minneapolis and a mass meeting of 2,000 was held. Automobile speaking
trips were made. Money, organizers and speakers were contributed to
the Iowa campaign.
In December, 1917, the convention again met in Minneapolis with Mrs.
Nellie McClung of Edmonton, Alberta, as speaker. Pledges were made of
$8,000 for State work and $3,000 to the National Association as the
State's apportionment. In order to push Federal Amendment work
chairmen were secured for the ten congressional districts. Resolutions
for it were passed at many conventions. In May Dr. Effie McCollum
Jones of Iowa had made a lecture tour of the State, contributed by the
National Association, and addressed 10,000 people. An attractive
concrete building had been erected on the State Fair grounds by the
Scandinavian Association and presented to the State association.[95]
This was known as the Woman Citizen Building and a tablet was placed
in it in memory of Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, one of Minnesota's staunchest
pioneer suffragists.
Owing to the influenza epidemic all meetings were forbidden in 1918.
This year district organization was completed. With three organizers
in the field, Mrs. Rene F. Stevens, Mrs. James Forrestal and Mrs. John
A. Guise, ratification committees in 480 towns outside of the three
large cities had been appointed and 90,000 signatures obtained for the
national petition under the leadership of Miss Marguerite M. Wells. In
March the following plank had appeared in the platform of the
Democratic Statewide Conference held in St. Paul: "We believe in the
principle of State woman suffrage as supported and commended by our
leader, Woodrow Wilson." This was the only official Democratic
endorsement ever received and there was none from the Republicans.[96]
A State conference was held at Minneapolis in May, 1919, with Mrs.
McClung as the principal speaker. On June 9 in the rotunda of the
Capitol at St. Paul an impressive program of addresses and ringing
resolutions was given, 3,000 people taking part in this celebration of
the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress on the
4th. A. L. Searle marshalled the 250 gaily decorated automobiles
carrying the Minneapolis delegates, accompanied by a band.
RATIFICATION. Monday, September 8, was a beautiful and spirited
occasion. Automobile parades assembled in the two cities and started
for the Capitol with cars gay with sunflowers, goldenrod, yellow
bunting and the word "suffrage" on the windshields. By 10 o'clock the
galleries and the corridors were filled to overflowing with
enthusiastic suffragists. Out-of-town women flocked in to join the
festivities. The Federal Amendment came up immediately after the
organization of both Houses in special session but the lower House won
the race for the honor of being first to ratify, for it took up the
amendment without even waiting for Governor Burnquist's message, and
when it was presented by Representative Theodore Christiansen it was
ratified by a vote of 120 to 6. The Senate considered it immediately
after hearing the Governor's message. It was presented by Senator Ole
Sageng, called the "father of woman suffrage" in Minnesota, and with
no debate went through by 60 to 5.
The moment the Senate vote was polled the corridors, floors and
galleries of both Houses were in an uproar, hundreds of women cheered
and laughed and waved the suffrage colors, while in the rotunda a band
swung into the strains of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Then
Representatives and Senators became the guests of the State Suffrage
Association, whose members having leased the Capitol restaurant for
the day cooked and served an appetizing chicken dinner. There was a
banquet at the St. Paul Hotel in the evening with 400 guests.
On that memorable day the curtain was rung down on the last act of the
many years' long drama participated in by a vast host of consecrated
women with inspired faith in the ultimate attainment of justice.
A conference was called for Oct. 28, 29, 1919, in Minneapolis and a
State League of Women Voters was formed with Mrs. Ueland as chairman.
It was voted to delay the dissolution of the State association until
the 36 States had ratified the Federal Amendment and the date was set
at the first annual meeting of the League.[97] Mrs. Ueland soon
resigned to take the chairmanship of the Legislative Committee and
was succeeded by Miss Wells, the vice-chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1903. A Presidential suffrage bill was introduced
in the House and energetically pushed but was not reported by the
Judiciary Committee.
1905. A large delegation headed by Mrs. Stockwell, State president,
called on Governor John A. Johnson and urged him to recommend woman
suffrage in his message to the Legislature but he failed to do so. The
resolution to submit a constitutional amendment was introduced in the
House but not reported by the Judiciary Committee.
1907. After the resolution for a suffrage amendment was presented a
hearing was granted by the Senate Elections Committee and the Senate
Chamber secured for it through Senator Virgil B. Seward, who had
charge of it. The college women were represented by Professor Frances
Squire Potter of the University of Minnesota and the committee
reported favorably. It was defeated in the Senate and not brought up
in the House.
1909. At the hearing before the Joint Committee on Elections on the
resolution for a State amendment, which was the largest ever held by
the association, convincing addresses were made by eminent lawyers,
educators and other public men. It was defeated in the Senate by a
vote of 30 to 26; in the House by 50 to 46.
1911. The chairman of the Legislative Committee was Miss Mary
McFadden, who carried out a demonstration on Susan B. Anthony's
birthday--February 15--the presenting by large delegations from the
Twin Cities of a Memorial to a joint gathering of the two Houses with
pleas for a State amendment. The resolution for it, sponsored by Ole
Sageng, passed the House a few days later by a majority of 81 but the
liquor interests and public service corporations defeated it in the
Senate by two votes.
1913. Senator Sageng again had charge of the suffrage resolution,
which passed the House by a majority of 43 votes but failed in the
Senate by three.
1915. Mrs. Andreas Ueland was chairman of the Legislative Committee
from 1915 to 1919 inclusive. Senator Sageng presented the amendment
resolution in the Senate and Representative Larson in the House. An
impressive hearing was held in a crowded Senate chamber, with Senators
J. W. Andrews, Richard Jones, Frank E. Putnam, F. H. Peterson and Ole
Sageng making speeches in favor. Those who spoke against it were
Senators George H. Sullivan, F. A. Duxbury and F. H. Pauly.[98] It
failed by one vote and was not brought up in the House. A Presidential
suffrage bill was also introduced but did not come to a vote.
1917. The suffrage work was confined to the Presidential suffrage bill
which was defeated in the Senate by two votes.
1919. This Legislature adopted a resolution calling upon Congress to
submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment; House 100 to 28 in favor,
Senate 49 to 7. It was decided not to introduce an amendment
resolution but to work for Presidential suffrage. The resolution was
introduced, however, by a small group of women outside the
association. It passed the House by 96 ayes, 26 noes, but was
indefinitely postponed in the Senate. The bill giving women the right
to vote for Presidential electors passed the House March 5 by 103
ayes, 24 noes; and the Senate March 21 by 49 ayes, 11 noes. It was
signed by Governor J. A. A. Burnquist two days later in the presence
of a group of suffragists.[99]
FOOTNOTES:
[91] The History is indebted for this chapter to Maud C. (Mrs. S. A.)
Stockwell, for ten years president of the State Suffrage Association
and for over twenty years a member of its executive board. Mrs.
Stockwell wishes to acknowledge assistance from Mrs. David F. Simpson
and Mrs. John A. Guise.
[92] A State Anti-Suffrage Association was organized in Minneapolis in
1912 and later branches were formed in other cities. The president was
Mrs. J. B. Gilfillan of Minneapolis and other active workers were Mrs.
E. L. Carpenter, Mrs. Edmund Pennington and Mrs. Frank Reed of
Minneapolis, Mrs. J. W. Straight of St. Paul and Mrs. J. L. Washburn
of Duluth. Time was given to their speakers at the last three hearings
granted the State Suffrage Association by the Legislature. Miss Minnie
Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association, came
from New York for one.
[93] Too much credit for the final success of woman suffrage in
Minnesota can not be given to Mrs. Ueland, president of the
association for the last five years of its existence. She organized
the entire State, raised large sums of money each year, induced many
prominent women to join in the work, carried out the instructions of
the National Association to the letter, secured legislation, and not
only took advantage of every opportunity for propaganda but created
opportunities.
[94] In 1915 the Congressional Union, afterward the National Woman's
Party, formed an organization in St. Paul with Mrs. Alexander Colvin
chairman. The members were recruited from the State association and
for a few years were active in both organizations.
[95] During the twenty years covered by this chapter the Twin City
suffragists never failed to keep open house during the State Fair,
where speakers were heard and literature was distributed.
[96] Following are the names of State officers besides the presidents
who served over three years: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Jenova Martin, four
years; Mrs. David F. Simpson, three years; Mrs. H. G. Harrison, five
years; Mrs. E. A. Brown, four years; Mrs. C. L. Atwood, six years; Dr.
Margaret Koch, vice-president, three years and treasurer, ten years;
Dr. Ethel E. Hurd of Minneapolis served on the board in different
capacities for twenty-two years, as corresponding secretary for four
years and recording secretary four; Mrs. Eva W. Morse, recording
secretary five years; Mrs. Victor H. Troendle, treasurer five years.
Those who served from four to ten years as directors on the State
board were: Mesdames A. T. Anderson, Julia B. Nelson, Margaret K.
Rogers, E. A. Russell, C. F. Lutz, Elizabeth McClary, A. H. Bright and
A. B. Jackson.
[97] Following are a few names not mentioned elsewhere in the chapter
of the many devoted friends and workers during the score of years: Dr.
Cyrus Northrup, Professor Maria Sanford, Judge A. C. Hickman,
Professor A. W. Rankin, Dr. Elizabeth Woodworth, Mesdames Margaret K.
Rogers, Martha A. Dorsett, May Dudley Greeley, M. A. Luley, Eva S.
Jerome, Alice Taylor, Lilla P. Clark, Milton E. Purdy, C. P. Noyes,
Adelaide Lawrence, O. J. Evans, George M. Partridge, J. W. Andrews, C.
M. Stockton, Stiles Burr, J. M. Guise, J. W. Straight; Misses Ella
Whitney, A. A. Connor, Nellie Merrill, Hope McDonald, Josephine
Schain, Blanche Segar, Cornelia Lusk, Martha Anderson (Wyman); Messrs.
C. W. Dorsett, S. R. Child, A. H. Bright.
[98] For ten years Senator Sullivan of Stillwater, and for twenty-two
years Senator W. W. Dunn, attorney for the Hamm Brewing Company of St.
Paul, worked actively against all suffrage legislation, in late years
being able to defeat bills by only two or three votes.
[99] Among legislators not mentioned who were helpful during these
years were Senator S. A. Stockwell and Representatives W. I. Norton,
H. H. Harrison, W. I. Nolan, Sherman Child, John Sanborn and Claude
Southwick.