NEBRASKA.[107]
The History of the movement for woman suffrage in Nebraska from 1900
to 1920 naturally divides itself into three periods. The first period
extends from 1900 to 1912. During those years the organization was
supported by a small but faithful group whose continuous effort at
educating public sentiment prepared the way for the work that
followed. The second period included the years from 1912 to 1915,
during which time a campaign for full suffrage by an amendment to the
State constitution was carried on. The third period from 1915 to 1920
was marked by the passage of a partial suffrage law in 1917, which was
an issue during the preceding two years; an attack on that law through
the initiative and referendum; the successful defense of it by the
State Suffrage Association and the ratification of the Federal
Amendment at a special session in 1919, which marked the end of a long
contest.
Miss Laura Gregg, a Nebraska woman, was put in charge of the State
suffrage headquarters at Omaha in October, 1899, by Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee of the National
American Suffrage Association, and remained four years. During that
time conventions and conferences were held, much field work was done
and the membership was increased to nearly 1,200. At the annual
convention at Blair in October, 1900, Mrs. Catt, now national
president, was present. Mrs. Clara A. Young of Broken Bow was elected
State president, relieving Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward of Chadron, who had
pressing business obligations. Her section of the State, however,
remained one of the suffrage strongholds and she was always one of the
largest contributors. Other officers elected were, vice-president,
Mrs. Amanda J. Marble of Broken Bow; corresponding secretary, Miss
Nelly Taylor of Merna; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida L. Denny of
Lincoln.
In 1901 the State convention was held in Lincoln November 12-14,
welcomed by Mayor T. C. Winnett. A reception was given at the Lindell
Hotel to the fifty-six delegates and Mrs. Catt, who had spent sixteen
days in the State, attending conferences in Omaha and eleven other
places. An address by Governor E. P. Savage, one by Mrs. Catt, and a
debate between Miss Gregg and A. L. Bixby, editor of the _State
Journal_, who took the negative, were the evening attractions. There
was a work conference led by Mrs. Catt and reports were given by the
officers and by State workers, including Mrs. Maria C. Arter of
Lincoln; Mrs. K. W. Sutherland of Blair, Miss Taylor, Mrs. Mary G.
Ward of Tecumseh, Mrs. Jennie Ross of Dakota City, Mrs. Hetty W. Drury
of Pender, with a "question box" conducted by Mrs. Catt. The next
afternoon the speakers in a symposium were Mrs. Anna A. Wells of
Schuyler, J. H. Dundas of the _Auburn Granger_, Mrs. Emma Shuman of
Nebraska City, Mrs. Rosa Modlin of Beaver City, Mrs. C. W. Damon of
Omaha, Mrs. Mary E. Jeffords of Broken Bow, Mrs. Alice Isabel Brayton
of Geneva and Mrs. Belle Sears of Tekamah.
The sum of $1,312 had been expended during the year, including the
cost of headquarters and field work. Pledges to the amount of $1,000
were made for the next year. The large dailies of Omaha and Lincoln
had given much attention to the subject of woman suffrage and over 150
weeklies had published matter furnished by the press departments. Mrs.
Young, Mrs. Marble, Miss Taylor and Mrs. Denny were re-elected; other
officers were: Treasurer, Mrs. Mary E. Dempster, Omaha; first auditor,
Mrs. Hayward, second, Mrs. Sears; press chairman, Mrs. Lucie B. Meriom
of Beaver City.
This convention was a type of those held during the next three or four
years. County conventions were frequent and local clubs were active. A
small printed sheet called the _Headquarters Message_, edited by Miss
Gregg, filled with State suffrage news, club reports, National
recommendations, etc., was sent monthly to the workers. During the
spring of 1902 Miss Gail Laughlin, a national organizer, spent two
weeks organizing new clubs and arousing old ones and Miss Gregg and
Mr. Bixby debated in towns in eastern Nebraska. A series of parlor
meetings in Omaha increased the interest there. Mrs. Marble was
chairman of the Committee on Assemblies and during the summer the
suffrage question was presented at the State Fair, the Epworth
Assembly, Chautauquas, pioneer picnics and other gatherings. The
committee included later Mrs. O. B. Bowers, Tekamah; Mrs. Ellen A.
Miller, Beatrice; Mrs. Ollie King Carriker, Nebraska City; Mrs. Anna
Pickett, Broken Bow. Miss Gregg spent the autumn in field work
throughout the State. The annual convention was held at Tecumseh
December 1-3, with a large attendance. The program included the Mayor,
Governor-elect J. H. Mickey, the Hon. C. W. Beal, Senator O'Neill, and
other prominent citizens. A memorial hour was given to Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and to Nebraska suffragists who had died during the year. It
was resolved to push press work, county organization, new memberships
and work before assemblies.
In 1903 branch headquarters were established at the Lindell Hotel,
Lincoln, for work with the Legislature. The delegates to the national
convention in New Orleans in March were accompanied home by Miss
Laughlin for organizing work. Assisted most of the time by Miss Gregg
she visited thirty-five cities and towns, speaking from one to three
times in each place, gained 403 new members and collected about $200.
She spoke at five Normal Schools during the summer and had
headquarters at the Northwest G. A. R. encampment and several
Chautauquas. The State convention was held at Nebraska City, October
6-8. The program was enriched by the address of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
national vice-president, on The Fate of Republics. Miss Laughlin made
a strong speech and there were many new names on the program. To the
previous plan of work had been added suffrage contests, literature in
libraries and church work; the peace and industrial work of the
National Association had been endorsed and committees formed.
In January, 1904, Miss Gregg was sent by Mrs. Catt to Oklahoma, where
her services as organizer were very much needed. The State
headquarters were transferred to Tecumseh with the secretary, Mrs.
Mary G. Ward, in charge. Mrs. Young edited the _Headquarters Message_
and Mrs. Myrtle W. Marble of Humboldt attended to the publishing and
mailing. A Suffrage Cook Book was prepared and published and became a
source of considerable revenue. Mrs. Lulu S. Halvorsen of Nebraska
City was press chairman. Miss Laughlin spent a month speaking and
organizing. The State convention was held at Geneva November
21-December 1, Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Denver a principal evening
speaker. With the withdrawal of Miss Gregg and the conviction that no
amendment of any kind could be carried under the existing law, the
interest of the local organizations began to decline and the two brave
and faithful women who had carried the heaviest part of the burden
were now finding it too heavy for their strength. Mrs. Young took the
headquarters to her own home in Broken Bow and Mrs. Marble did all
kinds of work at all times if it helped the cause.
Mrs. Young kept the clubs at work during 1905 and a full delegation of
fourteen was sent to the national convention at Portland, Oregon, but
her health began to fail and at the State convention held at Broken
Bow October 10-12 she was compelled to give up the presidency. The
executive board needed her counsel and experience and she accepted the
position of honorary president. Mrs. Marble was made president and the
other officers were re-elected with Miss Mary H. Williams as
historian. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado was the principal
speaker. There were seventeen addresses of welcome from representative
citizens.
Mrs. Marble kept up the work in 1906 as far as it was possible. She
began publishing an annual report of the year's work, a pamphlet of
about 70 pages, containing a roster of the clubs and much useful
information, and continued it during the four years of her presidency.
With Miss Williams she attended the national convention at Baltimore.
The State convention met at Lincoln, October 2, 3, in All Souls'
Church with Dr. Shaw as evening speaker. A memorial meeting was held
for Susan B. Anthony, with the Rev. Newton Mann of Omaha, her former
pastor in Rochester, N. Y., as speaker.
The State convention of 1907 met in Kenesaw October 1, 2. The
legislative work had been to obtain a memorial to Congress asking for
a Federal Suffrage Amendment. More conventions passed woman suffrage
resolutions during the summer than ever before. On October 7 the
beloved leader, Mrs. Young, passed away. In November Miss Gregg was
sent by the National Association to assist Mrs. Marble and remained
until the middle of January, doing office and field work.
In February, 1908, Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston made a visit to the
State and formed College Woman Suffrage Leagues in the State and
Wesleyan Universities and among graduates in Lincoln. Miss Williams
was made chairman of a committee to raise Nebraska's pledge of $300 to
the Anthony Memorial Fund. At the State convention in Lincoln Nov. 5,
6, Mrs. Marble was obliged to decline the presidency and was made
vice-president. The Rev. Mary G. Andrews of Omaha was elected in her
place; but from this time until her death, April 6, 1910, Mrs. Marble
never ceased to do everything in her power to forward the success of
the suffrage movement.
Early in 1909 the petition of the National Association to Congress for
an amendment of the Federal Constitution was begun with Miss Williams
chairman of the committee and 10,386 signatures were secured. Mrs.
Philip Snowden of England lectured in Lincoln during the session of
the Legislature and many of the members heard her. The annual
convention was held in Lincoln November 18, 19. Mrs. Andrews had gone
to Minneapolis and Dr. Inez Philbrick of Lincoln was elected
president. A lecture tour was arranged for Dr. B. O. Aylesworth of
Denver for the autumn of 1909 and again in 1910; Men's Suffrage
Leagues were organized in Omaha and Lincoln and many new clubs formed
of people of influence. The convention was postponed to March, 1911.
The regular convention of 1911 was held in Lincoln November 20-22.
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst was the speaker and the audience filled the
largest assembly room.
The convention of 1912 met in Omaha December 4-6, and it was decided
to go into an active campaign to secure the submission of a
constitutional amendment by petition in 1914. The Initiative and
Referendum Law had been adopted the preceding month, which required
the signature of 15 per cent. of the total vote cast at the last
election, the signers coming from two-fifths of the counties. This
meant 37,752 names from thirty-eight counties. Nebraska has
ninety-three counties and an area of 77,520 square miles. Officers
elected to serve throughout the campaign were: Henrietta I. (Mrs.
Draper) Smith, president; Mrs. Kovanda, vice-president; Miss Williams,
corresponding secretary; Miss Daisy Doane, recording secretary;
Gertrude Law (Mrs. W. E.) Hardy, treasurer; Mrs. Grace M. Wheeler,
first and Elizabeth J. (Mrs. Z. T.) Lindsey, second auditor; committee
chairmen; Mrs. Wheeler, Education; Mrs. A. E. Sheldon, Finance; Mrs.
Hardy, Publicity; Mrs. Edna M. Barkley, Speakers; Mrs. A. H. Dorris,
Press.
Headquarters were opened Jan. 3, 1913, in the Brandeis Theater
Building, Omaha, and maintained through the winter of 1912-13. Mrs.
Draper Smith had at once assumed her duties as president and appointed
Mrs. W. C. Sunderland chairman for the second congressional district,
including Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties. She had asked Mrs.
Lindsey to be chairman of Douglas county in which Omaha is situated,
who soon had ten precincts organized under capable chairmen, and a
little later every ward in Omaha and South Omaha. On February 8 Dr.
Shaw, the national president, arrived in Omaha for a conference with
the workers. On Sunday afternoon she addressed a mass meeting in the
Brandeis Theater at which there was not even standing room. John L.
Kennedy presided. The committee of arrangements included the Rev.
Frederick T. Rouse of the First Congregational Church; Judge Howard
Kennedy, Superintendent of City Schools; E. U. Graff, City Attorney;
John E. Rine, C. C. Belden and the officers of the suffrage
association. A resolution was before the Legislature to submit an
amendment to the voters but it was so evident that it would not be
passed that the work for the initiative petition went on rapidly. The
last of February thirty-six Omaha women and others from over the State
went to Lincoln to see the vote taken in the House. The proposal was
defeated, only one man from Douglas county voting for it.
In the early spring the headquarters were moved to Lincoln and the
petition work for the State was managed from there, with the
exception of that of Omaha. Throughout the year the task was continued
of obtaining the signatures in the various counties, all done by
volunteers. It was necessary at the same time to create public
sentiment and organize clubs in preparation for the campaign for the
submission of the amendment which would follow. In Omaha Mrs.
Sunderland soon turned the district organization over to Mrs. James
Richardson and took the position of city chairman. Meetings were held
with prominent local speakers. On November 5 Chancellor Avery of the
State University spoke for woman suffrage before the State Teachers'
Association in the First Methodist Church. Two days later Dr. Shaw
addressed it in the auditorium. She spoke at noon before the
Commercial Club, a distinction given by it to a woman for the first
time. On Nov. 6, 7, the State convention was held in Lincoln and Mrs.
Clara Bewick Colby, formerly of Beatrice, was made honorary president.
In January, 1914, a Men's Suffrage League was formed in Omaha with E.
H. Geneau, T. E. Brady, Henry Olerichs and James Richardson promoting
it. On February 2 a thorough canvass of the business part of the city
was begun by the women. Mrs. Lindsey thus described it:
With a blizzard raging and the thermometer at 5 degrees below
zero women stood in drug stores and groceries, and visited office
buildings, factories and shops, wherever permission could be
obtained, soliciting signatures for six consecutive days. Mrs. C.
S. Stebbins, nearly seventy years of age, stood at the street car
barns and filled several petitions and Mrs. Isaac Conner, a
suffrage worker since 1868, made a similar record. Mrs. W. P.
Harford and Mrs. George Tilden arranged to have people standing
at the church doors for names at the close of service on Sunday.
Many ministers offered their churches to the committee and spoke
of the matter from their pulpits. Of all the Protestant churches,
only the Episcopal refused the committee's request, Dean James A.
Tancock of Trinity Cathedral and the Rev. T. J. Mackay of All
Saints declining. Petitions were kept open at the _Daily News_
office and other offices and places of business. Fifteen of the
leading drug stores offered space to the women under the
direction of Mrs. E. S. Rood, and it was decided to continue the
intensive campaign until the 12th, when the county chairman had
called a meeting at the city hall to celebrate Lincoln's
birthday, to hear Medill McCormick of Chicago and to announce
results. A large crowd of petition workers, sympathizers and
members of the Men's League was present. While the goal for
Douglas county was 5,000 signatures over 9,000 had passed
through the hands of the county chairmen on their way to the
Secretary of State.
Three days later Mrs. J. W. Crumpacker of Kansas appeared in
Omaha to organize the opposition forces. The anti-suffragists,
led by Mrs. Arthur Crittenden Smith, announced a meeting at
Turpin's Hall on the afternoon of February 23. Mrs. Arthur M.
Dodge, president of the National Association Opposed to Woman
Suffrage, and Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary, both of New York,
addressed the meeting. Forty people were present, including five
reporters and a number of suffragists. Those who joined at that
meeting were Mesdames Edward P. Peck, William Archibald Smith, T.
J. Mackay, E. A. Benson and Misses Ada Alexander, Genevra March
and Minnie Martison. A temporary committee on organization was
appointed consisting of Mesdames Arthur C. Smith, J. C. Cowin,
Herman Kountze, J. W. Crumpacker, E. A. Benson; Misses Wallace,
Riley, Alexander and McGaffney.... The next evening a public
meeting was held at the American Theater, addressed by Mrs. Dodge
and Miss Bronson, who were introduced by John L. Webster.[108]
On March 11 the district chairman, Mrs. Richardson, and county
chairman, Mrs. Lindsey, with a group of workers, sorted, checked and
made into neat parcels the precious sheets of paper, which Mrs. Draper
Smith carried to Lincoln that afternoon. Possibly half a dozen men had
circulated petitions but the bulk of the 11,507 names were obtained in
Omaha by women. On March 14 the completed petition for submitting the
amendment was filed with the Secretary of State in the presence of the
Governor. Although only 37,752 signatures were required it had 50,705
and these represented sixty-three counties instead of the required
thirty-eight. They were accepted without question and the amendment
was submitted to the voters at the general election, Nov. 4, 1914.
From that time until the election strenuous and unceasing efforts were
made to secure votes for the amendment. Many prominent Nebraska men
and women spoke and worked for it and a number were brought into the
State. On July 6 was issued in Omaha the famous Manifesto by the
Nebraska Men's Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, a pamphlet of
nine pages, signed by thirty prominent men, all of Omaha.[109] Early
in July Park Commissioner J. B. Hummel of Omaha refused to grant any
more permits for meetings in the parks and the suffragists arranged a
voiceless automobile parade through all of them when they were filled
with people, the cars decorated with banners and pennants carrying
suffrage sentiments. Later the commissioner spoke for the amendment.
On August 4 the first street meeting was held by "General" Rosalie
Jones of New York, who spoke from the steps of the county court house
at noon and on a corner in the evening. This was followed by street
meetings in an endless number of towns. County fairs and all possible
forms of publicity were utilized. An outstanding feature of the
campaign was the automobile tours, the plan of Mrs. F. M. Hall,
chairman of Lancaster county. They covered 20,000 miles and included
500 places containing one-half of the population. Several of the
longest were made and financed by J. L. Kennedy and James Richardson
of Omaha and W. E. Hardy of Lincoln.
Miss Jane Addams came from Chicago and spoke several times in October.
William Jennings Bryan, who was making a political canvass of the
State, never failed to make an appeal for the amendment and on October
31 gave a rousing suffrage speech in Brandeis Theater, Omaha. Dr. Shaw
ended her tour of the State on the 30th, with an address in the
auditorium.
The anti-suffragists were well financed and active. Their National
Association sent Miss Marjorie Dorman to Omaha the last of September,
who opened headquarters on the first floor of the City National Bank.
Mrs. A. J. George was sent in October. On November 2 there appeared in
the morning papers a double-column appeal to the Catholics to vote
against the amendment because back of it were the Socialists,
feminists, etc. It was signed by Mrs. L. F. Crofoot, wife of the Omaha
attorney for the Northern Pacific R. R.
During the campaign a committee of business men was formed by the
brewing interests, which visited the husbands of various women engaged
in the effort for the amendment. They said "suffrage means
prohibition" and threatened the husbands in a business way unless
their wives retired from the work. This committee watched the papers
and when names of women were given as interested in suffrage, even to
the extent of attending a luncheon for some celebrity, the husbands
promptly were visited. Through this intimidation many women were
forced to withdraw and many men who would have subscribed generously
did not dare give more than $25, as the State law required the
publication of names of all contributing over this sum.
Three days before election an "appeal" to its members was sent by the
German-American Alliance, a large and powerful organization. It was
written in German and began as follows:
We consider the proposed amendment to the constitution granting
the right of suffrage to women as the most important question
which will be decided at the coming election. Our State Alliance
took a most decided stand against woman suffrage at its annual
convention held in Columbus August 25. Our German women do not
want the right to vote, and since our opponents desire the right
of suffrage mainly for the purpose of saddling the yoke of
prohibition on our necks, we should oppose it with all our
might.... We most earnestly urge our friends of German speech and
German descent not to permit business or other considerations to
prevent them from going to the polls and casting their ballots as
above directed.
On November 4 the Omaha suffragists stood all day at the polls handing
slips to the voters calling attention to the amendment on the ballot.
The total State vote on it was 100,842 noes, 90,738 ayes; adverse
majority of 10,104. The result of the splendid campaign in Douglas
county, the stronghold of the opponents of all kinds, was seen in the
small adverse majority of 1,188. Throughout the campaign the Omaha
_Daily News_ valiantly championed the amendment and the _Bee_ and the
_World Herald_ as strongly opposed it. The National American Suffrage
Association contributed $4,000 in cash, the services of two
organizers--Miss Jane Thompson and Miss Elsie Benedict--and paid the
travelling expenses of a number of national speakers.
* * * * *
The State convention of 1914 was held in Omaha in December and it was
decided to organize more thoroughly and to seek the advice of the
National Association as to how and when to try again. The board which
had served throughout the campaign was re-elected. When it had begun
there were not fifty clubs in the State; when it ended there were
nearly 500 and it was desired to hold them together as far as
possible. The opponents had insisted that women did not want the
ballot and it was arranged to have an enrollment under the direction
of Mrs. Wheeler. This was continued until the names of 30,000 women
had been enrolled as desiring the suffrage. The press work was
continued and the never-ending effort to educate the people.
The convention of 1915 was held at Columbus in October, was well
attended, with a good program. Mrs. Edna M. Barkley was elected
president. In October, 1916, the convention was held at Hastings. Mrs.
William Jennings Bryan was guest of honor and gave the opening address
on Sunday evening in the Congregational church. Mrs. Catt, now
national president, was present and remained two days. The association
expected to appeal to the voters again in 1918 for full suffrage and
she thought it was in good condition to do so. Her inspiring presence
and her very able address given to a large evening audience made this
one of most notable conventions. Mrs. Barkley was re-elected
president.[110]
In January, 1917, the National Association was beginning the "drive"
to obtain partial suffrage from the Legislatures and Nebraska was
urged to undertake it. The board agreed to concentrate on a bill which
would be constitutional and would permit women to vote for all
officers not specified in the State constitution and upon all
questions not referred to in it.
The bill was introduced by Senator C. E. Sandell of York county and
Representative J. N. Norton of Polk county. Mrs. Barkley was chairman
of the Legislative Committee and no measure ever had more careful and
persistent "mothering" than she gave this one, watching over it for
months. The bill passed the House the middle of February by the
magnificent vote of 73 to 24 in the presence of an audience of
applauding women that filled the galleries. In the Senate the bill
went to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, which granted a
hearing on February 15. After a luncheon with enthusiastic speeches
the entire body of 250 women, including 65 from Omaha, marched to the
State House, where even the aisles were already crowded with women.
Among the speakers were George W. Howard, the eminent professor of
history in the State University, and a number of prominent Nebraska
men and women. Six "antis" were present and their spokesman was Miss
Bronson of New York. The hearing lasted three hours. The bill was held
two months in the committee and finally was reported out and passed by
a vote of 20 to 13 on April 19. It was signed by Governor Keith
Neville on the 21st and gave women the suffrage for presidential
electors, all municipal and most county officers.[111]
The opponents immediately started an initiative petition to have the
law submitted to the voters and on July 22 it was suspended in
operation by the filing of a petition for a referendum on it by the
Anti-Suffrage Association. Mrs. Barkley with others after inspection
concluded it was not a bona fide petition. Accordingly she summoned
her board to discuss taking the proper legal steps to prove that it
was fraudulent and invalid. There was no money in the treasury with
which to undertake expensive litigation and there were those who
thought it wiser not to attempt it. The courage and determination of
Mrs. Barkley were the deciding factor and it was the same brave and
persistent effort that finally won the long-drawn-out legal battle. A
full account was given by Mrs. Draper Smith in the _Woman Citizen_ of
which the following is a part:
For the larger part of the session in 1917 the Senate had been
under great pressure from the public and the press to pass the
bone dry law that the House had almost unanimously adopted.
Nineteen members of the Senate belonged to the clique led by
representatives of the brewing interests. They fought for weeks
to secure the consent of the House to a bill that would have made
prohibition impossible of enforcement. Into this maelstrom the
limited suffrage law was plunged. Only the most careful
leadership secured its final passage....
On the 21st of July the opponents caused to be filed with the
Secretary of State a petition asking that the law be referred to
the voters at the general election in 1918 for approval or
rejection. This petition contained the signatures of 32,896
persons who claimed to be legal voters of the State and to live
at the places designated as their legal residence.... Tact and
patience were employed to get Secretary of State Pool to the
point where he permitted the suffragists to make a copy. Eighteen
thousand names bore the marks of an Omaha residence. The others
were apparently gathered from two-fifths of the counties and
presumptively represented 5 per cent. of the legal voters, as
required by law. Suspicion that fraud and deception had been
used, both in getting genuine signatures and in padding the
lists, early gave way to positive conviction. When the
investigation was complete it was found that 16,460 of the 32,896
signatures were subject to court challenge and that at least
10,000 of them were the product of fraud, forgery and
misrepresentation. Prominent members of the bar volunteered their
services--T. J. Doyle, C. A. Sorenson, John M. Stewart and H. H.
Wilson of Lincoln, and Elmer E. Thomas and Francis A. Brogan of
Omaha. A petition to enjoin the Secretary of State from placing
the referendum on the election ballot was filed in February,
1918.
The Omaha workers were under the leadership of Mrs. H. C. Sumney,
vice-president of the State association, and Mrs. James
Richardson. They discovered that many of the residence addresses
given were in railroad yards, cornfields or vacant lots. Many
others were of men who had never lived at the addresses given;
many affirmed that they had never signed any such petition;
others that they had been induced to sign by the representation
of the solicitor that it was to submit the question of full
suffrage. The work of running down each of the 18,000 names
consumed days of arduous labor. It was also found that page after
page of the names were written by the same hand. Experts in
handwriting from the various banks in Lincoln spent night after
night poring over the original petitions in the office of the
Secretary of State, picking out and listing the forgeries, which
were found to have been scattered all over the State.
The request of the suffragists to the Secretary of State said
that the circulators had committed perjury in certifying that
these fictitious persons had affixed their names in their
presence; that many of the names written thereon were not placed
there, as the law required, in the presence of the circulator,
but that the petitions had been left in pool halls, soft drink
parlors, cigar stores and barber shops where everybody, including
minors, was invited to sign, the circulator later coming around
and gathering them up. It also said that many of the signatures
were obtained by infants incapable at law of properly circulating
or certifying to the petition sheets and that a number of
circulators named had engaged in a systematic course of fraud and
forgery, thereby making invalid all of the names. Attached were
twenty pages of exhibits in proof of these charges.
The evidence in Omaha was matched by that in fifty-nine other
counties taken by the referee and attorney.
The attorneys enjoined the Secretary of State from putting the
referendum on the ballot. Nineteen suffragists appeared as plaintiffs
in the case as follows: Edna M. Barkley, Gertrude L. Hardy, Katharine
Sumney, Ida Robbins, Grace Richardson, Margaretta Dietrich, Grace M.
Wheeler, Ella Brower, Ellen Ackerman, Henrietta Smith, Inez Philbrick,
Harriet M. Stewart, Mary Smith Hayward, Mamie Claflin, Margaret T.
Sheldon, Alice Howell, Ellen Gere, Eliza Ann Doyle, Katharine McGerr.
As the suit had been brought against the Secretary of State the
Attorney General appeared for him and was joined by the attorneys of
the women's Anti-Suffrage Association. They argued that the plaintiffs
were not legally entitled to sue because they were not electors. The
court upheld their right. The Secretary of State became convinced that
the petition was fraudulent and did not appear in the further
litigation. The suffrage forces were prepared with their evidence and
wished to proceed at once with the case but all the dilatory tactics
possible were used and it was not until the full legal time was about
to expire that the opponents were brought to the point on May 17,
1918. Mrs. Draper Smith's account continued:
Inspection of the original petition showed that of 116 petitions
secured by A. O. Barclay 68 were in the same handwriting.... The
name of one Omaha business man who had died three months previous
to the circulation of the petition was found; another who was
killed two months before, and another who had been dead for three
years. Witness after witness testified that his name on it was
forged.
Several other circulators forged so many names we asked that all
their work be thrown out. The hearing developed that forty
ex-saloon keepers and bartenders had these petitions on the bars
in their soft drink places; 831 names were secured by Dick
Kennedy, a negro who could neither read nor write. He appeared in
court in jail clothes, being under indictment for peddling
"dope," and was unable to identify the petitions certified by
him. Ten boys, ranging in age from 8 to 15, were circulators.
Several men who could not read or write testified that they
supposed their names were being taken for a census. Many thought
the petition was to "bring back beer." One man was told it was to
pave an alley. At one hearing interpreters had to be used for all
but two men. The treasurer of the Anti-Suffrage Association, Mrs.
C. C. George, whose name appears as witness to the signatures of
81 certificates on the back of Barclay's petitions, testified
that she did not remember him. On the back of each petition is a
certificate in which the circulator certifies that each man
signed in his presence and the signature must have two witnesses.
The soft drink men and others testified that although the name of
Mrs. George appeared as witness to their signatures they had
never seen her. She testified that the petitions went through the
hands of her association.
The following question was asked of another "anti," wife of a
rector: "Had you known that co-workers with you were Dick
Kennedy, an illiterate negro; Abie Sirian; Gus Tylee, employee of
Tom Dennison and a detective of doubtful reputation; 40 soft
drink men; Jess Ross, colored porter for Dennison; Jack
Broomfield, a colored sporting man and for twenty years keeper of
the most notorious dive in Omaha, and many others of this
character, would you have worked with them and accepted the kind
of petition they would secure?" She replied: "It would have made
no difference to me. I was working for a cause and would not have
cared who else was working for the same."
The testimony showed that the anti-suffrage association of Omaha,
under the leadership of Mrs. Crofoot, president, had at first
endeavored to employ to take charge of the work of circulating
the petitions the man who had conducted the publicity department
for the brewers in 1916.
The allegations of fraud were proved to the satisfaction of the
District Court. The opponents appealed from its decision, which was
confirmed by the Supreme Court in June, and the women entered into
possession of this large amount of suffrage. By order of the court the
anti-suffragists, together with the State, had to pay the costs of the
long legal battle which ended on January 25, 1919, in a glorious
victory for the suffragists. The costs were approximately $5,000.
RATIFICATION. The State convention of 1917 was held in Omaha in
December and it was omitted in the fall of 1918 on account of the
influenza, and none was held until 1919. The Federal Amendment had
been submitted by Congress on June 4 and a Ratification Committee had
been appointed consisting of Mrs. Barkley, Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Wheeler
to secure an early calling of a special session of the Legislature.
It was arranged for the State convention to meet in Lincoln at the
time Governor Samuel R. McKelvie had called this special session to
ratify the amendment. The convention _en masse_ saw the ratification
of both Houses on August 2 by unanimous vote and had the joy of being
present when it was signed by the Governor, who had been a consistent
friend of the cause. The regular session had memorialized Congress by
joint resolution to submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment and
requested Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock of Nebraska to vote for it. He
voted against it every time it became before the Senate. The other
Senator, George W. Norris, voted in favor each time and was always a
helpful friend of woman suffrage.
The last State convention met in Omaha June 13-15, 1920, with 104
delegates in attendance. With Mrs. Charles H. Dietrich, who had been
elected president the preceding year, in the chair, the association
was merged into the Nebraska League of Women Voters and Mrs. Dietrich
was made chairman.
On Saturday, Aug. 28, 1920, at noon, whistles were sounded and bells
were rung for five minutes in Omaha and South Omaha to celebrate the
proclamation by the Secretary of State at Washington that the woman
suffrage amendment was now a part of the constitution of the United
States and the struggle was over.
In December, 1919, there assembled in Lincoln a convention to rewrite
Nebraska's constitution, to be submitted to the electors Sept. 21,
1920. This convention put a clause in the new constitution giving full
suffrage to women. Using the power delegated to it by the Legislature
it provided that women should vote on the constitution and that the
suffrage amendment should go into effect as soon as the adoption of
the constitution was announced by the Governor. The rest of it was to
wait until Jan. 1, 1921. This was done in order that women might vote
at the general election in November, 1920. Before the constitution
went to the voters the Federal Amendment was proclaimed and women were
fully enfranchised. With women voting the constitution received 65,483
ayes, 15,416 noes.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Grace M.
Wheeler, historian of the State Woman Suffrage Association, and Miss
Mary H. Williams, member of the State Board from 1905.
[108] A State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was formed, whose
Executive Committee consisted of Mesdames Edward Porter Peck,
chairman; Henry W. Yates, John C. Cowin, J. W. Griffith, W. H. Koenig,
L. F. Crofoot, Gerrit Fort, John L. Webster, Helen Arion Lewis, Arthur
Crittenden Smith, T. J. Mackay, F. N. Conner; Miss Janet M. Wallace,
with Mrs. William Archibald Smith, secretary, and Mrs. Frank J. Noel
treasurer; Mrs. S. H. Burnham of Lincoln, Mrs. J. D. Whitmore and Mrs.
Fred W. Ashton of Grand Island, Mrs. A. D. Sears, Mrs. Charles Dodge
and Miss Maud May of Fremont, with Mrs. Crumpacker as special
representative of the National Association in the headquarters at 536
Bee Building.
[109] This Manifesto will be found in the Appendix.
[110] Besides those mentioned the following served on the official
board: Miss Lincola S. Groat, Mrs. Alice I. Brayton, Mrs. Stearns,
Mrs. Myrtle W. Marble, Dr. Emma Warner Demaree, Mrs. Ida Ensign, Mrs.
Rosa Modlin, Mrs. F. B. Donisthorpe, Mrs. Mary P. Jay, Mrs. Theresa J.
Dunn, Mrs. Margaret J. Carns, Mrs. Julia N. Cox, Mrs. Ada Shafer, Mrs.
Frank Harrison, Mrs. E. L. Burke, Miss Ida Bobbins, Mrs. M. Bruegger,
Mrs. E. S. Rood, Mrs. Lydia Pope, Mrs. Jessie Dietz, Mrs. J. H.
Corrick, Mrs. Halleck F. Rose, Mrs. H. C. Sumney, Mrs. Dietrich, Mrs.
Ellen Ackerman, Mrs. Ella I. Brower, Miss May Gund, Mrs. E. F. Bell,
Miss Edith Tobitt, Mrs. Kate Chapin House.
[111] In March under the auspices of the National Association suffrage
schools were held in Omaha and Lincoln. The instructors were Mrs.
Nettie R. Shuler, chairman of organization, Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its
recording secretary, and Mrs. T. T. Cotnam and the subjects taught
were Suffrage History and Argument, Organization, Publicity and Press,
Money Raising and Parliamentary Law. Of the nineteen schools held by
the National Association in various States none was larger. By request
night schools were opened with a crowded attendance at all sessions.