NEVADA.[112]
Towards the close of the last century, through the efforts of Miss
Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president and
vice-president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, a
Nevada association had been formed with Mrs. Frances A. Williamson
president and later Mrs. Elda A. Orr was elected. Mrs. Mary A. Boyd
was an officer. It held three or four successful conventions and had
bills before the Legislature but no record exists of any activities
after 1899.
In November, 1909, Mrs. Clarence Mackay, who had organized an Equal
Franchise Society in New York City, of which she was president, wrote
to Miss Jeanne Elizabeth Wier, professor of history in the University
of Nevada, asking if a branch society could not be organized in that
State. Later Professor Wier conferred with Mrs. Mackay in New York. In
the autumn of 1910 an agreement to assist in such an organization was
signed by a large number of prominent men and women in Reno and
finally in January, 1911, Professor Wier issued a call for a meeting
to be held in her home to form a society. Mrs. O. H. Mack, president
of the Federation of Women's Clubs, sent an invitation to each club to
be represented at this meeting. It was soon evident that it would be
too large for a private house and on January 24 a conference was held
in the law office of Counsellor C. R. Reeves to arrange for a Saturday
evening mass meeting. There were present Mr. Reeves, who was made
temporary chairman; Professor Wier, Mrs. Mack, Mrs. Henry
Stanislawsky, Professor Romanzo Adams, Judge William P. Seeds,
Assemblyman Alceus F. Price, J. A. Buchanan, Mrs. Frank Page, Mrs.
Frank R. Nicholas, who was made secretary, and J. Holman Buck, who was
elected permanent chairman. A telegram of greeting was read from Mrs.
Mackay.
A general meeting for organization was held the evening of February 4
in Odd Fellows' Hall, which was far too small for the audience. The
name State Equal Franchise Society was adopted. Mrs. Stanislawsky was
elected president; Colonel Reeves, Mr. Price, Mrs. Mack and Miss
Felice Cohn, vice-presidents; Mrs. Nicholas, Mrs. Grace E. Bridges and
Mrs. Alice Chism, recording and corresponding secretary and treasurer.
A membership of 177 was reported. The board of twenty-one directors
included most of those who have been named and in addition Dr. J. E.
Stubbs, president of the university; Mrs. A. B. McKinley, Dr. Morris
Pritchard, W. D. Trout, Mrs. Nettie P. Hershiser, Mrs. George
Armstrong, Mrs. Florence H. Church, Mrs. G. Taylor, Mrs. Frank
Stickney.[113] Plans were made for a legislative lobby. A report of
the organization was sent to Mrs. Mackay, who consented that her name
should be used as honorary president but took no further interest in
it or in the amendment campaign which soon followed and made no
contribution.
Between the above meetings Assemblymen Arnold and Byrne of Esmeralda
county had introduced a joint resolution on January 30 to submit to
the voters an amendment to the State constitution to give full
suffrage to women. It was referred to the Committee on Elections,
which on February 7 reported it unfavorably. Assemblyman J. A. Denton
of Lincoln county secured a hearing before the Committee of the Whole
on February 20 and a large lobby from the society was present. Mrs.
Stanislawsky and Miss Cohn addressed the committee, emphasizing the
fact that each of the political parties had declared in its State
platform for this referendum and all the women asked was to have the
question sent to the voters. The resolution was put on file but at the
bottom and every attempt to advance it failed but on March 6 it
appeared in regular order. Speaker pro tem. Booth wanted it
indefinitely postponed but was overruled. After numerous parliamentary
tactics it was at length passed by 31 ayes, 13 noes, four absent and
the Speaker not voting. The resolution was first read in the Senate on
March 7 and referred to the Committee on Education. Three days later
it was reported without recommendation. It came before the Senate
March 13 and after considerable "fencing" it passed by 16 ayes, 2
noes, one absent. Mrs. Stanislawsky, Mrs. Mack, Professor Wier, Mrs.
Chism, Miss Cohn and Mrs. Nicholas had worked strenuously in the two
Houses.
The constitution requires that a resolution for an amendment must pass
two successive Legislatures and the new association saw the task
before it of getting the approval of another session in 1913. It
received national and international attention about this time through
a banner six feet high and four wide, presented by Mrs. Arthur Hodges
of New York, with the words, Nevada, Votes for Women, brought out in
sage brush green letters on a field of vivid orange. This was shipped
to New York and carried by Miss Anne Martin of Reno in a big parade in
that city and then taken to London and carried by her and Miss Vida
Milholland of New York at the head of the American group in the great
procession of the Social and Political Union.
Headquarters were opened in the Cheney Building in Reno, Mrs. Hodges
assuming the rent, where visitors were made welcome and literature
given out. A series of lectures until November were arranged, the
first one in the Congregational church, where Mrs. Stanislawsky gave
an address to a crowded meeting. Later she moved to California and in
February, 1912, Mrs. Mack called a meeting and Miss Anne Martin was
unanimously elected president. Mrs. Bridges, Mrs. Chism and Mrs. Mack
were re-elected. The other members of the board chosen were:
Vice-presidents, Mrs. F. O. Norton, Mrs. J. E. Church, Mrs. Jennie
Logan, Mrs. Charles Gulling, Mrs. J. E. Bray, Miss B. M. Wilson;
recording secretary, Mrs. Burroughs Edsall. An active executive
committee was appointed and plans were made for a vigorous campaign.
Mrs. Hodges continued to pay the rent of headquarters and a
substantial bank account was built up by dues, subscriptions and
collections at meetings.
Miss Martin attended the national suffrage convention at Philadelphia
in November, where she told of the need of funds to further the
campaign and secured many pledges and donations. Dr. Shaw, the
president, promised $1,000 from the association after the amendment
was submitted. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont and Mrs. Joseph Fels had
become honorary presidents and the former gave $100; the latter made
her contribution of $500 later. The Massachusetts association, through
Mrs. Maud Wood Park, $100; the National Association, $100 in cash and
$100 in literature; the _Woman's Journal_ $45. California and Arizona
gave funds and literature. A pamphlet entitled Woman Under Nevada
Laws, by Miss B. M. Wilson, an attorney, had been published in a
special edition of 20,000 and proved effective in rousing the women to
a sense of their rights and wrongs.
The rapid organization had its effect on legislators and politicians.
The resolution for submitting an amendment was presented in both
Houses in 1913 and reported favorably by the Judiciary Committees. It
passed in the House on January 24 by 49 ayes, 3 noes, one absent; in
the Senate on January 30 by 19 ayes, 3 noes. On March 3 it was signed
by the Governor.
The educational work was done through the press, the platform and
entertainments. Speakers of national note were secured, among them Dr.
Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, of New York; Dr. Charles F. Aked, of San Francisco; Miss Jane
Addams of Chicago, and Miss Mabel Vernon of Washington. The meetings
were attended by about three men to one woman. Mr. Laidlaw assisted in
organizing a Men's Suffrage League, among whose members were Supreme
Court Justice Frank Norcross, Dr. Stubbs, Superintendent of Public
Instruction John Edwards Bray, S. W. Belford, Charles Gulling, A. A.
Hibbard, Professor J. E. Church, Captain Applewhite, the Rev. Mr.
Adams, the Rev. Mr. Sheldon, George Taylor and John Wright.
At the annual meeting Feb. 25, 1913, it was announced that there were
nearly 1,000 paid up members, with most of the counties organized and
many town societies. "Nevada, the black spot on the map! To make it
white, give women the suffrage," was the constant slogan. Miss Martin,
Mrs. Church, Mrs. Bray, Miss Wilson and Mrs. Bridges were re-elected.
Other members chosen were: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Hugh Brown, Mrs.
Alexander Orr, Mrs. George West, Mrs. Lyman D. Clark, Jr., Mrs. E. E.
Caine, Mrs. Harry Warren; recording secretary, Mrs. J. B. Menardi;
treasurer, Mrs. Mabel Redman; auditors, Mrs. P. B. Kennedy, Mrs. W. T.
Jenkins.
In the little span of days that lay between the election of the State
Executive Committee in 1912 and the legislative session of 1913 the
sixteen counties were organized, each under a chairman. Mrs. M. S.
Bonnifield as chairman of Humboldt county, with her helpers, Mrs. A.
W. Card, Mrs. Mark Walser of Lovelock and Dr. Nellie Hascall of
Fallon, led their branches into the mining fields. It is not easy to
realize the difficulties under which these women labored. Mrs. H. C.
Taylor, chairman of Churchill county, had to drive many miles from her
ranch to attend every meeting. Some of the chairmen were Mrs. A. J.
McCarty, Mineral county; Mrs. Rudolph Zadow, Eureka; Mrs. Sadie D.
Hurst, Washoe; Mrs. Bray, Ormsby; Mrs. F. P. Langdon, Storey; Mrs.
Caine, Elko; Mrs. Minnie Comins MacDonald, White Pine.
Mrs. Church, Miss Mary Henry, Mrs. Hurst, Mrs. Belford, and Mrs. Maud
Gassoway were an active force in organizing societies at Sparks, Verdi
and Wadsworth in Washoe county, the largest in the State. Mrs. W. H.
Bray organized study classes in Sparks and gave prizes for the best
suffrage essays. Mrs. Hurst addressed large street crowds in Reno
every Saturday night. An important feature of the campaign was the
complete circularization of the voters with suffrage literature by the
county organizations and from State headquarters by Mrs. Bessie
Eichelberger, State treasurer for two years, assisted by Miss
Alexandrine La Tourette of the State University; Mrs. Belford, Mrs. P.
L. Flannigan, Mrs. Alf. Doten, Miss Minnie Flannigan, Mrs. Charles E.
Bosnell and Mrs. John Franzman. Mrs. Hood, the second vice-president,
and chairman of civics in the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was
the leading factor in getting its endorsement at its meeting in Reno,
Oct. 30, 1913.
Nevada's population of only 80,000 is scattered over an area of
110,000 square miles, a territory larger than the whole of New
England. Of these, 40,000 are men over twenty-one years of age, of
whom only 20,000 remained in the State long enough to vote at the last
general election--an average of one voter to every five square miles.
Nevada has the smallest urban and the most scattered rural population
in the United States. Reaching and winning this vote was done mostly
by press work and literature. The new voters on the registration lists
were circularized. The personal contact with the voter was
accomplished by street meetings in the cities and towns; in the rural
communities by train, automobile, stage and even on horseback.
All the political parties but the Republican endorsed the amendment in
their platforms and it was supported by labor unions representing
6,000 members. Prestige and assistance were given by an Advisory Board
consisting of U. S. Senators Francis G. Newlands and Key Pittman,
Congressman E. E. Roberts, Governor Tasker H. Oddie, Lieutenant
Governor Gilbert C. Ross, President Stubbs, Bishop Robinson and many
professional and business men. There was fierce opposition from some
newspapers, including the Reno _Evening Gazette_, the leading
Republican paper of the State, but active support from the _State
Journal_, owned and edited by George Darius Kilborn, formerly of New
York, who was always in favor of woman suffrage. The _Western Nevada
Miner_, owned and edited by J. Holman Buck, gave much assistance in
that part of the State.
In canvassing and speaking tours over the State Miss Martin travelled
over 3,000 miles and talked personally to nearly every one of the
20,000 voters. There are 240 election precincts and over 180 were
organized with a woman leader. On Nov. 3, 1914, every county was
carried for the amendment but four, each of these a county with one of
the largest and oldest towns in the State. The vote in Washoe county
was 1,449 for, 2,047 against; in Reno, the county seat, 938 for, 1,587
against. Ormsby county with Carson City gave an adverse majority of
only 141; Storey county with Virginia City of only 31. The total vote
was 10,936 ayes, 7,257 noes--the amendment carried by 3,679. The cost
of the whole three years' campaign was only a little more than $7,000.
At the annual meeting of the Washoe county Equal Franchise Society
after the election it was evident that, having won suffrage, women
recognized their new and enlarged responsibilities and were anxious to
do something for the public welfare and their own development. A mass
meeting was held in the Y. W. C. A. building and the Woman Citizens'
Club was organized with a charter membership of 80. Mrs. Hurst was
elected president. Other officers were: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Belford,
Mrs. C. H. Burke, Mrs. Hood; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mack;
recording secretary, Mrs. Bessie Mouffe; financial secretary, Mrs.
Harold Duncan; treasurer, Mrs. Eichelberger; auditor, Mrs. Katherine
Flett; librarian, Mrs. F. C. MacDiarmid. This club succeeded in
getting a year as a required residence for those from other States
seeking divorce and later another Legislature proposed to repeal it
and restore the six months. Mrs. George F. Nixon, wife of the former
U. S. Senator, was made legislative chairman and headed the women of
Reno who went almost _en masse_ to Carson City to protest but the
pressure on the other side was too strong and the old law was
restored.
In August, 1918, The Woman Citizens' Club endorsed Mrs. Sadie D. Hurst
of Reno for the Assembly, in recognition of what she had done for
suffrage and for the club. She won at the primaries and also at the
polls in November and was the first woman member. The submission of
the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment to the Legislatures by Congress
seemed near and at the request of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the
national president, a Ratification Committee was formed in December.
Helen T. (Mrs. S. W.) Belford was acting chairman with Mesdames
Walser, Hood, McKenzie, Mack, Church, Boyd, Bray, Franzman, Fannie B.
Patrick and Emma Vanderlith members. At the request of this committee
a resolution was presented to the Legislature by Mrs. Hurst on Jan.
22, 1919, asking this body to memorialize Congress in favor of the
amendment. It passed the Assembly January 23 with but one dissenting
vote; the Senate January 29 unanimously and the Nevada U. S. Senators
were requested to present and actively support it.
In March the committee elected Mrs. Patrick delegate to the national
suffrage convention in St. Louis and in April it met to hear her
report and details of the proposed League of Women Voters. The
following July a meeting was held to listen to Mrs. Minnie S.
Cunningham of Texas and Mrs. Ben Hooper of Wisconsin, who were touring
certain States under the auspices of the National Association, to
consult the Governors on the question of special sessions for the
ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been submitted in
June. Mrs. Patrick and Mrs. Belford accompanied them to Carson City
and had an interview with Governor Emmet D. Boyle. In September the
committee considered the offer of a conference of officers and
chairmen of the National League of Women Voters to be held in Reno. It
was arranged for November 20-21, with Mrs. McKenzie chairman of
program, Mrs. Walser of finance, Mrs. Hurst of halls and Mrs. Belford
of publicity.
The conference met in the Century Club House. Mrs Catt, Miss Jessie R.
Haver, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield and Miss
Marjorie Shuler, national chairman of publicity, were the guests of
honor. A luncheon at the Riverside Hotel was attended by about 70 men
and women. An evening meeting was held in the Rialto Theater with Mrs.
Patrick presiding. Governor Boyle introduced Mrs. Catt, who gave a
rousing speech, Wake up America, and the others were heard at this and
other times on the various departments of the league's work. At the
last session a State League of Women Voters was organized and later
Mrs. Belford was elected chairman.
RATIFICATION. Governor Boyle issued a call for the Legislature to meet
in special session Feb. 7, 1920, for the express purpose of acting on
the Federal Amendment, and in his Message when it convened he said:
"While no certainty exists that the favorable action of Nevada will in
1920 assure to the women of the United States the same voting
privileges which our own women enjoy by virtue of our State law, it
does appear certain that without our favorable action national
suffrage may be delayed for such a time as to withhold the right to
vote in a presidential election from millions of the women of
America."
To Mrs. Hurst, the one woman member, was given the honor of
introducing the resolution to ratify in the House. On her motion the
rules were suspended, the resolution was read the second time by title
and referred to the Committee on Federal Relations. A recess of ten
minutes was taken and when the Assembly reconvened a message from the
Senate was received stating that the resolution had passed
unanimously. The House committee recommended it and Mrs. Hurst moved
that it be placed on third reading and final passage. After this had
been done she thanked the Assembly for the honor accorded her and
closed a brief but eloquent speech by saying: "There is no necessity
of asking you to ratify, for I am proud of the men of the West and of
Nevada." As the vote was about to be taken W. O. Ferguson of Eureka
county announced that he would vote against the ratification; that he
was opposed to having the people of this State telling the women of
the Union whether or not they should vote and that he came to Carson
City especially to vote against the resolution. At this stage Speaker
Fitzgerald stated that twenty-seven Legislatures had already ratified
the amendment but so far as he was aware no woman had presided over
one taking such action and he had great pleasure in being able to
request Mrs. Hurst to take charge of proceedings during roll call.
Twenty-five members answered in favor of ratification, and one, Mr.
Ferguson, against it.
Mrs. Hurst declared the resolution carried. At the suggestion of
Assemblyman Sanai an opportunity was given to the women to address the
legislators. Those speaking were Mrs. Patrick, chairman, and Mrs.
Belford, secretary of the Ratification Committee; Mrs. Church,
president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, and Mrs.
Eichelberger, chairman of its suffrage committee; Mrs. Hood, regent of
the State University; Mrs. Maud Edwards, president of the W. C. T. U.,
and Mrs. L. D. Gassoway. All expressed their appreciation of the
special session, to which most of the members had paid their own
expenses. Governor and Mrs. Boyle invited the legislators and the
Ratification Committee to the Mansion for luncheon. And thus was
closed the Nevada chapter on woman suffrage.
A STORY OF THE NEVADA SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN.[114]
In February, 1912, Miss Anne Martin of Reno, who had spent the years
1909-11 in England, during which she worked for suffrage under Mrs.
Pankhurst, was elected president of the State Equal Franchise Society.
Miss Martin, a native of Nevada, was a graduate of the State
University; had the degrees of A.B. and A.M. from Leland Stanford
University and had been professor of history in the former. She had
studied abroad and travelled widely but her whole interest had now
centered in woman suffrage. Miss B. M. Wilson of Goldfield was elected
vice-president and Mrs. Grace Bridges of Reno, secretary. Mrs.
Stanislawsky had removed to California and the organization, with the
long wait between Legislatures and no definite work, had but a small
membership, no county organizations and no funds. It was obvious to
Miss Martin and her associates that, judging by the experience of
other States, the legislative vote of 1911 must be regarded as merely
complimentary and the real battle must be fought in 1913. Miss Martin
therefore began the campaign by organizing the State in 1912. She paid
her own expenses on speaking trips to every county for this purpose,
also on journeys to California, to the Mississippi Valley Suffrage
Conference at St. Louis in April and to the National Suffrage
Convention in Philadelphia in November. Here she enlisted the interest
and financial support of national and State leaders and an advisory
board of influential women outside of Nevada was formed.
In February, 1913, her report made to the State suffrage convention in
Reno showed that the Equal Franchise Society had been developed in one
year into a State-wide body, with practically every county organized
and a large number of auxiliary town societies, and with nearly one
thousand paid-up members. There was a bank balance of several hundred
dollars, from collections at meetings, monthly pledges of members and
gifts from Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Joseph Fels, Mrs. Oliver H. P.
Belmont, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Mrs. George Day (Conn.), and
Connecticut and Massachusetts suffrage associations and other eastern
supporters, and from suffrage leagues of California, Oregon, Arizona
and Colorado. Reports also showed that a press bureau had been
organized at State headquarters (principally Miss Martin and Mrs.
Bridges) by which Nevada's forty-five newspapers, chiefly rural
weeklies, were supplied regularly with a special suffrage news
service; that every editor, all public libraries and railroad men's
reading rooms, more than one hundred school districts and three
hundred leading men and women throughout the State received the
_Woman's Journal_ (Boston) every week, which always contained Nevada
suffrage news; that every voter on the county registration lists had
been circularized with suffrage literature.
An advisory council of the State's most prominent men had been formed.
Every legislative candidate had been asked to vote for the suffrage
amendment, if elected, and, as a result of the favorable public
opinion created by the new State organization, more than the necessary
number had pledged themselves in writing, so the day after the
election in November it was known that there was a safe majority in
the coming Legislature if all pledges were kept. The Legislative
Committee of the Equal Franchise Society was on duty and within the
first two weeks of the session, in January, 1913, the amendment was
passed by both Houses and approved by Governor Oddie.
The problem before the State convention at Reno in February was how to
educate the voters and overcome the active opposition of the liquor
and other vested interests, which were determined to continue Nevada
"wide-open" by "keeping out the women." The convention re-elected Miss
Martin and left in her hands the supervision of building up a majority
for the amendment at the election in November, 1914. During 1913 she
had kept the State organization actively at work by trips through the
northern and southern counties and by securing the help of suffrage
speakers from other States. Miss Wilson, the vice-president and also
president of the Esmeralda County League, with headquarters at
Goldfield, was in general charge of the southern counties, which had a
very large miners' vote. In November Miss Martin had gone as delegate
to the National Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, and there, in
addition to promises of an organizer and money from Dr. Shaw, the
national president, she secured from Miss Alice Paul, chairman of the
Congressional Union, the services of Miss Mabel Vernon, perhaps its
most capable organizer. She also obtained pledges of $1,000 from
Senator Newlands; $1,000 from Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw of Boston through
Mrs. Maud Wood Park; $1,000 from the National American Woman Suffrage
Association; $500 from Mrs. Fels, $300 from Miss Eileen Canfield;
also $250 from Mrs. W. O'H. Martin of Reno and many smaller sums from
individuals and organizations.
With the assurance of an adequate fund, amounting to over $7,000 in
all, the final "drive" for suffrage for Nevada women was begun after
the State convention. Miss Vernon arrived, as promised, in April and
at once made a trip around the State to strengthen the county and
local organizations. At State headquarters in Reno Miss Martin kept in
touch with the work in every section of the State, wrote suffrage
leaflets and planned the final campaign. Its concrete object was to
secure the endorsement of labor unions, women's clubs and political
parties; to rouse as many women as possible to active work and to have
at least one in charge of every voting precinct; to reach every voter
in the State with literature and by a personal message through a
house-to-house canvass, and to appeal to both men and women everywhere
through press work and public meetings addressed by the best speakers
in the country.
The 20,000 voters were scattered over the enormous area of 110,000
square miles. There was only one large town, Reno, with about 15,000
inhabitants, and three or four others with a population of a few
thousands each; the rest of the people lived far apart in families or
small groups, in mining camps on distant mountains and on remote
ranches in the valleys. Nothing could prevent a heavy adverse vote in
Reno and other towns where the saloons, with their annexes of gambling
rooms, dance halls and "big business" generally, were powerful, so
everything depended on reducing their unfavorable majority by building
up the largest possible majorities in the mining camps and rural
districts. "Every vote counts" was the slogan.
In July, 1914, Miss Martin and Miss Vernon started out on their final
canvass of the State, "prospecting for votes" in the mines, going
underground in the vast mountains by tunnel, ladder or in buckets
lowered by windlass to talk to the miners who were "on shift" and
could not attend the street or hall meetings. To reach less than 100
voters at Austin, the county seat of Lauder county, required a two
days' journey over the desert, and many places were a several days'
trip away from a railroad. By automobile, wagon, on horseback,
climbing up to mining camps on foot, the canvassers went; making a
house-to-house canvass of ranches many miles apart; travelling 150
miles over the desert all day to speak to the "camp," which was always
assembled on the street in front of the largest and best lighted
saloon, on their arrival at dusk. Many were the courtesies they
received from shirt-sleeved miners and cowboys. They were also greatly
assisted by the suffrage association's local chairmen, who would
hastily secure substitutes to cook for their "hay crews" and drive
miles to arrange meetings. They always tried to reach a settlement or
hospitable ranch house for the night. Where this was not possible they
slept on blankets in hayfields or on the ground in the heart of the
desert itself. The trip covered 3,000 miles.
Meanwhile at State headquarters in Reno leaflets that had been
carefully written as appeals to "give Nevada women a square deal" were
addressed to voters' lists as they registered for the approaching
election, under the direction of the society's treasurer, Mrs. Bessie
Eichelberger.
A State labor conference representing 6,000 members endorsed the
amendment and every labor union that took a vote on it. The official
endorsements of the Democratic, Progressive and Socialist parties were
obtained. Individual Republicans supported it but the party refused
its approval and the leading Republican newspaper, the Reno _Evening
Gazette_, under the orders of George Wingfield, multi-millionaire,
with other newspapers he controlled, bitterly fought the amendment to
the last. Only one or two newspapers, notably the _Nevada State
Journal_, actively supported it but many published campaign news. Reno
papers contained over 200 columns of suffrage matter. Fremont Older,
editor of the San Francisco _Bulletin_, gave to State headquarters the
valuable services and paid the expenses of Miss Bessie Beatty, a
member of its staff, to direct the State-wide press campaign of news
and advertisements planned for September and October. With the
assistance of President Stubbs and in spite of the opposition of
Regent Charles B. Henderson, a College Equal Suffrage League was
formed at the State University, under the leadership of Miss Clara
Smith, and a suffrage essay contest was promoted in the schools of
the State. Through Judge William P. Seeds' and Miss Martin's efforts a
Men's Suffrage League was formed, to counteract the so-called Business
Men's League, organized to fight the amendment.
A state-wide Anti-Suffrage Society was organized during the last
months, led by Mrs. Jewett Adams and Mrs. Paris Ellis of Carson, Mrs.
Frank M. Lee of Reno and Mrs. John Henderson of Elko. Miss Minnie
Bronson of New York and Mrs. J. D. Oliphant of New Jersey, sent by the
National Anti-Suffrage Association, toured the State under their
auspices. In contrast with the hardships of travel to remote places
endured by the loyal workers for suffrage and the economic problems
always to be solved, the speakers for the "antis" only visited the
large towns, were provided with every obtainable luxury and the
meetings well advertised and arranged.
The organizer promised by the National Suffrage Association, Mrs.
Laura Gregg Cannon, arrived in September and was sent at once to
organize more thoroughly the southern counties, as success depended on
an overwhelming vote from the miners and ranchers there. Miss Margaret
A. Foley of Boston also came, as arranged by Miss Martin, for constant
speaking through the northern and southern counties during the last
two months. Miss Jane Addams gave a priceless four days to a whirlwind
tour. The Overland Limited was stopped for her to speak at Elko and
Winnemucca. She ended her trip at Reno, where she addressed an
overflow mass meeting at the Majestic Theater just two weeks before
election day. A large public dinner was given in her honor at the
Riverside Hotel by the State Franchise Society. Dr. Shaw, tireless
crusader and incomparable speaker, travelled swiftly through the State
by train and automobile during the eight days she gave in October,
which were filled with receptions and crowded meetings. Mrs. Martin
gave a reception in her home in Reno, whose hospitality was extended
throughout the campaign to those who came from outside the State to
help it. Dr. Shaw's strenuous itinerary included meetings at Battle
Mountain, Winnemucca, Lovelocks, Reno, Washoe, Carson City, Virginia
City, Tonopah, Goldfield, Las Vegas and Caliente. She made many
hundreds of votes for the amendment.
Other notable outside speakers and workers, whose interest was aroused
by Miss Martin and who gave their services during the nearly three
years' sustained effort, were Miss Annie Kenney of London, Mr. and
Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Miss Ida Craft and "General" Rosalie Jones of
New York; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. William Kent,
Dr. Charles F. Aked, J. Stitt Wilson, Miss Gail Laughlin, Dr. Mary
Sperry, Mrs. Sara Bard Field, Miss Maud Younger, Miss Charlotte Anita
Whitney, Mrs. Alice Park, Mrs. Eleanor Stewart, Mrs. Mary Ringrose of
California. The last named did valuable work among the Catholics. Miss
Mary Bulkley and Mrs. Alice Day Jackson, a granddaughter of Isabella
Beecher Hooker, whom Miss Martin had interested on her visit to
Connecticut, came at their own expense and for three weeks canvassed
Reno, Carson City, Virginia City and other places. Miss Vernon's work
in organization and her many strong speeches on the streets of Reno
and in meetings throughout the State were an important factor in
winning votes. While many splendid Nevada women worked with enthusiasm
and great efficiency in every county, yet without Miss Martin's
leadership in organizing them and direction of the campaign during the
years 1912-13-14, and without the money she gave and raised, woman
suffrage in Nevada would probably have been delayed for several years.
She personally contributed in her travelling expenses and other ways
over $2,000. Aside from this sum the entire three years' campaign was
made at a cost of $7,000.
Out of the 240 precincts in the State every one that had ten votes in
it was canvassed and open air or hall meetings held before election.
More than 180 were organized, each with a woman leader, who, with her
committee, "picketed the polls" every hour during election day,
handing out the final appeal to give women a square deal by voting for
the amendment. The suffrage map showing Nevada as the last "black
spot" in the West was printed in every newspaper and on every leaflet,
put up in public places and on large banners hung in the streets.
The amendment received the largest proportionate vote for woman
suffrage on record. Reno and Washoe county, as had been anticipated,
went against it by a majority that was brought down to 600. Of the
remaining fifteen counties, three others, the oldest in the
State--Ormsby, Storey and Eureka--also defeated the amendment, but the
favorable majorities of the other northern counties and the staunch
support of the miners in the south won the victory. Esmeralda, a
mining county and one of the largest in population, gave a majority
for the amendment in every precinct. Out of 18,193 votes cast on it,
it had a majority in favor of 3,679, and Nevada gave its leverage on
Congress for the Federal Amendment.
* * * * *
At the annual convention of the State Equal Franchise Society in Reno
in February, 1915, the Nevada Woman's Civic League was formed as its
successor. It continued an affiliated member of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, pledged to support the Federal Amendment.
Its object was to meet a general demand of the newly enfranchised
women for information about the wise use of the ballot.
FOOTNOTES:
[112] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. O. H. Mack,
vice-president of the State Equal Franchise Society.
[113] Charter members besides those already mentioned were Mrs. J. E.
Stubbs, J. D. Layman, C. A. Jacobson, Mrs. Jennie Blanche Taylor, Mrs.
Julia F. Bender, J. E. Church, Miss Laura de Laguna, Grant Miller,
Miss Kate Bardenwerper, Mrs. W. H. Hood, Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Boyd, Mrs.
George McKenzie, Mrs. May Gill.
[114] The History is indebted for this sketch to Miss B. M. Wilson,
vice-president of the State Equal Franchise Society during the
campaign, 1912-1914.