NEW JERSEY. PART I.[118]
The first women in the United States to vote were those of New Jersey,
whose State constitution of 1776 conferred the franchise on "all
inhabitants worth $250." In 1790 the election law confirmed women's
right to the suffrage and in 1807 the Legislature illegally deprived
them of it. In 1867 Lucy Stone, then a resident of New Jersey,
organized a State society, one of the first in the country, which
lapsed after her removal to Massachusetts a few years later. In 1890 a
new State association was organized, which held annual meetings and
was active thereafter, although interest diminished after women lost
their School suffrage in 1897. [See New Jersey chapter Volume IV.]
Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, a daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, was
president from 1893 until 1900, when she declined re-election. Mrs.
Minola Graham Sexton of Orange was elected president at the annual
meeting in Moorestown in November. At that time there were but five
local societies, which she soon increased to fifteen. With her during
the five years of her presidency were the following officers:
Vice-presidents, Mrs. Susan W. Lippincott of Cinnaminson; Catherine B.
Lippincott, Hartford; corresponding secretaries, Dr. Mary D. Hussey
and Mrs. Bertha L. Fearey, East Orange, Mrs. Fanny B. Downs, Orange;
recording secretaries, Miss Jennie H. Morris, Moorestown, Miss Helen
Lippincott, Riverton; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery, South Orange;
auditors, Mrs. Mary C. Bassett and Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, East
Orange; Mrs. Anna R. Powell and Mrs. Louise M. Riley, Plainfield. Mrs.
Riley had started the first woman's club in the State in Orange in
1872.
The Orange Political Study Club was the first suffrage club to join
the State Federation in 1901, which invited other clubs to hear Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Suffrage
Association, give one of her convincing lectures. Mrs. Cornelia C.
Hussey of East Orange held a meeting in her park to hear the reports
of the four delegates who attended the national convention at
Minneapolis. Dr. Hussey gave out suffrage leaflets to the farmers on
their "salt water day" at Sea Girt and to the Congress of Mothers at
Trenton. Mrs. Eliza Dutton Hutchinson, press superintendent, got some
of the plate matter from the National Association for the first time
into four newspapers. Letters were sent to 400 progressive women
telling them how the ballot would aid them in all good work and
inviting them to join the association and many did so. The annual
meeting was held in Newark and Mrs. Howe Hall was elected honorary
president.
In July, 1902, Mrs. Sexton in cooperation with the National
Association, held the first of the seashore meetings that were
continued every summer as long as she was president. They were held
for two days in the Tabernacle at Ocean Grove and welcomed by Bishop
Fitzgerald and Dr. A. E. Ballard, heads of the Camp Meeting
Association. The speakers were Mrs. Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
vice-president of the National Association, Miss Kate Gordon, its
corresponding secretary, and Miss Mary Garrett Hay, a national
organizer. The Mayor and two editors became advocates of the cause. At
the Friends' conference at Asbury Park in September a day was devoted
to political equality and Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman,
president of the New York State Association, spoke. The annual meeting
was held at Orange and a board of directors was elected: the Rev.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Elizabeth; Mrs. Katherine H. Browning,
West Orange; Mrs. Phebe C. Wright, Sea Girt; Mrs. Joanna Hartshorn,
Short Hills; Miss Susan W. Lippincott and Mrs. Elizabeth Vail, East
Orange. Memorials were read for Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mrs.
Cornelia C. Hussey and Mrs. Sexton told of the $10,000 Mrs. Hussey had
left the National Association and of her constant generosity to the
suffrage work in New Jersey for many years. Mrs. Howe Hall and Henry
B. Blackwell gave addresses. Women's clubs were urged to devote a
meeting to the discussion of woman suffrage and the Woman's Club of
Orange, the largest in the State, heard Mrs. Catt and the Outlook Club
of Montclair heard Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Mrs. Florence
Fenwick Miller of England addressed a number of leagues. Miss Susan B.
Anthony was heard early in May at the Political Study Club of Orange.
In 1903 large audiences again attended the two-day suffrage rally
under the auspices of the Camp Meeting at Ocean Grove. Dr. Shaw, Mrs.
Hall, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Lucretia L.
Blankenburg of Philadelphia were the speakers and the interest
resulted in the starting of several leagues along the coast. With the
help of the National Association Miss Mills was engaged for a month,
during which she formed ten new leagues, speaking twenty-four times in
nineteen places. The leagues studied local government and found that
women paid about one-third of the taxes. Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Ellis
Meredith of Denver, Mrs. Stanton Blatch of New York and Miss Alice
Stone Blackwell of Boston were heard by different leagues. The
convention this year was held for the first time in Trenton.
In 1904 a special effort was made to bring the question of woman
suffrage before other organizations and Mrs. Sexton spoke to the
Federation of Women's Clubs, the Conference of Charities and
Corrections and the State W. C. T. U.; Dr. Hussey spoke before the
convention of the Epworth League and the subject was presented to the
State Grange. At the Ocean Grove meeting Mrs. Emma Bourne brought
greetings from the State's 8,000 white ribboners. Mrs. Sexton and Miss
Mills spoke at seaside meetings and five new leagues were formed. The
State convention was held in the public library in Jersey City and
welcomed by Dr. Medina F. DeHart, president of the Political Study
Club; Miss Cornelia F. Bradford, head worker of Whittier House; Mrs.
Spencer Wiart, president of the Woman's Club and Mrs. Andrew J.
Newberry, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs.
At the Ocean Grove meeting in 1905 resolutions were adopted in memory
of Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. The State convention was held in Orange.
Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, a niece of Lucy Stone, was elected president
and the other officers were re-elected. In 1906 Miss Anthony passed
away and many leagues held memorial meetings. The Woman's Club of
Orange joined the suffrage association in holding one addressed by Dr.
Shaw, preceding the State convention held there in Union Hall in
November. Henry B. Blackwell traced the history of woman suffrage in
New Jersey from 1776 and made a plea for the Presidential franchise
for women, for which a committee was appointed. Resolutions thanking
the American Federation of Labor for its stand on woman suffrage and
expressing sympathy with the imprisoned "suffragettes" in England were
passed.
In 1907 little suffrage work was done by the association owing to the
absence of the president from the State. The leagues worked along many
lines, for police matrons; for "school cities"; studied the lives of
the pioneers and the constitution and laws of the State and held
public meetings with good speakers. The annual convention met in the
public library in Newark and it was voted to petition Congress for a
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Dr. DeHart was elected president and the
other new officers were Mrs. Ella A. Kilborn and Miss Mary D.
Campbell, secretaries. Miss Mary Willits and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley were
the only other officers who had been added in the past seven years.
In 1908 at the State convention in Bayonne Mrs. Clara S. Laddey of
Arlington was elected president and Miss Emma L. Richards of Newark
recording secretary. Dr. Hussey was made chairman of the Committee on
Literature and Petitions and the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell was appointed to
write to President Roosevelt in behalf of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, as requested by the National Association. Public lectures
by Dr. Shaw, Miss Janet Richards of Washington and others were
arranged for Newark. Dr. Emily Blackwell, of the New York Infirmary
for Women, was made honorary president.
Mrs. Laddey visited all the leagues and spoke before many societies,
including the large German Club at Hoboken. With Dr. Hussey she
attended the State convention of the Federation of Labor and obtained
its endorsement of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. She put new life
into the association and was re-elected at the State convention in
1909 at Newark. Over fifty delegates were present and it was reported
that 5,000 names were on the petition to Congress which the
Socialists, Granges, W. C. T. U.'s and Trade Unions had helped secure,
and they had given an opportunity for much educational work.
Committees on legislation and organization were formed. Mrs. Sexton
was elected honorary president; Mrs. Elizabeth T. Bartlett of
Arlington was made historian and Mrs. Mary L. Colvin of East Orange,
corresponding secretary. Resolutions were adopted in memory of Henry
B. Blackwell and William Lloyd Garrison. Professor Francis Squire
Potter, corresponding secretary of the National Association, delivered
a very able address.
In the fall of 1909 two young women in East Orange, Dr. Emma O. Gantz
and Miss Martha Klatschken, started the Progressive Woman Suffrage
Society and held the first open air meetings in the State. The first
one took place on a Saturday night at the corner of Main and Day
streets in Orange, the speakers Mrs. J. Borrman Wells of England, Miss
Klatschken and Miss Helen Murphy of New York. The next was in Newark.
The crowds were always respectful, listened and asked questions. Much
literature was given out. A Political Equality League of Self
Supporting Women, a branch of the one in New York organized by Mrs.
Stanton Blatch, was formed by Mrs. Mina Van Winkle, later called
Women's Political Union.
At the January board meeting in 1910 Mrs. Ulilla L. Decker was made
chairman of organization and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds of the press
committee. Mrs. Laddey reported having received an invitation to bring
greetings to a meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stevens at
Castle Point, Hoboken, to form a New Jersey branch of the Equal
Franchise League which Mrs. Clarence Mackay had organized in New York.
At an adjourned meeting on February 3 Mrs. Decker reported having
consulted Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Mary Garrett Hay and others in New
York and also in New Jersey about the proposed new league. Mrs. Laddey
urged harmony among all workers and she, Dr. Hussey, Miss Emma L.
Richards and others attended the meeting at Castle Point. The Equal
Franchise Society of New Jersey was formed there with Mrs. Thomas S.
Henry of Jersey City president; Mrs. Caroline B. Alexander, Hoboken,
Mrs. Everett Colby, West Orange, Mrs. George Harvey, Deal, and Miss
Alice Lakey, Cranford, vice-presidents; Mrs. Harry Campton, Newark,
corresponding secretary; Miss Richards, Newark, recording secretary;
Mrs. Charles Campbell, Hoboken, treasurer.
The delegation of the State association to the national convention in
Washington in April rode in the procession to the Capitol and
presented a petition to Congress for a Federal Amendment containing
over 9,000 signatures from New Jersey. At the great parade held in New
York on the last Saturday in May it was represented by its president
and seven members. Its first experience with street speaking was in
Military Park in June with Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff of Brooklyn as
the speaker and a respectful audience. Open air meetings were also
held in Asbury Park at which Mrs. Laddey and Mrs. Emma Fisk spoke.
Miss Richards took charge of a booth at the Olympic Park Fair,
assisted by Mrs. Campton. Charles C. Mason was thanked for reviewing
the laws of the State relating to women compiled by Miss Laddey. Lucy
Stone's birthday was celebrated August 13 in six places in memory of
her pioneer work in the State. Mrs. Laddey organized leagues in
Montclair and Asbury Park and spoke at seven public meetings. Money
was contributed to the South Dakota, Washington and Oklahoma campaigns
and to the national treasury. Congressmen were questioned as to their
stand on woman suffrage. Dr. Shaw was heard at the Conference of
Governors at Spring Lake.
The convention of 1910 was held in Plainfield welcomed by Mrs. C. R.
Riley, the local president. The Rev. Mrs. Blackwell paid a tribute to
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who had passed away, and after resolutions by
Mrs. Colvin the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was sung. Mrs. Decker
presented a flag to the association in honor of Mrs. Sexton, the
former president. Mrs. Kinsley gave a greeting from the Equal
Franchise Society. How it Works in Wyoming was told by Mrs. May
Preston Slosson, Ph.D., and Dr. Edwin A. Slosson. In the evening Mayor
Charles J. Fisk welcomed the convention. Professor Earl Barnes, who
had resided two years in England, gave an address on The Englishwoman.
Champlain Lord Riley of Plainfield announced the organization in
Newark on March 23 of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage with Dr.
William L. Saunders of Plainfield, president; Merton C. Leonard,
Arlington, vice-president; Dr. Edward S. Krans, Plainfield, secretary;
Edward F. Feickert, Dunellen, treasurer and 17 members.[119]
Mrs. Laddey was re-elected. Four new committees were appointed on
Church Work, Mrs. Bartlett, chairman; Industrial Problems relating to
Women and Children, Miss Bessie Pope; Endorsement by Organizations,
Mrs. Laddey; Education, Mrs. Riley. Public meetings were held in the
various cities; prizes for school essays were awarded and a year book
published. With the Equal Franchise Society the association had a
hearing before the State Senate Committee on Education, Joseph S.
Frelinghuysen, chairman in behalf of a School suffrage bill. Mrs.
Laddey, Mrs. George T. Vickers, Mrs. Philip McKim Garrison, Mrs.
Frederick Merck, and Mrs. Kinsley appeared for the suffragists. The
committee approved it but the Legislature rejected it.
In January, 1911, a luncheon was given by the association in Newark to
Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds, who had returned from work in the victorious
campaign in the State of Washington. At a board meeting it was decided
that some plan must be adopted for enrolling non-dues-paying members
similar to that of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York. This name was
taken for New Jersey and an Enrollment Committee was formed with Mrs.
Lillian F. Feickert of Dunellen chairman, to organize by political
districts. Over a hundred New Jersey women marched in the second New
York parade on May 4. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony was placed
in libraries. The three associations agreed to unite in work for a
suffrage measure in the Legislature and Dr. Luella Morrow, Miss
Laddey, Miss Grace Selden and Mrs. Howe Hall were appointed to have
charge of it. Mrs. Bartlett secured the favorable opinions of twelve
New Jersey clergymen and had them printed for circulation. The Equal
Justice League of young women was started in Bayonne with eighty
members, Miss Dorothy Frooks, president. At this time the State
association had fourteen branches and about 500 members.
The convention of 1911 was held in Willard Hall, Passaic, in November.
All rose to greet the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell when she
entered. Mayor George N. Seger in his welcome said that all women who
paid taxes should vote and with the ballot women could help many
needed reforms. A hundred copies of the New York _American_ with an
editorial on woman suffrage in New Jersey sent by Arthur Brisbane were
distributed.
It was voted to ask Governor Woodrow Wilson, as a Presidential
candidate, if he favored woman suffrage. Mrs. Rheta Childe Dorr of the
editorial staff of _Hampton's Magazine_ appealed for legislation in
behalf of working girls. Miss Emma McCoy, president of the New
Brunswick Teachers' Association, made a plea for equal pay for women
teachers. Addresses were given by Robert Elder, assistant district
attorney of Kings county, N. Y.; Mrs. Raymond Brown of New York, Miss
Melinda Scott of Newark, treasurer of the National Women's Trade Union
League, and Judge William H. Wood of New York. Dr. Hussey told of
10,000 leaflets distributed.
Mrs. Feickert described the successful house-to-house canvass in
Jersey City by Miss Pope and herself, by which the membership had
increased to 1,400. Mrs. Decker announced the opening of the first
State headquarters the next week in Newark with a volunteer committee
in charge, Mrs. George G. Scott, chairman. Mrs. Vernona H. Henry of
Newark was elected recording secretary and no other change was made in
the board, most of whom had served over ten years. With the
cooperation of all the societies the meeting at the auditorium in
Newark addressed by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England was a great
success.
This record of details, much condensed, represents the seed-sowing in
the first decade of the century in preparation for the harvest which
came at the end of the second decade.
NEW JERSEY. PART II.[120]
In December, 1911, a Joint Legislative Committee, representing the
four woman suffrage organizations in New Jersey was formed with Mrs.
George T. Vickers as chairman, and in January, 1912, a resolution for
a submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the State
constitution was first introduced in the Legislature at the request of
this committee.
On Oct. 25, 1912, a parade was given in Newark under the auspices of
the State Suffrage Association with all four organizations represented
among the marchers, who numbered about 1,000 men and women. This was
followed by a well-attended mass meeting at Proctor's Theater,
arranged by the Women's Political Union, at which Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association, was the
principal speaker.
The twenty-second annual convention of the association was held in
Trenton in November, when the following officers were elected:
President, Mrs. E. F. Feickert; first vice-president, Mrs. F. H.
Colvin; second, Miss Elinor Gebhardt; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Charles P. Titus; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles P. Eaton;
treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery; auditor, Miss Bessie Pope.
Twenty-five local branches were reported with a total membership of
2,200.
In December the Legislative Committee was re-organized on the basis of
equal representation for each of the four organizations. Mrs. Everett
Colby was elected chairman and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds was engaged as
legislative secretary, who resigned in six months to become field
organizer for the Women's Political Union. This committee continued to
function until 1917, when the Women's Political Union, the Equal
Franchise Society and the Men's League having disbanded and their
branches having joined the State association the political work was
taken over by its Legislative Committee. In 1914 Mrs. Philip McKim
Garrison succeeded Mrs. Colby and she was succeeded by Mrs. Robert S.
Huse in 1916. Among those who served actively were Miss Bessie Pope,
who gave valuable and continuous service to the completion of
suffrage work in 1920; Champlain Lord Riley, William L. Saunders,
Everett Colby, Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs R. T.
Newton, Miss Belle Tiffany, Mrs. Colvin, Mrs. James Billington and
Mrs. Feickert.
In June, 1913, the Women's Political Union held its first State
conference, at which the following officers were elected: President,
Mrs. Van Winkle; vice-presidents, Miss Julia S. Hurlbut, Mrs. E. T.
Lukens, Mrs. H. R. Reed, Mrs. W. H. Gardner, Miss Edna C. Wyckoff,
Mrs. R. T. Newton, Miss Louise Antrim, Mrs. Carl Vail, Miss Louise
Connolly; recording secretary, Miss Sara Crowell; executive secretary,
Mrs. Reynolds; financial secretary, Mrs. Amelia Moorfield; treasurer,
Mrs. Stewart Hartshorne. This was the only state-wide conference held
until after the referendum election in 1915 and these officers
continued to serve. The Equal Franchise Society's president, Mrs.
Vickers, served from 1911 until it disbanded in 1915. Other active
members were Mrs. H. Otto Wittpen and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley.
On March 25, 1913, the State association held a jubilee mass meeting
in Newark to celebrate submission of a State suffrage amendment by the
Legislature. This spring it held a large and successful school for
suffrage workers in Newark and the expenses of two volunteer
organizers were paid for several months, Mrs. U. L. Decker and Miss
Dille Hastings. In August its representatives took part in the
demonstration at Washington, arranged by the National Congressional
Committee, when petitions were presented to the Senate asking for the
immediate submission of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Champlain Lord
Riley, Mrs. Colvin, Miss Helen Lippincott, Miss Edith Abbott and Mrs.
Feickert. The New Jersey petitions of several thousand names were
unwillingly presented by Senator James E. Martine, who made a speech
against woman suffrage at the same time.
At the annual convention held in Newark in November reports showed
that the membership had more than doubled during the year, there being
now 44 local branches with over 6,000 members. Three changes took
place in the board, Miss Lippincott, elected second vice-president;
Mrs. Edward Olmsted, treasurer and Mrs. Arthur Hunter, auditor. Just
after this convention a delegation of 58 from the association and 17
from the Political Union went to Washington at the request of the
National Congressional Committee to interview President Wilson in
behalf of favorable action on the Federal Amendment by the House of
Representatives. The committee could not arrange for a special
interview but finally saw him by going to the White House at the hour
set aside for the reception of the general public and made their
request. The President was cordial and said that he was giving the
matter careful consideration and hoped soon to take a decided stand
which he thought the suffragists would find satisfactory. The speakers
were its chairman, Mrs. Feickert, Mrs. Van Winkle and Miss Melinda
Scott, who represented the organized working women of New Jersey.
In April, 1914, the State headquarters were transferred to Plainfield,
the home of the president, who took charge of them. Board meetings
were held in different sections of the State each month, followed by
open conferences for suffragists from the nearby towns. Each of these
was attended by from 50 to 250 and resulted in greatly increased
activity in the branches. During the summer a number of county
automobile tours were made, a "flying squadron" of decorated cars
going from town to town, holding meetings and distributing literature.
These tours were well worked up and advertised and very successful. A
great deal of the work connected with them was done by Miss Florence
Halsey, a volunteer field organizer.
During July a week of suffrage meetings was held in Asbury Park, the
auditorium there given free on condition that there should be debates
and not merely presentations of suffrage. Over a hundred columns of
publicity were secured for them in the New Jersey papers and during
the week the hotels of Asbury Park and nearby resorts were canvassed
and thousands of leaflets and circulars given out. This year over
300,000 pieces of literature were distributed by the State association
and the Political Union. A weekly press service was established by the
association and news bulletins and special stories were sent regularly
to over one hundred papers. The local branches of the association
increased to 96 and of the Political Union to 15, with a membership of
22,000 and 4,000 respectively. At the annual convention of the
association held in Camden in November the new officers elected were,
second vice-president, Mrs. Robert P. Finley; corresponding secretary,
Mrs. Bayard Naylor; recording secretary, Mrs. L. H. Cummings. All
attention and action were centered on the approaching campaign.
The resolution to submit the amendment had passed two Legislatures and
was to go to the voters at a special election Oct. 19, 1915. A
Cooperative Committee was formed of three from the State association
and the Women's Political Union each and one each from the Equal
Franchise Society and the Men's League. A Committee of One Hundred was
also organized to raise money for the campaign, Mrs. Colby chairman.
It obtained $9,000 which were used for the expenses of the Press
Committee, that had its office at the National Suffrage headquarters
in New York, for news bulletins every day, plate matter, interviews,
stories, advertising cards and posters in the trolley cars and the
stations of the Hudson Tunnels system; illuminated signs and street
banners in New Jersey cities and a half-page advertisement in all the
papers of the State at the end of the campaign. The executive
secretary was Mrs. Flora Gapen Charters. The total amount of money
raised and spent by the State and local organizations was
approximately $80,000, obtained by dues and pledges, by collections at
mass meetings, special luncheons and very largely by personal
contributions from men and women.
The State association increased to 200 branches in twenty-four cities.
The Political Union maintained a large headquarters in Newark. Over
3,000,000 pieces of literature and 400,000 buttons were distributed.
The association circularized all the women's organizations of the
State, the fraternal organizations, clergymen, grange officers,
lawyers, office-holders and other special groups. Speakers were sent
to grange picnics and county fairs. Street meetings took place
regularly in all the principal cities and towns and automobile tours
over the State. Over 4,000 outdoor and 500 indoor meetings were held.
Four paid and thirty volunteer organizers were kept in the field for
eight months.
The association arranged a conference of the leaders of the four
campaign States, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey,
which was held in East Orange in connection with the celebration on
August 13 of the birthday of its founder, Lucy Stone. There was a
pilgrimage of suffragists from almost every county, and, after
exercises at her old home and the unveiling by her daughter, Alice
Stone Blackwell, of a tablet placed in front of the house, there was
an automobile parade through the nearby towns, winding up with a mass
meeting in the park in East Orange, where Dr. Shaw and ex-Governor
John Franklin Fort were the principal speakers.
The Women's Political Union conducted a "handing on the torch"
demonstration which was quite effective. The New York Union supplied a
large torch of bronze, which Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, representing New
York, took with her on a tugboat half way across the Hudson River,
where she was met by a New Jersey tug bearing Mrs. Van Winkle, to whom
the torch was delivered. It was sent about the State to twenty or more
towns where the Union had branches and its arrival was made the
occasion for an outdoor reception and mass meeting.
The Women's Anti-Suffrage Association was also busy. It paid the
salaries and expenses of two New Jersey speakers, Mrs. O. D. Oliphant
of Trenton and John A. Matthews of Newark, an ex-Assemblyman, and
brought in a number of outside speakers. It never claimed to have more
than fifteen local branches and 18,000 members. Among the more
prominent were the president, Mrs. E. Yarde Breese of Plainfield; Mrs.
Thomas J. Preston, Mrs. Garrett A. Hobart, Mrs. Carroll P. Bassett,
Miss Anna Dayton, Robert C. Maxwell, Miss Clara A. Vezin, Mrs.
Hamilton F. Kean, Mrs. Alexander F. Jamieson, Mrs. Charles W.
MacQuoid, Mrs. Thomas B. Adams, Miss Anne McIlvaine and Mrs. Sherman
B. Joost.
James R. Nugent of Newark, prominent as the champion of the "wets" and
the "antis," paid the salary of Edward J. Handley, an ex-newspaperman
of Newark, and gave him a suite of offices in the Wise building with
several clerks. His "publicity" kept the amendment on the front pages
of the papers and the suffragists were always able to refute and
disprove his statements. The intensive campaign carried on among the
editors for the past two or three years bore fruit and 80 per cent. of
the newspapers by actual canvass favored the amendment, and frequently
when the front page carried a story against suffrage it was
contradicted on the editorial page. Among editors who were
particularly strong friends were James Kerney and John E. Sines of the
Trenton _Evening Times_; Joseph A. Dear and Julius Grunow of the
Jersey City _Journal_; John L. Matthews of the Paterson _Press
Guardian_; George M. Hart of the Passaic _Daily News_; the Boyds of
the New Brunswick _Home News_; J. L. Clevenger of the Perth Amboy
_Evening News_; William H. Fischer of the New Jersey _Courier_; George
W. Swift of the Elizabeth _Daily Journal_ and E. A. Bristor of the
Passaic _Herald_.
Three weeks before the election President Wilson announced himself in
favor of the amendment, and he and his private secretary, Joseph P.
Tumulty, made a special trip to New Jersey to vote for it. This had a
marked effect over the country.
The Legislative Committee having secured a bill allowing women to
watch at the polls, watchers' schools were held in every important
city under the direction of Mrs. Colvin, with the result that at the
election 1,657 of the 1,891 polling places in the State were supplied
with trained women watchers.
On election day Nugent and his lieutenants worked all day at the
Newark polling places and the suffragists were positive that hundreds
of voters were imported from New York and other places, which was
possible because men could vote on the amendment without having
previously registered. Nugent is reported to have said: "We knew we
had the amendment beaten when the election was put on registration
day." This was done against the protests of the suffragists. Men voted
on it at the same time they registered and in the police canvass made
before the general election, the names of several thousand illegally
registered were taken off the books in Essex and Hudson counties, all
of whom had a chance to vote on the amendment. All day in all the
cities the women watchers saw little groups of men taken into saloons
opposite the polling places by persons avowedly working to defeat it,
instructed how to vote on it, marshalled to the polling place and
after voting taken back to the saloon to be paid.
Finding at the last moment that no provision was made by the State to
pay for sending in returns from special elections, the State
association arranged with the Associated Press to obtain its own
returns and a wire was run into the suffrage headquarters in Jersey
City. By midnight complete returns were in from 70 per cent. of the
State, due to the splendid cooperation of the county and local
suffrage chairmen, who knew only one day in advance that this work
would be required of them. A manager of the Associated Press said that
they had never handled an election where the returns came in faster or
more accurately and few where they came in as well.
The election resulted in a vote of 317,672, a very large one
considering that the Presidential vote in 1912 had been only 459,000.
The vote in favor of the suffrage amendment was 133,281, or 42 per
cent. of the whole; against, 184,391, defeated by 51,110. Ocean county
was the only one carried but 126 cities and towns were carried and a
number of counties gave from 46 to 49 per cent. in favor.
Two weeks after their defeat several hundred New Jersey suffragists
went to New York and Philadelphia to march in the suffrage parades,
taking the biggest and best band in the State and carrying at the head
of their division a runner twenty feet long reading: New
Jersey--Delayed but not Defeated.
The State convention of 1915 was postponed until January, 1916, when
it was held in Elizabeth. There were then 215 local branches with a
membership of over 50,000. No discouragement was visible but a program
of educational work and intensive organization was adopted, money was
pledged for the salaries of three field organizers and it was decided
to have a bill for Presidential suffrage introduced in the
Legislature. Mrs. Ward D. Kerlin, second vice-president, was the only
new officer elected. A new constitution was adopted putting the
association on a non-dues-paying basis, providing for an annual budget
and re-organization of the State by congressional districts.
In June New Jersey was represented at the National Republican
convention in Chicago by Mrs. Feickert, Miss Esther G. Ogden, Mrs. E.
G. Blaisdell, Miss A. E. Cameron and Mrs. Joseph Marvel. All of the
New Jersey delegates were interviewed and twelve of the twenty-eight
promised to support a suffrage plank in the platform.
In July the Women's Political Union disbanded and its local branches
joined the State association. The national suffrage convention held
at Atlantic City in September gave a great impetus to the State work.
The annual convention met in Jersey City in November, where it was
decided to conduct a strenuous campaign during 1917 for Presidential
suffrage and for the Federal Amendment and to employ four field
organizers. The new officers elected were Mrs. John J. White, Miss
Lulu H. Marvel, Mrs. J. Thompson Baker, vice-presidents; Miss Anita
Still, auditor. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Dr. Mary D.
Hussey were added to the list of honorary presidents.
A bill for Presidential suffrage was introduced in the Legislature in
February, 1917, and everything was going finely when war was declared.
The suffrage association was the first women's organization in the
State to offer its services to the Governor and was publicly thanked
by him for its patriotic stand. At his request it conducted a canvass
of women nurses, doctors and clerical workers and received letters of
thanks from him and the Adjutant General for this very successful
piece of work. It cooperated in the organization of a Woman's Division
of the State Council of National Defense and its president, Mrs.
Feickert, was vice-chairman of the Council. The association purchased
and operated a Soldiers' Club House and canteen in the town of
Wrightstown, near which Camp Dix was located. It was opened in
November, 1917, and was kept open until June, 1919, by volunteer
workers. Over $30,000 were raised for it, one-fifth of this amount
being contributed by Mrs. White. More than 250,000 men were
entertained there. Officers and members of the association responded
to all demands of the war.
The annual convention was held in the Capitol at Trenton in November.
Reports showed that only thirty of the hundreds of local branches had
dropped suffrage work because of their war activities, and the spirit
was one of determination that the battle for real democracy in the
United States should be kept up just as actively as the war against
autocracy abroad. Mrs. Wells P. Eagleton was elected a vice-president,
Mrs. E. G. Blaisdell a secretary and Mrs. F. W. Veghte an auditor. The
State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs was accepted as an
affiliated organization and its president, the Rev. Florence Randolph,
was made a member of the State Board. The convention voted to make
its special work for the year the collecting of a monster petition of
women, to be so worded that it could be used in Congressional work for
the Federal Amendment and with the Legislature for ratification.
In the summer of 1918 U. S. Senator William Hughes, who was pledged to
vote for the Federal Amendment, died and the candidate for the office
was David Baird, a strong anti-suffragist. As only one more vote in
the Senate was needed to pass the amendment the National Association
asked the New Jersey association to do its best to defeat him. An
active campaign was carried on for two months but he was too powerful
a party leader, though he ran 9,000 votes behind the rest of the
ticket. He voted against the amendment every time it came before the
Senate.
Because of the Baird campaign and the general unsettled feeling around
the time of the signing of the armistice the annual convention was
postponed to May, 1919, when it was held in Atlantic City. The
ratification petitions collected the preceding year had over 80,000
names of women not previously enrolled as suffragists. Mrs. H. N.
Simmons, vice-president, and Mrs. F. T. Kellers, auditor, were the
only new officers elected. It was voted that the other State
organizations of women should be asked to join in the campaign for
ratification of the Federal Amendment by the Legislature. The
committee was organized in July, 1918, with the following
organizations represented: Woman Suffrage Association, Federation of
Women's Clubs, Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, Public Health Nursing, Teachers' Association;
chairman, Mrs. Feickert; secretary, Mrs. James Simister; treasurer,
Mrs. Olmsted. A Finance Committee was appointed--Mrs. Seymour L.
Cromwell, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Hunter--which raised over $10,000. The
principal contributors were Mrs. Cromwell, Mrs. Colby, Judge and Mrs.
John J. White, Mrs. Wittpenn, Mrs. Hartshorne, Mrs. Lewis S. Thompson
and Mrs. Robert Stevens.
A very active primary and general election campaign was made in 1919
for the election of men pledged to vote for ratification, in which
110,000 personal letters were sent out, all kinds of organizations
were circularized and about 1,000,000 pieces of literature were
distributed. A State ratification mass meeting at Asbury Park in
August opened the campaign and local meetings were held in every
county. A Governor and a majority in both Houses were elected who were
pledged to ratification.
A Men's Council for Ratification was organized in December with
Everett Colby as chairman, Governor Edward I. Edwards and U. S.
Senators Joseph S. Frelinghuysen and Walter E. Edge as honorary
chairmen and 54 of the most prominent Democrats and Republicans in the
State as vice-chairmen. This was not an active organization but the
fact that the leaders of their parties allowed their names to be used
had considerable influence upon many legislators. In January, 1920,
campaign headquarters were opened in Trenton near the State House in
charge of Miss Julia Wernig, field organizer of the association, where
a great deal of literature was given out and other work done.
On January 27 in Crescent Temple, Trenton, the Ratification Committee
staged the most spectacular suffrage mass meeting ever held in New
Jersey. Its special purpose was to present to the Governor, the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House the huge suffrage
petition containing almost 140,000 names of women, arranged by
counties and towns. The hall was beautifully decorated with American
flags and suffrage banners and a fine band played at intervals. The
speakers were Governor Edwards, President of the Senate Clarence E.
Case, Speaker of the Assembly W. Irving Glover and Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Catt, president of the National Suffrage Association. The twenty-one
county chairmen and representatives of the women's organizations
composing the committee were seated on the platform and at the proper
time each came forward with her petitions and was presented to the
Governor and the legislative officials by Mrs. Feickert, who presided.
About 1,200 women and most of the Legislature were present and there
was much enthusiasm.
RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress
June 4, 1919. The resolution for ratification was the first measure
introduced when the Legislature convened in 1920, by Senator William
B. MacKay, Jr., of Bergen county and Assemblyman Henry G. Hershfield
of Passaic county. A public hearing was held February 2 with Mrs.
Feickert chairman. The principal suffrage speakers were U. S. Senator
Selden Spencer of Missouri, Mrs. Robert S. Huse, Mrs. Harriman N.
Simons and the Rev. Florence Randolph. Each of five others
representing various women's organizations spoke for two minutes. That
day the Senate ratified by 18 ayes, 2 noes, two men voting in favor
who had been pledged against it.
The opposition then concentrated its efforts upon the Assembly, where
various tricks were played which in the end were unsuccessful. U. S.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer had written to each of the
Democratic members urging his support. The evening that ratification
was to be voted on, February 9, the chamber was jammed and it was
evident that the opposition intended to "filibuster" all night rather
than allow the resolution to pass. One motion after another was made
by the leader of the opposition, Assemblyman Hugh Barrett of Essex,
Nugent's special representative, and after a hot fight and much
talking they were defeated. Mr. Nugent was outside in the corridor
constantly sending in messages to his delegation and it was understood
that he was offering anything the Assemblymen might ask for their
votes against ratification. The women suffragists were present in
force helping their friends to maintain their determination to vote on
the resolution that night. It was a stormy session, the "filibuster"
going on steadily from 8 p. m. Finally the opposition gave up the
fight and at ten minutes to 1 o'clock in the morning the Assembly
passed the resolution by 34 ayes, 24 noes. The gallery was still
filled with women, who were most enthusiastic.
The resolution was signed promptly by the President of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House and the Governor sent it to Washington by a
special messenger. The suffragists felt especially indebted to
Senators William N. Runyon, C. D. White and Arthur Whitney and to
Assemblymen William A. Blair, Emmor Roberts, Henry G. Hershfield and
William George for their work in party caucuses as well as on the
floor. Governor Edwards and Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City (the
Democratic leader of the State) were responsible for the solid vote of
all the Democrats except those under the control of Nugent. U. S.
Senators Frelinghuysen and Edge and Attorney General McCran also
rendered most valuable assistance.
The State Suffrage Association celebrated the successful termination
of its over fifty years of continuous effort by a Victory Convention
held in Newark on April 23, 24. Leading features were a Victory
banquet with prominent men of both political parties as speakers, and
a Pioneers' luncheon, at which Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. Florence Howe
Hall, Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton, Mrs. Clara S. Laddey and other early
workers spoke. Before the close of the convention the State League of
Women Voters was organized to carry on the work for good government
and better conditions through the use of the power which had been
secured for them by the older association. Mrs. John R. Schermerhorn
was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 1912. The first resolution for the submission of a
woman suffrage amendment to the voters was introduced in February by
Senator William C. Gebhardt in the Senate and Assemblyman A. R.
McAllister in the House. A public hearing was held on March 12 at
which Mrs. Vickers presided and the speakers for the suffrage side
were Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Henry Villard, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
Mrs. Clara S. Laddey, George T. Vickers and Linton Satterthwaite. Miss
Anna Dayton presided for the "antis" and Mrs. E. N. Loomis was their
principal speaker. The vote in the Senate was 18 noes, 3
ayes--Senators Gebhardt of Hunterdon county, J. Warren Davis of Salem
and G. W. F. Gaunt of Gloucester. In the Assembly the resolution was
finally forced out of an unfavorable committee but was tabled by a
vote of 31 ayes, 19 noes.
1913. In January the resolution was introduced by Senator J. Warren
Davis and Assemblyman Charles M. Egan. A hearing was held February 18
at which Mrs. Everett Colby presided and the speakers were Dr. Anna
Howard Shaw, president of the National American Suffrage Association;
U. S. Senator Shafroth of Colorado, Everett Colby, George La Monte and
Cornelius Ford, president of the State Federation of Labor. The
resolution passed the Senate by 14 ayes, 5 noes, and the Assembly by
45 ayes, 5 noes. A few weeks later it was discovered that the word
"or" appeared in the printed resolution instead of "and," making it
necessary to have a new one introduced, which went through by the same
vote.
The New Jersey law in regard to constitutional amendments provides
that after being submitted by one Legislature they must be advertised
in every county for three months prior to the next election, acted
upon favorably by the succeeding Legislature and then voted on at a
special election, the date of which it decides. After the passage of
the referendum resolution in 1913 the Legislative Committee took up
with the Secretary of State the matter of advertising and were assured
that it would be attended to and they could go home and "forget it,"
which they trustingly did. When no advertisements appeared members of
the committee hurried to Trenton and learned that Governor James F.
Fielder was responsible. His excuse was that his secretary had mislaid
the resolution and forgotten to remind him of it.
1914. The resolution was introduced in January by Senator Charles M.
Egan and Assemblyman Joseph M. Branegan, both of Hudson county. It
passed the Senate by 15 ayes, 3 noes, and the Assembly by 49 ayes, 4
noes.
1915. The advertising was properly done for this year and the
resolution came up for second passage in January, introduced by
Senator Blanchard H. White and Assemblyman Robert Peacock, both of
Burlington county. A hearing was held January 25, Mrs. Philip McKim
Garrison chairman and speakers Dr. Shaw, E. G. C. Bleakley, city
counsel of Camden; Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Feickert. The Senate passed
the resolution by 17 ayes, 4 noes, and the Assembly by unanimous vote.
1916. A bill for Presidential suffrage for women was introduced by
Senator Charles O'Connor Hennessy of Bergen county and was lost by a
vote of 10 noes, 3 ayes--Senators Hennessy, Austen Colgate of Essex
county and Carlton B. Pierce of Union county. No effort was made to
press the bill in the Assembly.
1917. Another bill for Presidential suffrage was introduced by Senator
Edmund B. Osborne of Essex county and Assemblyman Roy M. Robinson of
Bergen. In both Houses the presiding officers were strongly opposed to
woman suffrage and put the bill into unfavorable committees, who
refused to report it for action. A hearing was held with Mrs. Robert
S. Huse chairman and Mrs. Antoinette Funk the chief speaker. Finally
by using what is known as the "rule of fifteen," in the Assembly its
friends got the bill out of committee on March 15 but with an
unfavorable report. Majority leader Oliphant moved that the House
concur and Speaker Edward Schoen of Essex county ruled that the motion
was carried. Many members demanded a roll call but the Speaker paid no
attention to them. Pandemonium reigned, members shouting and banging
their desks until finally he declared a recess and fled to his private
room.
1918. It was hoped that the Federal Amendment would be submitted in
the spring and it was decided not to complicate ratification by
introducing a Presidential suffrage bill. In February a bill providing
that the Legislature should not act on the ratification of Federal
Amendments until after they had been referred to the voters was
introduced by Assemblyman Arthur N. Pierson of Union county. It was
designed especially to prevent action on the Prohibition Amendment but
would also apply to the one for woman suffrage. The Legislative
Committee went at once to Trenton, where the Anti-Saloon workers were
already busy. Sufficient force was brought to keep the bill in
committee for three weeks, at the end of which time 46 votes were
pledged against it and it was killed in committee at the request of
its introducer. In 1919 a similar bill was introduced by Assemblyman
David Young of Morris county but the suffragists made so strong a
demonstration against it that it was killed in committee.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] The History is indebted for this chapter to Dr. Mary D. Hussey,
a founder of the State Woman Suffrage Association in 1890 and
continuously an officer for the next twenty years.
[119] Afterwards Mr. Riley became president and Arthur B. Jones,
secretary. Among the League's prominent members were the Hon. Everett
Colby, Governor John Franklin Fort, J. A. H. Hopkins, Jesse Lynch
Williams, Charles O'Connor Hennessy, the Hon. John W. Westcott, the
Rev. Dr. Arthur E. Ballard, the Rev. Edgar S. Weirs, Colonel George
Harvey, the Hon. Edmond B. Osbourne, the Hon. Ernest R. Ackerman,
Emerson P. Harris, Richard Stevens, the Hon. James C. Connally and
Mayor Victor Mavalag of Elizabeth. They passed resolutions
"reaffirming their sympathy with the great world movement for woman
suffrage"; "heartily approved" of the Federal Amendment; pledged their
"untiring support" of the State referendum; spoke at legislative
hearings; raised money; addressed meetings; appointed a State
committee of 63 members which met monthly; appointed a committee with
George M. Strobell, chairman, that marched in the parade in Newark,
Oct. 25, 1913; held a mass meeting in Elizabeth at which Mayor George
L. LaMonte and Mrs. Forbes-Robertson Hale spoke, and helped in many
ways.
[120] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lillian F.
Feickert, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association 1912-1920.