OKLAHOMA.[145]
From the time Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement in 1889
efforts were made to obtain the franchise for women, first by the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and in 1895 the National American
Woman Suffrage Association sent organizers and an auxiliary was
formed. It held annual conventions and bills were presented to the
Legislature but when one had been grossly betrayed in the Senate after
passing the House in 1899 no further effort was made for a number of
years.[146] Finally in answer to requests sent to the National
Association, an organizer, Miss Laura Gregg of Kansas, was sent to the
Territory in March, 1904. She was cordially received and spent the
next eight months in speaking and organizing suffrage clubs. In
December Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, joined her for
a two-weeks' series of conferences in the large places, in each of
which a society was formed.
A convention of Oklahoma and Indian Territory delegates was called for
December 15-16 in Oklahoma City. Dr. Shaw presided at the first
session and delivered an address to a large audience. Over sixty
members were added to the city club and from this time it was the most
active in the State. Statehood was being agitated and a letter was
read from Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the National
Association, which said: "No stone should be left unturned to secure
suffrage for the women while Oklahoma is yet a Territory, for if it
comes into the Union without this in its constitution it will take a
long time and a great deal of hard work to convert over one-half of
the men to vote for it."
Letters expressing a strong desire for the franchise were read from
women in different parts of the Territories. The Twin Territorial
Association was organized and a resolution was adopted calling for
statehood and saying: "Said statehood shall never enact any law
restricting the right of suffrage on account of sex, race, color or
previous condition of servitude." Prominent at this convention were
Mrs. Kate H. Biggers, Mrs. Julia Woodworth, Mrs. Anna Laskey and Mrs.
Jence C. Feuquay. The officers elected were: president, Mrs. Biggers,
Indian Territory; first vice-president, Mrs. Woodworth; second, Mrs.
Anna M. Bennett; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Laskey; recording
secretary, Mrs. Louisa Boylan McLoud; treasurer, Miss Margaret Rees;
auditors, Mrs. Rebecca Forney and Mrs. Mary B. Green, all of Oklahoma
Territory, and Mrs. Mary C. Harvey of Indian Territory.
The second annual convention was held Oct. 26-28, 1905, at Chickasha,
Indian Territory. Mrs. Biggers, Mrs. Woodworth, Miss Rees and Mrs.
Green were re-elected. New officers were, Mrs. Minnie Keith Bailey,
Mrs. Cleo Ikard Harris, Mrs. Ida Wood Norvell, Mrs. Jessie Livingston
Parks and Mrs. Hattie Sherman. Vigorous protest had been made by women
throughout the Territories against the bill for statehood which had
been presented to Congress, classifying women in the suffrage section
with illiterates, minors, felons, insane and feeble-minded. The matter
was also taken up by the National Association. [See Chapter V, Volume
V.] Later when bills in the Territorial Legislature for a
constitutional convention repeated this clause a conference was held
with the officers of the W. C. T. U. and hundreds of letters of
protest were sent.
As a constitutional convention seemed near at hand Dr. Frances Woods
of South Dakota was sent by the National Association to organize in
Indian Territory. With the help of Mrs. Woodworth she secured hearings
before women's clubs and W. C. T. U.'s, addressed State Labor and
Press Associations and was invited to speak to a Farmers' Institute
300 miles away with her expenses paid. Miss Gregg continued the
organizing in Oklahoma, addressing an audience of 6,000 at the Grand
Army of the Republic encampment and speaking to teachers' institutes,
business colleges, country school house meetings and women's clubs.
One issue of the _Messenger_, the U. C. T. U. organ, was devoted to
woman suffrage. The membership increased; over 75 papers used suffrage
articles and much literature donated by the National Association was
circulated. The Oklahoma City Club, Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens,
president, was especially active in having the women register for the
school elections, in which they could vote for trustees, in order to
defeat the school book trust, and 600 did so.
In May Dr. Woods spoke at the annual meeting of the Woman's Relief
Corps in Oklahoma City and a resolution was passed favoring woman
suffrage. The Grand Army of the Republic, in session at the same time,
gave her a place on an evening program at the Opera House, where she
addressed a large, enthusiastic audience. Mrs. Biggers attended the
annual meeting of the Twin Territories Labor Union, which unanimously
adopted a resolution for woman suffrage. In Tulsa on Labor Day the
"float" of the suffragists in the big procession won the prize. At
Chickasha during the agricultural fair the tent of the suffrage club
had the best location on the grounds. Dr. Woods and Mrs. Biggers went
to Muskogee to see Robert L. Owen, a prominent lawyer, and enlist his
strong influence in favor of a woman suffrage clause in the new
constitution. He cordially promised his influence, service and
financial assistance and he made his first great suffrage speech in
Oklahoma City before the convention took place. Dr. Woods left the
last of May and the National Association sent Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of
Pennsylvania in October, 1906, to establish headquarters. When the
constitutional convention opened in Guthrie they were transferred
there, with Mrs. Biggers and Mrs. Boyer in charge. Miss Laura Clay of
Kentucky, a national officer, went to their assistance at her own
expense and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado did some very
effective speaking. In February, 1907, a hearing was granted by the
Suffrage Committee of the convention. Later Mr. Owen, former Governor
Alva Adams of Colorado and Miss Clay addressed the entire convention.
Mr. Owen engaged the Opera House for a mass meeting to influence the
delegates and paid for printing handsomely the Memorial which the
State Suffrage Association presented to the convention.
Mrs. Boyer said. "The woman suffrage measure caused the most heated
debate of the convention. It had been arranged by the political
manipulators to apply gag rule and shut off debate as soon as the
opposition had exploited itself but on a motion to discuss the
suffrage resolution the vote stood 41 noes, 42 ayes, and the delegates
favoring it managed to secure the floor and hold it." Peter Hanraty,
the principal representative of the labor organizations, which were
practically solid for a woman suffrage clause in the constitution, led
the debate in its favor. A number of prominent men spoke strongly for
it. Some of the opposing speeches were very coarse. On the final vote
it was lost by 50 nays to 37 ayes. Notwithstanding all that had been
done and said the suffrage clause in the new constitution read: "The
qualified electors shall be male citizens of the State and male
persons of Indian descent, who are over 21 years of age....
Specifically excepted are felons, paupers, lunatics and idiots."
The headquarters were returned to Oklahoma City with Mrs. Boyer and
Mrs. Biggers still in charge and Miss Gregg continued her field work,
as the suffragists desired to help some of their friends who were
candidates. Among them at the election in October, 1907, Bird S.
McGuire was elected member of Congress, Mr. Hanraty mine inspector,
Charles L. Daugherty labor commissioner, Jesse L. Dunn and M. J. Kane
Justices of the Supreme Court and fourteen to the Legislature. Charles
W. Haskell, who had been among the bitterest of the opponents in the
convention, was elected Governor. When the first Legislature met in
December, Mr. Owen was unanimously elected U. S. Senator and never
thereafter failed to render assistance to both State and national
suffrage for women. Unsolicited Perry A. Ballard introduced a bill in
the House at the first session giving the Presidential franchise to
women but it never came out of committee.
The suffrage work done in 1908 was principally through the society in
Oklahoma City. The State Federation of Labor at its annual convention
endorsed woman suffrage and pledged its support to candidates for the
Legislature who would submit the question to the voters. The
Socialists also gave unqualified support. There was no official
recognition by Democrats or Republicans but a considerable per cent.
of their legislative candidates declared themselves in favor of this
action.
State suffrage headquarters were opened in Guthrie in January, 1909,
and Mrs. Boyer took charge. Members from clubs over the State came to
assist in lobbying for the amendment and pledges were secured from a
majority in both Houses. Miss Kate M. Gordon of New Orleans,
corresponding secretary of the National Association, came to make the
principal argument at the Senate hearing. One was granted also before
the Committee of the Whole. Mrs. N. M. Carter presided and strong
appeals were made by Mrs. Boyer, Mrs. M. A. Morrison, Mrs. Feuquay and
Mrs. Bailey. A petition of 8,000 names was presented, which had been
quickly collected, but it was treated with discourtesy, one member
tearing up the sheets from his district and throwing them into the
waste basket. The Speaker jestingly referred it to the Committee on
Geological Survey. The attendance was so great the hearing had to be
adjourned to a larger room. Through every possible device and even
conspiracy the measure was lost in the Senate, Governor Haskell using
his influence against it.
It was already evident that the amendment could be submitted only
through the Initiative and Referendum. This was a new and not well
understood law, there was little money in the treasury and the women
were tired and discouraged, saying, as Mrs. Woodworth expressed it:
"It's of no use, for the whisky ring and the grafters will beat us
every time." Nevertheless an undaunted few decided to begin the
immense work of securing the initiative petition. Mrs. Biggers was
continued as president and Dr. Ruth A. Gay agreed to act as chairman
of finance and conduct the petition work from her office in Oklahoma
City, with the cooperation of Mrs. Stephens, who went personally into
the counties. The National Association again sent Mrs. Boyer, who used
her own room for headquarters in order to save money. She said in
writing of the summer's campaign:
The women circulated the petition and obtained nearly 38,600
signatures of voters--more than the necessary number. The State
was new; there were few trolleys in cities and still fewer
interurbans to make the rural communities accessible; the
railroads had infrequent and uncertain schedules. That petition
was a marvel in attainment and a monument of sacrifice. The
headquarters work has never been surpassed in devotion of local
suffragists. Do you know of any other State where the entire
campaign was carried on by but two paid workers--a manager and a
stenographer? Mrs. Stephens went into the field and Mrs. Biggers
remained with the office work and spent her money freely. Dr. Gay
sacrificed time from her practice and pressed her father and
mother into service so that literature might be addressed to the
voters. Mrs. Woodworth, Mrs. Feuquay, Mrs. Burt, Mrs. Mattie
Flick, Mrs. Dunham and her daughter Junia and Miss Mary Barber
worked day and night in the office or the field.
Altogether $900 were raised. To this amount Miss Clay contributed
$300; Henry B. and Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.) $400 and also lent
money. Most of the women worked gratuitously and paid their own
expenses. Oklahoma City was canvassed without cost. When the petition
was ready for filing a representative committee of women carried it to
Guthrie and Secretary of State Cross complimented its excellent
arrangement. So quietly had it been secured that the "machine"
politicians were astounded and dismayed when it was presented and
plans were at once made to attack its validity. Senator Roddie was
chosen to protest it on the ground that 5,000 of the signatures were
fraudulent but he offered no proof of the charge. Three eminent
lawyers, Judge J. B. A. Robertson, Democratic candidate for Governor;
Judge T. L. Brown, a Republican, and P. J. Nagel, a Socialist, gave
their services to the suffragists. The first argued for the justice of
submitting the amendment; the second defended the legality of the
petition and the third demanded recognition of the 38,586 voters who
had signed it. Secretary of State Cross announced a recess until 2 p.
m. At that hour he declared that the petition was "in due form of law
and amply sufficient in all things and that the question thereby
proposed should be certified to the Governor to the end that the same
may be submitted to the electors of the State as is provided by law."
Senator Roddie then appealed to the Supreme Court, which in June,
1910, sustained the petition.
Believing that the petition would be upheld the suffragists had opened
headquarters in the Lee Huckins Hotel in Oklahoma City February 1.
There was hope of a special election for the amendment, in which case
it could be carried by a majority of those voting on it. If it went to
the regular election it would require a majority of the highest
number of votes cast. It finally went over to the general election.
There was no money for salaries and very little for expenses. Mrs.
Boyer conducted a very efficient publicity service and was obliged to
fill many appointments as a speaker, besides having all the office
work in charge, making it necessary for her to toil far into the
nights. Mrs. Biggers carried on the work during Mrs. Boyer's absences.
Often there was no money for postage and Dr. Gay would go out and beg
a few dollars from some friend of the cause.
It being a State campaign year there were many opportunities for work
at picnics and tent meetings arranged for the candidates. The
Democrats were the dominant party and principal opposers. Among their
candidates were few avowed friends or active helpers and some were
openly and bitterly opposed. Women who had never made a public speech
had to meet their eloquence and sophistry. Mrs. Stephens and Miss Mary
Barber were sent into the most hostile part of the State and worked
through the heat and dust of almost the entire summer. They spoke from
boxes and wagons; in little dark school houses with only one smoky
kerosene lamp, making it impossible to read their notes or see the
audience; before large, unsympathetic crowds at open air meetings. It
was an experience that tested endurance and loyalty almost to the
breaking point.
The Socialists were always helpful but they were intensely disliked
and sometimes their friendship only made the way more difficult. The
labor unions were unusually helpful and never antagonistic. Toward the
last of the campaign the secretary of the State Federation of Labor,
J. Luther Langston, with Miss Gordon made a two-weeks' speaking tour
through the State. The vote was taken Nov. 8, 1910, and was announced
as ayes, 88,808; noes, 128,928; lost by 40,120. While the
disappointment was intense yet as an education this campaign could not
be overestimated.[147]
There was still a desire to keep the organization alive and be ready
for the next opportunity. In 1911 Mrs. Biggers declined to stand again
for the presidency, after serving seven years, and Dr. Ruth A. Gay,
with a full board, was elected at the annual convention, Mrs. Biggers
taking the office of treasurer. At the State meeting of 1912 Mrs.
Mattie Flick, Miss Jessie Nourse and Mrs. Mattie Cloud were added to
the board. Dr. Gay held the presidency until 1913, when Mrs. Cora B.
Gotchy was elected. The State association became a member of the
Southern Women's Conference. No further effort was made with the
Legislature but the Republican party put a woman suffrage plank in its
State platform and the Progressive party took steps toward another
initiative petition, Mrs. Gotchy assisting, but it did not meet with
support. Mrs. Feuquay was selected for president in 1914 and helped a
resolution for an amendment introduced in the Legislature by the
Socialist Representatives McLemore and Pritchett, which did not come
out of committee.
In 1915 Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens was elected president. The
vice-president, Miss Mary Crangle, in the northeastern part of the
State, and the recording secretary, Mrs. Frances A. Agnew, in the
southwestern part, did active personal work to keep up the interest.
The Democratic Secretary of State, J. L. Lyon, made strenuous
individual effort to start an initiative petition, which was not
successful. Suffrage resolutions were introduced by legislators
independently in the session of 1915 and the special session of 1916.
Luther Harrison and Charles F. Barrett, now Adjutant General, were
helpful friends in the Legislature. Mrs. Stephens was continued as
president through 1916 and 1917.[148] In 1916 the resolution for a
suffrage amendment passed the House by a vote of 62 to 15 but was
adversely reported by the Senate Committee.
Since 1910 Mrs. Woodworth had kept the question of woman suffrage
continually before the State Federation of Women's Clubs and in all
organizations of women there was an increasing interest in
legislation, especially for the benefit of women and children, and
they were seeing the necessity of the ballot as a means of attaining
it. Meanwhile most of the States west of the Mississippi River had
enfranchised their women and for months before the Legislature
convened in 1917 letters and telegrams came in announcing that former
foes had become friends, many of them offering to help the cause.
Woman suffrage was the first subject discussed when the Legislature
convened. The resolution to submit an amendment was championed in the
Senate by Senators Fred Tucker of Ardmore, John Golobie of Guthrie,
Walter Ferguson of Cherokee and many others. In the House among the
most earnest supporters were Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C.
Hodges of Okmulgee. The vote in the Senate February 2 was unanimous
and in the House March 17 was 75 ayes, 12 noes.
Women over the State watched anxiously the action of the Legislature
and many were in attendance. Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Frank Mulkey of
Oklahoma City and Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton were especially active but
the chief credit belongs to Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, legislative
representative of the Federation of Women's Clubs, with wide
experience in legislative procedure. Mrs. Woodworth and Mrs. Lucas had
acted as committee for the State suffrage association, which now
merged with the campaign committee.
The campaign was made particularly difficult by the fact that Governor
Robert L. Williams, Attorney General S. P. Freeling and the chairman
of the State Election Board, W. C. McAlester, all Democrats, were
avowed and active anti-suffragists, notwithstanding the party had
declared in State convention in favor of the amendment. Encouraged by
eastern women an Anti-Suffrage Committee was formed with Mrs. T. H.
Sturgeon chairman and Miss Maybelle Stuard press chairman and speaker,
both of Oklahoma City. Other women prominent in the movement were Miss
Edith Johnson, of the _Daily Oklahoman_ and Miss Alice Robertson of
Muskogee, who were very active in the distribution of the usual
"anti" literature, attempting to link the suffragists with Germans and
with the negro vote. Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y.,
representing the National Anti-Suffrage Association, remained in
Oklahoma during most of the campaign but their work was scattered and
ineffectual.
The election took place Nov. 8, 1918, and the amendment received a
majority of 25,428 of the votes cast on it. It had a majority of 9,791
of the highest number of votes cast at the election, a record that
never had been equalled in any State. After the National League of
Women Voters was organized at the convention of the National American
Suffrage Association in March, 1919, a State League was formed in
Oklahoma with Mrs. Phil Brown of Muskogee chairman.
* * * * *
Report of Mrs. Shuler to the Board of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association on the Oklahoma Campaign.
Against the advice of the National Board with conditions adverse
as they were in Oklahoma the legislative committee of the State
Federation of Women's Clubs and some members of the State
suffrage board secured the submission of an amendment to the
voters in 1917 and appealed for help to the National Association.
It found that the Oklahoma association was not organized as in
other States with the club as the unit but was composed of
individual memberships and was not an auxiliary of the National
Association, not having paid dues for several years. After
obtaining the submission there seemed to be a desire on the part
of the women to waive all responsibility for the campaign, but
they said that if the National Association considered the winning
of it a necessity to its program, it should assume the entire
financial responsibility.
On Jan. 19, 1918, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding
secretary and chairman of campaigns and surveys; Mrs. T. T.
Cotnam of Arkansas and Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Kansas,
directors of the National American Association, reached Oklahoma
City. Several conferences were held with the State board none of
whose members could give all their time to the campaign, although
two would work for salary and expenses. It was evident that a
Campaign Committee must be formed and new groups interested, to
which the board agreed. Forty-five women met at the Lee Huckins
Hotel on January 21, adopted a plan for work and agreed to raise
a budget of $25,000, Mrs. Shuler stating that no financial
assistance from the National Association could be given until the
Board had taken action on her "survey" of conditions. Mrs. John
Threadgill was elected chairman of the campaign committee with a
salary of $100 a month and Mrs. Julia Woodworth, the former State
secretary, was made executive secretary at a salary of $15 a
week. Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, chairman of finance, agreed to raise
the $25,000 necessary for the campaign with the understanding
that she was to have personally 10 per cent. of the money raised.
She raised a little over $2,000 and resigned April 1.
An organization of young women was formed in Oklahoma City and
State and city headquarters were opened in the Terminal Arcade.
Two organizers, Miss Josephine Miller who remained one week and
Miss Gertrude Watkins who remained three weeks, were sent by the
National Association. Miss Lola Walker came January 30, Miss
Margaret Thompson, a volunteer, and Miss Edna Annette Beveridge
in February, all remaining through the campaign.
Mrs. Shuler left April 6 for South Dakota and Michigan, both in
amendment campaigns. While in Oklahoma she had visited
twenty-seven counties out of the seventy-seven and organization
had been effected in thirty-two county seats; also the passage
obtained of a resolution by the Democratic and Republican State
Committees not only endorsing but promising to work for the
amendment. A Campaign Committee had been formed with
representatives from seventeen organizations of men and women
representing different groups with widely diversified interests.
Ten State vice-chairmen had been selected from different sections
and eleven chairmen of active committees. Headquarters had been
opened in Tulsa and Muskogee and others promised in the larger
cities. A canvass had been made of forty-six newspapers showing
only five to be absolutely opposed. The State had been divided
into ten districts and it was hoped that each might have the
services later of an experienced national worker.
On April 17, 18, a meeting of the Executive Council of the
National Association was held in Indianapolis. The Board took
action on Oklahoma, agreeing to give organizers, press work and
literature to the amount of $13,650, provided the State would put
two more trained organizers in the field immediately and raise
the rest of the "budget," about $11,000. Mrs. Threadgill
attending this meeting and agreed to the plan.
On May 1 Miss Marjorie Shuler was sent by the National
Association to take entire charge of press and political work,
and, to quote from Miss Katherine Pierce's report, "to her
effective work with the newspapers of the State was due in a
great measure the success of the campaign." Three hundred were
supplied with weekly bulletins and two-and-a-half pages of plate,
and the last week 126,000 copies of a suffrage supplement sent
from national headquarters in New York were circulated through
the newspapers. As a unit the suffrage organization was used for
the 3rd and 4th Liberty Loans, and a statewide Unconditional
Surrender Club, in which nearly 100,000 members were enrolled,
was organized by Miss Shuler. In the face of these activities the
men paid little heed to the charges of pacifism and lack of
patriotism made against the suffragists by paid "anti" speakers
sent in from outside the State.
May 1 found the Campaign Committee without funds and a meeting
held in Oklahoma City early in the month passed the following
resolution: "On account of the unusual conditions prevailing at
this time which have caused the Oklahoma State Campaign Committee
to find itself unable to meet the expenses of the campaign, said
committee does hereby dissolve and stands ready to cooperate in
any way possible in any plans that may be evolved by the National
Board, hoping for its continued aid and support and expressing
warmest thanks and most earnest appreciation of the generous aid
and assistance already given." This resolution was unanimously
carried, the committee dissolved and Mrs. Clarence Henley was
made chairman, Mrs. Frank Haskell, vice chairman, Mrs. A..
Crockett, secretary, Mrs. Blanche Hawley, treasurer, and Mrs. C.
B. Ames, chairman of finance of a new one. As the State had not
put in the two trained organizers, the National Board sent Mrs.
Mary K. Maule in April and Misses Alice Curtis and Doris Long in
June.
One of the requirements by the National Association if financial
assistance were given was that States in campaign should secure
signatures of women on petitions. At the meeting in January
officers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union agreed to take
entire charge of this work but later decided that it might injure
the chances for national prohibition. Its president, however,
Mrs. Abbie Hillerman of Sapulpa, served as an advisory member of
the Campaign Committee and with other members rendered valuable
assistance. Under the direction of Miss Curtis 58,687 signatures
were obtained.
In the meantime the Oklahoma City organization, which had for
officers a group of young women, was dissolved and their
headquarters given up. Money was needed to maintain State
headquarters, which were an absolute necessity. In June Mrs.
Henley, the chairman, sent a financial plan to all county
chairmen, asking for a certain sum from each county based on
population, wealth, etc. Some county chairmen resigned, which was
a discouragement to Mrs. Henley and to the national workers.
Early in July Mrs. Henley telegraphed her resignation to the
National Board, stating that the campaign must go by default
unless it would assume all financial obligation. Mrs. Catt, the
national president, wrote urging her not to resign and stating
that the National Association would pay salary and expenses of
all national organizers then in the field and would send other
workers as needed, providing Oklahoma would finance its State
headquarters and speakers' bureau and meet the pledge made in
April to pay salary and expenses of two workers. Mrs. Henley
remained chairman; Mary Parke London and Sally Fanny Gleaton were
sent by the board in July; Alma Sasse in August and Isabella
Sanders as headquarters secretary on September 1. Mrs. Shuler
returned from New York and took over the campaign for the final
two months, with headquarters in Oklahoma City.
All of the prominent suffragists in the State were doing war
work.... There was a depleted treasury. The Campaign Committee
was not able to pay for any workers in the field. Money was
needed for rent, postage, telegrams, stenographers' salaries,
etc. It became necessary for Mrs. Shuler and the organizers, in
addition to the detailed work of the campaign, to assume the
financial burden as well. Mrs. Shuler gave her personal check for
rent for August, September and October and with the national
assistants in the field and by personal appeals raised $2,433.
From January 21 to November 5, 1918, there came into the State
Campaign Committee's treasury $4,993 and of this amount $2,559
were spent from January to June for salaries of Mrs. Threadgill,
the chairman; Mrs. Woodworth, the secretary, and headquarters
expenses. These funds were checked out on warrants signed by them
and the checks signed by Mrs. Hawley, treasurer. From June to
November $2,433 were raised and checked out on warrants signed by
Mrs. Henley and checks signed by Mrs. Hawley for headquarters
expenses--not a penny going for salary or expenses of any
national worker. The sum of $79.92 remaining in the treasury at
the end was turned over to the Ratification Committee.
The Tulsa suffragists opened headquarters, engaged an executive
secretary and financed their own campaign. They also very
generously paid nearly $500 for the suffrage supplement
distributed through the State. There were other counties no doubt
where money was spent locally, but no record was sent to
headquarters. The National Association expended nearly $20,000 in
Oklahoma, the largest sum it had ever put into a State Campaign.
By September 1 it was paying salaries and expenses of eleven
national workers.[149]
When the epidemic regulations forbade meetings of more than
twelve persons, the suffragists resorted to all manner of devices
for voiceless speech and 150,000 fliers with the wording of the
amendment, directions how to vote and the warning that a "silent
vote" was a vote against it were distributed by hand and through
the mail. Other circularization, posting of towns at a specified
date and newspaper publicity were pushed. Much political help was
secured. Both Republican and Democratic State conventions passed
suffrage resolutions and preceding the Democratic nearly every
county convention passed such a resolution.
No work which the women did in the campaign was more effective
than their election day appeal. Nearly every polling place had
women watchers within and women scouts without. Whenever one
party in any place denied women the privilege of watching, they
secured appointments as regular watchers for the other party. An
amendment to the constitution of Oklahoma has to poll a majority
of the highest number of votes cast in the general election. The
"silent vote" is the term applied to the votes cast in the
election but not on the amendment and which are counted against
it. The task of arousing every man to such a degree of interest
that he would remember to mark his ballot on the suffrage
amendment seemed a hopeless task. Those who know the usual
inattention given to any constitutional amendment by the rank and
file of voters can estimate how difficult it was to get a
_majority of the ballots correctly marked_.
Early in September it was learned that the Elections Board,
claiming that the Secretary of State had failed to supply the
official wording of the amendment ninety days before election,
did not intend to print the suffrage amendment. Through the
efforts of Judge W. H. Ledbetter of Oklahoma City, who donated
his services, this obstacle was overcome, and then further to
increase the difficulties, the board decided to print the
suffrage amendment on a separate ballot. In October it was found
that soldiers had voted in seven camps but suffrage ballots had
not been furnished them and thus hundreds were prevented from
voting on the amendment, yet all of these were counted as voting
in the negative! The attempt to hold back the returns and to get
a new ruling on the meaning of the so-called "silent vote" are
matters of history.
On Friday after election it became apparent to the State
Elections Board that the suffrage majority was piling up and
there was every evidence that the amendment had won. On Saturday
it was reported that a member of the State Elections Board in
Oklahoma City had called up some chairmen of county elections
boards, asking that they open the sealed returns and send a
second report counting from the "stubs," which would include the
mutilated and spoiled ballots, so as to increase further the
number of the "silent votes." At that time the suffrage
headquarters had received returns from 63 out of 77 counties,
showing a majority of 21,000 of the votes cast on the amendment,
about 10,000 over the "silent vote." The publication of these
attested returns prevented any further attempt to get them from
"stub" books. When all other resources failed, the
anti-suffragists filed a protest against certification by the
State Elections Board.
There were really two campaigns in Oklahoma--one to win the
ballot and the other to hold it. Mrs. Shuler remained in the
State until November 14. On that day the _Oklahoman_ printed the
statement by Governor Williams that on the face of the returns so
far suffrage had won.
Miss Beveridge, who had charge of one of the most difficult
sections of the State and had carried it, remained in Oklahoma
until December 3, when Governor Williams finally called for the
suffrage returns and without certification by the Elections
Board, proclaimed it carried. The vote stood 106,909 ayes, 81,481
noes, a majority of 25,428 votes on the amendment and of 9,791
over the total vote cast at the election. This latter requirement
had always been counted on to defeat any measure that the party
"bosses" did not want carried and the politicians now asked, "But
where was the 'silent vote'?" The answer came when a map of the
State was shown almost obliterated with tiny red stars and they
were told, "Every star represents a suffrage committee working
since last January." Organization had reduced the "silent vote"
to five per cent. and won the suffrage for the women of Oklahoma.
[End of Mrs. Shuler's report.]
RATIFICATION. With the successful closing of the campaign the county
chairmen answered the call of Mrs. Shuler to meet in Oklahoma City and
formed a Ratification Committee to carry on the work of ratifying the
Federal Suffrage Amendment when it should be submitted to the
Legislatures. This committee was composed of Miss Katherine Pierce of
Oklahoma City, chairman; Mrs. A. P. Crockett of the same city,
treasurer, and Miss Aloysius Larch-Miller of Shawnee, secretary, with
representative women from the State at large as follows: Mrs. Frank
Haskell, Tulsa; Mrs. E. E. McPherron, Durant; Mrs. Walter Ferguson,
Cherokee; Mrs. Robert J. Ray, Lawton; Mrs. Hardee Russell, Paul's
Valley. The county chairmen for the campaign were retained.
No active work was done until after the Conference of Governors in
Salt Lake City in the summer of 1919, when the amendment had been
submitted. At this conference the new Governor, J. B. A. Robertson,
gave as a reason for not calling a special session to ratify, the
great expense and the fear of untimely legislation but he consented to
call one if these could be avoided. In September Miss Larch-Miller,
assisted by Miss Marjorie Shuler, sent by the National Association,
asked the legislators to sign a pledge that they would attend a
special session, serve without pay, consider no other legislation and
vote for ratification. Pledges were signed by a majority of both
Houses and presented to the Governor who made no answer. Several weeks
later he addressed the State Federation of Women's Clubs and again
offered the same excuses.
In January, 1920, the Democratic Central Committee called county
conventions of women to select delegates to a State convention of
women to be held prior to the regular State convention. Many of these
county conventions passed a resolution requesting the Governor to call
a special session and it was also adopted at the State convention of
about 1,500 women. A number of the regular county conventions of men
and women passed it. Miss Larch-Miller attended the convention of her
county, although she had been confined to her room for several days
with influenza. She spoke strongly for the resolution and was opposed
by the Attorney General, S. P. Freeling, one of the ablest orators in
the State, but her enthusiasm and eloquence carried the day and it was
adopted. The exertion proved too much for her frail body and the next
night pneumonia developed and she gave her young life as the supreme
sacrifice for the cause she loved.
The Democratic State convention met at Muskogee February 5 and Senator
Robert L. Owen's candidacy for President of the United States had
developed to such an extent that he was its dominating figure. He
insisted on a special session to ratify the amendment. Governor
Robertson stated to the convention that because of its interest in
Senator Owen's candidacy he would call the session and he did so for
February 23. President Wilson sent the following telegram on the 25th
to the Speaker of the House: "May I not take the liberty of expressing
my earnest hope that Oklahoma will join the other suffrage States in
ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment, thus demonstrating anew its
sense of justice and retaining its place as a leader in democracy?"
Mrs. Rufus M. Gibbs and Mrs. Mabel G. Millard, presidents of the
Maryland and Iowa Anti-Suffrage Associations, sent urgent telegrams to
defeat ratification, which were read to both Houses. Attorney General
Freeling made a strong State's rights argument against it but the
resolution was finally passed on February 27 by a vote of 84 to 12 in
the House and the next day in the Senate by 25 to 13. Senators Fred
Tucker of Ardmore and J. Elmer Thomas of Lawton sponsored it in the
Senate and Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C. Hodges of Okmulgee in
the House. Governor Robertson signed it February 28. Attorney General
Freeling immediately started a petition to refer this action to the
voters. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court that there could be no
referendum of Federal Amendments ended this final effort.
The Ratification Committee, with a feeling of gratitude to the
National Suffrage Association for the generous assistance that had
been given to Oklahoma affiliated the State with this body and it was
represented at the next national convention by a delegation of eight.
In 1920 Mrs. Lamar Looney was elected to the State Senate; Miss Bessie
McColque to the House and Miss Alice Robertson to the Lower House of
Congress.
FOOTNOTES:
[145] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Adelia C.
Stephens, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, and Miss
Katherine Pierce, chairman of the Ratification Committee.
[146] History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 888.
[147] The following testimonial was gratefully offered: Mrs. Ida
Porter Boyer by her tact and never failing kindness not only won the
love of the suffragists of Oklahoma but the respect and confidence of
all others who knew her. By her tireless energy and unselfishness she
did a work which contributed very largely to the final success that
came later. Signed, Kate H. Biggers, president State Suffrage
Association; Jence C. Feuquay, first vice-president; Adelia C.
Stephens, corresponding secretary; Ruth A. Gay, chairman finance
committee.
[148] Other State officers through the years were Mrs. N. M. Carter,
Mrs. Julia Dunham, Dr. Edith Barber, Elizabeth Redfield, Mrs. J. R.
Harris, Mrs. Narcissa Owen, Mrs. A. K. McKellop, Martha Phillips,
Minnie O. Branstetter, Mrs. Roswell Johnson, Lucy G. Struble, Carrie
K. Easterly, Kate Stafford, Dora Delay, Ellen McElroy, Edith Wright,
Mrs. Lee Lennox, Mary Goddard, Mrs. John Threadgill, Blanche H.
Hawley, Mrs. A. S. Heany, Mrs. Clarence Davis, Mrs. Carl Williams,
Mrs. C. L. Daugherty, Mrs. John Leahy, Jessie Livingston Parks, Mrs.
N. McCarty, Louise Boylan.
District presidents and chairmen of committees: Dora Kirkpatrick,
Janet C. Broeck, Elizabeth Burt, Ethel Lewis, Mrs. H. J. Bonnell, Mrs.
O. A. Mitscher, Mrs. C. C. Conlan, Effie M. Ralls, E. Irene Yeoman.
[149] Many ardent suffragists found they could not stand up against
the statewide comment that the women should be doing only war work but
the cooperation in many counties was splendid and there is not space
enough to name those who stood by throughout the struggle. To those
already mentioned should be added Judge and Mrs. D. A. McDougal of
Sapulpa, Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton, Mrs. B. W. Slagle of Shawnee, Mrs.
Hardee Russell of Paul's Valley, Mrs. Lamar Looney of Hollis, Mrs.
Francis Agnew of Altus, Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson of Nowata, Mrs. Annette
B. Ahler of Hennessey, Mrs. Olive Snider of Tulsa. Among the men to be
specially mentioned are James J. McGraw of Ponca City, member of the
National Republican Committee; Tom Wade of Marlow, member of the
National Democratic Committee; George L. Bowman of Kingfisher, Alger
Melton of Chickasha, Colonel E. M. McPherron of Durant and Bird
McGuire of Tulsa.