OREGON.[150]
The advent of 1901 found the suffrage cause in Oregon almost becalmed
upon a sea of indifference. With an ultra conservative population,
defeats in five previous campaigns, the existence of bitter prejudices
and an utter lack of cooperation among the suffragists themselves, the
outlook was almost hopeless, except for the one outstanding fact that
each failure had carried the women a little nearer their goal. An
inactive State organization had been maintained for years and in
1901-1904 the officers were: President, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway;
vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice Jeffreys; vice-president, Mrs. Ada
Cornish Hertsche; corresponding secretary, Miss Frances Gotshall;
recording secretary, Mrs. W. H. Games; treasurer, Mrs. Henry Waldo
Coe. No regular conventions were held.
Mrs. Duniway, the mother of suffrage in Oregon, always advocated the
"still hunt," preferring to centralize and individualize the effort
through prominent men and women rather than through a large and
general organization. Shortly before her death in 1915, speaking of
her work she said: "Occasionally I would gather a few women together
in a suffrage society but on the whole I did not find my time thus
spent at all profitable. Some traveling lecturer would often come
along and after speaking before the little local band of a dozen
members would receive the contents of the treasury, leaving the
society to ravel out for lack of funds. These experiences led me to
give up organizing suffrage societies, as I had learned that
lecturing, writing serial stories and editorials and correspondence
afforded a more rational means of spreading the light.... The only
time for general, active organization is after a few devoted workers
have succeeded in using the press for getting the movement squarely
before the voters in the shape of a proposed State suffrage
amendment."
This will answer very largely the many criticisms that came from the
National Association and from equal suffrage States over the apathy of
Oregon women from 1900 to 1904. What the result might have been, with
the State and national growth of suffrage sentiment, had there been a
strong, active organization is problematic, but Oregon might have had
the proud distinction of being first instead of last of the Pacific
Coast States to liberate her women politically. In 1905 the following
officers were elected: Honorary president, Mrs. Duniway; president,
Mrs. Coe; vice-president, Dr. Jeffreys Myers; secretary, Dr. Luema G.
Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie C. French; auditors, Dr. Mary Thompson,
Mrs. Martha Dalton and Mrs. Frederick Aggert.
The Legislature had many times submitted the amendment but its
repeated failures had discouraged the most ardent supporters in that
body. The gains in the various campaigns were not sufficient, they
argued, to warrant the expense of resubmission in the near future.
This reason was freely and courageously given from the Chair of the
Senate by one of the staunchest friends suffrage ever had in the
State, the Hon. C. W. Fulton, when he voted "no" on re-submission in
the Legislature of 1899, and the defeat of 1900 intensified this
feeling.
Hope revived when the Initiative and Referendum Act was adopted by the
voters in 1902. The District Judges decided against its
constitutionality and an appeal was carried to the State Supreme Court
by Attorney Ralph Duniway, whose able argument resulted in a reversal
and the establishment of the legality of the new law. This decision
was rendered Dec. 22, 1903, and on Jan. 2, 1904, a suffrage petition
was issued. This required the signatures of 8 per cent. of the legal
voters of the State based on the highest number of votes cast at the
election of 1902, in round numbers 7,200 names, and compelled the
submission of the amendment. In less than three weeks 7,900 had been
obtained but as only half of them had been verified and classified
before the limited time expired the work was of no avail.
During the following two years another force had been contributing
indirectly to the suffrage cause through the preparations for the
National Exposition which was to celebrate in Portland the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. In 1904 the Hon. Jefferson Myers, president of the
Exposition Commission, with his wife, Dr. Annice Jeffreys, attended
the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at
Washington, D. C., and so eloquently presented the claims of Oregon
that its unanimous decision was to hold its next meeting in Portland.
Stimulated by this prospect the Legislature of 1905 yielded to
pressure and submitted the amendment to be voted on in November, 1906.
It was a proud day for Oregon when the national convention was called
to order on June 21, 1905, by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national
president, in the First Congregational Church. The honorary president,
Miss Susan B. Anthony, then 85 years old, favored every session with
her gracious presence. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the vice-president;
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the recording secretary, with her father,
Henry B. Blackwell; Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary, and
Miss Laura Clay, auditor, were present and with Mrs. Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Misses Gail Laughlin, Mary and
Lucy Anthony, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Mrs. Maud Wood Park and other
well known women were heard during the convention. [See Chapter V,
Volume V.]
Very significant of the changing sentiment toward women was the
unveiling of the Sacajawea statue, in the exposition grounds, which
had been arranged for the time when these visitors could assist the
committee in the ceremonies. Miss Anthony in the opening address paid
a glowing tribute to this Indian woman and exhorted the women of
Oregon to lead the way to women's liberty. Dr. Shaw highly
complimented those who had made this recognition of a woman's services
to her country possible and hailed it as the dawning of a new day for
the cause of woman. Brief words along these lines were spoken by Mrs.
Catt and others. The picture will never fade from the memory of those
who saw Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw standing on the platform with the
sun lighting up their silver hair like an aureole and their faces
radiant with hope, as "The Star Spangled Banner" sung by an Indian
boy raised a tumult of applause while the flag floated away revealing
the idealized mother and babe.[151]
The national suffrage convention gave to the cause in Oregon a new
birth. Some of the most prominent men in the State appeared on its
platform and urged another campaign and political leaders in private
conference with its officers assured them that the time was ripe for
success. Encouraged by this assurance and in response to the strong
appeal of the leaders among the women of the State, the National
Association pledged its support. The suffragists for the most part
were now fully convinced that if the amendment was to be carried in
1906 there must be state-wide, systematic organization and in answer
to their request the National Board sent to assist them two of its
best organizers, Miss Mary N. Chase and Miss Gail Laughlin. By the end
of 1905 forty-two clubs had been formed in Portland and committees
outside. Newspapers were giving full reports of meetings and the
Portland _Journal_ was publishing each Sunday articles on suffrage by
Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, editor of the woman's page. At a State convention
held in Portland on November 8 the attendance was so great it was
necessary to adjourn to a larger hall. Mayor Harry Lane welcomed the
convention and took an unequivocal position in favor of woman
suffrage. Statesmanlike addresses were made by Miss Laughlin and Miss
Laura Clay of Kentucky. A special Campaign Committee had been
organized to cooperate with the State and national workers.[152]
The great leader of women, Susan B. Anthony, had passed away in March,
1906, her thoughts on the Oregon campaign to the very last, and,
carrying out her wishes, the following group of women came at once to
assist the women of the State: Dr. Shaw, Miss Clay, Miss Blackwell and
Miss Gordon, national officers; her sister and niece, Miss Mary and
Miss Lucy Anthony; Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania, Miss Laura
Gregg of Kansas, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado. Miss Laughlin
was already there. Added to the able Oregon workers a more efficient
body of women never had charge of a suffrage campaign. Centrally
located headquarters were at once opened in Portland, which soon
became the Mecca for the suffragists from all over the State. The
above trained campaigners submitted a plan to the State board and
committee, which was adopted. Women who had been named as county
chairmen previous to 1905 by Mrs. Duniway were used when possible as a
nucleus for a county organization. Many young women who took a leading
part in later campaigns got their first inspiration.
One large room at headquarters was set aside in which to prepare
literature for mailing and there daily went a stream of Portland
women, often swelled by women from out of the city, who worked
diligently from morning till night and many of them every day. These
noon hours became the social events of the campaign and many business
women acquired the habit of dropping in to help a bit with the work
and to enjoy the delightful companionship of the women they found
there. Mrs. Coe, the State president, was out of the city several
months, returning only a few weeks before the election.
Among the women outside of Portland who put their shoulders to the
wheel were Mrs. Clara Waldo, Marion county; Mrs. Emma Galloway,
Yamhill; Dr. Anna B. Reed, Linn; Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, Wasco; Professor
Helen Crawford, Benton; Mrs. Henry Sangstacken, Coos; Mrs. Imogene
Bath, Washington; Mrs. Rosemary Schenck, Lincoln; Mrs. Minnie
Washburn, Lane, and Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Clackamas.
Miss Clay, Mrs. Bradford and Miss Gregg supervised the work of State
organization, going into large and small places and extending it into
the remotest corners. Mrs. Boyer took up the publicity, in which she
had had long experience. Miss Gordon had charge of parlor meetings in
the cities and larger towns, reaching hundreds who could not have been
induced to attend public rallies. Miss Laughlin appealed powerfully to
the labor and fraternal organizations and conducted a series of
meetings in their halls, at industrial plants and on the streets. Miss
Blackwell, assisted by the Misses Mary and Lucy Anthony, remained at
the headquarters and supervised the sending out of literature. Dr.
Shaw, while keeping her finger on the pulse of all the work, was
speaking to great crowds constantly.
The impetus given the cause by the national convention the previous
summer and the activity of the national workers in the present
campaign aroused the corrupt influences in politics and the upper and
lower classes of anti-suffragists as never before and they jointly
employed Ferdinand Reed, an experienced politician, at a high salary,
as manager of a skilfully organized effort to defeat the amendment.
The Brewers' and Wholesale Liquor Dealers' Association of Oregon sent
out from Portland May 21 to the retail liquor dealers and druggists
the following secret circular, printed on its official paper, headed
with the names of thirteen breweries and nineteen wholesale liquor
houses:
Dear Sir:--Two laws are to be voted on at the election June 4,
which are of vital importance to every liquor merchant in Oregon
without exception. The first is woman suffrage. The second is the
amendment to the local option law. The members of this
association have worked hard for a long time on both these
matters ... but, being few in number, they can not by themselves
pass the local option amendment or defeat woman suffrage. That
part of the work is up to the retailers. We write this letter
earnestly to ask you to help.
It will take 50,000 votes to defeat woman suffrage. It will take
50,000 votes to pass the amendment to the local option law. There
are 2,000 retailers in Oregon. That means that every retailer
must himself bring in 25 votes on election day. Every retailer
can get 25 votes. Besides his employees he has his grocer, his
butcher, his landlord, his laundryman and every person he does
business with. If every man in the business will do this we will
win.
We enclose 25 ballot tickets, showing how these two laws will
appear on the ballot and how to vote. If you will personally take
25 friendly voters to the polls on election day and give each one
a ticket showing how to vote, please mail this postal card back
to us at once. You need not sign the card. Every card has a
number and we will know who sent it in. Let us all pull together
and let us all work. Let us each get 25 votes.
The election took place June 4, 1906, and resulted in an adverse
majority of 10,173 in a vote of about 84,000. Besides the money raised
in Oregon the National Suffrage Association expended on this campaign
$18,075. Of this amount $3,768 were used in the preliminary work of
1905. All of the eastern workers except the organizers contributed
their services and several defrayed their own expenses.
The women decided to go immediately into another campaign. The
Legislative Assembly of 1907 refused to submit the amendment and the
State Association again circulated an initiative petition to have it
submitted. Miss Clay contributed $300 toward the expense of it; Mr.
and Miss Blackwell also contributed liberally and the requisite number
of names was secured. Mrs. Duniway in reporting this campaign said:
"It was more like that of 1900, as only Oregon women took part and no
large meetings were held." There were a few less votes in favor of the
amendment in 1908 than in 1906 and 11,739 more against it.
The State Association filed a petition for another initiative measure
immediately after this defeat. It was quite a different proposition,
however, as it read: "No citizen who is a taxpayer shall be denied the
right to vote on account of sex." Both men and women, many of them the
staunchest suffragists, openly opposed it and it was bitterly fought
by labor and fraternal organizations. No campaign was attempted except
from the State president's office and there was general satisfaction
when it was defeated in 1910 by a majority of 22,600.
A reorganization of the State work in 1906 after the election had
resulted in Mrs. Duniway's again resuming the presidency with the
following board: Vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Elizabeth Lord;
corresponding secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Craig; recording secretary,
Miss Emma Buckman; financial secretary, Mrs. A. Bonham; treasurer,
Mrs. W. E. Potter; auditors, Mrs. Frederick Eggert and Mrs. Martha
Dalton; honorary president, Mrs. Coe. This board practically remained
intact until 1912. In the two disastrous campaigns of 1908 and 1910,
against the protest of many, the "still hunt" method was employed and
no state-wide organization was attempted. With indomitable courage the
board again circulated an initiative petition and had the amendment
for full suffrage put on the 1912 ballot. Although it was unnecessary
for the Legislature to vote for its submission it did so in order to
give it more weight.
The women of the State now grew restive and began to agitate for
organization for the coming campaign. During 1910 and 1911 Washington
and California had enfranchised their women and Oregon remained the
only "black" State on the Pacific Coast. This was a matter of great
humiliation to the women who had worked for suffrage at least a score
of years, as well as to the progressive young women who were beginning
to fill the thinning ranks of the pioneer workers.
In December, 1911, Dr. Shaw, the national president, wrote a very
strong letter to some of the women severely criticizing their apathy
and lack of preparation for this campaign. This was brought to the
attention of the State president, who later wrote: "Although urged
from many sides and by some of the ablest women of the State to begin
a campaign for 1912 in the summer of 1911, I withstood all such
requests." A division of opinion arose among the women of Portland
regarding the wisdom of delay and Dr. Shaw's letter was submitted to
the Woman's Club, an organization which up to this time had taken no
active part in work for suffrage. Now a motion prevailed to enter into
the campaign and authorize the president, Mrs. A. King Wilson, to
appoint a committee for this purpose. The personnel of the committee
was: Mrs. Frederick Eggert, Mrs. William Fear, Mrs. George McMillan,
Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, Mrs. Grace Watt Ross, Mrs. Sarah A. Evans,
chairman; Mrs. William Strandborg, secretary. This committee waited on
the State president and submitted a plan whereby all the various
groups of women which were forming might be co-ordinated and operate
from one headquarters, the committee offering to assume all financial
expense for them. The plan was not approved by her and the committee
and all other groups were compelled to work independently of the State
organization.
The Portland Woman's Club Committee opened headquarters in January,
1912, occupying two rooms in a centrally located office building for
the entire ten months of the campaign. Dr. Shaw, through the
generosity of a friend, contributed $200 a month toward their
maintenance. Mrs. Strandborg, a newspaper woman of large experience,
sent every two weeks a short, spicy letter to 210 papers throughout
the State. Many appreciative notices were given by the press.
Almost simultaneously with the opening of headquarters by this
committee a number of independent societies were formed for
propaganda, which sent out organizers and by summer there were no
counties and but few towns or hamlets without a suffrage society. With
the assistance of Miss Anita Whitney of California and Mrs. Helen Hoy
Greeley of New York the women of Oregon University organized a large
college suffrage club; the State Agricultural College did the same and
these were rapidly emulated by the smaller colleges and schools. The
State Federation of Labor endorsed it and sent organizers into the
field as did many fraternal associations.
The first concerted effort made by the State Association was at Salem
Feb. 16, 1912, in the Hall of Representatives by permission of
Secretary of State Ben Olcott. A large number of suffragists were
present. The speakers were Governor Oswald West; Mrs. Olive English
Enright; Mrs. Greeley and Miss Whitney. Mrs. Duniway became seriously
ill immediately after this meeting and the work of the association
fell upon Mrs. Coe, who courageously assumed the responsibility. In
the secretary, Miss Buckman, she had an able assistant, and also in
Mrs. L. W. Therkelsen, Mrs. H. R. Reynolds, Dr. Marie D. Equi and Dr.
Victoria Hampton, close friends of Mrs. Duniway. On March 8 Mrs. Coe
called a meeting at the headquarters in the Selling Building in
Portland, two rooms having been generously donated by the Hon. Ben
Selling to be jointly used by the State association and the College
League. The State work was definitely launched by the appointment of
the following committees: Finance, Mrs. J. A. Fouilhoux, Mrs. Elliott
Corbet, Dr. Florence Manion; literature, Mrs. Louise Trullinger, Mrs.
A. E. Clark, Miss Emma Wold, Miss Blanche Wren; ways and means, Dr.
Florence Brown Cassiday, Mrs. Caroline Hepburn, Mrs. C. B. Woodruff.
In June the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in San Francisco
and many of the prominent women in attendance arranged to return via
Oregon, the New York special train stopping over for one day. It was
met twelve miles out and escorted to Portland and met at the depot by
a brass band.
In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Taylor Street Methodist
Church with many unable to obtain admittance. Miss Mary Garrett Hay of
New York; Mrs. H. C. Warren of New Jersey; Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of
Kentucky; Miss Helen Varick Boswell and Miss Mary Wood of New York,
and Professor Frances Squire Potter of Minnesota University, were
among the speakers. The last four remained for several days and spoke
at the great Gladstone Chautauqua. One of the most noteworthy
incidents of the campaign was a debate here between Mrs. Breckinridge
and the Rev. Clarence True Wilson, secretary of the Committee of
Temperance and Morals for the Methodist Church. The reverend gentleman
was the white hope of the anti-suffragists. His exalted calling and
his official position as a prohibitionist, camouflaged the relation
between the two extremes of society that were working against the
amendment--the liquor people and a group of society women supplemented
by a group of prominent men. He had sent the challenge to the Woman's
Club Committee and Mrs. Breckinridge took up the gauntlet. Three
thousand people saw him, completely routed, retire from the platform
while Mrs. Breckinridge and "the cause" got a tremendous ovation. Mr.
Wilson and William D. Wheelwright were the only two men who took the
platform against the amendment. The women "antis" were led by Mrs. A.
E. Rockey, Mrs. Ralph Wilber, Mrs. Robert Lewis and the Misses Etta
and May Failing.
The committee maintained a speakers' bureau and sent out thousands of
pieces of literature. Among the first to enter the campaign was a
Men's Equal Suffrage Club, organized and promoted by W. M. Davis, a
prominent attorney of Portland, which soon became an active state-wide
organization. Mr. Davis was the legal adviser of all the women's
organizations.
Mrs. Solomon Hirsch, an early worker and one of the most liberal
financial supporters of the campaign, went directly into the camp of
the enemy and organized a group of society women in the Portland Equal
Suffrage League. No one feature stands out more conspicuously for
results than a "tea" she gave for Sir Forbes-Robertson in her palatial
home, to which she invited about two hundred guests, most of whom were
radical anti-suffragists, but many of them went away converts after
hearing the presentation of the subject by the guest of honor. Mrs.
Hirsch also brought the Rev. Charles A. Aked of San Francisco.
Dr. Coe was the first president of the Portland College League and
when she had to assume the duties of the State president, Miss Emma
Wold filled her place. The largest suffrage meeting up to that time
was under the auspices of this league at Oaks Amusement Park, where
Mrs. Sara Bard Field (Ergott) and C. E. S. Wood, a brilliant orator,
addressed more than 10,000 people. Mrs. A. C. Newill established the
Cooperative Civic League, which did active work with the State
association. Dr. Lovejoy organized Every Body's League late in the
campaign but succeeded in gathering hundreds of unattached men and
women into the ranks of the workers. The Woman's Christian Temperance
Union added its mighty strength and did valiant service under the able
leadership of Mrs. Lucia Faxton Additon, Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden and Mrs.
Ada Wallace Unruh.
On Nov. 5, 1912, the equal suffrage amendment was carried by a
majority of 4,161, not by any one person or by any one organization,
for no individual or single organization could have compassed the work
required to put the State "over the top" with even this meagre
majority in a total vote of 118,369. When the heights were reached,
however, all were ready to lay the laurels at the feet of Abigail
Scott Duniway, Martha A. Dalton, Charlotte M. Cartwright and Dr. Mary
Thompson, the pioneers who had borne the heat and burden of the early
days. Governor West paid Mrs. Duniway the compliment of inviting her
to write the proclamation of woman suffrage and jointly with him to
sign it, and John Coffey, the county clerk, carried the registration
book to her sick room so that she might be the first woman in Oregon
to register.
At the close of this arduous campaign the women folded their hands for
a quiet rest until the cry for help came from other States. It was a
most difficult task to gather up the broken threads of so many
organizations and again rouse them to enthusiasm. Dr. Lovejoy,
however, at the earnest request of Dr. Shaw, sent out a general call
for a conference in March, 1915. At this meeting the State Suffrage
Alliance was formed with Mrs. William Ogburn as first president. Those
who followed her in the office were: Mrs. Thomas Burk, Mrs. Kelley
Rees, Mrs. Elliott Corbett and Mrs. C. B. Simmons. It gave its
assistance to the unenfranchised States and was ready to respond to
any call from the national president.
RATIFICATION. The Alliance was largely instrumental in having a
special session of the Legislature called to ratify the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. This was done by unanimous vote in the House
January 12 and in the Senate January 13, 1920, and Governor Oswald
West affixed his signature on the 14th. The resolution was introduced
in the lower House by Mrs. Alexander Thompson, a member.
On March 6, 1920, at a called meeting the women organized a League of
Women Voters and Mrs. Charles E. Curry was elected chairman.
The Oregon chapter on suffrage was closed on Aug. 28, 1920. At noon of
that day, while nearly 300 women stood at attention around the banquet
table at the Benson Hotel in Portland, every bell and whistle in the
city sounded forth the glad refrain of liberty and righteousness,
universal suffrage for women, proclaimed by Secretary of State
Bainbridge Colby. The Mayor of Portland, George L. Baker, was there to
rejoice with them. Old women who had stood in the battle-front for
years were there to tell of the hard struggles they had passed through
for the franchise and young women were there to promise that they
would keep the faith and honor the inheritance that had come to them.
The jubilee closed with the singing of a Hymn of Thanksgiving written
for this meeting by Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, the only woman living
who had attended the first and last conventions of the National
Suffrage Association--1869-1920.
FOOTNOTES:
[150] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Evans,
president of the State Federation of Clubs ten years; on the Child
Labor Commission eighteen years and market inspector for Portland
sixteen years.
[151] Sacajawea was a young Indian woman who accompanied her husband
on the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River to the
Pacific Coast, the only woman in the party. She had been a captive
from an Idaho tribe of the Shoshones and was the only person who could
speak the language of the Indians that would be met on the way or who
had ever been over the route to be traveled. With her baby in her arms
she was the unerring guide through the almost impenetrable mountain
passes and on several occasions saved not only the equipment and
documents but the lives of the party. In recognition of this service
the women of Oregon formed the Sacajawea Association, with the
following officers: Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, president; Mrs. C. M.
Cartwright, first vice-president; Mrs. M. A. Dalton, second; Mrs. J.
B. Montgomery, third; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, secretary; Mrs. A. H.
Breyman, treasurer. This association secured subscriptions and erected
a beautiful bronze statue on the exposition grounds, which later was
transferred to a prominent place in the city park.
[152] Campaign Committee: Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe, chairman, president of
the Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. Duniway, honorary president; Dr.
Annice Jeffreys Myers, its vice-president and auditor of the National
Association; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, president State Federation of
Women's Clubs; Mrs. Lucia F. Additon, president Woman's Christian
Temperance Union; Mrs. C. M. Cartwright, State Pioneers' Association;
Mrs. Clara Waldo, State Grange; Dr. Luema G. Johnson, State Labor
Organization; Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Sacajawea Association.