PENNSYLVANIA.[153]
Pennsylvania was a pioneer State in the movement for woman suffrage.
One of the first "woman's rights" conventions in history took place in
1852 in West Chester under the auspices of the Friends, or Quakers,
and Philadelphia was the home of Lucretia Mott, who joined with
Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 in calling the first "woman's rights"
meeting ever held. The State Woman Suffrage Association was formed in
this city in December, 1869, a few months after the founding of the
National Association, and did not cease its work until the final
victory in 1920.
Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia was reelected to the
presidency in 1901 for the tenth consecutive term and was reelected
annually six times thereafter, retiring in 1908 because the work then
required long journeys from home. Auxiliaries had been organized in 11
counties before the convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1901.
Suffrage activities had been confined to southeastern Pennsylvania but
now three extreme western counties and two central ones had
organizations and offered a promising field. For the first time plans
were made for extended canvassing for members. To the courageous women
of that period who carried on steadfastly under severe handicaps and
with little encouragement may be attributed much of the inspiration of
the suffragists of later years. Miss Jane Campbell of Germantown,
poet, author and orator, president for many years of the large, active
Philadelphia County Society, was responsible in a great degree for the
enthusiasm and spirit which sustained the pioneers.
The convention of 1902 took place in Philadelphia November 7. A
report on the canvassing of one ward of Philadelphia, the 10th, showed
55 per cent. of the women in favor. Leaflets were sent to 2,184
schools during the year and a prize offered for the best essay on
woman suffrage by a pupil. On December 5 the Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting of Friends organized an Equal Rights Association.
A report on the canvass of the 15th ward, undertaken by the county
society, the largest and most active auxiliary, was given at the
annual convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 1903, and showed that
of the 4,839 women interviewed nearly one-half were favorable, less
than a third opposed and the rest were indifferent. This year the
State Grange and the city Labor Union endorsed woman suffrage. A
banquet in honor of Miss Susan B. Anthony and the other national
officers took place at the New Century Club, the guests including
Mayor Samuel Ashbridge and his wife. His progressiveness contrasts
strongly with the fact that sixteen years later the suffragists were
unable to persuade Mayor Thomas B. Smith to welcome their Fiftieth
Annual Convention to the city.
Easton was the place of the convention, Nov. 3-5, 1904, where it was
reported that the result of sending fraternal delegates to
thirty-seven State gatherings was the adoption of woman suffrage
resolutions by nineteen. The convention of 1905 was held in
Philadelphia, November 14, and all auxiliaries reported large gains in
membership. This year suffragists had ably assisted the City Party in
a reform campaign and advanced their own cause. Kennett Square
entertained the convention Nov. 6-8, 1906. An increase of 1,182 in
membership had been made during the year. In 1907 the State convention
was held in the western part of the State, taking place in Pittsburgh,
November 6-8. A resolution was proposed for the first time to ask the
political parties to put woman suffrage planks in their State
platforms by Miss Charlotte Jones but it was voted down as
impracticable. The State Grange, Letter Carriers' Association and
State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted suffrage resolutions
during the year. A junior suffrage auxiliary of 400 Pittsburgh girls
and boys was represented.
Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery succeeded Mrs. Blankenburg as president at
the convention held in Norristown Nov. 4-6, 1908. The proposed program
of the National American Association to secure an enormous petition
calling upon Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment was
undertaken cheerfully, although it was a heavy task for a small group
of workers with no headquarters and limited finances. The State
convention took place at Newton Nov. 22-24, 1909, and Mrs. Avery was
re-elected president. The Equal Franchise Society, representing a
group of prominent women of Philadelphia, had been organized in the
spring as an auxiliary of the State association and the increase of
work caused by advance throughout the State made the establishment of
headquarters imperative. A committee was appointed to arrange for
State and county headquarters in Philadelphia and a sum sufficient to
sustain them for three years was pledged.
The convention of 1910 was held in Harrisburg and Mrs. Ellen H. E.
Price of Philadelphia assumed the presidency. This year was organized
the Equal Franchise Federation of Western Pennsylvania, later changed
to Federation of Pittsburgh, its leaders destined to play a very
important part in suffrage annals. Julian Kennedy was the first
president, one of the very few men who served as president of a woman
suffrage organization. The State Federation of Labor not only adopted
resolutions endorsing woman suffrage but pledging itself to select men
for offices who were committed to a belief in it. The political
district plan was adopted for future work, in accordance with the
recommendation of the National Association. The headquarters were
opened at 208 Hale Building, Philadelphia, October 7. Street meetings
were inaugurated in that city the next summer and the speakers were
received with amazing cordiality. Mrs. Price was re-elected president
at the convention which opened in the Mayor's reception room, City
Hall, Philadelphia, Nov. 23, 1911, Mayor John E. Reyburn granting this
courtesy.
Owing to the necessity of giving the work state-wide scope the
convention held in Philadelphia Nov. 26, 27, 1912, recommended moving
the State headquarters to Harrisburg and this change was effected in
December. In March a Men's League for Woman Suffrage had been
organized with Judge Dimner Beeber of Philadelphia as president and
more than 100 prominent members enrolled. Fourteen new organizations
were formed during the year but the larger part of the State was still
unorganized. The national suffrage convention preceded the State
convention and gave an impetus to the movement. An evening mass
meeting in the Metropolitan Opera House made the record of the largest
and most enthusiastic suffrage meeting ever held in this city. [See
Chapter XII, Volume V.] The association now had 7,211 members. Mrs.
Frank M. Roessing of Pittsburgh was elected president and this young,
practical woman was principally responsible for changing the character
of the work from purely propagandistic lines to recognized business
standards.
The annual convention met in Pittsburgh, Oct. 28-30, 1913, the
president's term of office was lengthened to two years and Mrs.
Roessing was reelected. The State Grange and the Federation of Labor
reaffirmed their suffrage resolutions and the International
Brotherhood of Firemen went on record in favor. A proposition to
submit the question of woman suffrage to the voters had been favorably
passed on by the Legislature and waited action by a second.
Great strides were made in 1914. A press department conducted along
professional lines supplied all the papers of the State with live
suffrage news and there were suffrage editions of several papers. Miss
Hannah J. Patterson of Pittsburgh had charge of organizing the Woman
Suffrage Party along political lines out of the State association, and
to Mrs. Roessing and her belongs especial credit for the strong,
workable organization which was built up so carefully in preparation
for the campaign year. The State convention was held in Scranton,
November 19-24. There was every indication that the next Legislature
would submit a constitutional amendment and the Executive Board asked
for a campaign fund of $100,000, of which $30,000 were pledged at the
convention. Mrs. William Thaw, Jr., of Pittsburgh offered $10,000 if
the fund reached $50,000 by April 1. With this splendid foundation the
State was ready to take up the actual work of the campaign in 1915.
Mrs. Charles Wister Ruschenberger of Strafford announced that she
would have a replica cast of the Liberty Bell to be known as the
"woman's liberty bell." Later Dr. Mary M. Wolfe of Lewisburg was
elected chairman of the Finance Committee and the $50,000 were raised
on time.
The Legislature of 1915 submitted an amendment to be voted on at the
regular election November 2. Mrs. Roessing was president of the State
Association and Miss Patterson was chairman of the Woman Suffrage
Party, whose plan provided for organization by political districts,
recognizing every political division from that of the State unit down
to the precinct and township. The State was divided into nine
districts but as very few women could give sufficient time to head a
division comprising from seven to ten counties, only four were
supervised by chairmen--Mrs. Anna M. Orme, Mrs. E. E. Kiernan, Mrs.
Maxwell K. Chapman and Miss Mary J. Norcross.
Allegheny county had four experienced organizers, Philadelphia four,
Montgomery three, Bucks two, Chester, Washington, Luzerne and McKean
each one. Eighteen other organizers worked under the supervision of
Miss Patterson.[154] They visited every one of the 67 counties during
the year, formed new organizations, stimulated those already
established, conducted booths at county fairs, addressed women's
clubs, teachers' institutes, Chautauquas, picnics, farmers'
institutes, men's organizations, political, church, college and
factory meetings. During the last three months of the campaign they
conducted county tours and held open air meetings daily. They formed
central organizations in 64 counties under competent chairmen. Cameron
and Pike were the only counties where there were no societies but in
Cameron there were active workers. In the other eleven counties
central organizations were not formed but legislative districts and
boroughs were organized, each with a capable chairman.[155]
To Miss Clarissa A. Moffitt, its secretary, belongs much credit for
the able management of the Speakers' Bureau. During the campaign year
56 counties were supplied, involving the services of 64 speakers; 14
were men, 33 were Pennsylvanians, 14 contributed services and expenses
and 27 asked expenses only. The bureau made a study of the
characteristics of each county in industry, agriculture, character of
population and politics. Speakers were then offered who would be
acceptable to the community as well as to the particular meeting. Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, national president, gave 28 lectures and from every
county reports came that hundreds of converts were made.
The manager of the publicity department, Charles T. Heaslip, was an
expert not only in the art of journalism but also in the art of
publicity. This department ultimately required the full time of three
special writers. Semi-monthly a two column plate service was sent to
260 papers from February and from October 1 it was weekly, the list of
papers having grown to 346. Allegheny county, in which Pittsburgh is
located, conducted the most efficient county campaign. Its
headquarters practically duplicated the State headquarters at
Harrisburg with secretaries and organizers and it was the only one
which employed its own publicity agent. A weekly news bulletin was
issued to 500 papers and the regular service was supplemented by
special stories. Much work was done in advance of meetings. From July
to November a weekly cartoon service was undertaken, a new feature in
suffrage campaign work. According to the newspaper men it comprised
the best cartoons ever used in any campaign in the State and the money
spent for them brought greater returns than that for any other
feature. The cartoonists were C. Batchelor, Charles H. Winner and
Walter A. Sinclair.
In special features the publicity department avoided sensationalism.
Suffrage Flower Gardens, Good Roads Day, the Justice Bell and
Supplication Day comprised practically the entire list. Attractive
yellow boxes containing seeds for the old-fashioned yellow flowers
were offered for sale by the State association and the flower gardens
furnished a picturesque form of propaganda and long continued
publicity. In Pennsylvania a day in the spring is set aside by the
department of highways when all residents along country roads are
asked to contribute their services for their improvement. The local
suffrage organizations provided coffee and sandwiches for the
laborers and got in their propaganda. On Supplication Day, the last
Sunday before election, ministers were asked to preach suffrage
sermons. Mrs. Ruschenberger's Bell was the best and main publicity
feature and undeniably secured many thousands of votes. It visited all
the counties, traveling 3,935 miles on a special truck. Hundreds of
appeals by as many speakers were made from this as a stand and it was
received in the rural communities with almost as much reverence and
ceremony as would have been accorded the original bell. The
collections and the receipts from the sale of novelties moulded in the
likeness of the bell helped materially to defray the heavy expense of
operating the truck, paying the speakers' expenses and providing
literature.
Space for the display of advertising cards was purchased in 5,748
street cars for August, September and October. Special suffrage
editions of newspapers in all parts of the State, copy and cuts for
which were prepared by the State Publicity Department, contributed
considerably to propaganda and finance. Throughout the State the
general lines of activity were the same--meetings of all kinds,
parades, hearings before organizations to secure endorsements, booths
at county fairs, exhibitions, canvassing, circularization and auto
tours. The degree of success in each locality depended upon the kind
and amount of work. Millions of fliers, leaflets and booklets original
to Pennsylvania were issued in English, Italian, German, Polish and
Hebrew and no effort or expense was spared to secure converts through
the written word. During the last month of the campaign the county
organizations circularized their voters twice--once with speeches of
Representatives Mondell of Wyoming and Keating of Colorado in Congress
and once with a personal letter written to the voter and signed by the
county chairman or a suffragist in his own community. Four days before
election 330,000 of these letters went to the voters.
Although a bill for woman watchers at the polls failed to pass the
Legislature and the suffragists were thus denied the protection which
every political party is permitted, yet in many counties the
assistance of the regularly appointed watchers was secured. The
Washington party and Socialist watchers were universally helpful and
in many cases the Democratic and Republican watchers gave assistance.
The suffrage organizations were urged to place women workers at every
polling precinct. Many men favorable to suffrage advised against this
plan but the result of the election showed that nothing won as many
votes at the last minute as the appeal of the women at the polls. Of
the 33 counties which were carried 21 had women working at the polls;
of the 36 which lost only six had women there. Of the 33 counties 17
had headquarters.
Eight of the 33 counties which gave a majority are chiefly industrial;
eight are equally industrial and rural and seventeen are chiefly
rural. Luzerne, Lackawanna and Westmoreland are the third, fourth and
fifth counties in point of population and they won by majorities of
3,139, 2,654 and 1,140. In all of them the labor vote is heavy, as
mining is the chief industry. Allegheny was the first county of its
size to be carried in the history of suffrage. Fayette county, the
home of Republican State Chairman Crow, who never wavered in his
opposition, was carried by 1,400. Every ward in Uniontown, the county
seat and his home, gave a majority for the amendment. Mrs. Robert E.
Umbel was county chairman. The eight Dutch counties lost by majorities
ranging from 2,000 to 7,000. Rockbound conservatism had much to do
with this result. Schuylkill county, where an adverse vote from 10,000
to 15,000 was predicted, lost by only 1,000. Miss Helen Beddall, the
chairman, conducted a persistent campaign of education for two years.
Philadelphia had the most difficult problem to face with its large
vote and political corruption. Its difficulties were increased by the
duplication of suffrage organizations working independently. An added
complication was the prejudice created by the efforts of the
"militant" suffrage organization, then called the Congressional Union,
to organize, this being the only center in the State in which they had
secured a foothold. The large women's clubs of Philadelphia took no
part in the constructive work of the campaign. Wilmer Atkinson of this
city, editor and owner of the _Farm Journal_, was president of the
Men's League for Woman Suffrage and gave unstintingly of his strength
and means to secure victory. The vote in Philadelphia was 122,519
noes, 77,240 ayes; adverse majority, 45,279. The total vote was
826,382; in favor, 385,348; opposed, 441,034; lost by 55,686 votes,
only 10,407 more than the majority in Philadelphia. The amendment
received nearly 47 per cent. of the total vote cast on it.
Prior to election day all the political parties in the State had
endorsed woman suffrage per se, except the Republican and that party
had declared in favor of a referendum to the voters. The great
weakness of the campaign was lack of money. The total State fund was
$78,698, of which Allegheny county contributed 50 per cent. Many of
the counties spent considerable sums in addition, Allegheny county's
special "budget" being $25,000. If the association had had an
additional $25,000 the lacking 3 per cent. of the voters could have
been secured and the campaign would have ended in a victory.
* * * * *
The State convention was held in Philadelphia Nov. 30, 1915. As
amendments to the State constitution can be submitted only once in
five years, the delegates reconsecrated themselves to a new campaign
at the end of that time. At a conference held in Harrisburg in the
spring of 1916 47 counties were represented and an inspiring address
was made by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, now national president. An
intercounty rally at Somerset in July was attended by 500 suffragists
from ten counties and a State suffrage flag was adopted. The annual
convention was held in Williamsport, November 21-24, and the delegates
were unanimous in their desire to continue preparations for another
campaign. Mrs. George B. Orlady was elected president.
As Philadelphia is the center of population in the State, the
financial center, has the largest number of newspapers and is more
accessible than Harrisburg, State headquarters were moved to that city
June 1, 1917. Upon the entrance of the United States into the World
War the association without a day's delay offered the services of its
members and the facilities of its organization to the Government.
State officers, county chairmen and suffragists in the ranks served on
the Council of National Defense, on Liberty Loan Committees, in the
various "drives" and wherever needed. Mrs. John O. Miller, State
vice-president, was appointed by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo a
member of the National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee and also served
as State Chairman. Pennsylvania contributed $20,573 to the Women's
Oversea Hospitals, maintained by the National Suffrage Association,
$11,397 of which were raised in Pittsburgh at an outdoor fête of which
Mrs. Leonard G. Wood was chairman. The State convention was held in
this city November 20-22 and Mrs. Miller was elected president. In the
hope that the U. S. Senate would submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment
the convention for 1918 was delayed from month to month and finally
was held in Philadelphia April 9, 10, 1919. Mrs. Miller was
re-elected. On November 10, 11, the amendment having been submitted,
the 51st and last State convention was held in Philadelphia.[156] The
historic Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association was disbanded and the
League of Women Citizens was organized, to become the League of Women
Voters when the women of Pennsylvania were enfranchised. This name was
adopted Nov. 18, 1920, and Mrs. Miller was elected chairman for two
years.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After a lapse of 26 years a second attempt was
made in 1911 under Mrs. Anna M. Orme, as legislative chairman, to
secure a resolution to refer to the voters a woman suffrage amendment
to the State constitution. The Joint Committee of the Judiciary, to
which it was referred, after giving a hearing to the suffragists, sent
it to a special commission which had been appointed to revise the
election laws.
1912. Miss Lida Stokes Adams was legislative chairman when this
commission gave an all day hearing March 22 at City Hall,
Philadelphia, but took no action. This hearing was preceded by a mass
meeting on the 20th in Witherspoon Hall. An effort was made to get an
endorsement from the State political conventions. Miss Mary E.
Bakewell of the Western Equal Franchise Federation appeared before the
Republican convention May 1; Mrs. Mabel Cronise Jones, Miss Adams and
Miss Bakewell addressed the Democratic convention May 7, and both gave
approval. The Keystone and Prohibition party conventions also heard
suffrage speakers and adopted favorable resolutions. For the first
time all of the 880 candidates for the Legislature were interviewed by
a letter as to submitting the question to the voters and 283 gave
affirmative answers.
1913. This year the referendum measure passed after a bitter contest.
Twice when the resolution came up in the Senate the motion to postpone
was avoided on a tie vote by Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, the first
time in thirteen years that the president of the Senate had voted on
any question. On the final vote the majority of one was only secured
by the labor leader, Steve McDonald of Lackawanna county, who forced
its Senator, Walter McNichols, to represent his constituents. Senators
Edwin M. Herbst, Edward E. Beidleman (later Lieutenant Governor) and
James P. McNichol maintained the strongest opposition. Miss Adams, the
legislative chairman, and Mrs. Roessing, the State president, did the
greater part of the work at Harrisburg. The association was indebted
to Representative Frank G. Rockwell and Senator A. W. Powell for their
skill in handling this measure. The vote in the Lower House, February
5 was 131 ayes, 70 noes.
1915. A proposed amendment to the constitution must be passed by two
Legislatures. Mrs. Roessing and Miss Hannah J. Patterson, organization
chairman, carried on the lobby work in 1915 and it passed the House on
February 9 by 130 ayes, 71 noes. In the Senate on March 15 a great
gain was registered, as 37 Senators voted aye and only 11 voted no.
The amendment was defeated at the election in November.
1916. The passage of an Enabling Act by the Legislature of 1917 being
the first step toward a referendum in 1921, the work of the State
Suffrage Association in 1916 was concentrated as never before on the
legislative candidates. Practically every one was interviewed
personally or by letter and before the November election reports on 40
of the 50 Senators and all but ten of the 207 members of the House
had been made. Senator Boies Penrose was visited in Washington by Mrs.
George B. Orlady and Mrs. John O. Miller, president and vice-president
of the State Suffrage Association. He said he would help and
authorized these officers to quote him in the public press. On October
9 the Republican State Committee meeting in Philadelphia refused a
hearing to the Suffrage Board and took no action, despite the
favorable assurances of Senator Penrose and of State Senator William
E. Crow, its chairman. On December 28 Governor Martin G. Brumbaugh
promised Mrs. Miller to secure the passage of the desired Enabling
Act.
1917. Mrs. Miller led the work when the Legislature convened in
January, 1917, and Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Mrs. Lewis L. Smith and Mrs.
Harriet L. Hubbs were members of the Legislative Committee. County
chairmen of the suffrage association brought continuous pressure on
their legislators; 270 powerful labor organizations in the State
signed petitions with their official seal and a petition with the
names of 56,000 individual men and women was unrolled on the floor of
the House. Every legislator received a special petition signed by 445
of the most prominent men in the State, a copy of Dr. Shaw's
biography, the Story of a Pioneer, and weekly copies of the _Woman's
Journal_. Mrs. Funk had an interview with Senator Penrose at
Washington with one of the most prominent members of the Republican
party present. The Enabling Act was introduced in the House early in
January but at the request of Senator Penrose the vote was delayed
from time to time and finally took place April 17. The preceding day
121 men were listed as favorable, 104 being the required
constitutional majority. When the vote was taken only 101 answered
"aye."
Forty-eight hours before the vote the liquor lobby, represented by
Neil Bonner, David Hardy, James P. Mulvihill and George W. Boyd, made
a concentrated effort to defeat the measure. It was understood that
150 men were employed for this purpose and that the pressure brought
upon the legislators was tremendous. Although other lobbyists had been
denied the privilege of going on the floor of the House Mr. Boyd was
always permitted to do so and he announced to Mrs. Funk a few minutes
before the vote was taken that he had the bill defeated by six votes.
Speaker Richard J. Baldwin moved a verification of the roll
immediately in order that no man voting in the affirmative could
change his vote and ask for a reconsideration. A bill granting
Presidential suffrage to women was introduced in the House May 28 but
never reported from committee. From 1913 to 1917, Robert K. Young,
State Treasurer, rendered inestimable assistance by the closest
cooperation with the Legislative Committees.
1918. Plans were at once made for continuing the effort. In 1918 the
organization carried out a most efficient plan of interviewing every
legislative candidate before the primaries on two questions: (1) Will
you vote to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment? (2) Will you vote
to submit to the voters an amendment to the constitution enfranchising
the women of this State? After the November election 80 members of the
House of Representatives for 1919 were favorably pledged in writing on
both questions and 40 had given verbal pledges--16 more than the
constitutional majority required. From the Senate 13 written and 18
verbal pledges had been secured, 5 more than necessary. There was
practically no organized opposition to the referendum and probably
many of the men who pledged themselves to vote for ratification felt
that the Federal Amendment would not pass Congress. The gubernatorial
candidates also had been followed up carefully. William C. Sproul and
J. Denny O'Neil, of the rival Republican factions, both said in
interviews and through the public press that they were ready to work
for any measure which would ensure suffrage to Pennsylvania women.
Judge Eugene C. Bonniwell, the Democratic candidate, did not answer
any inquiries.
1919. Upon the defeat of the Federal Amendment in the U. S. Senate
February 10, Governor Sproul, who had given many proofs of his
friendship, was consulted regarding the advisability of introducing
Presidential suffrage or a referendum or both. At first he recommended
both but 24 hours later word came that the former could not be passed
but the "organization" would sponsor a referendum. A resolution for
this was introduced and after a public hearing, at which anti-suffrage
women from New Jersey and New York spoke at length, the House passed
it on April 22 by 128 ayes, 66 noes. In the Senate on May 26 the vote
stood 41 ayes, 7 noes. Mrs. William Ward, Jr., of Chester,
vice-chairman of the Legislative Committee, managed a large part of
the work for it.
RATIFICATION. The Legislative Committee held its organization intact
awaiting the submission of the Federal Amendment, which took place
June 4, 1919. Although this committee was in Harrisburg continuously
from January 6 to June 24 and knew the personnel of the Legislature
better than any others except some of the political leaders, members
of the National Woman's Party came to Harrisburg early in June, the
first time they had ever been seen there, and tried to create the
impression that they inaugurated the work on ratification. A
delegation from the State Suffrage Association visited Senator Penrose
in Washington on June 5. Although he was paired against the amendment
he was asked to offer no opposition to ratification. He was
non-committal but the committee felt that Republican opposition had
been removed.
On June 8 the Legislative Committee began an intensive campaign. Mrs.
Gifford Pinchot telephoned or telegraphed Chairman Hays and all the
members of the National Republican Committee; also all Republican
Governors and other prominent Republicans, asking them to communicate
with Governor Sproul, Senator Penrose and State Chairman Crow urging
ratification as a Republican measure. All editors of influential
Republican papers east of the Mississippi River received the same
appeal. The Governor advised that the resolution should not be
introduced in the Senate until Chairman Crow had decided to get behind
it. On June 16 the latter told Mrs. Miller that the road was clear and
it would come to a vote June 19. The vote stood 31 ayes, 6 noes. The
House voted on June 24, giving 153 ayes, 44 noes.
Immediately after the vote in the House the work of the State
association was recognized when Representative Robert L. Wallace, a
friend in many Legislatures, moved to give its president the privilege
of addressing the House from the Speaker's rostrum. This was the first
time it ever was granted to any man or woman. Governor Sproul also
gave a special reception to the officers of the association and the
500 women who had journeyed to Harrisburg for the ratification. For a
number of years, the State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage had
been represented at all sessions of the Legislature by Mrs. Horace
Brock, the president, Mrs. John B. Heron and Miss Eliza Armstrong of
Pittsburgh, but to Miss Armstrong, a woman of seventy, it had been
left to fight the last battle on ratification and fifty legislators
supported her efforts to the end.
The example of the big Republican State of Pennsylvania unquestionably
aided in securing like action in a large number of other Republican
States. Its prompt action may be attributed primarily to Governor
Sproul's sincere interest but due credit must be given to all the
brave women who toiled for more than half a century to keep the torch
burning and to the leaders in the last years, especially Mrs. John O.
Miller, the president. The newspapers, from the editorial departments
to the youngest reporters, were always of the greatest assistance and
it was highly appreciated.
[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating especially to women and
children accompanied this chapter, comprising about 3,600 words and
including the laws for women in the industries, child labor,
jurisdiction of the Juvenile Courts, property rights of wives,
guardianship of children, divorce, mothers' pensions and others. It is
a distinct loss that the decision had to be made to omit the laws from
all State chapters for lack of space.]
FOOTNOTES:
[153] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet L.
Hubbs, executive secretary of the State Woman Suffrage Association
1916-1919 and thenceforth of the State League of Women Voters and
active member of Legislative Committees for both organizations.
[154] These organizers were: Mrs. Evelyn Binz, Mrs. Laura Gregg
Cannon, Mrs. Ada Mundorff, Mrs. Alice Moore Dunbar, Misses Lillian
Howard, Emma MacAlarney, Ladson Hall, Helen Arny, Grace Ballard, Mary
Calhoun, Louise Hall, Leona Huntzinger, Doris Long, Adella Potter,
Eudora Ramsey, Jeanette Rankin, Ethel Rankin and Mary Sleichter.
[155] The list of the nearly seventy chairmen is unavoidably omitted
for want of space.
[156] Several of the presidents of the association were at first
vice-presidents; others were Mrs. Mary B. Luckie, Mrs. Anna M. Orme,
Mrs. William I. Hull, Dr. Ruth A. Deeter, Miss Lida Stokes Adams, Miss
Mary E. Bakewell, Mrs. Maxwell K. Chapman, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach,
Mrs. H. Neely Fleming, Miss Maud Bassett Gotham, Dr. M. Carey Thomas,
Mrs. Lewis L. Smith, Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Mrs. James P. Rogers,
Mrs. Edwin Linton; secretaries: Mrs. Helen M. James, Miss Lybretta
Rice, Miss Jane Campbell, Mrs. Mary R. Newell, Mrs. Mary C. Morgan,
Miss Katharine Collison, Miss Caroline Katzenstein, Miss Mary
Norcross, Miss Helen L. McFarland, Miss Helen C. Clark, Mrs. Gifford
Pinchot; treasurers: Mrs. Margaret B. Stone, Mrs. Luckie, Miss Matilda
Orr Hays, Mrs. Robert K. Young, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach, Miss Martha
G. Thomas; auditors: Mrs. Ellen H. Thomas, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine,
Mrs. Minora F. Phillis, Miss N. M. Crumpton, Mrs. Reba Artsdalen, Mrs.
Robert Coard, Miss Ellen L. Thomas, Mrs. H. Wilfred DuPuy; directors:
Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Miss Henrietta Baldy Lyon, Mrs. Emma H.
McCandless, Mrs. E. S. H. McCauley, Mrs. Richard S. Quigley, Mrs.
George A. Piersol, Mrs. Clifton A. Verner, Mrs. Daniel F. Ancona.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
RHODE ISLAND.[157]
The opening of the 20th Century found the Old Guard of the Rhode
Island Woman Suffrage Association still in the van. Some of those who
were charter members when the organization was formed in 1868 were in
active service, enriching the work by their wide experience in the
past and clear vision for the future. Mrs. Ardelia Cooke Dewing, a
woman of unusual ability, had taken the presidency at the death of
Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace in 1899 and continued in the office until
1905. The association never failed to hold an annual convention in the
autumn in Providence, where reside about half the population of the
State. In 1901, the usual propaganda was conducted by public and
parlor meetings, the circulation of literature and the May banquet,
for years a regular social function. A special impetus was given this
year by the presence of Miss Susan B. Anthony at the convention. The
following morning she addressed the students of the Woman's College of
Brown University.
On June 2, 1902, the endorsement of the State Central Trades and Labor
Unions was secured. Harry Parsons Cross, a leading lawyer, gave two
courses of lectures on the Legal Status of Women and Parent and Child
in Common Law. This year the organization met with a great loss in the
removal from Rhode Island of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, who had
served the society from its inception, officially and unofficially,
with signal devotion. Henry B. Blackwell gave a notable address at the
annual meeting. To him, Lucy Stone and Alice Stone Blackwell the State
association was indebted for invaluable services on many important
occasions.
In 1903, at the annual meeting a letter was read from Mayor D. L. D.
Granger of Providence, heartily endorsing woman suffrage. Mrs.
Charlotte B. Wilbour and the Rev. Mrs. Spencer were made honorary
presidents of the association. In 1904 and thereafter a prize of $25
from the Elizabeth Buffum Chace legacy was given for the best essay on
woman suffrage written by a student of the Woman's College. Mrs.
Dewing declined re-election in 1905 and Mrs. Jeannette S. French was
chosen president, serving two years. Events of the year were two
lectures by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American
Suffrage Association. In 1906 Mrs. Mary F. W. Homer was elected
corresponding secretary and her wide experience in suffrage work in
Massachusetts was a valued contribution at a time when re-enforcements
were greatly needed.
In 1907 Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley was elected president. Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe, in her 88th year, gave a remarkable address in April. The
association secured an endorsement of woman suffrage and equal pay for
equal work by the United Textile Workers of America, who met in
Providence. Mrs. George D. Gladding, daughter of Mrs. Dewing, was
appointed chairman of the Committee on College Work and initiated the
movement for the College Equal Suffrage League by securing Mrs. Maud
Wood Park to address a meeting of college women at the home of Mrs.
Dewing and also to speak at the Woman's College. The league was
organized December 11.
In 1908 Mrs. Tingley was re-elected president but because of ill
health the duties of the office devolved largely upon Mrs. Gladding,
first vice-president. The 40th anniversary of the association was
celebrated December 11 in Churchill House, the women's club house,
named for one of the distinguished suffrage pioneers, Mrs. Elizabeth
Kittridge Churchill. Mrs. Tingley, Arnold B. Chace, Mr. Blackwell and
the Rev. Mrs. Spencer, the speakers on this occasion, had been present
when the association was formed and they added to the pleasure of the
meeting with personal reminiscences. Miss Florence Garvin, president
of the College Equal Suffrage League, spoke of the debt of the young
women to the pioneer suffragists. The State association enrolled
thousands of names for the National Association's petition to Congress
in behalf of the Federal Amendment and used its influence to obtain
for it the support of the Rhode Island members of Congress.
In 1909 at the annual meeting Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, who had
recently come to the State, was elected president. This year was
marked by distinctive propaganda through the efforts of Mrs. Oliver H.
P. Belmont of New York. The lectures given at Marble Palace, her home
in Newport, by Dr. Shaw and Professor Charles Zueblin interested a new
and influential class and gave a substantial impetus to suffrage work
throughout the State. Increasing calls to discuss the question before
clubs, granges, church societies and other organizations were an
encouraging sign of a popular awakening to its importance.
In 1910 a debate on woman suffrage between Brown University and
Williams College was won by the former in the affirmative. Mrs. Anne
M. Jewett, who had served acceptably as recording secretary for ten
years, resigned. Miss Mary M. Angell was elected at the annual meeting
and gave a like term of years of devoted service. Mrs. Dewing was made
honorary president. In 1911 a lecture on Woman's Ballot by Professor
Henry S. Nash of Harvard University, well known as a lecturer, before
the Providence Biblical Institute, greatly strengthened the cause
among conservative people. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst gave a lecture
under the auspices of the State association and the College League.
This year the first anti-suffrage society was organized by a group of
wealthy and prominent women, among whom were Mrs. Charles Warren
Lippitt, Mrs. Rowland Hazard, Miss Louise Hoppin, Mrs. Herbert Maine
and Mrs. Henry T. Fowler. Miss Yates and Mrs. Lippitt were invited to
hold a debate before the Jewish Women's Council.
In January, 1912, the College League and the State association opened
headquarters in Butler Exchange at Providence and engaged Miss Louise
Hall as organizer. President M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr College
spoke under the auspices of the State Collegiate Alumnae on the Need
of Woman's Ballot and made a strong impression on this conservative
university city. From May the College League assumed the office duties
and the State association carried on the field work. This year a booth
was secured at the Food Fair of the Retail Grocers' Association,
where thousands of new members were enrolled, tens of thousands of
leaflets were distributed and much publicity work was done. The
"suffrage map" was in evidence, showing the many States that had been
won, an irrefutable argument against the emanations of the
anti-suffrage booth. At no other time and place could so many classes
of persons be reached. The arduous work involved was carried on by
Miss Alice F. Porter, Miss Nettie E. Bauer, Mrs. George E. Dunbar,
Miss Enid Peirce, Miss Althea L. Hall, Miss Margaretha Dwight, Mrs.
Caroline Dowell, Miss Ethel Parks and a score more of like unselfish
workers.[158] At the annual meeting in October Mrs. Homer, who had
been the efficient corresponding secretary for six years, declined
re-election and Mrs. Sara L. Fittz was elected to the office, which
position she retained until the end. She served also as chairman of
the Publicity Committee and was always in demand as a speaker. Miss
Hall went to assist in the Ohio campaign, accompanied by Mrs. Camilla
Von Klenze, president of the College League. In April Dr. Shaw
addressed a large audience at Infantry Hall. In the summer suffrage
headquarters were established on Franklin Street, Newport, mainly
through the energy of Mrs. Belmont, a member of the Newport League,
and meetings were held here every afternoon during this and other
seasons.
In 1913 the work of the year opened with a lecture by Miss Mary
Johnston, the novelist, on Woman in Politics and one by Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt on the White Slave Traffic. Mrs. Catt also addressed a
meeting in the interests of the Woman Suffrage Party, which had been
organized under the leadership of Mrs. Sara M. Algeo. The State
association and the College League being dues-paying organizations
there was an open field for the non-dues-paying Suffrage Party formed
along political lines. Nearly all the members of the older
associations joined it and at the same time continued to maintain
their own lines of propaganda. Miss Yates, the State president, was
invited by the municipal government to deliver the Fourth of July
address at City Hall, Providence. Dr. Valeria H. Parker addressed the
annual convention on Women as Civil Guardians.
In 1914 a series of lectures on the Modern Woman of Various Countries
was given by the State association which called out large audiences.
The three organizations united in a celebration of "suffrage week" in
May, closing with a meeting in the Casino at Roger Williams Park with
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise as the principal speaker. Miss Yates, after
serving five years, was obliged on account of other demands on her
time to decline reelection and was made honorary president. No
president being elected at the annual meeting, Agnes M. (Mrs. Barton
P.) Jenks was chosen later by the Executive Committee to fill the
vacancy and afterwards was elected and held the office until May,
1918. In December representatives of the three organizations met and
formed a Cooperative Council to secure economy of effort and increased
efficiency. The work of the College League had been of distinctive
value in Providence, the seat of Brown University with its Woman's
College. During the years of its independent existence it had been
well served by its presidents, Miss Garvin, Mrs. Von Klenze, Mrs.
Algeo and Miss Helen Emerson. It presented speakers of national
reputation; published special leaflets, notably What Rhode Island
Women Ought to Know; conducted study clubs and gave generous
cooperation in the undertakings of the other organizations.
During the winter of 1915 a special series of lectures was given for
the council on political and economic subjects by professors of the
University. The joint endeavors of the three organizations this winter
proving successful they amalgamated under the name of the Rhode Island
Equal Suffrage Association and the annual meeting was changed from
fall to spring. Most of the officers of the State association were
retained. Others were Miss Emerson and Mrs. Carl Barus,
vice-presidents; Mrs. John A. Cross, treasurer; Mrs. Barton A. Ballou,
Mrs. Gerald A. Cooper and Mrs. Gilbert C. Carpenter, auditors; Mrs.
Dunbar and Mrs. Helen Dougherty, chairman and secretary of the Woman
Suffrage Party. In accordance with the plan of the National
Association, the State's members of Congress, U. S. Senators LeBaron
B. Colt and Henry F. Lippitt; Representatives Walter R. Stiness,
George F. O'Shaughnessy and Ambrose Kennedy, were interviewed on the
Federal Amendment with encouraging results. Weekly suffrage teas were
established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses
on current topics. The association was especially indebted to Mrs.
Ballou, Mrs. Edward M. Harris and Miss Sarah J. Eddy for the
hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social
pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause.
On February 17, 1916, a luncheon and conference at the Narragansett
Hotel were held in honor of Mrs. Catt, now national president. A mass
meeting was held in March in Sayles Hall, where Mrs. Glendower Evans
of Boston and Professor Louis J. Johnston of Harvard spoke in the
interest of the Federal Amendment. In April a "suffrage shop" was
opened in Providence in charge of Miss Mary B. Anthony, which proved
an active center of propaganda. Rhode Island was represented in the
suffrage parades during the national political conventions in Chicago
and St. Louis in 1916 by Miss Yates. On election night in November a
public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private
wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were
present.
In 1917 Miss Yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters
during February and March. The major activities of the year were given
to legislative work. The granting of Presidential suffrage to women by
the Legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which
Governor R. Livingston Beeckman, representatives of the political
parties of the State and Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national
corresponding secretary, were the principal speakers. An invitation
was accepted from Thomas W. Bicknell, one of the staunchest
suffragists, to unite with the Citizens' Historical Association, of
which he was president, in a joint celebration of the Declaration of
Independence by Rhode Island on May 4, 1776, and the passage of the
Presidential suffrage bill in April, 1917, and Miss Yates was chosen
as speaker for the State association. Miss Elizabeth M. Barr was
elected treasurer in 1917 and served until 1920. Miss Barr's
predecessors were Miss Mary K. Wood, Mrs. Jewett, Mrs. Ballou, Mrs.
Helen N. B. Janes, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Cross, and Mrs. George W. Parks.
During the winter of 1918, a civics course was conducted by Miss
Anthony covering local and national government, Mayor Joseph H. Gainer
of Providence and other city officers speaking in the course. Miss
Anthony was elected State president at the annual meeting in June and
brought to the office experience in public work and wide social
influence that were of special value in the closing years of the
association. Mrs. Jenks was made honorary president. On December 11
the 50th anniversary of the association was celebrated. An interesting
historical review of the first meeting was given by Arnold Buffum
Chace, who had acted as secretary on that occasion and whose mother,
Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was president of the association for
thirty years. The Rev. Mrs. Spencer, also a charter member, recounted
the early struggles of the pioneers. Miss Yates and Mrs. Jenks gave
interesting accounts of the early and later work. Mrs. Catt and Miss
Blackwell were guests of honor and brought inspiring messages. This
year both the Democratic and Republican parties put suffrage planks in
their State platforms and sent resolutions to Congress urging the
Rhode Island Senators to support the Federal Amendment.
The suffragists responded to every demand of the Government for war
service. Mrs. Walter A. Peck, honorary vice-president, was State
chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Liberty Loan. Miss Emerson,
first vice-president, served in France with the Bryn Mawr unit. Miss
Bauer, second vice-president, was a member of the executive board of
the Red Cross. Miss Fittz, corresponding secretary, and Miss Yates,
honorary president, received government certificates as speakers with
the "four-minute men."
In 1919 Miss Frances E. Lucas, chairman of the Civics Committee, gave
a course of lectures on social and political problems, which were
largely attended. Miss Avis Hawkins, chairman on schools, perfected an
organization throughout the State to advance the interests of both
pupils and teachers. On May 27 the Woman's College and the State
Association commemorated the centenary of the birth of Julia Ward
Howe, in Pembroke Hall of the college. At the annual meeting on June 4
Miss Anthony was re-elected president. Mrs. Raymond Brown, national
vice-president, gave an interesting address. The occasion was made
memorable by the passing of the resolution for the Federal Amendment
by the U. S. Senate while the convention was in session. The entire
Rhode Island delegation in both Houses of Congress voted in favor, the
only eastern State except Maine to have this record. In October Miss
Anthony called a meeting of the presidents of all the women's
organizations of the State in the interests of social betterment,
which resulted in the foundation of the Civics Cooperative Council,
and Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker was engaged to give a course of lectures
on Citizenship.[159]
THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE PARTY.
In the fall of 1915 Mrs. Sara M. Algeo re-organized the Woman Suffrage
Party as an independent body and began a vigorous campaign for civic
betterment and political education. Miss Mary E. McDowell of Chicago
and Miss Margaret Foley of Boston addressed large audiences. Its
policy was to invite the fullest cooperation of colored women and a
meeting was held at which Mrs. Robert M. LaFollette spoke to a large
audience of both colored and white women on their common need of full
citizenship.
In 1916 the endorsement of the State conference of Congregational
Churches was secured. A civic forum was organized in Providence,
holding Sunday afternoon meetings in a theater. Among the eminent
speakers were Lord and Lady Aberdeen, Thomas Mott Osborne, Mrs. Kate
Waller Barrett, Mary Antin and Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada. The same
line of work was followed elsewhere in the State. A suffrage class was
established at the Young Men's Christian Association. Miss Laura Clay
of Kentucky gave ten days of helpful service.
In 1917 Mrs. LeBaron B. Colt of Bristol was appointed committee
chairman of the Women's Oversea Hospitals conducted by the National
Suffrage Association and with the assistance of Mrs. Algeo and the
party $3,000 were raised. After the passage of the Presidential
suffrage bill in 1917 the party specialized in training for
citizenship and conducted a campaign in naturalization in conjunction
with the Americanization Committee of the National Association. In the
fall under the direction of Mrs. Frederick H. Bagley of Boston, its
chairman, efforts were made to secure from the Legislature an
Americanization bill providing compulsory education for immigrants and
also for a director of Americanization on the Board of Education,
which was passed in 1919. Mrs. Agnes M. Bacon was appointed by the
Governor.
In 1919 Mrs. Algeo compiled and published Suggestions to the Women
Voters of Rhode Island, of which thousands of copies were circulated.
July 1, being the first day of registration for the elections of the
following year, she organized a state-wide campaign for the
registration of women for using the presidential vote. It was
celebrated in Providence by an imposing ceremony on the steps of the
City Hall at noon, and in the evening by a banquet, at which Mrs.
Charles H. Brooks of Kansas, national chairman of the League of Women
Voters, and Mrs. Charles Tiffany of New York were the principal
speakers. This year Miss Leila P. Andrews was elected president of the
Woman Suffrage Party and Mrs. Algeo president of the Providence League
of Women Voters.
* * * * *
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After the defeat of a woman suffrage amendment to
the State constitution in 1887 and the refusal of the Legislatures
afterwards to submit it again the association decided to follow the
advice of Henry B. Blackwell and try to obtain a vote for presidential
electors, which could be granted by a law. The proposition, first made
in 1892, met with practically no support among the legislators and
finally further attempts to secure it were discontinued for years. At
the annual meeting of 1902 an address by Mr. Blackwell resulted in a
resumption of efforts to secure this law and in 1903 a petition to the
Legislature, signed by influential men and women, accompanied a bill
introduced in the Senate. A hearing was given but it was not reported
from committee.
In 1904 the bill was presented in the House and Senate and reported
favorably but defeated in both branches.
In 1905 there was increased activity to secure favorable action on the
bill. A little paper called _The Woman Citizen_ was issued as a
campaign document and a copy of it placed on the desk of every
legislator.[160] The _Remonstrance_, a small paper published by the
Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association followed, protesting against
it. The merits of the bill were presented at a well attended hearing
but no action was taken on it.
In 1906 a Senate hearing was given on the bill, addressed by Mr.
Blackwell. It was reported without recommendation and ably debated.
Senator Walter R. Stiness made a strong speech in its support and it
passed by 29 ayes, 7 noes. In the House the bill was referred to the
Committee on Special Legislation. Long petitions from prominent voters
were presented asking that it be reported but General Charles R.
Brayton, the Republican "boss" who for years controlled the
Legislature, seeing the strong sentiment in its favor would not permit
it to come to a vote. He admitted that he feared it would help the
Democratic party.
In 1907 the battle for the bill was renewed and among the petitioners
was Governor James H. Higgins. At two largely attended hearings nearly
every person gave a rising vote in favor. Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt
and Mrs. Edward Johnson protested against women's being allowed to
vote for President and Rowland Hazard supported them. The bill was
defeated, though not by them but by political opposition.
In 1909 Mr. Blackwell appeared for the last time as the advocate of
the measure. Like a seer he pleaded for it, the significance and
potency of which he grasped far in advance of his contemporaries. Miss
Yates was appointed his successor as the National Association's
chairman of Presidential suffrage, which position he had filled for
many years.
In 1911 the Presidential suffrage bill was introduced in the Senate
and referred to the Committee on Special Legislation, that limbo of
lost causes. The suffragists rallied for a hearing and succeeded in
getting it reported without recommendation. When taken from the
calendar the Senators seemed to realize for the first time that they
were dealing with a live issue. One of them demanded to know why that
bill was permitted to waste their valuable time and threw it on the
floor and stamped on it, saying: "I will kill woman suffrage." It was
then buried by a vote of 29 noes and 3 ayes. The suffragists passed
out from the obsequies with full faith in the resurrection.
In 1913 a commission was appointed to revise the State constitution
and an appeal to it was made for a woman suffrage clause. A hearing
was given; influential men supported the association; the women
"antis" made a touching plea to be spared from the burden of the
ballot, but the constitution was not revised. This year the
Legislature of Illinois passed a bill for Presidential suffrage, which
attracted wide attention. The Rhode Island association continued to
present one every year. Sometimes zealous friends would introduce a
resolution for a constitutional amendment but it was not endorsed by
the State association as it would require a three-fifths majority of
the voters.
In 1915 Governor R. Livingston Beeckman recommended Presidential
suffrage for women in his message and the use of the hall of the House
of Representatives in the new State House was for the first time
granted for a hearing. Mrs. Agnes M. Jenks, State president, secured
Senator John D. Works of California and Representative Frank W.
Mondell of Wyoming to speak on the practical effects of woman suffrage
in their States. Mrs. A. J. George came from Brookline, Mass., to
voice the fears of the "antis." Notwithstanding the hearing surpassed
in attendance and interest any that session the bill was indefinitely
postponed by a House vote of 61 ayes and 31 noes. An active lobby was
maintained and every available influence brought to bear to get the
bill on the Senate calendar but it was killed in committee.
Between the close of this Legislature and the opening of the one of
1917 unforeseen events caused a marked change in the attitude of Rhode
Island politicians. Its delegates to the Democratic and Republican
national conventions in 1916 had recognized the party expediency which
compelled a plank in the national platforms in favor of woman
suffrage and voted for it. At the Republican State convention in
September U. S. Senator LeBaron B. Colt, who had been non-committal on
the question, came out with a decisive pronouncement in its favor. The
Republicans saw the handwriting on the wall. They recognized that the
votes of western women had re-elected President Wilson. For the first
time since the Republican party was organized, a Democratic U. S.
Senator was elected. Both parties were on the alert for any issue that
might bring re-inforcements.
Once more Presidential suffrage was the objective and Governor
Beeckman repeated his endorsement. The bill was introduced in the
Senate Feb. 8, 1917. The association's Legislative Committee worked
without ceasing. The suffragists throughout the State were well
organized and loyally backed the committee. Petitions, letters and
telegrams showered the legislators. The endorsement of the Republican
State Committee was secured. Meanwhile the Legislatures in half a
dozen States granted Presidential suffrage. The time had come for
Rhode Island. On April 11 the bill passed the Senate by 32 ayes, 3
noes. There was an organized attempt to defeat it in the House by one
for a referendum to the voters but by the efforts of Richard W.
Jennings and Daniel E. Geary, Republican and Democratic floor leaders,
it was defeated. On April 17, after four hours' debate in the presence
of hundreds of women, the bill passed by 71 ayes, 20 noes. This was
the fifteenth time it had been before the Legislature. On April 18 it
was signed by the Governor.
RATIFICATION. As soon as the Federal Amendment was submitted by
Congress June 4, 1919, the suffrage organizations began to ask for a
special session of the Legislature for ratification but it was deemed
best by Governor Beeckman for various reasons to wait until the
regular session in January, 1920. Several days before it met the
chairman of the Republican State Committee, Joseph P. Burlingame, made
the announcement that by a suspension of the rules and contrary to
every precedent ratification would be accomplished on the first day.
The longed-for day, January 6, dawned clear and cold. Women thronged
the Capitol and filled the galleries of the House, except the section
which was occupied by the Governor's party, who had come to witness
the final scene in a fifty years' drama. After summoning the Senate
to meet with the House in Grand Committee, the Governor read his
annual message in which he recommended immediate ratification of the
amendment, "as an act of justice long delayed." The resolution was at
once presented and the floor leaders of both parties, William R.
Fortin of Pawtucket, Republican, and William S. Flynn of Providence,
Democrat, spoke in favor. It was passed on roll call by 89 ayes, 3
noes--Speaker Arthur P. Sumner of Providence, William H. Thayer of
Bristol and Albert R. Zurlinden of Lincoln. A rush was made by the
audience across the corridors to the Senate Chamber, where action was
even more rapid. Lieutenant Governor Emery J. San Souci, a friend of
woman suffrage, was in the chair and within a few moments, with no
speeches, the resolution was passed by viva voce vote with but one
dissenting voice, that of John H. McCabe of Burrillville. The
following day it was signed by Governor Beeckman, not that this was
necessary but he wished to give it his approval.
The great event was celebrated in the evening by a brilliant banquet
given by the Providence League of Women Voters at which the work of
the pioneers was especially featured. A handsome dinner given by the
Woman Suffrage Party took place at which the Governor and other public
officials spoke on the great victory. Miss Jeannette Rankin, the first
woman member of Congress, was a speaker.[161]
On May 17, 1920, the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association concluded
its work and merged into the State League of Women Voters, Miss Mary
B. Anthony, chairman. Then a procession of women marched through the
streets of Providence carrying the records of the organization for
fifty years, which were deposited in the archives of the State House
with impressive ceremony.
* * * * *
Among the nerve centers of suffrage activity in Rhode Island the
Newport County Woman Suffrage League had a definite place from its
founding in 1908, by Miss Cora Mitchell, its first president. The
League's work was at first largely carried on by an active group of
philanthropic women of Bristol Ferry, Miss Mitchell's friends and
neighbors, among whom were Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mrs. John Eldredge and
Mrs. Barton Ballou. Gradually the suffrage agitation spread over the
entire island, which includes the three townships of Portsmouth,
Middletown and Newport. In Middletown the league's work was ably
carried on by Mrs. Eugene Sturtevant and her daughters. All rendered
priceless service to what was then an unpopular and unfashionable
cause.
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was present at the first meeting and as long as
she lived took great interest in its work. This interest was inherited
by her daughters, Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott and Mrs. Florence Howe Hall.
The summer meetings were sometimes held at Oak Glen, Portsmouth, Mrs.
Howe's country home, and here on soft June afternoons the veteran
suffrage workers and the young neophytes destined to carry on their
work rejoiced in coming together. On one occasion a young stranger was
noticed in the audience who followed the proceedings with breathless
interest. Soon afterwards Mrs. Norman deR. Whitehouse of New York
began her fine service for suffrage, which was continued until the
victory was won in that State.
Many of the most distinguished speakers ever heard in Newport came
under the auspices of this league. Among the active workers were Mrs.
Walter Wright, secretary and treasurer; Miss Elizabeth Peckham, Mrs.
Oscar Miller, Mrs. Bertram Storrs and many others, and among the
faithful members Admiral and Mrs. Sims rendered "aid and comfort"
beyond belief in those days when it took some courage in fashionable
Newport to "come out" for woman suffrage!
[The long and interesting account of this league must be omitted
because space can be given only to national and State organizations.]
FOOTNOTES:
[157] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Elizabeth Upham
Yates, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association 1909-1914,
and honorary president until its work was finished in 1920.
[158] The presidents of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Mrs. Susan Hammond Barney, Mrs. Emeline Burlingame Cheney, Mrs. Mary
A. Babcock, Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston, Mrs. Jennie L. W. Rooke and
Mrs. Ethelyn Roberts have all been active workers for woman suffrage.
[159] In addition to those already mentioned, the following have been
officers or members of the State Executive Committees: Mrs. Ellen M.
Calder, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee, Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer, Mrs. Ora A.
Angell, Mrs. Sarah M. Aldrich, Mrs. Betsy A. Stearns, Miss Mary K.
Conington, Mrs. Annie B. Jackson, Mrs. Catherine G. Wilbur, Mrs. Clara
F. Delaney, Mrs. Myra Phinney, Miss S. Arvilla Jewett, Mrs. Amy E.
Harris, Miss Katherine H. Austin, Mrs. Josephine Fry, Miss Eleanor B.
Green, Mrs. Margaret C. Edgren, Mrs. Victor Frazee, Mrs. Anna B.
Kroener, Miss Abby P. Gardiner, Mrs. William H. Adams, Mrs. Nathaniel
Greene, Mrs. Job Manchester, Mrs. William A. H. Comstock, Miss Mabel
Orgelman, Mrs. Edwin C. Smith, Mrs. Ava C. Minsher, Mrs. Fred S.
Fenner, Mrs. Clarence Fuller, Mrs. Frank A. Jackson, Miss Sarah E.
Doyle, Mrs. Alfred M. Coats, Miss Ellen G. Hunt and Mrs. Charles
Remington.
To these should be added a list of men to whom the workers are deeply
indebted.
[160] The _Woman Citizen_ was edited and published for ten years by
Mrs. Jeannette French, and was a valuable contribution to the movement
for woman suffrage.
[161] At the next Democratic State convention Miss Elizabeth Upham
Yates received the nomination for Lieutenant Governor amid great
enthusiasm. She was termed "a student of sociology, missionary leader,
prophet and dreamer, whose dreams have come true."--Ed.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
SOUTH CAROLINA.[162]
For a number of years there had been a suffrage association in South
Carolina with Mrs. Virginia Durant Young, editor of the Fairfax
_Enterprise_, president. Evidence of advance in public sentiment was
shown when in April, 1900, by invitation, Mrs. Young addressed 5,000
people at Rivers Bridges Memorial Association; in June when Mrs.
Malvina A. Waring made the commencement address at Limestone College
and again when Mrs. Young responded to a toast at the banquet of the
State Press Association. That same year there was lively effort to
decide which one of twenty women candidates should be elected State
librarian. Miss Lucy Barron was elected and a large number of women
engrossing clerks were appointed to share her work.
In 1902 during the Exposition a woman suffrage convention was held in
Charleston through the courtesy of the chairman of Promotion and
Publicity, Major J. C. Hemphill. Although opposed to woman suffrage he
induced the officials in charge to grant the use of the German
Artillery Hall for two nights and one meeting was held in the
exposition grounds, where Henry B. and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell,
Mrs. Mamie Folsom Wynn, Miss Koch, Miss Helen Morris Lewis, Miss
Claudia G. Tharin, Mrs. T. M. Prentiss and Mrs. Young made addresses.
A reception was given in the Woman's Building. In May, 1903, Mrs.
Young made a suffrage speech at the meeting of the State Press
Association at Georgetown. With her death in 1906 the organization
lapsed but there was a small group of suffragists in Columbia with Dr.
Jane Bruce Guignard president.
It was not until May 15, 1914, when Miss Lavinia Engle, one of the
organizers sent by the National American Woman Suffrage Association,
called together a representative group of clubwomen, that the State
Equal Suffrage League was organized in the Kennedy Library at
Spartanburg. Mrs. M. T. Coleman of Abbeville, retiring president of
the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was elected president; Mrs.
John Gary Evans, Spartanburg, first and Mrs. J. L. Coker, Hartsville,
second, vice-president; Mrs. Henry Martin, Columbia, secretary; Mrs.
F. T. Kicklin, Chester, treasurer. Dr. Rosa H. Gannt, Spartanburg, was
appointed legislative chairman. Three organized leagues--Columbia,
Charleston and Spartanburg--with a membership of about 450, joined at
this time. In twenty months the number of local leagues increased to
eight and the membership to 1,514.
Three speakers were brought to the State during the winter of 1915,
Mrs. Lila Meade Valentine, president of the Virginia League; Mrs.
Desha Breckinridge, president of the Kentucky Association, and Miss
Kate M. Gordon of Louisiana. The league supplied literature for school
and club debates and distributed it at many county fairs. On October
17 a State convention was held in Columbia. Mrs. Coleman and Dr. Gannt
resigned; Mrs. Harriet P. Lynch, Cheraw, was elected president and
Mrs. W. C. Cathcart of Columbia was appointed legislative chairman.
This year for the first time suffrage was represented in a parade of
women, which took place during the State Fair with a suffrage float in
the evening display.
In 1916 the annual convention met in Charlestown. During the year Mrs.
Lynch had stressed organization and chairmen had been appointed in
sixteen counties to work along political lines, the unit of
organization being the wards in cities and townships in counties. A
plank in the Democratic platform to refer a woman suffrage amendment
to the voters was secured at the State convention in the spring and
State and national candidates were canvassed as to their views on
woman suffrage.
When the convention of 1917 was held in Columbia in October there were
twenty-five leagues in the State with a membership of about 3,000. The
Federal Suffrage Amendment, the Prohibition Amendment, Food
Administration as outlined by Mr. Hoover and a Minimum Wage for Women
were endorsed. Protests were made against any attempt to lower
educational standards or to weaken the laws safeguarding women and
children. The Legislative Committee reported that before the
Legislature convened its members had been completely canvassed as to
their views on woman suffrage; these were classified and only a few
were tagged impossible. A "suffrage school" was held in Columbia in
December under the auspices of the National Association with one
hundred pupils. During the year woman suffrage had been endorsed by
the State Federation of Labor, Federation of Women's Clubs and Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.
In May, 1918, Mrs. Cathcart was appointed by U. S. Senator Tillman as
associate committeewoman on the Democratic National Committee. When
the State Democratic convention was held in Columbia that month the
committeewoman and the committee decided that this was the opportunity
for the Democratic party to substantiate its pledge. Senator Neils
Christensen was asked to introduce a resolution requesting the party
to permit women to vote in the Democratic Primaries in August,
provided the 36th State had ratified the Federal Amendment. The
resolution was debated in committee and rejected by a vote of 18 to
14. The convention adopted the unfavorable report by a vote of 249 to
58. The women were not only rejected but through the spokesman for the
opposing faction, U. S. Senator Christie Benet of Columbia, they were
dubbed as paid propagandists. This the women denied through the press
and called on him to prove his accusation, which was never done. The
State suffrage convention was held in October and Mrs. Lynch and Mrs.
Cathcart were re-elected. At this convention the league declared
itself in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment as a war measure.
The State convention of 1919 was held in Columbia in January, Mrs.
Julian B. Salley of Aiken presiding. Resolutions on the death of Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, also resolutions endorsing the Treaty of Peace and
the League of Nations were read by Mrs. Cathcart and adopted. Mrs.
Lynch, whose resignation was accepted, was made honorary president,
and at the meeting of the executive committee in Columbia in July Mrs.
Salley was elected president. During the year work was immensely
strengthened by the contribution of the National Association of 10,000
pieces of literature and of Miss Lola Trax, who in five months
organized forty counties for the petition work for ratification. The
National's expenditures were over $1,700.
The State convention of 1920 met in Columbia in January at the
Jefferson Hotel and was welcomed by Governor Robert A. Cooper, who
said he was convinced that women would soon vote. U. S. Senator
Pollock of Cheraw made a rousing speech in favor of the Federal
Amendment. Mrs. Salley reviewed the year's work, telling of the
distribution of 10,000 copies of Senator Pollock's speech in Congress;
of the new course of citizenship in the State University and of the
growth of the organization. The legislative report of the past five
years was read by the chairman, Mrs. Cathcart. Mrs. Munsell, chairman
of the American Citizenship Committee, reported a ten-day course of
citizenship at Winthrop Summer School; a summer class at the
University of South Carolina; one at Coker College, Hartsville,
conducted by Mrs. J. L. Coker, and a course at Converse College,
Spartanburg. Mrs. Cathcart, chairman of the Resolutions Committee,
read the following: "The State Equal Suffrage League tenders
appreciation and thanks to the members of the General Assembly of
South Carolina, who have fostered the cause ... among them Joseph E.
McCullough, Greenville; A. E. Horton, Spartanburg; James A. Hoyt,
Speaker of the House; Senators J. L. Sherard, Anderson; Neils
Christensen, Beaufort; Allan Johnston, Newberry; Legrande Walker,
Georgetown; T. C. Duncan, Union, and Representative Shelor, Oconee. We
commend William P. Pollock who spoke and voted in the U. S. Senate for
the Federal Suffrage Amendment, for his loyalty to his convictions and
his belief in true democracy." At the afternoon session Miss Marjorie
Shuler, who had been sent by the National Association for press and
publicity work for one month, was one of the principal speakers.
Delegates were elected for the meeting to be called to merge the Equal
Suffrage League into the League of Women Voters. This meeting was held
June 20 at Craven Hall, Columbia, the league was formed and Mrs.
Munsell was elected chairman.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION. In 1902 Mrs. Virginia D. Young, then president of
the suffrage association, brought personal influence to bear on the
Governor, Senators and Representatives for a hearing on woman
suffrage. On January 28 Senator Aldrich and Representative Izler
introduced simultaneously two bills, one asking for Presidential
suffrage for taxpaying women; the other for suffrage in Municipal
elections. A hearing was held before a joint session January 31, with
the galleries crowded, where, in Mrs. Young's own words, "I was
received with the usual chivalric attention and asked if I would
ascend to the Speaker's chair. 'By no means. I wish to speak from the
floor,' I answered. This privilege was accorded me and for the first
time a woman spoke in the House of Representatives."
1914. From 1902 there is no record of action on the part of the
General Assembly to grant suffrage to women until Jan. 23, 1914, when
a bill was introduced in the House by Mr. McMillan and referred to the
Judiciary Committee, by which it was unfavorably reported the next day
and rejected without a record vote, after little if any discussion. It
had been introduced in the Senate by Mr. Carlisle on the 15th and
referred to the Judiciary Committee, which reported it without
recommendation February 25, and the next day it was laid on the table
without discussion or a record vote.
1915. Early in the session a resolution was introduced asking for the
submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. In
connection an invitation was extended by Speaker James A. Hoyt of
Columbia to Mrs. Valentine, president of the Virginia Suffrage League,
to address the House and she spoke most convincingly. It was said that
if a vote had been taken that night the resolution would have been
adopted. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, which granted a
hearing. The speakers were the Rev. Kirkman G. Finlay, Professor Lewis
Parke Chamberlayne, Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Lynch, Miss Eudora Ramsey, Dr.
Gannt and Mrs. Valentine. The resolution was reported out of the
committee unfavorably, with a minority report, and it was thought best
not to push for a vote.
1916. The resolution for an amendment was introduced in the House by
Judge McCullough of Greenville and received a vote of 51 ayes; 61
noes.
1917. The amendment resolution was introduced by Senator J. L. Sherard
and Representative A. E. Horton. After an exciting debate lasting for
three days the Senate bill came to a vote, receiving 25 ayes; 19 noes.
In the House the bill was reported and placed early on the calendar
for the next year.
1918. Mr. Horton, House leader, was requested by the league to
withdraw the resolution and state that as President Wilson had
declared himself in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and had
requested members of Congress to vote for its submission the league
would concentrate on this amendment. After the vote in favor by the U.
S. House of Representatives letters and telegrams were sent by leagues
and individuals all over the State requesting the Senators to vote for
it. Both voted against it but with the election of William P. Pollock
the suffragists were encouraged. The amendment was submitted to the
Legislatures June 4, 1919.
RATIFICATION. On January 14, 1920, Senator Neils Christensen
introduced a joint resolution to ratify the proposed Federal Suffrage
Amendment, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee. On the 23rd
it was reported unfavorably; on motion of Senator Christensen the
report was laid on the table; on the 28th the resolution went to a
vote and received 32 noes, four ayes--Christensen, Duncan, Shelor and
Walker. In the House on January 21 Representatives Bradford and Hart
introduced a concurrent resolution to reject the proposed amendment;
on the 22nd a motion to refer it to the Judiciary Committee was
defeated by a vote of 85 to 26. The debate on the resolution to reject
extended into the afternoon and the vote resulted in 93 ayes, 20 noes.
Even members who were opposed to ratification made strong speeches for
justice and denounced this unprecedented action of voting for a
measure before it had been referred to a committee or placed on the
calendar.
FOOTNOTES:
[162] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. W. C. Cathcart,
member of the State Board of Public Welfare and chairman of the
Legislative Committee of the State Equal Suffrage League for six
years.
CHAPTER XL.
SOUTH DAKOTA.[163]
Here beginneth the last chapter of the history of woman suffrage in
South Dakota. At the time this is written (1920) women have the same
rights, privileges and duties politically as men except that they do
not serve on juries but the law will undoubtedly be amended to permit
them to do so if there is any demand for it. For many years the
suffrage work was conducted by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
its officers acting for the suffrage societies and its legislative
committees doing the lobbying. The activities of the two organizations
are so interwoven until 1909 that the history of the W. C. T. U. is
practically the history of woman suffrage. The suffrage association
was inactive after the last defeat in 1898 until 1901. In that year a
State Political Equality Association was organized with Mrs. Alice M.
A. Pickler of Faulkton president and Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson of
Highmore vice-president. She was the mother of Royal C. Johnson, now
in Congress.
A State amendment for full suffrage was not again submitted until 1909
and in the interim there was a lull in active work although local
clubs were formed as the nucleus of a larger organization. The
suffrage lobby, usually the same as the W. C. T. U. lobby, appeared at
each session of the Legislature. When a suffrage resolution was
introduced it either died in committee or was reported out unfavorably
and failed to pass. Always when the question was brought before either
House there was a spirited debate and the suffragists then continued
their campaign through literature and other means.
In October, 1902, Mrs. Pickler called a conference at Watertown which
decided to take advantage of the initiative and referendum, that the
State had adopted in 1897. Not realizing that it did not apply to
constitutional amendments, the suffragists in 1903 at great expense
and effort secured the signatures of the requisite number of voters to
a petition asking that a constitutional amendment be submitted to the
voters. Secretary of State O. C. Berg was criticized for refusing to
receive it for transmission to the Legislature but he could not
legally do so, as the initiative applied only to Laws. He was not
opposed to woman suffrage and in later years his wife worked for it
and his son conducted a newspaper which gave it able support.
Still under the leadership of Mrs. Pickler, the years 1904 and 1905
passed with the usual routine work and in 1906 another petition was
begun which had nothing to do with the initiative and referendum but
was merely a petition of women as citizens to the Legislature asking
that the question be submitted to a vote at the next general election.
This work was carried on all summer by a house to house canvass
throughout the State and later at the State Fair, with the result that
when it convened the women were able to stage a spectacular event by
having pages carry up the aisle of the Lower House a list of names
thirty-six yards in length. The resolution was introduced and passed
the Senate but failed in the House by ten votes.
During all this time Mrs. Anna R. Simmons of Faulkton was president of
the State W. C. T. U. and Mrs. Pickler and she did excellent team
work, enlisting the aid of many other splendid women. A complete list
of them it is unfortunately impossible to secure but many mentioned in
Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage continued their services.
The years 1907-8 were spent in propaganda work and raising funds and
when the Legislature convened in January, 1909, the suffrage and W. C.
T. U. lobby was on hand to ask once more for the submission of the
question to the voters. Two resolutions for partial suffrage were
introduced in the Senate in addition to the one for the amendment. One
would confer the vote on property-owning women only and the other
would permit women to vote on the liquor question, the State being
under local option. Whether they were presented by friends or were a
"half loaf" offered by enemies is not known at this late date. They
were probably the former, because a vote on the liquor question by
women was the last thing the principal opponents wanted and such an
amendment if adopted would have speedily put South Dakota in the "dry"
column for all time. The resolution to send to the voters an amendment
for full suffrage passed both Houses and was signed by Governor Robert
S. Vessey. His favorable attitude was a great help to the women, as it
had been in former years when he was in the State Senate.
From 1909 the W. C. T. U. continued its suffrage work under its
franchise department and the State Suffrage Association was a separate
organization. In June, 1909, a suffrage convention was held at
Aberdeen and Mrs. Lydia B. Johnson of Fort Pierre was elected
president of the State Political Equality League, a new constitution
adopted, officers chosen and an invitation extended to all women's
organizations to send delegates to a convention at Sioux Falls in the
autumn, when plans for the coming campaign would be perfected. This
convention met November 6 and from that time until the election in
November, 1910, an active campaign was conducted. The amendment was
defeated, receiving 35,290 ayes, 57,709 noes, but the workers felt
that gains had been made and were more determined than ever not to
cease their efforts.
After the election of 1910 Mrs. Johnson called a State convention at
Huron and Mrs. John L. Pyle of that city was elected president and
continued to serve until the Federal Suffrage Amendment was adopted in
1920. The question was not again brought to the attention of the
Legislature until 1913. During the summer of 1911 Mrs. Pyle called a
conference at Huron. It seemed advisable to change the method of
procedure and the name of the organization, which became the Universal
Franchise League. An incident of this conference--amusing now but very
serious then--was the earnest discussion of the newly introduced
slogan, "Votes for Women," brought over from England. Several precious
hours were spent considering whether this was dignified and whether
women would not be considered "unladylike" if they adopted it. There
was much protest also over being called "suffragettes" when they were
really "suffragists," the former being the English for "militants." At
this meeting the State was divided into four districts for campaign
purposes. Mrs. May Billinghurst of Pierre was chairman for the
northeast; Miss Susie Bird of Belle Fourche for the northwest; Mrs.
Edith M. Fitch of Hurley for the southeast and the Rev. Katherine
Powell of Custer for the southwest, to organize branch leagues in
their districts.
Their stories of trying to organize, especially in the western, thinly
populated sections of the State would make an interesting volume. Miss
Bird, with a horse and buggy, drove hundreds of miles, sometimes forty
from one house to the next. There were almost no railroad facilities
after leaving the Black Hills district but armed with suffrage
literature she drove her trusty steed from place to place, spreading
the gospel of suffrage at school houses, private homes or wherever the
opportunity presented and organizing little groups.
In July, 1912, Mrs. Pyle called a convention at Huron, where the
decision was made to ask the Legislature of 1913 to submit a full
suffrage amendment. Officers were re-elected, Mrs. Nina Pettigrew of
Belle Fourche took charge of the northwest district in place of Miss
Bird, who had resigned, and the president was directed to select her
Legislative Committee. It consisted of the Rev. Katherine Powell, Mrs.
Billinghurst, Mrs. Ruth B. Hipple of Pierre, Miss Bird for the State
Franchise League and Mrs. Simmons of Faulkton; the State president,
Mrs. Ruby Jackson of Ipswich, and Miss Rose Bower of Rapid City for
the W. C. T. U.
In January, 1913, Mrs. Pyle and her lieutenants met at Pierre, the
capital, prepared for action. The hard work, the deep devotion to the
cause of the men and women of preceding years had begun to bear fruit
and instead of finding a lone member here and there in favor of woman
suffrage, now there were many. Hitherto it had been solely a woman's
campaign, aided by only a few loyal men who dared brave the ridicule
of their brothers. The years of education had begun to change public
opinion and the president felt that the time for women to be
buttonholing unwilling men in the lobbies in an apologetic manner was
past. She called a conference of leading men from both Houses to meet
with the Legislative Committee in the office of Attorney General Royal
C. Johnson. This call met with a hearty response and plans were made
which proved so effective that the amendment resolution was the first
measure to pass the Legislature, almost before the opponents knew the
suffragists were on the ground. The poll had been so quietly and
carefully taken that the committee knew its exact strength in both
Houses almost before the resolution was on the calendar. Governor
Frank M. Byrne gave his valuable assistance, as he had done when a
member of the Senate in preceding years. Mrs. Byrne also was an
excellent ally.
The members of the Legislature always referred to this legislative
work as "the campaign of Committee Room 2," as this room beside the
elevator in the House side of the Capitol had been placed at the
disposal of the suffragists. Their committee quietly stayed there
while members were summoned one by one, interviewed and pledged if
possible. Unsuspecting members, supposing they were summoned by some
State official, would come and then would consider it such a good joke
that they would say nothing and wait for their neighbor to get caught,
so that nearly the entire membership was interviewed before the men
began to compare notes.
Among many amusing incidents was the following: The suffrage question
could always be depended upon to fill the galleries and call forth
floods of oratory. When it was up for discussion at this time Senator
James Mather of Brown county rose and announced in no uncertain terms
that he was unalterably opposed; he did not believe in woman suffrage;
it would afford him great satisfaction, indeed he craved the
opportunity, to be recorded as voting against it. The roll-call
started alphabetically and it went Aye-Aye-Aye down to M. When the
name Mather was called the Senator, looking decidedly embarrassed,
asked to be excused from voting. Protests came from all sides. Senator
Norbeck (afterwards Governor) in stentorian tones demanded that since
the Senator had craved the opportunity to record his opinion he should
do it now. Senator Mather meekly cast the only dissenting vote and
never was returned to the Legislature. In the Lower House the vote was
70 ayes, 30 noes.
The campaign of 1914 received most important and highly valued
assistance from Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National
American Suffrage Association; Miss Jane Addams, its vice-president;
Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Mrs. Ella S. Stewart and Mrs. Florence
Bennett Peterson, all of Chicago, and from many others. One of the
best educational forces was the _South Dakota Messenger_, a weekly
paper controlled and edited by the State organization. It had a wide
circulation and was able to reach into the farthest corners of the
State. Other papers clipped freely from its editorial and news
columns. On November 3 the amendment received 39,605 ayes and 51,519
noes, lost by nearly 12,000. For the fifth time the men of South
Dakota had denied their women the right of representation in the
government.
The suffrage leaders were not in the least daunted or discouraged and
a convention was very soon called at Huron to decide whether or not
resubmission should be asked of the Legislature the next year and the
unanimous decision was that it should be. The district plan was
abandoned and county organization adopted. A "budget" was prepared and
each county assessed according to its population, which plan was
generally successful.
In January, 1915, the Legislative Committee, this time composed of
Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Etta Estey Boyce of Sioux Falls and Mrs. Paul Rewman
of Deadwood, assisted by a number of Pierre suffragists for the
Universal Franchise League and Dr. Mary Noyes Farr of Pierre and Miss
Rose Bower for the W. C. T. U., once more climbed the steps of the
Capitol to ask for another referendum. Once more the request was
granted--in the Senate by 29 to 15, in the House by 57 to 40--during
the first two weeks of the session. A reception was given by the
committee and Pierre suffragists to the members of the Legislature,
the State officers and the ladies of their families in the ballroom of
the St. George Hotel, said to have been a social event second only to
the inaugural ball. Later in the session a bill to give women a vote
for presidential electors, county and municipal officers, which could
be granted by the Legislature itself, received 59 ayes and 40 noes in
the House; 18 ayes and 24 noes in the Senate.
During the summer of 1916 for the first time the women "antis" deemed
it necessary to do active work. They established headquarters at the
capital with a manager in charge and made an open campaign. To answer
their old stock argument, "Women do not want the vote," a state-wide
plan of petitions by the women of each county was adopted and every
one where the work was well done showed a good majority in favor. On
November 7 when the first election returns came from those counties
that usually indicate the result of the whole State, the Associated
Press sent the news broadcast that South Dakota had been carried for
woman suffrage by a large majority, but again it was the same old
story, principally the foreigners, especially the Germans, had once
more denied to American women the privilege which they, themselves,
had acquired so easily. The returns showed 53,432 in the affirmative;
58,350 in the negative, an opposing majority of less than 5,000.
Each campaign had shown a growth in favorable sentiment and there
seemed every reason to believe that another one would be successful.
The National Association agreed with the State in this opinion and
were ready to cooperate, so it seemed best to ask the session of 1917
to give one more opportunity. The Legislature was well trained by this
time and willingly passed the resolution, the Senate by 31 ayes, 12
noes; the House by 66 ayes, 27 noes. After it had adjourned and before
definite plans for a campaign were completed the country was plunged
into the World War and misgivings arose in the minds of the executive
board as to the wisdom of an undertaking which would make demands on
the time of the women. After much prayerful deliberation the unanimous
decision was reached that since this war was being fought for the
establishment of world democracy and this question was undoubtedly one
of democracy, there must be no turning back, but that the campaign
must be managed in such a way as to require the services of as few
women as possible. No further effort was made to organize county
leagues but a committee of three was elected in each county to look
after its interests except in those already well organized. Not much
was done this year beyond laying a foundation for the necessary work
of the next year.
In January, 1918, Governor Peter Norbeck called a special session of
the Legislature to consider important State affairs, one being to
change the clause in the constitution relating to citizenship. Its
framers, to render settlement of a new, undeveloped country
attractive, made the requirement such that a foreigner might become a
qualified elector after having merely declared his intention of
becoming a citizen, without having sworn allegiance to the United
States. Thousands of aliens had taken out their first papers, filed on
government land, proved up and established their homes, failed to
complete their naturalization and yet were fully qualified to vote.
This had long been considered a menace to the government and
suffragists knew that it was principally to this class of voters that
they owed their many defeats. The war developed great disloyalty among
this class and the Governor announced that the situation was
intolerable and the requirements for citizenship must be changed. In
order to do this it was necessary to amend the section of the
constitution which stated the qualifications of a voter and which was
the same section that it was sought to amend for woman suffrage by
striking out the word "male." It was finally decided that the only way
was to have the two matters submitted as one amendment. The word
"male" was stricken out and full naturalization and a five years'
residence were required before the privilege of voting should be
granted and this was substituted for the original suffrage amendment.
In the course of a report made to the national executive board Mrs.
McMahon, one of its organizers, said:
There was a conference in the headquarters at Huron and Mrs. Pyle
faced the situation and took up the burden. The National Suffrage
Association had sent two field workers--Miss Mary Elizabeth
Pidgeon and Mrs. Albert McMahon. To the latter was given charge
of the organization department and together the two women set to
work with the State officers to district the State and organize
in each county a campaign committee. Eventually there was an
organizer for every six districts, each comprising from twelve to
fourteen huge counties. Each worker as she came into the State
had to be carefully instructed in everything that touched upon
the constitutional provisions for voting, the status of the
alien, the reason for putting the citizenship clause into the
suffrage amendment, the effect its passage would have upon the
aliens, etc., because these questions were constantly met. Much
new literature had to be prepared and all the posters changed to
fit new conditions.
What won the State? Persistent, intensive, quiet work. We had few
meetings of our own but we used those of every one else, from
women's aid societies to Rotary clubs, political rallies and
Fourth of July celebrations. We did not plan parades, but
wherever patriotic sentiment expressed itself through a parade we
were in it. We circularized the voters in groups again and
again--lawyers, business men, farmers, etc., with literature
adapted to each group. We circulated a petition and 95 per cent.
of the women to whom it was presented signed it. We sent every
organizer we could command into delinquent counties, having the
cooperation of the local women. In the evening street meetings
were held. The workers left literature in every home and posters
placarded on every wall space. They left suffrage stories with
the newspapers and the spoken word in the ear of all who would
listen and they left the morale of the local workers at high
water mark. The signed petitions were printed and mailed to the
voters in each county with our final circularization.
Ninety-eight per cent. of the newspapers were favorable and in
spite of paper shortage and the demand for war publicity they
never failed the women. In addition to news stories, editorials,
etc., they universally used the plate material which the National
Association furnished. As much as any other one thing perhaps,
this plate material helped to win the campaign. All political
parties endorsed the amendment, Republicans and Democrats making
it a part of their platforms.
In June Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding secretary of the
National Association, came to South Dakota and with Mrs. S. V.
Ghrist, vice-president of the State League, and Mrs. McMahon, a
school of methods was held in the principal towns. The women were
taught how to organize and were grounded in the new aspects of
the campaign. Mrs. Catt was ill and could not come, which was the
greatest blow the campaign had; however Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson,
national recording secretary, took her place very acceptably.
Among the organizers Mrs. McMahon mentioned Mrs. R. E. H. Stevens,
Miss Stella Crosley, Miss Gertrude Watkins, Miss Josephine Miller,
Miss Liba Peshokova and Miss Ida Stadie and said: "But this efficient,
faithful little band could not have won the campaign alone. South
Dakota State women will perhaps never realize how much they owe to
Mrs. John L. Pyle, president, who gave herself absolutely to the
winning of their political freedom. She was at her desk from early in
the morning until 11 o'clock and later at night. Nothing was allowed
to stand in the way of her complete service. The best there was in her
she gave to the cause and she has the gratitude of those for whom and
with whom she worked. Ably seconding her efforts were Mrs. Ghrist,
vice-president; Mrs. Frank Meyer, office secretary; Mrs. Rewman and
Miss Alice Lorraine Daly in the finance department; Mrs. Lewis L.
Leavitt, chairman of the Minnehaha committee; Miss Harriet Grant of
Huron and Mrs. R. H. Lewis of Mitchell. The whole structure rested on
the county workers. There was never a Fair that was not covered nor a
Teachers' nor a Farmers' Institute nor a political meeting. Everywhere
that voters gathered, there they were."
It may be presumed that those who would be disfranchised until they
had completed their naturalization would cast their votes against the
amendment but these were more than counteracted by American citizens,
who, even if they did not believe in woman suffrage, would vote for
the amendment because of this part of it. The election took place Nov.
6, 1918, and the amendment received 49,318 ayes and 28,934 noes;
carried by 20,384. The following figures show the progress made from
campaign to campaign: Opposing majority in 1910, 22,419; in 1914,
11,914; in 1916, 4,934.
The women of South Dakota are deeply grateful to the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, which always helped generously with
organizers, speakers and money. It contributed $7,500 to this
campaign. Various States were loyal and helpful and have the fullest
appreciation and gratitude.
RATIFICATION. The final scene in the drama of woman suffrage was
staged on December 4, 1919, at 12:40 a. m., when the members of the
Legislature, coming to Pierre at their own expense and at great
inconvenience, in the middle of winter, unanimously ratified the
Federal Suffrage Amendment. Many States were having special sessions
for this purpose but Governor Norbeck, who would have to call one in
January, did not wish to do so before then. He agreed, however, that
if a majority of the members would come to Pierre at their own expense
in order to ratify the amendment, he would call a session for that
purpose.
This State has a new law which requires that in December of the year
preceding an election there shall be "proposal meetings" held at the
capital to propose candidates for nomination at the March primaries,
each party holding a separate meeting. This year there were to be also
three party conventions at the same time and practically all the
politicians would be at the capital. Mrs. Pyle and her board asked the
Governor to call the session for that time, for many of the members
would be in attendance as delegates from their counties. Accordingly,
after receiving the assurance that a majority of them were willing to
come to Pierre at their own expense, he issued a call for December 3
at 7 o'clock in the evening. It was dead of winter and distances are
long. The call was issued after 3 o'clock on Saturday and the session
was to be the next Tuesday. Telephone and telegraph wires were kept
humming for the next thirty-six hours and the men came from all
directions. One man rushed home to Huron from Minneapolis, called to
his wife to send his "grip" after him and just caught the train for
Pierre. Another used up three automobiles getting to the train from
his home many miles from the railroad, as the snow made the roads
almost impassable.
The question arose how to put the resolution through the two Houses in
the least possible time. It was finally done by introducing the
resolutions in both Houses and giving them their first and second
readings on the evening of December 3. They were then referred to the
proper committees and the Legislature adjourned until the next
legislative day. The earliest possible moment of the next day was one
minute after midnight and this was the hour when it convened. The
final passage took place at 12:44 a. m. on the 4th by unanimous vote.
This was the first time that a South Dakota Legislature ever convened
in the middle of the night but the members were anxious to get home as
soon as possible and the trains leave in both directions about 2 a.
m.
FOOTNOTES:
[163] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Ruth B. Hipple,
member of the Legislative Committee of the State Woman Suffrage
Association and editor of the _South Dakota Messenger_.
CHAPTER XLI.
TENNESSEE. PART I.[164]
The history of the suffrage movement in Tennessee filled only five
pages of the volume preceding this one, which ended with 1900, and
such as there was had been due principally to that dauntless pioneer,
Mrs. Lide A. Meriwether of Memphis, to whom this chapter is reverently
and gratefully dedicated. The first suffrage society was formed in
Memphis in May, 1889, and none of its founders is now living except
Mrs. J. D. Allen of this city. In April, 1894, a society was formed at
Nashville at the home of Mrs. H. C. Gardner by Miss Amelia Territt,
Mrs. Bettie Donelson and a few others but it had no connection with
the one at Memphis. Its members were earnest and capable but it did
not long survive. Through the efforts of the National Association a
State organization was effected in 1897, the year of the Centennial
Exposition in Nashville, and there was a convention in April, 1900,
attended by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president. There had
been no State convention for five years when in 1906, through the
initiative of Miss Belle Kearney of Mississippi a meeting was called
in Memphis of which Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky sends the following
account taken from her scrapbook:
The conference of Southern Women Suffragists was held in Memphis
December 19, 20, the opening session in the morning at the
Peabody Hotel; the afternoon session at the residence of Mrs. J.
O. Crawford and the other sessions at the hotel. Miss Clay was
elected chairman; Mrs. Nannie Curtiss of Texas, secretary. The
meeting included representatives from many of the southern States
and letters were received from "Dorothy Dix," Mrs. Caroline E.
Merrick and Mrs. Sophy Wright of New Orleans; Mrs. Mary Bentley
Thomas of Baltimore; Mrs. Josephine K. Henry of Versailles, Ky.;
Mrs. Eliza Strong Tracey of Houston; Mrs. Mary B. Clay and Mrs.
James Bennett of Richmond, Ky., and Mrs. Key, president of the
North Texas Girls' College. Discussions on aspects of the
suffrage question were led by Miss Kearney, Miss Clay, Mrs.
Meriwether and Mrs. Jennie H. Sibley of Georgia. The conference
was resolved into a committee of the whole to formulate plans for
concerted legislative work in the southern States. A thousand
copies of the resolutions were printed. At this time the State
Equal Suffrage Association was re-organized, with Mrs. Meriwether
honorary president; Mrs. J. D. Allen, president; Mrs. L. F.
Selden, corresponding secretary and treasurer; Mrs. M. M. Betts,
recording secretary; Mrs. S. S. Deem, chairman of problems
affecting women or children.
Mrs. Allen served continuously until 1912. In 1908 the State
Federation of Labor not only endorsed woman suffrage but agreed to
petition members of the Legislature and Congress to work for it and
they loyally kept their pledge. This same year suffrage literature was
first distributed at the State Federation of Women's Clubs and Dr.
Shaw, then president of the National Association, spoke in Memphis.
In 1910 the first suffrage State petition work was begun in Memphis
and its Nineteenth Century Club and the Newman Circle of Knoxville
held parlor meetings and discussions. Knoxville formed a local league;
the women's clubs began to awaken and the State Federation appointed
its first legislative committee, with the object of having the laws
unfavorable to women changed. In 1911 thousands of pieces of
literature were distributed, press articles sent out and a resolution
to amend the State constitution by striking out the word "male" was
first presented to the Legislature. The movement did not gain much
impetus until the Nashville League was organized in the fall of this
year and Chattanooga and Morrison soon followed. On Jan. 10-12, 1912,
the association with its five virile infant leagues met in Nashville
and plans for state-wide organization began. Miss Sarah Barnwell
Elliott, an eminent writer, was unanimously chosen president. In
October, 1913, the State convention met in Morristown and eight
leagues answered the roll call.
The work in the Legislature naturally always fell heavily upon the
Nashville League and from 1913 to 1919 the lobby was composed
principally of its members. The first real effort to break down the
prejudice of the legislators was in 1913, when Miss Elliott and Mrs.
Guilford Dudley asked for an audience for Miss Laura Clay, president
of the Kentucky association, and Miss Mary Johnston of Virginia, the
novelist. This was granted and Miss Elliott was the first woman to
address the Legislature, although no bill was before it.
At a called meeting of the Executive Board, at Memphis in May, 1914,
the resignation of Miss Elliott was regretfully accepted and Mrs. L.
Crozier French succeeded her. At the State convention held October 29,
30 in Knoxville a division occurred and some of the delegates,
refusing to be headed by Mrs. French, elected as president Mrs. James
M. McCormack, who was first vice-president. Mrs. French was
unanimously elected by a part of the original association, which had
obtained a charter October 13, incorporating the name Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association. This association continued to be a dominating
force in suffrage activities. Mrs. French resigned the presidency
April 1, 1915, and her unexpired term was filled by the
vice-president-at-large, Mrs. John M. Kenny of Nashville. The holding
of the annual convention of the National Association in Nashville Nov.
12-17, 1914, was the turning point in the history of suffrage in
Tennessee because of its far-reaching educational propaganda and
because Nashville was the political center of the State.
Mrs. Dudley was elected president at the State convention held at
Jackson in October, 1915. She went to east, west and middle Tennessee,
visiting in the first year of her administration nineteen towns, many
of them twice, and assisting the Campaign Committee in organizing
fourteen. She made addresses in twenty-two different cities. Toward
the end of the year Miss Sue S. White, of Jackson, the recording
secretary, a court stenographer and business woman, gave a month to
organizing the headquarters staff and making plans to carry forward
the work in a businesslike way.[165]
Mrs. Catt was making a strong effort to have the various States follow
the same policy at the same time and thereby each could contribute to
the national victory. With the view of securing woman suffrage planks
in both Democratic and Republican national platforms, each association
was asked to secure endorsement from its political State conventions.
Early in January, 1916, Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Kenny went before the
executive committees of both parties, asking for a plank in the
platforms and also that delegates be instructed to vote for a suffrage
plank in the national platform this year. In May Mrs. Dudley spoke
before the platform committees and the conventions of both endorsed
woman suffrage. Former Governor Ben Hooper, Mr. and Mrs. James S.
Beasley, the Hon. H. Clay Evans and Harry Anderson were of much
assistance with the Republicans and Governor Tom C. Rye and U. S.
Senator Kenneth D. McKellar secured the resolution from the Democrats.
Tennessee sent seven women to the Republican national convention in
Chicago, who marched in the famous parade through wind and rain to the
convention hall, Mrs. Dudley carrying the State suffrage banner.
Eleven women went to the Democratic national convention in St. Louis,
where they stood bravely in the "golden lane" through which the
delegates marched to the convention. Mrs. Dudley was chosen to address
the Tennessee delegation and it was a proud moment for the women of
the State when they voted solidly for the suffrage plank. In October
farewell banquets to congressmen on the eve of their departure for
Washington, to influence their votes for the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, were given in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis. The State
Federation of Women's Clubs endorsed woman suffrage this year by a
large majority, under the leadership of Mrs. George Fort Milton of
Chattanooga and Mrs. D. T. Kimbrough of Nashville. Other endorsements
were those of the Southern Federation of Labor (unanimous), obtained
through the efforts of Mrs. Walter Jackson of Murfreesboro; the
Tennessee Women's Press and Authors' Club, through Miss Libbie Morrow;
the State conventions of the Beemen, the Nurserymen and the
Horticulturists, at the request of Mrs. Kimbrough.
Mrs. Dudley soon came to be known nationally. She spoke on the Federal
Amendment at the luncheon of four hundred given to the incoming
members at the Congress Hotel in Washington; addressed congressional
committee hearings, and in December she joined the "lobby" at the
national suffrage headquarters in Washington to interview southern
Senators and Representatives. The State convention was held in
Nashville, Jan. 30, 31, 1917. Mrs. Dudley was unanimously re-elected
and served until her election to the board of the National Association
in December. At this convention Mrs. Kenny was elected chairman of
publicity and under her direction special suffrage editions of
newspapers were published in the principal towns and cities and copies
mailed to every voter. The plate matter sent out by the national press
committee was widely distributed.
Mrs. Leslie Warner was elected president in 1918, and at the State
convention held in Nashville in June, 1919, Mrs. George Fort Milton
succeeded her. During her seven years of suffrage activity Mrs. Milton
had rendered valuable service in various official positions. It was
while this convention was in session that the news came of the
submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress and there was
a demonstration of joy. In the evening a brilliant public banquet took
place at the Tulane Hotel. The convention extended its official board
to include a chairman from each congressional district, for the
ratification campaign. Three weeks later the board held a meeting at
Lookout Mountain, formulated plans for organizing the districts
politically and pledged the largest amount of money for State work in
the history of the association.
LEGISLATIVE WORK. In 1915 Mrs. L. Crozier French, State president,
appointed Mrs. Guilford Dudley, president of the Nashville League,
legislative chairman to sponsor a resolution for a woman suffrage
amendment to the State constitution. The members of the lobby
committee were Mrs. Kenny, Mrs. Kimbrough, Mrs. W. G. Spencer, Mrs.
Reau E. Folk, Mrs. Ittie K. Reno, Mrs. Victoria James Roach and Mrs.
A. Y. Scott. To amend the constitution it is necessary to obtain a
majority in the first Legislature and a two-thirds majority in the
succeeding one before the question is submitted to the voters. In
January when the House committee met to report on the amendment it was
opposed almost to a man. Mrs. Dudley with all her committee back of
her made an eloquent appeal for justice and fair play, urging them at
least to permit the House to vote on the measure. When she finished
not a man raised his voice against it. The House adjourned to permit
Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Scott to speak to the members and the final roll
call registered only fourteen noes. It passed the Senate with only
three dissenting votes. The leagues all over the State had brought
strong pressure to bear upon their representatives. In 1917 it was
replaced by the Presidential suffrage bill.
On May 17 a conference was held at Tullahoma, where the Campaign
Committee was formed. Two joint-chairmen headed the executive
committee, Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. Henry J. Kelso of Knoxville, with Mrs.
Scott vice-chairman. On the resignation of Mrs. Kelso, Mrs. Milton was
elected in her place.[166] Miss Elizabeth Breen, executive secretary,
gave untiring and efficient service. Headquarters were opened in
Nashville. This Campaign Committee was the trail-blazer. Although in
operation only seven months it organized thirty-two leagues; enrolled
9,600 names; printed and distributed 75,000 pieces of literature and
expended on organization work over $4,000. State-wide publicity was
gained; the workers received valuable training in organizing and
public speaking and it was a harmonizing force.
It was difficult to enlist Tennessee suffragists in street speaking,
not that they had not the courage of their faith but they feared to
violate the conservative traditions of their southland. After seeing
its wonderful effect during the national suffrage convention in
Atlantic City in 1916 a few of the bold-hearted summoned courage and
the first attempt was made in Jackson and Memphis in 1917 by Mrs.
Kimbrough, Mrs. Kenny, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Reno and Miss White. At the
State Fair in Nashville in 1918 the Campaign Committee took charge of
the open air meetings, these women speaking eight or ten times each
day, and they were rewarded by the great number of enrollment cards
signed by those who received the message favorably.
In 1917 the legislative campaign was conducted under the friendly
administration of a Democratic Governor, Tom C. Rye, and under the
direction of Mrs. Dudley, State president, and Mrs. Ezzell,
legislative chairman. Before direct plans had been made, advices came
from the National Association to concentrate on a Presidential and
Municipal suffrage bill similar to that passed in Illinois in 1913.
This was agreed upon and General G. T. Fitzhugh of Memphis drew up the
bill. His services were of great value to suffrage interests because
both as a citizen and a member of the bar he was held in the highest
esteem. From this time until the State Supreme Court decision of 1919
removed the last barrier to this bill he was a valued friend and
adviser, and was associate counsel in the last legal battle on
ratification from the Chancery to the Supreme Court--all without
financial remuneration.
This Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill was one of the first
introduced, sponsored in the House by Speaker Clyde Shropshire and in
the Senate by C. W. Rocks of Humboldt, and its progress was watched
with great interest. Petitions were sent to the members from all parts
of the State. The Memphis and Nashville members were solid for it from
the beginning with one exception--Senator John M. Thompson, a violent
"anti" from Nashville. Both suffragists and "antis" were invited to
speak before the House Judiciary Committee and both accepted, but
after two postponements through courtesy the "antis" did not put in an
appearance and the suffragists alone were heard. General Fitzhugh came
to speak for the bill. There had been much discussion as to its
validity without the insertion of a poll tax clause and it was in
jeopardy. An appeal was made to a friend whose legal advice and
services the suffragists had always had for the asking--General
Charles T. Cates, Jr., Attorney General, who came from his home in
Knoxville to construe for the committee some of the perplexing phases
and the committee unanimously recommended the bill.
When it came to a vote in the House women from all sections of the
State were present. Among the most untiring workers were George Fort
Milton, editor of the Chattanooga _News_, and Mrs. Milton; Miss
Margaret Ervin of Chattanooga; Mrs. Isaac Reese, Mrs. Harry Anderson
and Mrs. Scott of Memphis; Miss White, Mrs. Kimbrough and Mrs. Kenny.
Many members of the Nashville League served at frequent critical
times. The vote in the House was 59 ayes, 25 noes, on Jan. 19, 1917,
Lee's birthday, an anniversary celebrated throughout the South, and it
was fittingly referred to by some of the members as an appropriate
occasion for Southern men to give justice to women. Following its
passage the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, who was in Nashville, was
invited to address the Legislature and spoke strongly in favor of it.
Mrs. Bryan accompanied him and at a luncheon given in her honor at the
Hermitage Hotel, attended by members of the Legislature and over two
hundred guests, she made an eloquent plea for suffrage and Mr. Bryan
spoke again.
While this bill was pending in the Senate the newspapers throughout
the State were giving much more publicity to woman suffrage than they
had ever done before. Many of the county papers favored it and
published matter sent them. The _Labor World_ gave continuous support.
Some of the best suffragists were newspaper women and they gave freely
of their time and talents. The excellent service of Mrs. W. A. Overall
is recalled; though not a "professional" her clear, logical articles
impressed impartial readers. Of the large daily papers the Knoxville
_Sentinel_ and the _Commercial Appeal_ and _News Scimitar_ of Memphis
were favorable. The Jackson _Daily Sun_ and the Nashville _Banner_
were opposed. The Chattanooga _News_ was an ardent advocate, while the
Chattanooga _Times_, under the control of the New York _Times_, was
strongly opposed. The Nashville _Tennesseean_ was regarded as the
official organ of the suffragists. Its owner, former U. S. Senator
Luke Lea, while in the Senate in 1913 had been one of three southern
Senators to vote for the Federal Amendment. Throughout the campaign he
was ready at all times to help in every way possible, ignoring his
personal political interests. This was true of U. S. Senator McKellar
and Governor Rye.
When the first canvass of the Senate was made the sentiment was about
as follows: For the bill 11; unalterably opposed, 7; uncertain, 15.
The classification "uncertain" was most appropriate, for fifteen more
uncertain men were never encountered. When assured that the measure
could safely be brought to vote it would be discovered that changes
had occurred over night which would mean defeat. The "antis" worked
through a hastily organized local society at Nashville, which was
inspired by Judge John J. Vertrees, a prominent lawyer of that city. A
Charles McLean of Iowa, who had been used by the opponents in other
State suffrage campaigns, made two or three visits to Nashville during
the session. The State suffrage convention in this city a few days
before the bill came to a vote in the Senate was the largest ever held
and many delegates remained for the vote.
The bill was introduced by Senator C. W. Rooks, who with Senator John
C. Houk led the fight for it. It was lost on February 3 by 21 noes, 12
ayes. A motion to reconsider by Senator A. E. Hill carried it over
until the Legislature reconvened on March 7. The generosity of Mrs.
Scott, vice-chairman of the Campaign Committee, who gave $500, enabled
the State association to employ four organizers and the National
Association paid the salaries of three more. New organizations were
formed and remote towns, which had scarcely ever heard of suffrage,
were visited. A telegram from President Wilson urging the Senate to
pass the bill was received at the March session but was not read in
that body until the day after it was defeated.[167] The motion for
reconsideration was laid on the table the first day by 18 ayes, 10
noes.
Incessant work in behalf of the bill was carried on in the districts
of hostile or doubtful Senators from September until January, 1919,
when the Legislature met and the bill for Presidential and Municipal
suffrage was again introduced. It was a hard fight for many weeks made
by Mrs. Warner and her committee, with daily, continuous work at the
Capitol and "back log" work through the State, where she had the
constant help of her board. Mrs. A. G. Buckner, as legislative
chairman, worked unceasingly, as did Mrs. Margaret Ervin Ford, Mrs.
Reno and Miss Matilda Porter, the lobby committee, assisted by Miss
Josephine Miller, a national organizer. Mrs. Dudley came after the
national suffrage convention in March.
Attorney L. D. Miller of Chattanooga introduced the bill in the House
and conducted the fight for it. It passed the third and final reading
April 3 by 52 ayes, 32 noes. Speaker Seth M. Walker of Wilson county
became a convert and eloquent advocate, leaving his desk to plead for
it. [See Ratification.]
After the bill had been cleverly put to sleep by the President of the
Senate, Andrew Todd, by referring it to the hostile Judiciary
Committee, Senator E. N. Haston, who was its sponsor, secured enough
votes to overrule his action and put it in the Committee on Privileges
and Elections, which reported in favor. The enemies were led by
Senator J. Parks Worley. The hardest fight that ever took place in the
Senate was waged, and the outcome was not certain until Judge Douglas
Wikle of Williamson county cast the deciding vote in favor, making the
result on April 16, ayes, 17; noes, 14, a bare majority. At 10:30 the
following morning Governor Roberts affixed his signature to the Act
conferring upon women the right to vote for electors of President and
Vice-President of the United States and in the Municipal elections
throughout the State. More than half a million women were thus far
enfranchised.
Conspicuous and persistent among the enemies of the bill outside of
the Legislature were U. S. Senator John K. Shields and Judge Vertrees.
The latter, claiming to represent "others" filed a writ of injunction
in the Chancery Court to test the validity of the law. Attorney
General Frank M. Thompson and other able lawyers defended this
suit[168], which was hotly contested, and this court, by Chancellor
James B. Newman, in June declared the law unconstitutional. The case
was appealed to the State Supreme Court, which in July, 1919, reversed
this decision and declared the law valid.
When the Supreme Court rendered this decision the regular biennial
registration was only ten days off and it was at the hottest period of
the summer, when many women and most of the suffrage officials were
out of town, but the registration was large in all the cities. In
Nashville about 7,500 registered; in Knoxville about 7,000, and the
type of those who presented themselves everywhere was of the highest
and best. Contrary to all predictions the negro women did not flock to
the polls. They voted but in comparatively few numbers and the records
show that only the better educated were interested. Their vote proved
to be anything but the "bugaboo" politicians had tried to show that it
would be and in some instances it was a contributing factor to good
government. In Nashville they registered about 2,500 and voted almost
their full quota. They organized under the direction of the suffrage
association, had their own city and ward chairmen and worked with an
intelligence, loyalty and dignity that made new friends for their race
and for woman suffrage. There was not a single adverse criticism of
them from any ward. They kept faith with the white women even when
some of their men sold out the night before election to a notorious
political rounder. They proved that they were trying to keep step with
the march of progress and with a little patience, trust and vision the
universal tie of motherhood and sisterhood can and will overcome the
prejudice against them as voters.
An immense amount of work was done by Tennessee women for the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. After interviewing their members of Congress and
using every possible influence on them in their home districts,
hundreds of letters and telegrams were sent to them in Washington
whenever they were to vote on it from 1915 to 1919. Mrs. Dudley, as a
member of the national board, spent months in Washington and was sent
to various southern States where skilled work was necessary. There was
a gradually increasing vote in favor by Tennessee members until when
the last one was taken in June, 1919, only three Representatives,
Moon, Hull and Garrett, voted against it. Senator Shields voted in
opposition and Senator McKellar in favor.
* * * * *
[With this chapter was sent a complete history of the woman suffrage
movement in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and smaller
cities, which accounts for the phenomenally rapid advance in
Tennessee. Unfortunately these chapters can give space only to the
general work of the State associations.]
TENNESSEE. PART II[169]
Tennessee's pioneer period was from 1885-1911, for during those years
the educational and organization work carried on by a few intrepid
women was as difficult as was the same work in other parts of the
United States thirty or more years before that time. Woman suffrage
was in the stage of ridicule and abuse and with a few exceptions the
press of the State was opposed and lost no opportunity to disparage
it.
The State Equal Suffrage Association was reorganized in Memphis in
1906 and there was increasing activity each year afterwards. In 1907
the suffragists held a convention and reported their membership
trebled. They secured a suffrage article in the _News Scimitar_
through the courtesy of Mike Connolly, its editor. In 1908 Dr. Shaw
spoke at the Goodwin Hall in Memphis under the auspices of the State
association and a return engagement was secured by the Lyceum Course
the following winter. The third annual convention was held Dec. 15,
1909, in Memphis at the home of the State president, Mrs. J. D. Allen,
and the officers were re-elected. It was reported that a petition had
been sent to Congress for a Federal Amendment and more than 400
letters written, one to President Taft asking him to declare for woman
suffrage and local work had been done. Mrs. E. S. Conser, assisted by
Mrs. Allen and the suffrage club, prevailed upon the Memphis
University Law Department to open its doors to women and Mrs. Conser
became its first woman student. Mrs. Allen attended the national
convention at Seattle, Washington. Mrs. Ittie K. Reno delivered the
first woman suffrage address in Nashville, at the Centennial Club, and
the first one in Chattanooga was given by Miss Margaret Ervin at the
university where she was a student.
In 1910 a league was organized in Knoxville by Mrs. L. Crozier French,
who became its president. In the summer a suffrage debate, affirmative
taken by Mrs. Ford, was held in the Methodist church at Kingston, the
first time the question was discussed in that part of the State and
people came from neighboring towns. Miss Catherine J. Wester, a
Kingston suffragist, had a six weeks' newspaper debate in the
Chattanooga _Times_. A booth was maintained at the Appalachian
Exposition, and 590 names of visitors from Tennessee, Arkansas and
Mississippi were registered in the suffrage booth at the Tri-State
fair in September at Memphis.
The fourth State convention was held at Memphis in the Business Men's
Club Feb. 18, 1911, and the president, Mrs. Allen, reported suffrage
trips to Little Rock, Ark., and Jackson, Miss. Addresses were given by
Attorney Robert Beattie and by H. P. Hanson, vice-president of the
Southern Conference on Child and Woman Labor, who brought word that
the Memphis Typographical Union was on record for woman suffrage. Mrs.
Beattie was elected vice-president and Dr. Madge Patton Stephens
secretary. The Nashville club was organized September 28, with Mrs.
Guilford Dudley president; one at Morristown November 3, with Mrs.
Hannah Price Hardy president; one at Chattanooga December 9, with Mrs.
E. W. Penticost president.
By 1912 a new era had dawned with five of the largest cities organized
and affiliated with the State association. It held its annual
convention at Nashville January 10-11. Governor Ben W. Hooper
addressed it and stated that he was "on the fence" as to the suffrage
question. Mrs. Allen was elected honorary president and Miss Sarah
Barnwell Elliott president. Miss Elliott spent two months of this year
speaking in the State and she also spoke in Birmingham, in New York
and the Mississippi Valley Conference in Chicago. In December a
suffrage club was organized in Jackson with Mrs. C. B. Bell president.
J. W. Brister, State Superintendent of Schools, gave a suffrage
address at Nashville.
The State convention was held again at the Hermitage Hotel in
Nashville, Jan. 6, 7, 1913. The principal speakers were ex-Governor
John I. Cox, U. S. Senator Luke Lea, Misses Laura Clay of Kentucky and
Mary Johnston of Virginia. Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton, as president,
sent greetings from the Huntsville, Ala., league, reorganized after a
lapse of thirty years with the same president. The main discussion was
whether to introduce a suffrage bill in the Legislature. Mrs. Margaret
Ervin Ford urged it, saying that, though it had small chance, it was
well to accustom the Legislature to the idea. The matter was placed in
the hands of Miss Elliott, Mrs. French, Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Scott,
who recommended that no bill should be introduced. Mrs. Allen and Miss
Elliott were re-elected and Mrs. James M. McCormack was made
vice-president-at-large; Miss Clay and Miss Johnston spoke on the 10th
at a large meeting in Chattanooga and Miss Clay the following Sunday
in the Universalist church. On April 7 Miss Elliott and Mrs. Dudley
marched in Washington in a parade to the Capitol to interview the
Tennessee representatives in Congress on the Federal Amendment. This
year Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, an organizer for the National
Association, came to assist. By October the State membership was 942
and fifteen newspapers were reached regularly with suffrage matter.
Booths were conducted at many of the county fairs and a "suffrage day"
was given at the Memphis Tri-State fair, when the outside speakers
were Miss Clay and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The _News Scimitar_
issued a suffrage edition.
A second convention met in Morristown, October 21, 22. Miss Sue S.
White was elected secretary, Mrs. Hardy State organizer and the other
officers continued. At the national convention in Washington in
November Miss Wester and Mrs. Ford represented Tennessee on the
"committee of one hundred," which, led by Mrs. Medill McCormick,
chairman of the National Congressional Committee, called upon
President Wilson to enlist his assistance. That year and each
succeeding year letters, telegrams and petitions were sent to the
President and to the Tennessee Representatives in Congress urging
their support of the Federal Amendment. One petition from Chattanooga
bore a thousand signatures.
By 1914 the six largest cities in the State were organized and the
majority of the clubs celebrated National Suffrage Day, May 2, with
parades and open air meetings to the amazement and interest of the
people. The Chattanooga parade, with a brass band, ended at the Court
House where the steps of that building were aglow with yellow bunting.
Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner of Washington, D. C., was the principal
speaker and Mrs. Ford, the local president, read the following
resolution: "We, citizens of Chattanooga, voice our demand that women
citizens of the United States be accorded the full right of
citizenship." The silence was breathless as the sound of the "ayes"
died away and not a voice was raised to say "no." Other speakers were
Mayor Jesse M. Littleton, L. P. Barnes, Attorney J. J. Lynch, the
Reverends Charles H. Myers, L. R. Robinson and Dr. Daniel E. Bushnell.
The State Federation of Women's Clubs in convention at Pulaski voted
down a suffrage resolution, though the president, Mrs. George W.
Denney, favored it.
From March to May 13 there was a spirited controversy as to whether
the annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association should meet in Chattanooga, which city had invited it, or
in Nashville, which had not. Miss Elliott, who was ill, resigned and
Mrs. McCormack took charge of the State work. Chattanooga won the
convention on the first vote of the State board but after balloting
by the clubs through telegrams for several weeks and much
misunderstanding it met in Nashville the next November. The annual
convention was held in Knoxville October 28-30, when there was a
separation of the State forces, Mrs. Crozier French and her following
leaving the convention, taking three clubs with them and organizing
the "Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association Incorporated," with Mrs.
French president. Mrs. McCormack was elected president of the original
Equal Suffrage Association, of which this chapter is the history.
The Southern States Suffrage Conference, Miss Kate M. Gordon,
president, met in Chattanooga, November 10-11, just before the
national convention. A special suffrage edition of the _News_, with
Mrs. Frances Fort Brown editor-in-chief, was issued and the conference
was a great success. Many prominent women from outside the State
attended and all except Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont of New York and Miss
Christabel Pankhurst of England, who was with her, went on to the
national convention at Nashville. Here a special edition of the
_Tennesseean_ was issued, many street meetings were held and suffrage
arguments filled the air. Both State delegations were seated.
By the end of the year only four cities with a population of five
thousand or over were still unorganized. In December Miss Mary
Pleasant Jones organized the Nashville Business Women's League with a
large membership. Organization was continued during 1915. Through the
courtesy of Judge Samuel C. Brown, the Circuit Court at Benton was
suspended for an hour to hear the speeches of Miss Wester, Miss Sarah
Ruth Frazier and Mrs. Ford and a club was then organized with 100
members. Mrs. Ford organized the Business Woman's Suffrage Club of
Chattanooga with 160 charter members. A Men's Suffrage Club was formed
there, the first in the State, R. B. Cook, George Fort Milton and J.
B. F. Lowery, officers.
This year the suffragists assisted a vigorous campaign to secure a
majority vote for holding a convention to prepare a new constitution,
opened headquarters in the different cities and worked day and night,
and they received letters of high appreciation from the chairman of
the State committee. The convention really won but was lost by
dishonest election returns. The annual convention was held at the
Hotel Patton, Chattanooga, December 9, Mrs. McCormack presiding. In
1912 a treasury fund of $5.50 was turned over to the new treasurer,
Miss Wester, who handled in 1915 $1,127. The National Association this
year elected Mrs. McCormack auditor.
National Suffrage Day, May 2, 1916, was celebrated in all of the
larger cities. The Business Women's Club brought Mrs. Emmeline
Pankhurst of England and Miss Margaret Foley of Boston to Chattanooga
and the 5,000 capacity auditorium was packed. The State Federation of
Women's Clubs, which was to hold its convention there May 3, was
invited to attend and the next day it passed a woman suffrage
resolution by a vote of 96 to 43.
In May woman suffrage planks were secured in both the Republican and
Democratic State platforms, after which the State officers living in
Chattanooga had a 25-foot streamer prepared with the following words
on it: Tennessee Leads the South, The State Federation, Republican and
Democratic Parties Endorse Woman Suffrage, and had it stretched across
the main street. Over night Police Commissioner E. R. Betterton had
made a ruling that banners could no longer hang over the street and
three policemen with the patrol wagon "arrested" it. The women secured
the release of the culprit and through the courtesy of E. A. Abbott, a
merchant, it was placed over the front of his store and there it hung
for several weeks. On June 13 it was taken to the National Democratic
convention at St. Louis, where it gave its silent message hanging on
the wall of the lobby of the hotel in which the Tennessee delegation
had headquarters. Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Ford addressed the Tennessee
delegates to the convention urging them to vote for the woman suffrage
plank, which they did unanimously.
Mrs. Catt held a successful congressional conference in Memphis, spoke
at several large meetings and the biggest automobile parade ever seen
in the city added to the occasion.[170] Federal Amendment Day was
celebrated in twenty-six cities and thousands of leaflets were
distributed. In October the legislative chairman wrote to all
candidates for Congress asking their position on suffrage and eight
declared in favor. In November those elected were interviewed and
banquets, luncheons and receptions given them on the eve of their
leaving for Washington.