The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 73

When they came to Greenwood, the home of Mrs. Mary A. Stuart, she put a "blue hen" upon it, saying they should not have an eagle to represent freedom for men and nothing to represent women. So the hen went from one end of Delaware to the other, sitting in state in a gla.s.s coop. Some of the Republican speakers announced from the platform this year that they favored enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women.

In 1888 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted the franchise department with Mrs. Patience Kent as superintendent, and held several public meetings. In 1889 Mrs. Martha S. Cranston was elected her successor, and still occupies the position.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National a.s.sociation, organized the Wilmington Equal Suffrage Club, the first in the State, on Nov. 18, 1895, with twenty-five members. The membership soon increased to fifty-three.

The following winter Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, sent into the State the Rev.

Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, the latter to arrange meetings and the former to address them and organize clubs. On Jan. 17, 18, 1896, they a.s.sisted in a convention at Wilmington, where a State a.s.sociation was formed.

As Delaware was to hold a Const.i.tutional Convention in 1897, the National a.s.sociation was especially interested in pushing the suffrage work there. Mrs. Chapman Catt met with the executive committee in Wilmington to arrange plans, and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas were sent during March and April to further organization. Three county a.s.sociations were formed, and Mrs.

Hortense Davenport held parlor meetings in various towns throughout May.

On Nov. 27, 1896, the second annual convention was held in the New Century Club parlors in Wilmington. Judge William N. Ashman of Philadelphia and Mrs. Mary Heald Way of Oxford, Penn., addressed the audience in the evening.

Pet.i.tions were circulated throughout the State, and Mrs. Cranston and Miss Hay went to Dover to present the Const.i.tutional Convention with a memorial, which was referred to the Committee on Elections. It contained the signatures of 1,592 men and 1,228 women. A hearing was granted Jan. 13, 1897. Mrs. Emalea P. Warner, Mrs. Margaret W. Houston and Miss Emma Worrell made addresses. Mrs. Chapman Catt was the chief speaker. Only two members of the committee were absent. A vote was taken February 16 on omitting the word "male" from the new const.i.tution, and the proposition was defeated by 7 yeas, 17 nays, with 6 not present.

A national conference was held in Wilmington April 22, 23.

Mrs. Chapman Catt and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president-at-large, were the princ.i.p.al speakers, and Mrs.

Elizabeth G. Robinson, Mrs. Elizabeth Walling and Mrs. Houston a.s.sisted in making the meetings a success. On Sunday Miss Shaw preached in the Union M. E. Church in the morning and the Delaware Avenue Baptist Church in the evening.

The third State meeting took place at Wilmington, Dec. 2, 1897, with addresses by Miss Diana Hirschler of Boston and Mrs. C. O. H. Craigie of Brooklyn.

There was no convention in 1898, but the State a.s.sociation held a meeting in the Unitarian Church, in Wilmington, Dec. 15, 1899, which was addressed by Mrs. Chapman Catt.

After the national convention in February, 1900, Mrs. Bradford made a few addresses in the State. The annual meeting took place in Newcastle, Nov. 15, 1900. Among the speakers were Mrs. Ellen H. E.

Price of Pennsylvania and Professors William H. Purnell and Wesley Webb.

Mrs. Martha S. Cranston has been president of the State a.s.sociation, and Mrs. Margaret W. Houston vice-president, since its beginning.

Others who have served in official capacity are Mrs. Margaret H. Kent, Edward Mullen, Miss Emma Lore, Mrs. Mary R. De Vou and Mrs. May Price Phillips. Among those not previously mentioned who have given valuable a.s.sistance are Chief Justice Charles B. Lore and Mrs. Gertrude Nields.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: No bill for woman suffrage has been presented to the Legislature since 1881.

On the pet.i.tion of women a law was pa.s.sed in 1887 requiring employers to provide seats for female employes when not on duty.

In 1889 a police matron was appointed for Wilmington.

In 1893 the b.a.s.t.a.r.dy Law, which compelled the father of an illegitimate child to pay fifty cents a week for its support during seven years, was repealed; $3 a week for ten years were asked, but the law made it $1 a week for ten years.

Until 1889 the "age of protection" for girls was only seven years.

That year, on pet.i.tion of many women, it was raised to fifteen, but the violation of the law was declared to be only a "misdemeanor,"

punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than seven years, or both, at the discretion of the court, with no minimum penalty named. In 1895 the Legislature, on the insistence of women, raised the "age of protection" to eighteen years, but continued to extend the "protection" to boys as well as girls. It has been found very difficult to secure the conviction of men for this crime, and those convicted have been repeatedly pardoned by the Governor.

On May 10, 1897, the Legislature pa.s.sed a bill requiring the proprietors of mills, factories and stores in the city of Wilmington to provide comfortable toilet-rooms for their female employes, and one giving power for the appointment of women as factory inspectors. One was appointed by Chief Justice Lore the same year.

If there is a child or the lawful issue of a child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and one-third absolutely of the personal property. If there is no child nor the descendant of any child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-half of the real estate and one-half absolutely of the personal estate. If there are neither descendants nor kin--brothers, sisters, their descendants, father nor mother--the widow has the entire real estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. If a child of the marriage was born alive, whether living or dead at the death of the wife, the widower has her entire real estate during his life, and the whole of her personal estate absolutely, subject to all legal claims. If there has not been a child born alive, the widower has a life-interest in one-half of her real estate, but the whole of her personal estate absolutely.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death.

For failure to support his wife and minor children, a man may be fined from $10 to $100; and, by Act of 1887, arrested and required to give bail not exceeding $500. The court may order him to pay reasonable support not exceeding $100 per month and give security to the State.

If he fail to comply, he may be committed to jail. The wife is competent as a witness.

SUFFRAGE: The women in Milford, Townsend, Wyoming and Newark who pay a property tax are privileged to vote for Town Commissioners in person or by proxy. All such women in the State may vote for School Trustees.

OFFICE HOLDING: In January, 1900, the Supreme Court denied the application of a woman to practice at the bar, on the ground that a lawyer is a State officer and all State officers must be voters.

In the one city of Wilmington women are eligible as school directors, but none ever has been elected.

A woman factory inspector was appointed by the Chief Justice in 1897, and reappointed in 1900.

Women never have served as notaries public.

OCCUPATIONS: Only the practice of law is legally forbidden.

EDUCATION: Delaware has one college, at Newark, which receives State funds. Women were admitted in 1872, and during the next thirteen years eighty availed themselves of its advantages. It was then closed to them. The only High School in the State, at Wilmington, is open to girls.

There are in the public schools 211 men and 643 women teachers. It is impossible to obtain their average salaries.

FOOTNOTES:

[211] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Martha S.

Cranston of Newport, president of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.[212]

The women of the District of Columbia who desire the suffrage have a unique place among those of other localities. As the franchise for men even is not included in the privileges of citizenship, all are compelled to work circuitously through Congress in order to gain that which in the States is secured directly by the ballot. The suffrage societies stand in especially close relation to the National a.s.sociation, as every year from 1869 until 1895, and each alternate year since, they have served as its hosts and arranged the many details of its delegate conventions. Being near, also, to the great legislative body of the nation they often serve as messengers and mediators between congressional committees and various State organizations of women.

The District, however, has its own vital problems to solve, and in these the suffrage a.s.sociation takes a prominent part. Since 1883, through its organized and persistent efforts, alone or in co-operation with other societies, many local reforms and improvements have been secured. These have been unusually difficult to obtain because subject to the dual authority of Congress and of the District Commissioners.

Nevertheless, so systematically and harmoniously have the women worked that the entire personnel of the a.s.sociation's committees has often been changed during the long delays in the introduction of a bill, the lobbying for it and its final pa.s.sage, without in the least imperiling its success.

The District society never has languished since its organization in 1868. Dr. Clara W. MacNaughton is now president and there are over one hundred active members.[213]

The Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation of the District of Columbia is a separate body, corresponding to a State a.s.sociation, and is composed of delegates elected from the District society and the Junior Equal Suffrage Club. It was organized Dec. 2, 1898, and holds regular meetings. Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall is the president.[214]

The a.s.sociation made every possible effort to secure a bill to recompense Anna Ella Carroll for her services during the war. It has used its influence in favor of industrial schools and kindergartens in the public schools and has urged Congress to appropriate money for vacation schools. In 1895 it pet.i.tioned the national convention of the Knights of Labor, meeting in Washington, to adopt a resolution asking Congress to restore suffrage to the citizens of the District of Columbia with no distinction of s.e.x. This was unanimously adopted without even the formality of referring to a committee. Delegates were sent to the International Congress of Women in Brussels in 1897.

In 1900, for the first time, the suffrage women of the District gave free entertainment to delegates to the national convention. Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson was chairman of the committee and contributed largely to the success of that memorable convention, which ended with the celebration of Miss Susan B. Anthony's eightieth birthday and her retirement from the presidency of the National a.s.sociation. Mrs.

Thompson was especially active in securing the handsome gift of a purse of over $200, which was presented to her by the District society. Mrs. Julius C. Burrows a.s.sisted in many ways and through her influence the Corcoran Gallery of Art was opened to the brilliant reception given in honor of Miss Anthony.

Among many who openly espouse woman suffrage are ex-Gov. and Mrs. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming, now living in Washington, Mrs. John B. Henderson, Mrs. A. L. Barber, Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, president of the Woman's Republican a.s.sociation of the United States, and Miss Clara Barton, founder and president of the National Red Cross Society; to whom might be added hosts of others.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The suffrage a.s.sociation has been largely instrumental in securing most of the District legislation in favor of women, as the records of the past twenty years will show. What is regarded as the most important achievement of this nature since 1884 is the pa.s.sage by Congress, in 1896, of the Married Woman's Property Rights Bill.

The removal of the disabilities of wives had been agitated for a number of years by the a.s.sociation. In 1893 a bill for this purpose, drafted by one of its members, Miss Emma M. Gillett, attorney-at-law, was pa.s.sed by the Senate. When it reached the House it went through the usual stages, was tossed about from one committee to another and deferred and delayed in the most exasperating manner. It was championed by Miss Gillett, however, with an unswerving courage and fidelity which never allowed it to be forgotten or neglected, and she was treated always with the utmost courtesy when appearing before congressional committees.