The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 102

Besides those already named, others who have been foremost in every plan to forward equality for women are Giles B. and Catharine A. F.

Stebbins, Sara Philleo Skinner, Lila E. Bliss, H. Margaret Downs, Delisle P. Holmes, Wesley Emery, Brent Harding, Smith G. Ketcham and John Wesley Knaggs; among the younger women, Florence Jenkins Spalding and Edith Frances Hall.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Prior to 1885 the charters of twelve cities made inoperative the early State law which gave School Suffrage to women.

By appealing to the Legislature of that year the charters of Grand Rapids and Bay City were so amended that the right to vote at school meetings was conferred upon women.

The new State a.s.sociation organized in 1884 adopted as its princ.i.p.al plan of work a bill which had been drawn by the Hon. Samuel Fowler and introduced in the Legislature of 1883, to grant Munic.i.p.al Suffrage to women.

In 1885 this bill was presented in the Senate by John W. Belknap, a strong supporter. Independent of the State a.s.sociation, Theodore G.

Houk introduced in the House a joint resolution to strike the word "male" from the const.i.tution. The Joint Judiciary Committees granted a hearing to the friends of woman suffrage in February. The Munic.i.p.al Bill came to a vote in the Senate on May 21, which resulted in 14 ayes, 15 noes, but was not acted upon in the House. The Houk joint resolution pa.s.sed the House by 81 ayes, 10 noes, but was not brought up in the Senate.

In 1887 the Munic.i.p.al Suffrage Bill was again taken up, being introduced simultaneously in both Houses, in the lower by Henry Watson, in the upper by Charles J. Monroe, both staunch friends. A hearing was had before the Senate Judiciary and the House Committee on Elections in March. Miss Frances E. Willard aided the suffragists by a brief address. On April 12 the House committee reported in favor of striking out all after the enacting clause, thus completely obliterating the bill, which report was accepted by a vote of 50 ayes, 33 noes. The Senate Bill was not considered.

In 1889 the Munic.i.p.al Suffrage Bill was introduced in the Senate by Arthur D. Gilmore and in the House by Dr. James B. F. Curtis. It was referred to the Judiciary Committees, and at their request the hearing was had before the entire Legislature during the annual convention of the State E. S. A. No outside lecturers were invited, because the friends of the measure were met by a strongly-expressed wish that the women of Michigan should speak for themselves. Short speeches were made by May Stocking Knaggs, Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Emily B.

Ketcham, Lucy F. Andrews, Elizabeth Eaglesfield, Frances Riddle Stafford, Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. R. M. Kellogg, Phebe B. Whitfield and Mary B. Clay of Kentucky who was then residing in the State. Mrs.

Clara Bewick Colby being present, she was invited to make the closing remarks.

Just before this hearing the bevy of officers and speakers pa.s.sing through the corridor on their way to the House were warned by Joseph Greusel, a friendly journalist, that a circular of protest had been placed upon the desk of each member. This was headed: "Ma.s.sachusetts Remonstrants against Woman Suffrage, to the Members of the Michigan Legislature;" and contained the familiar array of misrepresentations.

With the co-operation of Lucy Stone, a reply was printed immediately after the convention and likewise distributed in the Legislature.

The House Bill remained under the judicious guardianship of Dr.

Curtis. The chairman of the legislative committee, Mrs. Knaggs, was in constant attendance and secured valuable information on the practical working of Munic.i.p.al Suffrage from Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey, Attorney-General Simeon B. Bradford, ex-Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg and Laura M. Johns, all of Kansas. The Hon. Charles B. Waite of Chicago prepared by request an exhaustive legal opinion on The Power of the Legislature of Michigan in Reference to Munic.i.p.al Suffrage. The Judiciary Committee--John V. B. Goodrich, Russell R. Pealer, Byron S.

Waite, Norris J. Brown, Oliver S. Smith, Thomas C. Taylor, James A.

Randall--gave a unanimous report in favor of the bill, which included this opinion and the Kansas reports. Senator Thomas W. Palmer, who had been appointed Minister to Spain, went to Lansing on the very eve of leaving this country and, in an address to the joint Houses of the Legislature, made a strong plea for the measure.

As the day fixed for the consideration of the bill approached, the suffrage committee found itself confronted by an arrangement, quietly made by the opponents, to have an address delivered in Representative Hall by a Mrs. Mary Livermore, who had been holding parlor meetings in Detroit for pay and speaking against woman suffrage; and the false report was industriously circulated that this was the great suffragist of like name, who had discarded her lifelong convictions and gone over to the enemy.

The bill was considered May 15, 1889. By the courtesy of J. B.

Mulliken, general manager of the D. L. and N. R. R., a special train which carried a large delegation of women was sent from Detroit. Some came from other parts of the State and the societies of Lansing were well represented. The galleries were filled and the floor of the House was lined with interested women. After a largely favorable discussion the vote was taken, resulting in 58 yeas, 34 noes. The bill was immediately dispatched to the Senate. That body lost no time, but at once brought the measure under consideration and after a brief discussion it was defeated by one vote--11 ayes, 12 noes.[335]

That evening Mrs. Livermore gave her belated dissertation and, upon motion, was followed by Adele Hazlitt, who with great courtesy slew her weak arguments.

At this session the charters of East Saginaw and Detroit were amended to give women of those cities the school ballot; the former through the efforts of Representative Rowland Connor.[336]

In 1891 the Munic.i.p.al Suffrage Bill was again presented to the Legislature, in the House by Samuel Miller and in the Senate by Alfred Milnes, both champions of the measure. The State suffrage convention was in session at the capital February 10-12, and the Legislature gave a joint hearing in Representative Hall to its speakers, all Michigan women. The Senate Bill was taken up March 25, discussed and lost by 14 ayes, 12 noes. It was then tabled and taken up again May 13, receiving 14 ayes, 15 noes. Just prior to this consideration of the bill ninety-five pet.i.tions in its favor, representing eighty-eight towns and bearing several thousand signatures, were presented.

This discussion was the most trying of all during the ten years of effort to secure Munic.i.p.al Suffrage, owing to the character of the chief opponent, Senator Frank Smith, who represented the basest elements of Detroit. Knowing his illiteracy, the reporters had expected much sport by sending his speech to the papers in full, but in the interests of decency they refrained from publishing it. Women came down from the galleries white with anger and disgust, and avowed that if they never had wanted the ballot before they wanted it now.

The suffrage committee received many friendly courtesies from Lieut.-Gov. John Strong, besides a substantial gift of money. When asked for the use of the Senate Chamber for one evening of the convention he said: "Certainly; your money helped to build the State House. You have as much right to it as any of us."

In March, 1893, the bill was introduced by Henry Wirt Newkirk in the House and Samuel W. Hopkins in the Senate. Both were lawyers of distinguished ability, and among the most earnest advocates the measure ever had. The State suffrage convention was in session while it was being considered. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev.

Caroline Bartlett made addresses before the Legislature, the latter speaking on Woman's Legitimate and Illegitimate Work in Politics.

These speeches took the place of the customary committee hearing. The evening before the bill was voted on Miss Anthony addressed the Legislature with her customary ac.u.men and force.

The measure had been made the special order for 2:30 P. M. the next day. The House a.s.sembled at 2 o'clock. Following the roll-call the usual order was the presentation of pet.i.tions. At this time a member in the rear, at a sufficient distance from the Speaker's desk to give impressiveness to what would follow, rose and presented "A pet.i.tion from the people of Chippewa County in favor of the Munic.i.p.al Woman Suffrage Bill." A page sprang forward and taking the doc.u.ment, which was prepared upon paper of an extra size and ornamented with long streamers of red and green ribbons, ran with it to the clerk's desk, and that officer proceeded to read it at length, including a long list of signatures which comprised Patrick O'Shea, Annie Rooney, Spotted Tail, etc. This pet.i.tion was followed by two others of similar character, bearing Indian names of such significance as the wit of the opposition could invent. After this dignified prelude the House discussed the measure at length, and defeated it by a vote of 38 ayes, 39 noes. A reconsideration was moved and the bill tabled.

This Munic.i.p.al Suffrage Bill was taken up again in May and pa.s.sed the House on the 19th with an educational amendment: "Women who are able to read the const.i.tution of Michigan in the English language." The vote was 57 ayes, 25 noes. On May 25 it was considered in the Senate and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of 18 ayes, 11 noes. Gov. John T. Rich affixed his signature May 27, and apparent victory was won after ten years of effort. Representative Newkirk and Senator Hopkins received the heartfelt grat.i.tude of those for whom they had given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee meetings. The newspapers of the State were unanimous in expressing welcome to the new cla.s.s of voters.

Mary L. Doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing munic.i.p.al franchise leagues for the study of city government, and everywhere was met with eager interest. She left a league in every place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. Thus in conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various munic.i.p.alities pa.s.sed the summer and early autumn of 1893.

Mayor Pingree of Detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient additional number of registration books, but Edward H. Kennedy and Henry S. Potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against Hazen S. Pingree and the Common Council to restrain them from this extra purchase. Mary Stuart Coffin and Mary E. Burnett "countered" by filing a mandamus September 30, to compel the election commissioners to provide means for carrying out the law. As these were cases for testing the const.i.tutionality of the law they were taken directly to the Supreme Court. They were set for argument October 10, at 2 P. M., but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till 4 o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three advocates on each side. Two of the women's lawyers, John B. Corliss and Henry A. Haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the first attorney, Col. John Atkinson.

A decision was rendered October 24, the mandamus denied and the injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the Legislature had no authority to create a new cla.s.s of voters. Those who gave this decision were Chief Justice John W. McGrath and Justices Frank A. Hooker, John D. Long, Claudius B. Grant and Robert M.

Montgomery.[337]

In spite of this Waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten years' struggle, in the various sessions of the Legislature, stood as champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory.

Besides those already given are Lieut-Gov. Archibald b.u.t.ters, Senators Edwin G. Fox, James D. Turnbull, Charles H. McGinley and C.

J. Brundage, and Representative Fremont G. Chamberlain. In both Houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of woman's equality.

No further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but in 1895 George H. Waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the House a joint resolution to amend the const.i.tution by striking out the word "male." This was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women if elected. Although the officers of the State a.s.sociation did not believe the time to be ripe for the submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. The resolution was lost by one vote.

This Legislature pa.s.sed what was known as "the blanket charter act,"

in which the subst.i.tution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth cla.s.s as to create a general disturbance. It resulted in an appeal to Attorney-General Fred A. Maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining the suffrage of women in those cities.

In 1897 the main efforts of the a.s.sociation were directed toward securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the State Asylums for the Insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and in the Home for the Feeble-Minded. These measures were both lost; but on April 15 Governor Pingree appointed Jane M. Kinney to the Board of Control of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac for a term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the Senate confirmed the appointment.

Interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns of 10,000 inhabitants or more, which this year became law.

In 1899 a bill was again introduced into the Legislature to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the insane, the Industrial Home for Girls, the Home for the Feeble-Minded, the School for Deaf Mutes and the School for the Blind. This measure had now enlisted the interest of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and many other organizations of women, and thousands of pet.i.tions were presented. Emma J. Rose led the work of the women's clubs in its behalf. It pa.s.sed the Legislature and became a law.

LAWS: In 1885 a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women must furnish seats for them; in 1889 that no girl under fifteen years of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period than fifty-four hours in a single week; in 1893 that no woman under twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment longer than sixty hours in any one week; in 1895 that no woman under twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[338]

A law enacted in 1897 prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a penalty for its violation.

Dower but not curtesy obtains. The widow is ent.i.tled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her husband. She may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive reasonable support for one year. She is ent.i.tled to her apparel and ornaments and those of her husband, $250 worth of his household furniture and $200 worth of his other personal property, which she may select. If he die without a will and there are no children she inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all debts are paid, does not exceed $1,000. If there is excess of this it is distributed like real estate. This reservation is not made for the widower, but "no individual, under any circ.u.mstances, takes any larger interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased wife."

Where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or bequeath it as if she were "sole." The husband can not give full t.i.tle to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower.

The wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband, but he may give to his wife her services rendered for another, whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for them in her own name. Damages for the loss of such services and society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. Her obligation to render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to support her. She can sue in her own name for personal injuries.

Husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal property owned by them jointly she is ent.i.tled to her share the same as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other proceedings.

A wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may form a business partnership with another. She can not become security.

All persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound mind, may submit differences to arbitration.

The father is legally ent.i.tled to the custody of the persons and education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections to the Probate Judge and appeal from his decision.

The husband must provide the necessities of life according to his station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. If she is deserted or non-supported, the Circuit Court of the county shall a.s.sign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real estate, which provision holds during their joint lives.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1895 a bill to raise the age from 14 to 18 was introduced in the Senate by Joseph R. McLaughlin. More than 10,000 persons pet.i.tioned for its pa.s.sage, two similar bills having been introduced in the House. A hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committees, at which speeches were made by Senator and Mrs. McLaughlin, Clara A.

Avery, Mrs. Andrew Howell, Dr. E. L. Shirley, the aged Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root. Mrs. Root also addressed the Legislature in Representative Hall. The bill was amended to 17 years and pa.s.sed in the Senate. The next day, after its friends had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to 16 years, pa.s.sing both Houses in this form. The penalty is imprisonment for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum penalty being named.

SUFFRAGE: When at the close of the Civil War the States eliminated the word "white" from their const.i.tutions, Michigan in 1867 amended her School Law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for school trustees. In 1881 this law was further amended to include parents or guardians of children of school age. No woman can vote for county or State Superintendents, as these officers are provided for under the const.i.tution. Tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and appropriations for school purposes.

The year of 1888 was marked by a test of the const.i.tutionality of this School Law, which involved the right of the Legislature to confer any form of suffrage whatever upon women. The test was made through the prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of Flint by Mrs.

Eva R. Belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being a qualified voter under the State law. Mrs. Belles won her case which was then appealed to the Supreme Court. This affirmed the decision of the lower court and sustained the law.

In May, 1893, the Legislature conferred Munic.i.p.al Suffrage on women, but in October the Supreme Court decided it unconst.i.tutional on the ground that "the Legislature had no authority to create a new cla.s.s of voters." (See Legislative Action.) The Court held that it could, however, confer School Suffrage as "the whole primary school system is confided to the Legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the const.i.tution." By this decision women can have no other form of the franchise except by const.i.tutional amendment.