The History of Woman Suffrage Volume V Part 37

As soon as the Senate had voted on the original amendment, Senator Bristow, at the request of the Congressional Union, re-introduced it, and it was reported favorably April 7, Senator Thomas B. Catron of New Mexico alone dissenting. Senator Bristow in re-introducing it said of the Shafroth measure: "It is more of a national initiative and referendum amendment than a woman suffrage amendment. I prefer that the question of woman suffrage rest directly upon its own merits and be not involved with the initiative and referendum."

[89] This amendment had been reported by the Judiciary Committee on the 9th of May preceding this report "without recommendation" and a strong effort was being made by its supporters to bring it before the House for debate. The Rules Committee sent it to the House on December 12, 1914.

[90] The proposed State amendment failed in New York in 1915, was submitted again by the Legislatures of 1916 and 1917, voted on in November, 1917, and adopted by an immense majority.

[91] The first week in the preceding April the Mississippi Valley Conference, composed of the Middle and some of the Western and Southern States, met in Des Moines and thirty-five prominent delegates signed a telegram to the Official Board of the National American a.s.sociation, asking it "to instruct its Congressional Committee not to push the Shafroth Amendment nor ask for its report from the Senate Committee"; also "to ask the Senate Committee not to report this amendment until so requested by the national suffrage convention."

This was not official action but they signed as individuals, among them the presidents of the Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Louisiana State a.s.sociations and officers from other States.

[92] Some of the arguments may be found in the Appendix. An examination of the file of the _Journal_ will show that ninety-nine per cent. of the writers were opposed to the amendment.

[93] The old amendment had been voted on in the Senate March 19 and obtained a majority but not the required two-thirds. It had been reported without recommendation by the House Judiciary, which had not acted on the new one. The latter had been introduced in the Senate and the former re-introduced.

[94] The original measure had always been called the Sixteenth Amendment until the adoption of the Income Tax and Direct Election of Senators Amendments in 1913. The Congressional Union, organized that year, gave it the name Susan B. Anthony Amendment and for awhile it was thus referred to by some members of the National American a.s.sociation. The relatives and friends of Mrs. Stanton rightly objected to this name, as she had been equally a.s.sociated with it from the beginning, and all the pioneer workers had been its staunch supporters. The old a.s.sociation soon adopted the t.i.tle, Federal Suffrage Amendment.

[95] At the first board meeting after the convention Mrs. McCormick was re-appointed chairman of the Congressional Committee with power to select its other members and Mrs. Funk was re-appointed vice-chairman.

[96] Mrs. McCormick spent a large amount of time and money on this play, hoping it would yield a good revenue to the a.s.sociation, but the arrangement with the Film Corporation proved impossible and it finally had to be abandoned.

[97] The most persistent efforts of the suffragists never succeeded in locating this league.

[98] At the request of the committee the exact figures were furnished later and showed a membership of 105,000, of whom 85,600 lived in the five non-suffrage States of Connecticut, Ma.s.sachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Of the remaining 19,400 the non-suffrage States of New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Ohio had 11,500; Virginia, 2,100, and 6,500 were divided among other non-suffrage States and the District of Columbia. Not one member was reported from States where the franchise had been given to women, although it was a stock argument of the "antis" that it had been forced on them and they would gladly get rid of it.

CHAPTER XV.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1915.

The Forty-seventh annual convention of the a.s.sociation was held Dec.

14-19, 1915, in Washington, the scene of many which had preceded it, with 546 accredited delegates, the largest number on record. The one of the preceding year had left many of the members in a pessimistic frame of mind but this had entirely disappeared and never were there so much hope and optimism.[99] The Federal Amendment had for the first time been debated and voted on in the House of Representatives, receiving 204 noes, 174 ayes, a satisfactory result for the first trial. Although in November, 1915, four of the most populous States--Ma.s.sachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania--had defeated suffrage amendments yet a million-and-a-quarter of men had voted in favor. These were all Republican States and yet had given a larger vote for woman suffrage than for the Republican presidential candidate the preceding year. Over 42 per cent. of the votes in New York and over 46 per cent. in Pennsylvania were affirmative and the press of the country, instead of sounding the "death knell" as usual after defeats, predicted victory at the next trial. In October the cause had received its most important accession when President Wilson and seven of the ten members of his Cabinet declared in favor of woman suffrage; and in November the President had gone to his home in Princeton, N. J., on election day to cast his vote for the pending State amendment.

An honorary committee of arrangements for the convention had been formed in Washington which included many of the most prominent women officially and socially, headed by Miss Margaret Wilson, the President's eldest daughter. Republican and Democratic National Committees had cordially received suffrage speakers. The first measure to be introduced in both Houses of the new Congress was the resolution for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation, sitting on the Speaker's bench by invitation of Speaker and Mrs. Champ Clark. The convention opened Tuesday morning and at five o'clock in the afternoon the delegates were received by President Wilson in the White House.

They walked the few short blocks from the convention headquarters in the New Willard Hotel to the White House and the line reached from the street through the corridors to the East Room. After each had had a hearty handshake Dr. Shaw expressed the grat.i.tude of all suffragists, not for his vote, which was a duty, but for his reasons, to which the widest publicity had been given. She said the women felt encouraged to ask for two things: first, his influence in obtaining the submission of the Federal Amendment by Congress at the present session; second, if that failed, his influence in securing a plank for woman suffrage in his party's national platform. The latter he answered to their great joy by saying that he had it under consideration. He looked at his hand a little ruefully and said: "You ladies have a strong grip."

"Yes," she responded, "we hold on."

The most striking contrast between this and other conventions was seen in the program. For more than two-score years the evening sessions and often those of the afternoon had been given up to addresses by prominent men and women and attended by large general audiences. In this way the seed was sowed and public sentiment created and people in the cities which invited the convention looked forward to an intellectual feast. This year it was felt that the general public needed no further education on this subject; the a.s.sociation had become a business organization and the woman suffrage question one of practical politics. Therefore but one ma.s.s meeting was held, that of Sunday afternoon, and the entire week was devoted to State reports, conferences, committee meetings, plans of work, campaigns and discussion of details. These were extremely interesting and valuable for the delegates but not for the newspapers or the public.

The entire tenth floor of the New Willard Hotel was utilized for convention purposes and the full meetings were held in the large ball room, which had been beautifully decorated under the artistic direction of Mrs. Glenna Tinnin, with flags, banners and delicate, symbolic draperies. The large number of young women was noticeable and the a.s.sociation seemed permeated with new life. "Old men and women for council and young ones for work," said Dr. Shaw smilingly, as she opened the convention. "The history that has been made by this organization is due to the toil and consecration of the women of the country during past years, and, while I am happy to see so many new faces, my heart warms when my eyes greet one of the veterans. So in welcoming you I say, All hail to the new and thank G.o.d for the old!"

The convention plunged at once into reports. That of Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers, the treasurer, showed receipts during the past year of $51,265 and disburs.e.m.e.nts of $42,396, among them $12,000 for State campaigns.

A large and active finance committee had been formed and thousands of appeals for money distributed. At this convention $50,000 were pledged for the work of the coming year and the convention showed fullest confidence in the new treasurer, who said in presenting her report: "This has been a most interesting and beautiful year of activity for the National a.s.sociation. The officers and a.s.sistants at the headquarters have worked in perfect harmony. You have all, dear presidents and members of the sixty-three affiliated a.s.sociations, been most kind to your new treasurer and she has deeply appreciated your forbearance."

The report of a temporary organization, the Volunteer League, was given by its director, Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick. Its purpose was to interest suffragists who were not connected with the a.s.sociation and President Mary E. Woolley of Mt. Holyoke College, Mrs.

Robert Gould Shaw, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and Mrs. Winston Churchill accepted places on the board. Letters were sent out, avoiding the active workers, and over $2,000 were turned into the treasury. The legal adviser, Miss Mary Rutter Towle, reported a final accounting of the estate of Mrs. Lila Sabin Buckley of Kansas and the a.s.sociation received the net amount of $9,551 on a compromise. The legacy of $10,000 by Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall of Iowa would be paid in a few months.

Charles T. Hallinan, as chairman, made a detailed report of the newly organized Publicity Department. Miss Clara Savage, of the New York _Evening Post_, was made chairman of the Press Bureau and Mrs. Laura Puffer Morgan of Washington, D. C., a member of the Congressional Committee, took charge of its publicity. Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton accepted the chairmanship of a special finance committee which did heroic work. The _News Letter_, an enlarged bulletin of information and discussion in regard to the activities of the a.s.sociation, had already more than a thousand subscriptions and went to 116 weekly farm papers, 99 weekly labor papers and 120 press chairmen and suffrage editors. The report told of the successful publicity work for Dr. Shaw and other speakers, and said: "I prize especially my relationship with Dr. Shaw, whose courage, humor and zest, whose whole heroic personality, have made this a stimulating and memorable year." An amusing account was given of the effort "to accommodate the routine activities of the organization to the demand of the press for something new or sensational, which made great demands upon the originality, initiative and judgment of both the board and the publicity department," but it was managed about four times a week. The Sunday papers "drew heavily upon the ingenuity of the publicity department; special or feature stories were sent to special localities; for instance those that would appeal to the Southerners to the papers of the South, others to those of the West, and others were prepared for the syndicates and press a.s.sociations." Of a new and important feature of the work Mr. Hallinan said: "The need of a competent Data Department for the National a.s.sociation was early recognized but it seemed a difficult thing to manage on the budget provided by the convention. It was finally decided that owing to the pressure of the campaigns the money must be found somehow and it was.

In September the department was established on a temporary basis with Mrs. Mary Sumner Boyd, formerly a.s.sociate editor of _The Survey_, in charge. She was admirably equipped for research work and soon got into usable shape the valuable records of the national headquarters.

Sometimes the pressure upon the department for facts, including 'answers to antis,' was tremendous but there were few requests for information which were not answered by mail or telegraph within 24 or 48 hours."

Mrs. Boyd's own full report of her first year's work was heard with much interest and satisfaction. In it she said:

The opponents of woman suffrage have by their criticisms made it cover the whole field of human affairs, so it is not surprising that the inquiries by correspondents of this department have ranged from the moral standard of women to a request for a.s.sistance in righting a personal wrong. Others come under main headings of the progress of woman suffrage, both partial and complete; the standing of women under the laws; the effect of voting women on the character of legislation; the part they take in political life and its reaction on their lives and characters; statistics and facts in regard to the makeup of the population of the various States; details in regard to State const.i.tutions, election laws and methods of voting on woman suffrage in the various States.... What has become of late "stock"

anti-criticisms of some effects of the ballot has been thoroughly investigated and "stock" answers prepared. Facts and figures from official sources have been gathered to disprove the claim of enforced jury duty, excessive cost of elections, lowered birth rates and increased divorce rates in suffrage States. The results of these studies have been surprisingly favorable to the suffrage position, showing that in such criticisms the "antis" have been ridiculously in the wrong. They have only been able to use this line of argument at all because the suffragists have had no one free to take the time to answer them once and for all with the facts.

At an important afternoon conference Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, who had been chairman of the New York Campaign Committee during the effort for a State amendment, made the opening address on The Revelations of Recent Campaigns which shed a great deal of light on the causes of defeat. She was followed by Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, who, as president of the Pennsylvania a.s.sociation, had charge of the campaign in that State, and Mrs. Gertrude Halliday Leonard, who was a leading factor in the one in Ma.s.sachusetts, both presenting constructive plans for those of the future. Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. Lillian Feickert, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and Mrs. Draper Smith, presidents of the New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Nebraska a.s.sociations, described the Need and Use of Campaign Organization. Miss Mary Garrett Hay, chairman of the New York City Campaign Committee, and Miss Hannah J. Patterson, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party of Pennsylvania, told from practical experience How to Organize for a Campaign. The conference was continued through the evening, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, president of the Ma.s.sachusetts a.s.sociation, speaking on the Production and Use of Campaign Literature; Mrs. John D. Davenport (Penn.) telling How to Raise Campaign Funds in the County and Mrs. Mina Van Winkle (N. J.) and Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Ma.s.s.) how to do so in the city. Mrs. Teresa A. Crowley (Ma.s.s.) discussed the Political Work of Campaigns. Another afternoon was devoted to a general conference of State presidents and delegates on the subject of Future Campaigns. It was recognized that these were henceforth to be of frequent occurrence and the a.s.sociation must be better prepared for their demands.

Mrs. Medill McCormick presided at the evening conference on Federal Legislation and the speeches of all the delegates clearly showed that they considered the work for the Federal Amendment paramount to all else and the States won for suffrage simply as stepping stones to this supreme achievement. Senator John F. Shafroth was on the platform and answered conclusively many of the anti-suffrage misrepresentations as to the effect of woman suffrage in Colorado. Every hour of days and evenings was given to conferences, committee meetings, reports from committees and States and the practical preparations for entering upon what all felt was the last stage of the long contest. The overshadowing event of the convention was Dr. Anna Howard Shaw's retirement from the presidency, which she had held eleven years. The delegates were not unprepared, as she had announced her intention in the following brief letter published in the _Woman's Journal_ Nov. 27, 1915:

During the last year I have been increasingly conscious of the growing response to the spoken word on behalf of this cause of ours. Because of the unparalleled large audiences drawn to our standard everywhere, I have become convinced that my highest service to the suffrage movement can best be given if I am relieved of the exacting duties of the presidency so that I may be free to engage in campaign work, since each year brings its quota of campaign States. Therefore, after careful consideration, I have decided not to stand for re-election to the office of president of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation. I have deferred making this announcement until the campaigns were ended, but now that it is time to consider the work for the coming year, I feel it my duty to do so.

The president's address of Dr. Shaw had long been the leading feature of the conventions but this year it was heard with deeper interest than ever before, if this were possible. Because every word was significant she had written it and as it afterwards appeared in pamphlet form it filled fourteen closely printed pages. It was a masterly treatment of woman suffrage in its relation to many of the great problems of the day and it seems a sacrilege to attempt to convey by detached quotations an idea of its power and beauty. A large part of it will be found in the Appendix to this chapter. She set forth in the strongest possible words the necessity of a Federal Amendment but said:

There is not a single reason given upon which to base a hope for congressional action that does not rest upon the power and influence to be derived from the equal suffrage States, which power was secured by the slow but effective method of winning State by State. If all our past and present successes in Congress are due to the influence of enfranchised States, is it not safe to a.s.sume that the future power must come from the same source until it is sufficiently strong to insure a reasonable prospect of national legislation? To transform this hope into fulfillment we must follow several lines of campaign, each of which is essential to success: 1. By continuing the appeal which for thirty-seven years without cessation the National a.s.sociation has made upon Congress to submit to the State Legislatures an amendment enfranchising women and by using every just means within our power to secure action upon it. 2. By Congressional District organization, such as has been set in motion by our National Congressional Committee and which has proved so successful during the past year. 3. By the organization of enfranchised women, who, through direct political activity in their own States and within their own political parties may become efficient factors in national conventions and in Congress.

4. By increasing the number of equal suffrage States through referring a State amendment to the voters.

The delegates were deeply moved by Dr. Shaw's closing words:

In laying down my responsibility as your president, there is one subject upon which I wish to speak and I ask your patient indulgence. If I were asked what has been the cause of most if not all of the difficulties which have arisen in our work, I would reply, a failure to recognize the obligations which loyalty demands of the members of an a.s.sociation to its officers and to its own expressed will. It is unquestionably the duty of the members of an organization, when, after in convention a.s.sembled certain measures are voted and certain duties laid upon its officers, to uphold the officers in the performance of those duties and to aid in every reasonable way to carry out the will of the a.s.sociation as expressed by the convention. It is the duty also of every officer or committee to carry out the will of the a.s.sociation unless conditions subsequently arise to make this injurious to its best interests.... Without loyalty, cooperation and friendly, helpful support in her work no officer can successfully perform her duty or worthily serve the best interests of the a.s.sociation. I earnestly appeal to the members of this body to give the incoming Board of Officers the loyalty and helpful support which will greatly lighten their arduous task of serving our cause and bringing it to final victory.

In saying farewell to you as your president I find it impossible to express my high appreciation and grat.i.tude for your loyal support, your unfailing kindness, your patience with my mistakes and especially the affectionate regard you have shown me through all these years of toil and achievement together. The memory of your sacrifices for our cause, your devotion to our a.s.sociation and your unwearied patience in disappointment and delay will give to the remaining years of my life its crowning joy of happy memories.

The _Woman's Journal_ said in its report: "On the table was a large bouquet of roses from Speaker and Mrs. Champ Clark. When Dr. Shaw had finished and received a great ovation, she said: 'My life has been one of the happiest a woman ever lived. From the depths of my heart I thank you. You have done more for me than I have ever done for you.'

She unfastened a little pin on the front of her grey velvet gown and held it up for all to see, saying: 'This is Miss Anthony's flag, which she gave me just before she died. It was the gift of Wyoming women and had four tiny diamonds on it for the four equal suffrage States; now it has thirteen. Who says "suffrage is going and not coming"? We have as many stars now as there were original States when the government began.'" It was voted unanimously that the thanks of the convention be extended to the president for her n.o.ble address and that it be ordered printed. The tribute of the delegates came later in the week.

The report of the Committee on Literature was made by its chairman, Miss Caroline Ruutz-Rees, showing the usual careful selection of valuable matter for publication. Two important compilations she had made herself--Ten Extempore Answers to Questions by Dr. Shaw and extracts from a number of her speeches, gleaned from scattered reports; also an eloquent address made at Birmingham, Ala., the preceding April. So little from Dr. Shaw existed in printed form that these were very welcome. She urged the necessity for a library covering the field of women's affairs, well catalogued and open to the public. Miss Lavinia Engle's report as Field Secretary showed active work, speaking and organizing in Alabama, West Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Mrs. Funk's report as chairman of the Campaign and Survey Committee described a vast amount of work before the New Jersey campaign opened, including a series of twenty meetings addressed by Senators and Representatives and a number of prominent women, and others continuously through the summer with State and national speakers. Dr. Shaw spoke at thirty of these meetings.

In closing her report Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, chairman of the Committee on Presidential Suffrage, said: "In addition to the beneficent consequences of women's vote in State and munic.i.p.al affairs, the number of votes in the electoral college that may be determined by their ballots is of paramount political significance. By their votes in twelve States, which have 91 presidential electors, they might decide the presidency. Of these 91 electoral votes 62 come from the States where const.i.tutional amendments enfranchising women have been obtained after repeated campaigns of inestimable cost and exhaustive effort, while 29, nearly a third of the whole, were secured simply by an act of the Illinois Legislature in giving the electoral vote to women. Is it not good political tactics to proceed along the lines of least resistance and bring our energies to bear upon Legislatures for the measure most potent and at the same time most easily procured?"

Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, who, as chairman of the Church Work Committee, had given such valuable service for years, told of the excellent work of her State branches, especially that of New Jersey during the recent campaign, whose chairman, Mrs. Mabel Farraday, had sent out hundreds of letters with literature to the clergymen and reached thousands of people at Ocean Grove and Asbury Park. She told of the encouragement she had received in her month of preparatory work for the approaching West Virginia campaign; the Ministerial a.s.sociation of Wheeling had invited her to address them and expressed a desire to help it; several pastors turned over their regular meetings to her; the largest Methodist church in the State, at Moundsville, holding a week of big meetings, invited her to fill one entire evening with an address on the Federal Suffrage Amendment. "More and more I am led to believe,"

she said in closing, "that the most important work before the suffragists today is church work, especially the organizing of the Catholic women, that they will make their demands so emphatic the church will see the wisdom of supporting the movement. The church work is non-sectarian but it should also be omni-sectarian and our efforts should be extended to include all churches and religious sects."

The Congressional Committee had placed two departments of its work in charge of Miss Ethel M. Smith, whose comprehensive report showed beyond question their great value:

When the Congressional Committee was reorganized after the Nashville convention two departments were given into my charge, the congressional district organization work and the office catalogue of information concerning members of Congress. The Congressional plan, which had been launched but a year before, had been adopted in many of the States but not in all. My first step, therefore, was to urge by correspondence with the presidents that this machinery be established or completed in every State. On December 12 came the test as to how well this had been done. The Rules Committee of the House reported the Mondell amendment, which was to come to a vote January 12. I wrote or telegraphed at once to every congressional chairman or State president asking her to bring to bear all possible pressure upon the individual members of Congress from her State. Those States which had established this machinery were able at once to send the call to the respective district chairmen and so on down the line; the other States responded through their existing machinery and the result was that thousands of letters and telegrams poured into the offices of the Congressmen during the four weeks. Meantime our lobby was busy interviewing the members and the latest expressions obtained in each case were wired back to the States, whose chairmen responded again.

This interchange and cooperation were so effective that Congressmen themselves complimented our "team work." But the real proof of its value came after the vote was taken, when by checking with our office records of the individual Congressmen we found that many uncertain, noncommittal or almost unfriendly members' att.i.tude had so changed that they voted yes on the amendment. Such a result could not fail to show, if proof had been necessary, that the greatest need as well as the greatest opportunity in national suffrage work for the future lay in furthering to the last degree of completeness and efficiency the organization of every State by congressional districts....

At a distance from Washington it is difficult to know and easy to lose sight of what a Representative does or stands for, so I prepared special reports to the State congressional chairmen whenever opportunity occurred. The first, and a most interesting one, came when the vote was taken in the House on the National Prohibition Amendment Dec. 22, 1914. This was just three weeks before the vote on our own amendment and our catalogue showed a large number of Congressmen who opposed us on the ground of State's rights. The National Prohibition Amendment is obviously as direct an a.s.sumption by the Federal Government of rights now reposing in the States as could possibly be devised. I, therefore, checked off the names of the State's rights Congressmen who voted for it but probably would not vote for national suffrage, and sent the list to our respective State chairmen, urging that they call these Representatives' attention to this inconsistency. It has been reported to me that this argument proved effective with several of them and it is a fact that after the suffrage vote was taken a number of the names on our first list had to be removed because those men had voted "aye" on suffrage. Seventy-two, however, in the final count, voted _for_ the National Prohibition Amendment but _against_ ours....

In June I devised a special congressional district campaign which would reach the members of Congress before they left their homes to go to Washington. This was intended to impress them with the strength of the suffrage sentiment in their districts and thus deprive them of a favorite excuse for not voting for our amendment. The plan called for congressional district meetings all over the country on or about November 16 in every district where the Representative was not already pledged to the Federal Amendment. The call was sent to every congressional district chairman and it requested that every local suffrage league send as many delegates as possible to the meeting which would be held in the city where the Senator or Representative lived. It was urged that they be invited to attend the meetings and to speak and that resolutions be adopted asking them to vote for the amendment. It was a part of the plan to send these resolutions also to the State Central Committees of the Republican and Democratic parties, asking for suffrage planks on the State and national platforms.... We received most cordial and widespread cooperation in this work. I believe we can say that practically every Senator and Representative returned to Washington this session with the knowledge that behind him at home is an organized demand for his favorable vote on the Federal Amendment.

The usual pleasant social features of these conventions had been eliminated and the only relaxation for the delegates was one large evening reception in the New Willard Hotel. The National College Equal Suffrage League held its annual luncheon on the 18th at the New Ebbitt Hotel, Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, presiding.

The guests were 225 women graduates of various colleges and the topic of all the speeches was, "How to advance women suffrage by making friends instead of enemies." The speakers included Dr. Shaw, Mrs.

Charles L. Tiffany, Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. Medill McCormick, Miss Florence Stiles, Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, Miss Hannah J. Patterson, Mrs. Elizabeth Puffer Howes and Mrs. Laura Puffer Morgan.

The convention sent a telegram of sympathy in her illness to Miss Jane Addams. A special vote of thanks was tendered to Senators Charles S.