The History of Woman Suffrage Volume V Part 45

Dr. Shaw presided at the evening session of the second day of the convention and to this and other programs Mrs. Newton D. Baker contributed her beautiful voice, with Mrs. Morgan Lewis Brett at the piano. Mrs. Charles W. Fairfax and Paul Bleyden also sang most acceptably and there was music by the Meyer-Davis orchestra. This evening the speakers were the Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior; the Hon. Jeannette Rankin, first woman member of the National House of Representatives, and Mrs. Catt, who gave her president's address. The presence of Secretary Lane added much prestige as well as political significance to the program, for it was interpreted as an indication that President Wilson had advanced from a belief in woman suffrage itself to an advocacy of the Federal Amendment, which was the keynote of the convention. "I come to you tonight," the Secretary said, "to bring a word of congratulation and good will from the first man in the nation. Dr. Shaw spoke of always being proud when she had some man back of her who could give respectability to the cause. What greater honor can there be, what greater pride can you feel, than in having behind you the man who is not alone the President of the United States but also the foremost leader of liberal thought throughout the world? It is to have with you the conscience, the mind and the spirit of today and tomorrow." He spoke of his own strong belief in the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women and the necessity of establishing for every one an individuality entirely her own, socially and politically. Only scattered newspaper references to this strong speech are available.

Especial interest was felt in the address of the young member of Congress, Miss Jeannette Rankin. In speaking of the bill which she had recently introduced to enable women to retain their nationality after marriage she said: "We, who stand tonight so near victory after a majestic struggle of seventy long years, must not forget that there are other steps besides suffrage necessary to complete the political enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of American women. We must not forget that the self-respect of the American woman will not be redeemed until she is regarded as a distinct and social ent.i.ty, unhampered by the political status of her husband or her father but with a status peculiarly her own and accruing to her as an American citizen. She must be bound to American obligations not through her husband's citizenship but directly through her own."

Mrs. Catt's address had been announced as a Message to Congress and was eagerly antic.i.p.ated. Miss Rose Young, the enthusiastic editor of _The Woman Citizen_, gave this vivid pen picture of the occasion:

When Mrs. Catt rose, the house rose with her. It was a crowded house and everybody was aware that the message in Mrs. Catt's hand was the vital message of the convention. Everybody wondered what would be its main focus. n.o.body quite understood why an address to Congress should be delivered at a ma.s.s meeting. The latter point the speaker quickly cleared up. Once before in suffrage history, she said, there had been an address to Congress. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had made it. At this moment she was but doing over what they had done a half-century ago. She would deliver her address to Congress from that platform to that audience and leave it to the printed page to carry the message on into the sacred halls themselves.

Then, with Senate and House visualized by the directness of her appeal to them and by the sharp limning of her argument, she pleaded for democracy, arraigned the obstructionists of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, showed up the harsh inconsistencies, the waste of time and energy and money asked of women in State referenda, clarified the reasons for establishing suffrage by the Federal route and brought the whole case into high relief by resting the responsibility where it belongs--on the Congress of the United States.

The speaker, never ornate in rhetoric or delivery, seemed to withdraw her personality utterly, so that there was left only the mental and spiritual content of her message. To hear her was like listening to abstract thought, warmed by the fire of abstract conviction. To see her was like looking at sheer marble, flame-lit. Many an orator sways an audience's mind by emotional appeal. Hers was the crowning achievement to sway an audience to emotion by the symmetry and force of her appeal to its mind.

Again and again salvos of applause stopped her for a moment but again and again the steady rhythm of her strong voice regained control. At the end her grip on attention was so acute that a little hush followed the last word.

The address consumed an hour and a half in delivery and made a pamphlet of twenty-two pages when published. Up to the time the Federal Amendment was ratified it was a part of the standard literature of the National a.s.sociation and thousands of copies were circulated.[111] Among the subheads were these: The History of our Country and the Theory of our Government; the Leadership of the United States in World Democracy compels the Enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of its Own Women; Three Reasons for the Federal Method; Three Objections Answered. It was an absolutely conclusive argument and closed with a ringing appeal for "the submission and ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in order that this nation may at the earliest possible moment show to all the nations of the earth that its action is consistent with its principles." Dr. Shaw, who never could forego a little joke, had said in introducing Mrs. Catt: "I had long thought I should be willing to die as soon as suffrage was won in New York; that I never should be interested in politics or the making of tickets, but five minutes after the midnight of November 6 I had picked my ticket and now I don't want to die until it is elected." Here she stopped and presented the speaker. After Mrs. Catt had finished Dr.

Shaw rose and looking at her with twinkling eyes said to the delighted audience: "The head of my ticket!"

The mornings of the convention were devoted to routine business and to the reports of the presidents of the States, most of whom were present, and almost without exception they told of active work and a great advance in public sentiment. It was such a time of rejoicing and hopefulness as suffragists had never known. The chief and universal interest, however, was centered in the action of Congress, as this had always been the goal and it now seemed near at hand. Therefore the report of the Congressional Committee, made through its chairman, Mrs.

Maud Wood Park, was heard with close attention. The outline presented was as follows:

The duties of the present chairman began March 17, 1917, four days before President Wilson called an extra session of Congress to meet on April 2, a significant step toward the entrance of the United States into the World War. Thus our work started at a time of supreme importance in the history of our country and under conditions full of new possibilities for the cause of woman suffrage.

Mrs. Catt, keenly alive to the crisis in our national affairs, foresaw that our people, with their idealism fired by thought of increased freedom for the oppressed subjects of autocratic governments, might be aroused to new consciousness of the flaw in our own democracy. With this thought in mind, on the eve of the opening of the extraordinary session, she sent out a summons to the suffragists of the whole country to unite in a stupendous appeal to Congress for the immediate submission of the Federal Amendment.

The opening of the Sixty-fifth Congress was marked by another circ.u.mstance of unusual interest, the seating of the first woman member, the Hon. Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who made a speech from the balcony of our headquarters on the morning of April 2 and was then escorted to the Capitol by Mrs. Catt and other members of our a.s.sociation in a cavalcade of decorated motor cars. The day which opened so happily for suffragists ended with the President's message to Congress asking for the Declaration of War.

In the Senate the resolution for our amendment was introduced in behalf of our a.s.sociation by Senator Andrieus A. Jones of New Mexico, the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, the other members of which were Senators Owen of Oklahoma; Ransdell of Louisiana; Hollis of New Hampshire; Johnson of South Dakota; Jones of Washington; Nelson of Minnesota; c.u.mmins of Iowa and Johnson of California. Chairman Jones, at our request, had secured the privilege of having his resolution made number one on the calendar, but when it was decided that the war resolution should be introduced immediately, he tactfully yielded his place. Similar suffrage resolutions were introduced by Senators Shafroth, Owen, Poindexter and Thompson.

In the House our resolution was introduced by Representative Raker, on the Democratic side, and by Representative Rankin, on the Republican side. Similar ones were introduced by Representatives Mondell, Keating, Hayden and Taylor.

The War Resolution was adopted by the Senate April 4 and by the House April 5. A few days later the Finance Committee of the Senate informally recommended and leaders of both parties agreed that only legislation included in the war program should be considered during the extra session. The Democratic caucus of the House pa.s.sed a similar recommendation, which was acquiesced in by the Republicans. It soon became clear to your committee that the suffrage resolution would not be admitted under this rule, and a total revision of plans had to be made. Three meetings were held and it was the opinion of all that the aim should be to establish and maintain friendly relations with both parties rather than to arouse the antagonism of leaders whose support we must have if our measure is to succeed, so it was recommended and the National Board voted that our "drive" should be postponed until there was a possibility of securing a vote on the Federal Amendment.

Happily, however, there were forms of work not prohibited by the legislative program.

The Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage gave a hearing to our a.s.sociation April 20 ... and on September 15, Chairman Jones made a favorable report. The measure is now on the calendar of the Senate. In the House, resolutions calling for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage had been introduced at the beginning of the session by Representatives Raker, Keating and Hayden and referred to the Committee on Rules.

Our first step was to get the approval of Speaker Clark, who gave us cordial support. Later, to offset the fear on the part of certain members of conflicting with President Wilson's legislative program, a letter was sent, at Mrs. Helen H.

Gardener's request, to Chairman Edward Pou (N. C.), of the Rules Committee, by the President himself, who stated that he thought the creation of the committee "would be a very wise act of public policy and also an act of fairness to the best women who are engaged in the cause of woman suffrage." Then, through the efforts of a working committee made up of the six members who had introduced suffrage resolutions, a pet.i.tion asking for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage, as called for in the Raker resolution, was signed by all members from equal suffrage States and by many of those from Presidential suffrage States and from Primary suffrage Arkansas. This pet.i.tion was presented to the Rules Committee, which on May 18 granted a hearing on the subject. On June 6, by a vote of 6 to 5, on motion of Mr.

Cantrill of Kentucky, a resolution calling for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage to consist of thirteen members, to which all proposed action touching the subject should be referred, was adopted, with an amendment, made by Mr. Lenroot of Wisconsin, to the effect that the resolution should not be reported to the House until the pending war legislation was out of the way.

The report of the Rules Committee, therefore, was not brought into the House until September 24, when the extremely active opposition of Chairman Edwin Y. Webb (N. C.) and most of the other members of the Judiciary Committee made a hard fight inevitable. Thanks to the hearty support of Speaker Clark, the good management of Chairman Pou and the help of loyal friends of both parties in the House, as well as to the admirable work done by our own State congressional chairmen, the report was adopted by a vote of 180 yeas to 107 noes, with 3 answering present and 142 not voting. Of the favorable votes, 82 were from Democrats and 96 from Republicans. Of the unfavorable votes, 74 were from Democrats and 32 from Republicans. Of those not voting, 59 were Democrats and 81 were Republicans. These facts show that the measure was regarded, as we had hoped it would be, as strictly non-partisan. The victory came so late in the session that the appointment of the new committee was postponed until the present session.

Referring to the housing of the Congressional Committee in the new headquarters of the National a.s.sociation in Washington Mrs. Park said:

To the preceding chairman, Mrs. Miller, fell the hard work of finding new headquarters, moving the office and establishing the house routine which has been continued under the efficient care of our house manager, Mrs. Elizabeth W. Walker. The secretary of the committee, Miss Ruth White, who has worked indefatigably in the office since June, 1916, has had charge of the records of members of Congress and of correspondence with our State chairmen, besides lightening in numberless other ways the burdens of your chairman. To a member of the committee, who is a long-time resident of Washington, Mrs. Gardener, the a.s.sociation is profoundly indebted for constant advice and help, as well as for the most skillful handling of delicate and difficult situations. She has been called the "Diplomatic Corps" of the committee and the name in every good sense has been well won by the important services which she has rendered. Another member of the committee, a former chairman, Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, after helping to start the legislative work last December, generously came to our aid at busy seasons and took active charge of the work from July 10 to September 12, during the absence of the chairman. The management of the office and the Department of Publicity have been in the hands of the executive secretary, Miss Ethel M. Smith.

Social activities through the spring and early summer were in charge of Miss Heloise Meyer, a.s.sisted by Mrs. J. Borden Harriman. Miss Mabel Caldwell Willard has represented the committee in undertakings involving the house as a center for local work. These have included getting hostesses to receive visitors at headquarters, supplying speakers for local meetings, providing cooperation with the suffrage federation of the District of Columbia for the daily afternoon teas, and looking after hospitality for delegates to conventions meeting in Washington. Among the organizations for which receptions have been arranged are Daughters of the American Revolution, a.s.sociation of Collegiate Alumnae, Confederate Veterans, Sons of Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy, Congress of Mothers, Parent-Teacher a.s.sociations and Farm and Garden a.s.sociations. Ten of the fourteen members of the committee, in addition to the executive secretary, have given highly valued service in Washington during the last nine months. Other suffragists not members have kindly devoted days or weeks to our work and the local suffrage a.s.sociations have been most cordial in their response to our requests.

Any attempt to state our obligations to our national president would be futile. Our high hope for the adoption of the Federal Amendment by the 65th Congress is linked inseparably with our faith in her leadership.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A LECTURE IN THE BANQUET HALL OF THE WASHINGTON SUFFRAGE HEADQUARTERS.

Formerly occupied by the French Emba.s.sy.]

The report of Mrs. Walter McNab Miller (Mo.) first vice-president, described a year of continuous work, almost from ocean to ocean, speaking to State suffrage conventions, federations of women's clubs, federations of labor, trade unions, universities, normal schools, churches, meetings of all kinds and without number. In the two Dakotas she spoke twenty-nine times. She referred to her visit to Jefferson City, Mo., her luncheon with the wife of Governor Frederick D.

Gardner, the suffrage meeting "which put the State capital in a ferment and caused the politicians to sit up and take notice" and the Governor's declaration for woman suffrage. Mrs. Miller said of the work during the five months when she was chairman of the Congressional Committee:

After mature consideration the board decided that, for various reasons, it was not wise to move the headquarters from New York to Washington but that more s.p.a.cious quarters should be found than the office here where the efficient lobby work that had already been done could be followed up and supplemented by a social atmosphere. Finally we found our present home, a large private mansion at 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, just off of Scott Circle. It was taken for a term of eight months, the offices moved at once and cards sent out to 2,000 people for a housewarming before we had been there a week.

During five months Miss Meyer and I made 300 calls, organized a Junior Suffrage League, planned for publicity "stunts," such as the dedication of the Susan B. Anthony room, the presentation of a flag by Pennsylvania, a poster exhibit, celebration of the North Dakota victory and the mid-lenten bazaar. Much of the work was of the sort that would be impossible to tabulate, but the effect of the whole in making the National a.s.sociation well known in Washington and able to work effectively from there has proved the wisdom of the expenditure for the headquarters.

The latter part of February the so-called War Council was called, a meeting of the a.s.sociation's Executive Committee of One Hundred, and planning for that and the ma.s.s meeting on Sunday kept us all busy for several weeks. This Council decided that the suffragists should undertake certain definite forms of war work and the chairmanship of the division of the Elimination of Waste was given to me.... Summing up the year I have attended six State meetings, spoken 200 times in 15 States, written 3,000 letters and travelled 13,000 miles.

All of Friday was given to symposiums on different phases of this movement, grouped as follows: What my State will do for the Federal Amendment. Should We Work for Woman Suffrage in War Time? What Good Will Woman Suffrage Do Our Country? What is the Best Thing it Has Done for my State? What Can the Enfranchised Women Do to Secure Suffrage for the Women of the Entire Nation? Twenty-five women, most of them State presidents, took part in these valuable discussions.

Mrs. McCormick related how her work as chairman of the national Press Committee had been taken over by the press department of the Leslie Bureau of Education when it was organized the preceding March and a merger committee appointed consisting of Miss Rose Young and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper of the Leslie Commission, and Mrs. Shuler and herself of the a.s.sociation.[112] The report of the Leslie Bureau filled over thirty pages of fine print as submitted by Miss Young, director, who said in beginning:

By January of 1917 it had become apparent that the National a.s.sociation had an increasingly direct and comprehensive part to play in State and Federal campaigns through its Press department as one of its various points of contact with the suffrage field.

To inaugurate news and feature propaganda and information services that would be live wires of connection between 171 Madison Avenue and the State affiliations all over the country and the Capitol at Washington and the public press was the immediate prospect of the then Press department.... Its acc.u.mulated task included not only the conduct of its federal political campaign at Washington, not only its definite program of State propaganda and organization for const.i.tutional amendment campaigns, it had on its hands as well the great "drive" for Presidential suffrage that had been initiated.

By spring Mrs. Catt's custodianship of the Leslie funds had been determined by court decision and plans that she had been mothering since 1915 could be put into execution. Those plans had for their central detail the founding of a bureau for the promotion of the woman suffrage cause through the education of the public to the point of seeing it as essential to democracy, and in March the Leslie Bureau of Suffrage Education was organized for that purpose. From the beginning the outstanding feature of the work was its size, and the outstanding need was to get it housed and departmentalized, with department heads and an adequate clerical staff. This done, the bureau, with a staff of twenty-four, swarmed out over the whole 15th floor, besides two small rooms on the 14th floor. It now includes six departments, counting the Magazine Department, which is an everlasting story by itself.

Miss Young told of merging the _Woman's Journal_, the _Woman Voter_ and the _National Suffrage News_ in the _Woman Citizen_, for which 2,000 subscriptions were taken at this convention. The report included those of Mrs. Harper, chairman of editorial correspondence; Mrs. Mary Sumner Boyd, of the research bureau; Miss Mary Ogden White, feature and general news department; Mrs. Rose Lawless Geyer, field press work. There was also a report of the Washington press bureau after the headquarters there were opened, at first in charge of Mrs. Gertrude C.

Mosshart, afterwards of Miss Ethel M. Smith. The latter told of the unexcelled opportunities in that city for the distribution of news through the more than 200 special correspondents of the large newspapers and the bureaus of all the great press a.s.sociations and syndicates. News had to be fresh and well written and 450 copies of each of her "stories" distributed. About half of them were sent to State press chairmen, presidents and others.

Mrs. Harper's work was almost wholly with editors, watching the editorials, which now came in literally by hundreds every day. Her report of three closely printed pages said in part:

When an editorial was friendly a letter of thanks has been sent expressing the hope that the paper would contain many such editorials. When one made a strong appeal for woman suffrage the editor has had a letter expressing the deep appreciation of all at headquarters and saying that it would unquestionably affect public sentiment in his city and State. In many instances, even in the largest papers, there have been mistakes in facts and figures, as the question has not been a national issue long enough for editors to become thoroughly informed, and these have been corrected as tactfully as possible. Often carefully selected literature, suited to the editor's point of view, has been enclosed--to Western editors arguments in favor of a Federal Amendment; to Southern editors statements on the good effects of woman suffrage in the Western States; to Eastern editors a good deal of both. Where an editorial has been directly hostile an argument has been taken up with the editor, supported by unimpeachable testimony. When the editor has been implacable I have frequently written to suffragists in his city to learn what were the influences behind the paper, and usually have found they were such as gave the editor no chance to express his own opinions, but even those papers have almost invariably published my letters.

During the year letters were written to over 2,000 editors in the United States and several in Canada and the returns through the clipping bureaus indicated that a large majority were published. The report said: "I wish there were s.p.a.ce to give concrete instances of the results of this year's experiment. Editors have written that, while for years their paper had supported woman suffrage, this was the first time they ever had come in touch with the national organization or known that their work was being recognized outside of their own locality. Many who were wavering have been persuaded to come out definitely in favor; this has been especially noticeable in the South.

In a number of cases papers which condemned a Federal Amendment have been helped to see its necessity, and this in the South as well as the North...." As an example of the many special articles it continued:

When the "picketing" began in Washington last January, almost every newspaper in the United States held the entire suffrage movement responsible for it. At once 250 letters were sent in answer to editorials of this nature, stating that the National American a.s.sociation organized in 1869, had been always strictly non-partisan and non-militant; that it represented about 98 per cent. of the enrolled suffragists of the United States; that all the suffrage which the women possessed to-day was due to its efforts and those of its State auxiliaries, and that Dr. Shaw, its honorary president, and Mrs. Catt, its president, strongly condemned the "picketing." The letter urged the newspapers in their comment on it to make a clear distinction between the two organizations. In countless instances this request was complied with but at the time of the Russian banner episode of the "pickets" before the White House another flood of more than 1,000 editorials poured into the national headquarters, many of them crediting it to the whole cause. A second letter more emphatic than the first was sent to 350 of the largest newspapers in the country, enclosing Mrs. Catt's protest against the "picketing."

These had the desired effect and practically all of the papers thereafter, except those hostile to woman suffrage, exonerated the National a.s.sociation from any part in it.

An argument for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and asking support for it was sent to a carefully selected list of 2,000 editors the month before the first vote was taken in Congress. Over 500 individual letters were sent, for the most part to prominent persons, called out by some expression of theirs, which almost without exception were cordially answered. A long letter to the International Suffrage News each month had been part of the work of this department.

Miss White's report on publicity should be reproduced in full, as it convincingly showed why all of a sudden the newspapers of the country were flooded with matter on woman suffrage. Not until the Leslie bequest became available had the National a.s.sociation been possessed of the funds to do the publicity work necessary to the success of a great movement. She told how the very first "stories" sent out describing the granting of Presidential suffrage in the winter of 1917 brought back returns of about half-a-million words. The story of the Maine campaign returned 79 columns in 145 papers and Mrs. Catt's speeches, 50,000 words. Her protest against the "antis" charge of disloyalty against the suffragists instantly brought a return of 16 columns in 40 metropolitan papers. Feminism in j.a.pan, a story written in the bureau around a little j.a.panese suffragist, was sent out by syndicate to a circulation of 10,000,000. The War Service of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation was told in 15,000 words and the first instalment came back in over 500 newspapers and 400,000 words. The papers gave 680,000 words to the story of the Woman's Committee of National Defense. These figures might be continued indefinitely. Plate matter was furnished to 500 papers in sixteen States in May, and the bulletins of facts, statistics and propaganda issued during the nine months would make a book of 25,000 words.

The report of Mrs. Geyer, a trained journalist, was equally valuable.

A part of her work had been to organize a press committee in every State, arrange for the collection of news and put it in proper form for the bulletins, the plate service, the _Woman Citizen_ or wherever it was needed and make a roster of the princ.i.p.al newspapers and their position on woman suffrage. She had managed in person the press work for the Maine campaign, the Mississippi Valley Conference in Columbus, O., and the present national convention.

Mrs. Boyd's painstaking, scholarly and efficient report on the service rendered by the Data department showed the vast amount of time and labor necessary to collect accurate data and how unreliable is much that exists. This was especially the case in regard to woman suffrage, which, when compiled from current sources and returned to the various States for verification, always required much correction. The report told of 350 letters sent to county clerks in the equal suffrage States for trustworthy information as to the proportion of women who voted, with most gratifying response. Many such investigations were made of women in office, laws relating to women, suffrage and labor legislation, women's war record, an infinite variety of subjects.

Thousands of newspaper clippings were tabulated and a roomful of carefully labelled files testified to the unremitting work of the bureau. Twenty State libraries and some others were supplied during the year with the books issued by the National Suffrage Publishing Company and its pamphlets were widely distributed.

Miss Esther G. Ogden, president of the National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company, made an interesting report and showed how suffrage victories, the thing the company was working for, meant its financial loss, for as soon as a State had won the vote it ceased to order literature. The tremendous demands of the campaigns of 1915 and 1916 had enabled the company to pay a three per cent. dividend but the entrance of the United States into the war, causing a general lessening of suffrage work, would create a deficit for the present year. For the New York campaign of 1917 the company furnished 10,081,267 pieces of literature, all promptly paid for. Miss Ogden gave an amusing account of how the company was "bankrupted" trying to supply "suffrage maps" up to date, for as soon as a lot was published another State would give Presidential or Munic.i.p.al suffrage and then the demand would come for maps with the new State "white," and thousands of the others would have to be "sc.r.a.pped."

The chairman of the Literature Committee, Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore, said that for the first time finances had been available for publishing a well-indexed catalogue with the publications grouped under more than twenty headings. These included efficiency booklets, suffrage arguments, answers to opponents, Federal Amendment literature, State reports, etc. Some of these publications were in book form, including Mrs. Catt's volume on the Federal Amendment, Mrs.

Annie G. Porritt's Laws Affecting Women and Children and Miss Martha Stapler's Woman Suffrage Year Book. A number of pamphlets were printed in lots of 100,000, and 700,000 copies of the amendment speech of Senator John F. Shafroth of Colorado before the Senate.

The report of the Art Publicity Committee was made by its chairman, Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton, and related princ.i.p.ally to the poster compet.i.tion, which closed with the exhibition at the national suffrage headquarters in January. About 100 posters were submitted and $500 in prizes awarded. Afterwards the prize winners and a selection from the others, about thirty in all, were sent to the Washington suffrage headquarters for display and then around to various cities which had asked for them.