The History of Woman Suffrage Volume V Part 51

JUSTINA LEAVITT WILSON, Recording Secretary.

EMMA WINNER ROGERS, Treasurer.

[116] Ministers who opened the different sessions with prayer were Mary J. Safford, of Iowa; Dr. Ivan Lee Holt, Rabbi Samuel Thurman, Dr.

G. Nussman and the Rev. Father Russell J. Wilbur; at the meetings in the Odeon, Dr. J. W. Mclvor and Dean Carrol Davis, all of St. Louis.

[117] From the address of President Wilson:

And what shall we say of the women?... Their contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a new l.u.s.ter to the annals of American womanhood. The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for their country. These great days of completed achievements would be sadly marred were we to omit that act of justice.

[118] For action of this committee see Appendix for Chapter XIX.

[119] Names of Committee: John E. Raker, California, chairman; Edward W. Saunders, Virginia; Frank Clark, Florida; Benjamin C. Hilliard, Colorado; James H. Mays, Utah; Christopher D. Sullivan, New York; Thomas L. Blanton, Texas; Jeannette Rankin, Montana; Frank W. Mondell, Wyoming; William H. Carter, Ma.s.sachusetts; Edward C. Little, Kansas; Richard N. Elliott, Indiana; Jacob E. Meeker, Missouri.

[120] In the summer of 1920, Mr. Bailey, who had been living in New York City ever since he resigned from the Senate, returned to Texas and made the race for Governor to "rescue" the State from woman suffrage, prohibition and other progressive measures which had made great headway since he left it. He was badly defeated for the nomination, with women voting.

CHAPTER XIX.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1920.

The official report of the Fifty-first convention, in 1920, was ent.i.tled Victory Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation and First Congress of the League of Women Voters and the Call was as follows:

"Suffragists, hear this last call to a suffrage convention!

"The officers of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation hereby call the State auxiliaries, through their elected delegates, to meet in annual convention at Chicago, Congress Hotel, February 12th to 18th, inclusive. In other days our members and friends have been summoned to annual conventions to disseminate the propaganda for their common cause, to cheer and encourage each other, to strengthen their organized influence, to counsel as to ways and means of insuring further progress. At this time they are called to rejoice that the struggle is over, the aim achieved and the women of the nation about to enter into the enjoyment of their hard-earned political liberty. Of all the conventions held within the past fifty-one years, this will prove the most momentous. Few people live to see the actual and final realization of hopes to which they have devoted their lives. That privilege is ours.

"Turning to the past let us review the incidents of our long struggle together before they are laid away with other buried memories. Let us honor our pioneers. Let us tell the world of the ever-buoyant hope, born of the a.s.surance of the justice and inevitability of our cause, which has given our army of workers the unswerving courage and determination that at last have overcome every obstacle and attained their aim. Come and let us together express the joy which only those can feel who have suffered for a cause.

"Turning to the future, let us inquire together how best we can now serve our beloved nation. Let us ask what political parties want of us and we of them. Come one and all and unitedly make this last suffrage convention a glad memory to you, a heritage for your children and your children's children and a benefaction to our nation.[121]"

The seven days of the convention were divided between the National a.s.sociation and the League of Women Voters, the latter having the lion's share as a new organization requiring much time and attention.

All of February 12 was given to the meetings of its committees, with dinners for all delegates and a program of speakers at the Auditorium, Morrison and La Salle Hotels in the evening. All matters relating to the league are considered in the chapter on the League of Women Voters by Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding secretary. The addresses at the convention, with the exception of those on Miss Anthony's one hundredth birthday and the memorial meeting for Dr. Shaw, were given under the auspices of the league and the Resolutions were prepared by its committee.

The convention of the National a.s.sociation began February 13 but the two preceding days had been occupied by almost continuous business sessions of the officers and board of directors. Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, State president, was chairman of the local committee of arrangements of nearly forty women of Chicago, Evanston and suburban towns for this largest national suffrage convention ever held and the arrangements had never been surpa.s.sed. Nothing was forgotten which could contribute to the success or pleasure of the convention. A hostess was appointed for each State to make its delegates acquainted and contribute to their comfort. There were present 546 delegates, a large number of alternates and thousands of visitors, while for the audiences at the public meetings there was not even standing room.[122]

At the morning session on the 13th, with Mrs. Catt presiding, the following program was presented by the Executive Council for the consideration of the delegates and was discussed at this and other business sessions:

1. Shall the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation dissolve when the last task concerning the extension of suffrage to women is completed?

2. Shall it recommend its members to join the League of Women Voters?

3. Shall this be the last suffrage convention held under its auspices?

If not, when shall the next be called?

4. If this is to be the last convention, shall a Board of Officers be elected at this convention to serve until all tasks are completed? If this is done, to whom shall such a board render its final report and by whom shall it be officially discharged?

5. If dissolution is determined upon, what disposition shall be made of (a) the files of data; (b) the property; (c) the funds, if any remain?

6. In the event that the a.s.sociation shall be dissolved what agency shall become the auxiliary of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance?

7. What plan for the intensive education of new women voters is possible and shall it be recommended that the League of Women Voters take up this work or shall it be conducted under the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation?

At the beginning of the afternoon session Mrs. Catt said that for twenty-eight years the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw had opened the national conventions with prayer and she asked that in memory of her the delegates rise and join in silent prayer. They did so and many were in tears. The Rev. Herbert L. Willet then offered the invocation. Mrs.

Trout, president of the Illinois Suffrage a.s.sociation, cordially welcomed the delegates to Chicago. The greeting from the Canadian Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was brought by its president, Dr. Margaret Gordon. Mrs. Catt made a gracious response and resigning the chair to the first vice-president, Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick, gave a brief address, reserving a longer one for the League of Women Voters.

She said in part:

When we met at St. Louis a year ago in the 50th annual convention of our a.s.sociation, we knew that the end of our long struggle was near. We comprehended in a new sense the truth of Victor Hugo's sage epigram: "There is one thing more powerful than Kings and Armies--the idea whose time has come to move." We knew that the time for our idea was here, and as State after State has joined the list of the ratified we have seen our idea, our cause, move forward dramatically, majestically into its appropriate place as part of the const.i.tution of our nation. We have not yet the official proclamation announcing that our amendment has been ratified by the necessary thirty-six States, but thirty-one have done so and another will ratify before we adjourn; three Governors have promised special sessions very soon and two more Legislatures will ratify when called together. There is no power on this earth that can do more than delay by a trifle the final enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women.

The enemies of progress and liberty never surrender and never die. Ever since the days of cave-men they have stood ready with their sledge hammers to strike any liberal idea on the head whenever it appeared. They are still active, hysterically active, over our amendment; still imagining, as their progenitors for thousands of years have done, that a fly sitting on a wheel may command it to revolve no more and it will obey. They are running about from State to State, a few women and a few paid men. They dash to Washington to hold hurried consultations with senatorial friends and away to carry out instructions.... It does not matter. Suffragists were never dismayed when they were a tiny group and all the world was against them. What care they now when all the world is with them? March on, suffragists, the victory is yours! The trail has been long and winding; the struggle has been tedious and wearying; you have made sacrifices and received many hard knocks; be joyful to-day. Our final victory is due, is inevitable, is almost here. Let us celebrate to-day, and when the proclamation comes I beg you to celebrate the occasion with some form of joyous demonstration in your own home State. Two armistice days made a joyous ending of the war. Let two ratification days, one a National and one a State day, make a happy ending of the denial of political freedom to women!

Our amendment was submitted June 4, 1919, and to-day, eight months and eight days later, it has been ratified by thirty-one States. No other amendment made such a record but the time is not the significant part of the story. Of the thirty-one ratifications twenty-four have taken place in _special sessions_.

These mean extra cost to the State, opportunity for other legislation and the chance of political intrigue for or against the Governor who calls them. These obstacles have been difficult to overcome, far more difficult than most of you will ever know, and in a few instances well-nigh insurmountable, but the point to emphasize to-day is that they _were_ overcome. As a whole the ratifications have moved forward in splendid triumphal procession. There have been many inspiring incidents of daring and clever moves on the part of suffragists to speed the campaign and there have been many incidents of courage, n.o.bility of purpose and proud scorn of the pettiness of political enemies on the part of Governors, legislators and men friends. On the other hand there have been tricks, chicanery and misrepresentation, but let us forget them all. Victors can afford to be generous.

Referring to the cost of special sessions, Mrs. Catt said:

If the Governor is a Republican tell him that had it not been that two Republican Senators, Borah of Idaho and Wadsworth of New York, refused to represent their States as indicated by votes at the polls, resolutions by their Legislatures and planks in their party platforms, the suffrage amendment would have pa.s.sed the 65th Congress. It then would have come into the regular sessions of forty-two Legislatures with more than thirty-six pledged to ratify and without a cent of extra cost to any State! When a Republican Governor calls an extra session in order to ratify he merely atones for the conduct of two members of his own party.

They, not he, are to blame that it became necessary. If the Governor is Democratic say that had it not been for two northern Democratic Senators, Pomerene of Ohio and Hitchc.o.c.k of Nebraska, who refused to represent their States on the question as indicated by their Legislatures and platforms, Congress would have sent the amendment to the 1919 Legislatures and it would have cost the States nothing. The Democratic Governor who calls a special session only makes honorable amends for the misrepresentation of members of his own party....

We should be more than glad and grateful to-day, we should be proud--proud that our fifty-one years of organized endeavor have been clean, constructive, conscientious. Our a.s.sociation never resorted to lies, innuendoes, misrepresentation. It never accused its opponents of being free lovers, pro-Germans and Bolsheviki.

It marched forward even when its forces were most disorganized by disaster. It always met argument with argument, honest objection with proof of error. In fifty years it never failed to send its representatives to plead our cause before every national political convention, although they went knowing that the prejudice they would meet was impregnable and the response would be ridicule and condemnation. It went to the rescue of every State campaign for half a century with such forces as it could command, even when realizing that there was no hope. In every corner it sowed the seeds of justice and trusted to time to bring the harvest. It has aided boys in high school with debates and later heard their votes of "yes" in Legislatures. Reporters a.s.signed to our Washington conventions long, long ago, took their places at the press table on the first day with contempt and ridicule in their hearts but went out the last day won to our cause and later became editors of newspapers and spoke to thousands in our behalf. Girls came to our meetings, listened and accepted, and later as mature women became intrepid leaders.

In all the years this a.s.sociation has never paid a national lobbyist, and, so far as I know, no State has paid a legislative lobbyist. During the fifty years it has rarely had a salaried officer and even if so she has been paid less than her earning capacity elsewhere. It has been an army of volunteers who have estimated no sacrifice too great, no service too difficult.

Mrs. Catt enumerated some of the immortal pioneer suffragists and said: "How small seems the service of the rest of us by comparison, yet how glad and proud we have been to give it. Ours has been a cause to live for, a cause to die for if need be. It has been a movement with a soul, a dauntless, unconquerable soul ever leading onward.

Women came, served and pa.s.sed on but others took their places.... How I pity the women who have had no share in the exaltation and the discipline of our army of workers! How I pity those who have not felt the grip of the oneness of women struggling, serving, suffering, sacrificing for the righteousness of woman's emanc.i.p.ation! Oh, women, be glad today and let your voices ring out the gladness in your hearts! There will never come another day like this. Let joy be unconfined and let it speak so clearly that its echo will be heard around the world and find its way into the soul of every woman of every race who is yearning for opportunity and liberty still denied...."

After this inspiring address the convention was turned into a jollification meeting for a considerable time until the delegates were tired out by their enthusiasm and composed themselves to receive a telegram of greeting from President Woodrow Wilson addressed to Mrs.

Catt: "Permit me to congratulate your a.s.sociation upon the fact that its great work is so near its triumphant end and that you can now merge it into a League of Women Voters to carry on the development of good citizenship and real democracy; and to wish for the new organization the same wise leadership and success." On motion of Mrs.

McCormick it was voted that "the grat.i.tude of the convention be expressed to the President for his constant cooperation and help, with deep regret for his illness." On motion of Miss Mary Garrett Hay, second vice-president, the convention authorized a letter of appreciation to be sent to the Governors of States that had ratified the Federal Amendment and telegrams to those who had not called special sessions strongly urging them to do so.[123] This was made especially emphatic to Governor Louis F. Hart of Washington, the only equal suffrage State which had not ratified. [The session was called and the Legislature ratified unanimously March 22, leaving but one more to be gained.]

At the evening session the Recommendations were considered as presented by the Executive Council, which consisted of the president of the a.s.sociation, officers, board of directors, chairmen of standing and special committees, presidents of affiliated organizations and one representative of each society which paid dues on 1,500 or more members. After discussion and some amendment they were adopted as follows:

Whereas, The sole object of many years' endeavor by the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation has been "to secure the vote to the women citizens of the United States by appropriate national and State legislation" and that object is about to be attained, and

Whereas, The a.s.sociation must naturally dissolve or take up new lines of work when the last suffrage task has been completed, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the a.s.sociation shall a.s.sume no new lines of work and shall move toward dissolution by the following process:

(1) That a Board of Officers shall be elected at this convention, as usual, to serve two years (if necessary) in accordance with the provisions of the const.i.tution;

(2) That the eight directors elected at the 50th annual convention, and whose term of office does not expire until March, 1921, shall be asked to serve until the term of elected officers shall expire;

(3) That any vacancy or vacancies occurring in the list of directors shall be filled by election at this convention;

(4) That all vacancies in the Board of Directors occurring after this convention shall be filled by majority vote of the board;