The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 22

Not in any other State campaign had the women anti-suffragists taken so conspicuous a part. There was a society of considerable social prominence in Portland and the a.s.sociations in Ma.s.sachusetts and New York sent nearly twenty speakers and workers, all women except J. B.

Maling of Colorado and Charles McLean of Iowa, whose utterances had more than once been repudiated by the men and women of their States.

Mrs. James W. Wadsworth, Jr., president of the National a.s.sociation, addressed parlor meetings. Toward the end of the campaign their numbers became much less, as they learned that the "machines" of both political parties expected to defeat the amendment.

The election took place Sept. 10, 1917, and the amendment received 38,838 noes, 20,684 ayes--lost by 18,154, the negative majority nearly two to one. About half as many men voted for it as the number of women who signed a pet.i.tion for it. Mrs. Livingston gave as the princ.i.p.al reasons for the defeat: 1. Inherent conservatism and prejudice. 2.

Resentment at the "picketing" of the White House by the "militant"

suffragists. 3. Briefness of the campaign. 4. Inability because of lack of organization to reach the rural vote. 5. Reactionaries of both parties uniting in opposition.[70]

In her summing up Mrs. Livingston said: "Without the aid of the National American a.s.sociation the campaign would have been impossible.

The magnificent generosity with which it furnished speakers, organizers, posters and literature will make the women of Maine forever its debtors.[71]

At the convention of the State a.s.sociation in September, 1917, in Augusta, Miss Mabel Connor was chosen president and at the conventions of 1918 in Lewiston and 1919 in Portland was re-elected. At the convention in October, 1918, having recovered somewhat from its defeat, the a.s.sociation voted to introduce a bill for the Presidential suffrage in the next Legislature in 1919. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Balentine, chairman; Miss Connor, Miss Bates, Mrs.

Pattangall, Mrs. Cobb and Mrs. Guy P. Gannett, with Miss Lola Walker as executive secretary to the chairman.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The State Suffrage a.s.sociation and the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union always worked for woman suffrage measures in the Legislature in cordial cooperation, beginning in 1887.

1901. Suffrage bills did not come out of committee.

1903. A bill was introduced for Munic.i.p.al suffrage for tax-paying women by Representative George H. Allan of Portland. The Joint Standing Committee eliminated "taxpaying" and reported a bill giving Munic.i.p.al suffrage to all women. The State Suffrage a.s.sociation did an enormous amount of work in behalf of this bill, sending letters to 15,000 women representing 239 cities and towns who were paying taxes on approximately $25,000,000. Several thousand answers urging the bill were received, coming from every county and from 237 of the cities and towns. It was lost in the Senate by a tie and in the House by a vote of 110 noes, 29 ayes.

1905, 1907, 1909, no suffrage bills were reported out of committee.

1911. Four members of the Judiciary Committee made a minority report in favor of the suffrage measure and the House voted to subst.i.tute the minority report but the Senate refused to concur.

1913. A new resolve asking for submission of a suffrage amendment was drafted by George H. Allan and introduced in the Senate by Ira G.

Hersey, which gave a vote of 23 ayes, 6 noes. In the House the vote was 89 ayes, 53 noes--only six more votes needed for the necessary two-thirds.

1915. A joint resolution to submit a full suffrage amendment pa.s.sed the Senate by 26 ayes, 4 noes; the House vote by 88 ayes, 59 noes--ten more votes needed for the two-thirds. Introduced by Representative Lauren M. Sanborn.

1917. The resolution was adopted in the House February 21 by 112 ayes, 35 noes; unanimously adopted by the Senate February 22. In signing it the next day Governor Carl E. Milliken said to the suffrage leaders: "You have appealed to reason and not to prejudice. Your campaign has been a very fine example of what a campaign should be." The amendment was defeated at the polls in September.

1919. In March an Act granting women the right to vote for Presidential Electors, prepared by George H. Allan, was introduced in the Senate by Guy P. Gannett of Augusta and in the House by Percival P. Baxter of Portland. The joint committee by 8 to 2 reported "ought to pa.s.s." The hearing before the Judiciary Committee was called one of the best ever held. Lewis A. Burleigh of Augusta, editor of the Kennebec _Journal_, and Professor Frank E. Woodruff of Bowdoin College made the princ.i.p.al speeches. Telegrams were read from U. S. Senator Fernald and Representatives Ira G. Hersey, John A. Peters and Wallace H. White, Jr., urging the pa.s.sage of the bill. The "antis" were present in force and made a hard fight. They were fully answered by Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker of Connecticut. An effort was made to attach a clause to the bill referring it to the voters but it was thwarted, Senator Leroy R. Folsom of Norridgewock making a strong speech against it. In the House a still more determined effort was made to secure a referendum but it did not succeed. Speeches were made by Frederick W.

Hinckley, Percival F. Baxter and Elisha W. Pike, legislators, and Mrs.

Katharine Reed Balentine, chairman of the Legislative Committee, and Miss Mabel Connor, president of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation. On February 26 the bill pa.s.sed the Senate by a vote of 25 ayes, 6 noes.

On March 19 it pa.s.sed the House by 85 ayes, 54 noes.

The favorable vote was obtained after six months of quiet, continuous and intensive political work by the Legislative Committee. Members of the Legislature worked for the success of the bill; the Governor supported it and the press was largely in favor.

The anti-suffragists immediately announced their proposal to bring the Presidential Suffrage Law before the voters under the initiative and referendum, upon pet.i.tion of at least 10,000 legal voters filed within a specified time. The effort to secure these names lagged and without doubt would have been given up had it not been for Frank E. Mace, former State Forest Commissioner, who organized committees all over the State at the eleventh hour and pet.i.tions bearing 12,000 signatures were filed July 3, within 90 days after the Legislature adjourned, as required. As there was doubt about the const.i.tutionality of this referendum, the State Supreme Court, on July 9, 1919, was requested by Governor Milliken to decide. On August 6 the Court rendered its decision that the Act came within the provisions of the initiative and referendum. As the pet.i.tion did not ask for a special election the Governor sent out a proclamation for the referendum to be submitted at the next general election Sept. 13, 1920. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was declared to be adopted on August 26 but there was no way in which the referendum could legally be omitted from the ballot. Therefore on September 13 the women, already having full suffrage, went to the polls to vote on getting partial suffrage and the official count showed 88,080 ayes, 30,462 noes.

RATIFICATION. Governor Milliken called a special session of the Legislature for November, 1919. In his message he recommended the ratification of the Federal Amendment in the strongest possible manner, saying that if only one woman in Maine wanted to vote she should have the chance. The anti-suffrage forces of the entire country were concentrated on Maine at this time to prevent ratification and it was with the greatest difficulty that a movement to postpone action until the regular session was defeated. The amendment was ratified in the Senate on November 4 by 24 ayes, 5 noes; in the House on November 5 by 72 ayes, 68 noes. After the vote was taken an attempt to reconsider was made but was unsuccessful.

The same Legislative Committee of women that had charge of the Presidential bill had charge of the ratification.

At the annual convention of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation in Portland in October, 1919, it was voted to hold a School for Citizenship at Bates College in August, 1920. Mrs. George M. Chase was made chairman of the Committee of Arrangements and the work was largely carried out by Miss Rosamond Connor, 100 women from many parts of the State attending and deriving much benefit. Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker was the princ.i.p.al instructor. At a meeting of the a.s.sociation in Augusta on November 12 it was merged into the League of Women Voters with Miss Mabel Connor as chairman.

Suffrage work in Maine was carried on for many years in the face of the greatest obstacles but there was always a small group of devoted women willing to make any sacrifice for the cause, who carried the torch until another group could take it, and every step gained was fought for. The history would be incomplete without mention of the Portland Equal Franchise League, of which Mrs. Arthur L. Bates was president, which for many years was the backbone of the State a.s.sociation. The list of State officers who freely gave their services is too long to publish. Among other prominent workers not already mentioned were Dr. Jennie Fuller of Hartland; Mrs. Zenas Thompson and Miss Susan Clark of Portland; Mrs. Isabel Greenwood of Farmington; Miss Anna L. Dingley and Miss Alice Frost Lord, connected with the Lewiston _Journal_.[72]

Among the men not mentioned elsewhere, who advocated woman suffrage in the face of criticism and with no advantage to be gained, were Judge William Penn Whitehouse and Obadiah Gardner of Augusta; Leonard A.

Pierce of Portland; L. B. Dessy of Bar Harbor; E. C. Reynolds of South Portland.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Caroline Colvin, Professor of History in the State University, Miss Helen N. Bates, president of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, 1912-1916, and Miss Mabel Connor, president, 1917-1919.

[69] The above paragraphs have been copied for the sake of historical accuracy from an official report of the national corresponding secretary.--Ed.

[70] Mrs. Clarence Hale, State president of the anti-suffrage organization, issued the following: "The large majority vote cast against suffrage today must indicate, as did the great vote of Ma.s.sachusetts in 1915, that the East is not in favor of the entrance of women into political life. The result should satisfy the suffragists for all time and they should now practice the principles of democracy and fairness, which they are so ready to preach, by refraining from further disputing the will of the people.... We can now return to give our services to the State and the nation in woman's normal way."

On November 7 the "East" spoke again when the voters of New York by a majority of 102,353 gave full suffrage to women.

[71] Besides paying the expenses of the suffrage school, the National a.s.sociation paid the salary of Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston as campaign manager; the salary of Miss Lola Walker from February 10 to September 10; the salaries of eight other organizers who worked for varying periods and the expenses of four; for 120,000 Shafroth speeches; circularized 1,200 of the Protestant and Catholic clergy; prepared especially for Maine 125,000 baby fliers and 100,000 copies of Have You Heard? and furnished envelopes and stamps for them; 14,000 pieces of literature for advanced suffragists; 1,000 copies of Do You Know? to circularize the politicians; 400 each of thirteen different kinds of posters; 500 war measure fliers; 2,000 blue and yellow posters. The Leslie Commission contributed the services of Mrs. Geyer for press work from July 1 to September 10. This campaign cost the National a.s.sociation $10,282 and the Leslie Commission $4,986, a total of $15,268.--Ed.

[72] Among the active workers in the Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation were Mesdames John F. A. Merrill, Morrill Hamlin and George S. Hobbs, all of Portland; Norman L. Ba.s.sett, John F. Hill, and Charles S. Hichborn, all of Augusta; George E. Bird, Yarmouth; Miss Elizabeth McKeen, Brunswick.

Among the men actively opposed were the Rev. E. E. Newbert, Benedict F. Maher, Samuel C. Manley, Charles S. Hichborn, all of Augusta; ex-Governor Oakley C. Curtis, of Portland; Governor-elect Frederick H.

Parkhurst, of Bangor; U. S. Senator Hale, opposed but finally voted for the Federal Suffrage Amendment.

CHAPTER XIX.

MARYLAND. PART I.[73]

When the fourth volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1900 it left the Maryland a.s.sociation just eleven years old. Since 1894, when the Montgomery County and the Baltimore City a.s.sociations united, it has been represented by accredited delegates in every national convention. These thirty-one years of organized effort by no means represent all of the suffrage agitation in the State.[74]

As Baltimore is the only large city and contains more than half the population of the State it is not surprising that this city has been the real battleground of the movement. Twenty-five State conventions have been held here, continuing one or two days, and two State conferences of two days each. The first of the conferences was arranged by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the new national president, and held in Baltimore in 1900, at which time Miss Susan B. Anthony was the guest of honor and was presented with a purse of gold for her 80th birthday by the Maryland women. The second conference was held in 1902. The speakers at these conferences besides the national officers were Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Annie L. Digges of Kansas, Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., Dr. Cora Smith Eaton of Minneapolis and Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago. The day sessions were devoted to business and discussions, followed by addresses in the evening. The State convention of 1901 met in the Friends' Meeting House; that of 1902 in Heptasophs Hall, with a bazar and supper; that of 1903 in the Friends' Meeting House. The local speakers were Dr. O.

Edward Janney, R. Henry Holme, Lizzie York Case, Annie Davenport, Emma Maddox Funck and Mary Bentley Thomas. Out of town speakers were Mrs.

Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president at large; Harriet May Mills of New York and Emma M. Gillett, a lawyer of Washington, D.

C. The convention of 1904 met in the Church of the Disciples. A supper was served between sessions and Dr. Shaw and the Rev. Peter Ainslie spoke to crowded houses at night.

The convention of 1905 was held in the Harlem Avenue Christian Church.

Memorial services were held for George W. Catt, husband of the national president. The following departments of work were adopted: Peace and Arbitration, Church, Enrollment, Finance, Legislation and Press. Dr. Shaw spoke in the evening on The New Democratic Ideal.

Invitations were given in 1904 and 1905 to the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation to hold its annual convention in Baltimore. The second was accepted and the convention took place Feb. 7-13, 1906.

Half of the $1,200 raised for it was given to the National a.s.sociation. Most of the delegates were entertained in homes. The meetings were held in the Lyric Theater and the audiences at the evening sessions numbered from 1,500 to 3,000. The State a.s.sociation sent out 20,000 invitations. Music was provided for every session by the Charles M. Stieff Piano Company and clergymen came from various churches for the opening devotional services. Three men gave unlimited time and a.s.sistance to the work of the convention, Dr. J. William Funck, Dr. Janney and Charles H. Holton. As this was the native city of Miss Mary Garrett and Dr. M. Carey Thomas they united as hostesses of the a.s.sociation during the convention and thereafter became important factors in the national work.[75] This was the last convention attended by Miss Anthony, who died a month later. A memorial service was held in Baltimore, the following taking part: the Rev. Alexander Kent of Washington, Mary Badders Holton, Mrs. Funck, Mrs. Janney, Mrs. Holme and Miss Maddox. Music was furnished by the Cecilian quartette of women's voices.

The State convention of 1906 was held in the Friends' Meeting House, addressed by Ellen Spencer Mussey of Washington. In 1907 the convention met in Arundell Hall November 21 and in the Hampden Methodist Church the 22nd. The afternoon program included interesting talks by six Baltimore men--Henry White, Dr. Funck, Dr. Janney, R.

Henry Holme, State Forester Albert M. Beasley and the Rev. B. A.

Abbott, pastor of the Harlem Avenue Christian Church. A large number of fraternal delegates were present. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Boston spoke at both evening sessions.

In 1908 the annual meeting was held in McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins University, with Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Maud Nathan of New York and Rachel Foster Avery of Philadelphia as speakers. Dr. Lewellys F.

Barker presided at the evening meeting. In 1909 the convention took place in the Baltimore Business College, Nov. 23, 24, with Dr. Barton O. Aylesworth of Colorado and the Rev. John Roach Straton of the Seventh Baptist Church as the orators at the evening sessions.

Memorial services were held for Henry B. Blackwell. A supper and bazar were pleasant features. In 1910 the convention was held in Osler Hall, Cathedral Street, with both sessions devoted to business. A noteworthy event of the year was the election of Miss Sarah Richmond, a pioneer suffragist, as president of the State Teachers' a.s.sociation, the first woman to be accorded this honor in the fifty years of its existence.

Prizes of $25 were offered for essays on woman suffrage by girls in the high school.