The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 33

1919. Work for Presidential suffrage was continued. Extra pressure was brought to bear on the Senate. Two national organizers, Miss Ames and Miss Alma Sa.s.se, were sent into various senatorial districts to enlist the help of influential people and when the time came for a vote it undoubtedly was favorable pressure from home that kept some of the Senators in line. When the General a.s.sembly convened Jan. 8, 1919, Governor Gardner recommended such suffrage legislation as the women might desire. Through the courtesy of Lieutenant Governor Crossley, President of the Senate, and S. F. O'Fallon, Speaker of the House, it was the first bill introduced.

On February 6 the Presidential bill was put on the calendar over the adverse report of the Election Committee, an action almost without precedent. On the 11th the Speaker left the chair and delivered a powerful address urging its pa.s.sage. Representative Frank Farris also made a strong speech in its favor and the final vote was 122 ayes, 8 noes. The opposition used every device to prevent it from being brought up for the final reading in the Senate but finally the time was set for March 28. On that date two of the Senators favoring it were absent and their votes were absolutely necessary. Senator David W. Stark was at his home in Westline and Senator Howard Gray had been called on important business to Caruthersville. On the 27th Mrs.

Miller, Mrs. O'Neil, Mrs. Haight and Miss Ames, who had been in Jefferson City for over three months, met for final consultation.

Senator Stark responded to a telephone call and promised to be in his seat the next morning. It was found it would be impossible for Senator Gray to arrive on time. They were in despair but a savior was at hand.

Democratic National Committeeman Edward F. Goltra offered to charter a special train to bring Senator Gray, a Republican, to Jefferson City in time to cast his vote. This offer was gladly and gratefully accepted and the Senator left Caruthersville that night. The next morning all the other Senators were in their seats, the opposition complacent and confident that the bill could not pa.s.s. While Senator McKnight was reading a telegram from the National Suffrage Convention in session at St. Louis urging the immediate pa.s.sage of the Presidential suffrage bill Senator Gray quietly walked in and took his seat! The opposition, out-witted and out-generaled, threw up their hands and the bill was pa.s.sed by a vote of 21 to 12, some of its former opponents voting for it. On April 5 in the presence of the board of the State a.s.sociation it was signed by Governor Gardner.

FOOTNOTES:

[102] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Marie R.

Garesche, a founder and first vice-president of the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League.

[103] Thirteen men were enrolled this year, Eugene Angert, George Blackman, R. W. Boysselier, Dr. W. W. Boyd, Mr. Chauvenet, E. M.

Grossman, Charles Haanel, Stephen Hart, Charles Van d.y.k.e Hill, Dr.

John C. Morfit, H. J. Peifer, Judge R. E. Rombauer and Percy Werner.

[104] Because of lack of s.p.a.ce it has been impossible to include the long lists of names prepared of women who worked all over the State.

CHAPTER XXV.

MONTANA.[105]

Before 1900 the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, under the presidency of Miss Susan B. Anthony, helped to organize suffrage societies in Montana and several conventions were held. In 1899 Dr.

Maria M. Dean was elected president. She was succeeded by Mrs. Clara B. Tower, whose report to the national suffrage convention of 1903 said:

On May 1, 1902, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, National president, Miss Gail Laughlin and Miss Laura A. Gregg, organizers, arrived in Helena and in conjunction with the State officers planned a campaign to include a meeting in every town of any importance.

Mrs. Catt re-organized the Helena Suffrage Club and remained two weeks, conducting a large correspondence, addressing all the women's organizations in the city and a ma.s.s meeting. Miss Laughlin spent these two weeks in b.u.t.te, where she spoke to a number of labor unions and obtained resolutions strongly endorsing woman suffrage from the Silver Bow Trades and Labor a.s.sembly, a delegate body representing 10,000 men. Mrs. Catt then went to b.u.t.te and for ten days she and Miss Laughlin delivered addresses before the princ.i.p.al organizations of the city, among which were the Woman's Club and the Trades Council. Their visit closed with a ma.s.s meeting at which a large number of names were secured for membership in the Equal Suffrage Club, which was organized immediately afterward. The campaign was then placed in charge of Miss Laughlin, who did the field work, and Miss Gregg, who arranged the dates from the headquarters in Helena. The speaking before labor unions was continued through the State and not a union or delegate body of laboring men failed to endorse woman suffrage. Miss Laughlin, by invitation, addressed the State labor convention, representing all the labor unions, and resolutions strongly endorsing woman suffrage and the submission of an amendment were pa.s.sed with only one dissenting voice on a roll-call vote.

Miss Laughlin spent the summer and fall visiting every town of importance, organizing more than thirty clubs, and securing committees to circulate pet.i.tions where organization was impracticable. The State convention was held in b.u.t.te in September in preparation for work in the Legislature during January and February, 1903, for submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution, which had been strongly recommended by Governor Toole in his Message. A considerable sum was raised for press work and Miss Mary E.

O'Neill was appointed superintendent. A resolution asking the National a.s.sociation for the services of Miss Laughlin for legislative work was adopted and she remained.[106]

The bill for full suffrage was introduced in both Houses; public hearings were granted by the Judiciary Committee of each and the House took a recess that its members might attend in a body. Miss Laughlin and others spoke and the measure had strong advocates in Dr. O. M.

Lanstrum, J. M. Kennedy, John Maginness, Colonel James U. Sanders, F.

Augustus Heinze (the copper magnate), Colonel C. B. Nolan, State Senators Whipple, Myers and Johnson. State officers and members of the Helena Club a.s.sisted in the legislative work, which continued two months. The vote in the House was 41 ayes, 23 noes, but two-thirds were necessary. The resolution introduced in the Senate by H. L.

Sherlock was also defeated.

At the session of 1905 the amendment resolution was again introduced and Mrs. Tower travelled from Boston to be present at the hearing.

Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Mrs. Walter Matheson and Miss O'Neill addressed the committees but the vote was adverse.

For a number of years little was done except in a desultory way. The suffrage resolution was presented at almost every session of the Legislature but there was no intensive work for it. Some of the political equality clubs lived on, the strongest one in Missoula with J. Washington McCormick president and Miss Jeannette Rankin vice-president. In 1911 Dr. J. M. Donahue had introduced the suffrage resolution in the Legislature but no work had been done for it and this club sent Miss Rankin to Helena to press for its pa.s.sage. It found champions in Colonel J. B. Nolan, W. W. Berry and D. G. O'Shea and opponents in James E. McNally and Joseph Binnard. Miss Rankin obtained permission to address the House. The Senate refused to attend officially but adjourned and was present almost in a body.

House members brought flowers and the room resembled anything but a legislative hall, as ma.s.ses of hats hid the legislators and people were banked in the doorways. Miss Rankin was escorted to the reading desk by a number of old-time suffragists, Dr. Dean, Dr. At.w.a.ter, Mrs.

Sanders, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson and Miss May Murphy. As Representative Binnard was the strongest opponent he was delegated by the members to present Miss Rankin with a corsage bouquet of violets.

He made a flowery speech and attempted to turn the meeting into a facetious affair but when Miss Rankin spoke his purpose was defeated and she received much applause. The bill was, however, reported out of the committee without recommendation and neither House took any action.

At the State Fairs of 1911 and 1912 the suffragists erected attractive booths, giving out suffrage literature and b.u.t.tons to all pa.s.sers-by.

They were in charge of Ida Auerbach, Frieda Fligelman and Grace Rankin Kinney. In 1912 a State Central Committee was formed with Miss Rankin as temporary chairman and Miss Auerbach as temporary secretary. Later Mrs. Grace Smith was made treasurer. The first meeting was called in the studio of Miss Mary C. Wheeler of Helena. These women attended the State conventions of the Republican, Democratic and Progressive parties and succeeded in getting planks in their platforms for a suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution. Then all nominees were circularized and asked to stand by their party platforms. Miss Rankin went over the State quietly, stopping in every county seat and searching out women willing to work. She secured the consent of Thomas Stout to introduce the bill at the next session.

In January, 1913, the women met in Helena and formed a permanent State organization, electing the following officers: Chairman, Miss Rankin, Missoula; a.s.sistant chairmen, Mrs. Louis P. Sanders, b.u.t.te; Mrs. G. M.

Gillmore, Glendive; secretary, Mrs. Harvey Coit, Big Timber; treasurer, Mrs. Wilbur L. Smith, Helena; finance chairman, Mrs.

Wallace Perham, Glendive; press chairman, Miss Auerbach. The organization never had any const.i.tution or by-laws. Letters from all over the State were written to Governor S. V. Stewart and on January 7 the women went in a body to hear his Message, in which he recommended that Montana women should be enfranchised. With no discussion the resolution to submit an amendment to the voters pa.s.sed the Senate by 26 ayes, two noes--J. E. Edwards and I. A. Leighton--and was signed by the president, Lieutenant Governor W. W. McDowell, in open session. In the House the vote was 74 ayes, two noes--Ronald Higgins and John W. Blair. On January 25 it was signed by the Governor.

On June 27 the second meeting of the State Central Committee was held in Livingston, immediately following that of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Great progress in interest and organization was reported from all parts of the State. The only new officers elected were: Recording secretary, Mrs. John Willis of Glasgow; chairman of literature, Miss Mary Agnes Cantwell of Hunters' Hot Springs. Chairmen were appointed in each county and workers were sent into every precinct. The third meeting of the Central Committee was held in b.u.t.te September 22, 23, just before the State Fair, where it had a booth. It was decided to open headquarters in b.u.t.te Feb. 1, 1914.

The fourth meeting was held in Big Timber February 14 and the fifth in Lewiston June 6. Miss O'Neill was made a.s.sistant chairman and press chairman; Mrs. Edith Clinch, treasurer; Miss Eloise Knowles chairman of literature.

Headquarters were opened in b.u.t.te in January, 1914. Letters were sent to granges, labor unions, women's clubs and other organizations asking them to pa.s.s resolutions in favor of the amendment and aid the campaign as far as they could. Every newspaper in the State received each week a letter of suffrage news and items from Miss O'Neill and occasionally some propaganda material. Letters were sent regularly to the county chairmen and other workers giving instructions and keeping them in touch with the campaign. Large quant.i.ties of literature were distributed with many leaflets for special occasions. A short time before election personal letters and a leaflet especially for farmers were sent to 20,000 voters in the country districts. The house-to-house canva.s.s of the women in the towns and cities was the most effective work done. Montana women spoke in every county and women from outside the State in all but a few of the smaller ones.

In the spring Mr. and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw of New York City stopped off en route to California and spoke in a number of places. The women were charmed with her beauty and style and some men who had considered the movement as only carried on by women were surprised that a man of Mr. Laidlaw's standing should be at the head of a National Men's Suffrage League. He organized a Montana branch of it with Wellington D. Rankin (now Attorney General) as president.

Miss Rankin in her report to the national suffrage convention of November 12-17, expressed the highest appreciation of the women who came into Montana, either sent by the National a.s.sociation or at their own expense, and campaigned for weeks under the instructions of the State board. They were headed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, and included Miss Katharine Devereux Blake, Miss Ida Craft and Miss Rosalie Jones of New York; Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Miss Jane Thompson, Miss Gratia Erickson and Miss Florence Lord of Chicago; Mrs.

Root of Los Angeles. During May and June Mrs. Cotterill of Seattle, and during July and August Miss Margaret Hinchey of Boston, gave their time to labor unions. A number of large demonstrations were held in various cities. Campaigning in a State of such distances and geographical formation presented great difficulties.

A precinct organization was perfected wherever possible but to the far-off places word was simply sent to the women to work to get votes for the amendment and they did so with splendid results. The usual program of party campaigning in rural districts was adopted of holding a rally followed by a dance. Miss Rankin, Miss Fligelman, Miss Grace h.e.l.lmick, Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway, Miss O'Neill, Dr. Dean, Mrs.

Topping and many other volunteer speakers went into every little mining camp and settlement that could be reached. They spoke from the steps of the store and the audience, composed entirely of men, would listen in respectful silence, applaud a little at the close, too shy to ask questions, but on election day every vote was for suffrage. Old prospectors back in the mountains when approached and asked for their votes would say: "Do you ladies really want to vote? Well, if you do, we'll sure help all we can." Many old-timers said: "What would our State have been without the women? You bet you can count on us." The campaigners spoke in moving picture theaters, from wagons and automobiles and wherever they could obtain an audience however small.

There were no rebuffs but some of the Southerners would say that it would be a bad thing for the South. All these outlying districts that could be reached gave a favorable majority. The money for the campaign was raised in many ways, by donations, food sales, dances, collections, the sale of suffrage papers on the street, etc. The loss of the funds collected for the campaign through the closing of the State bank was a heavy blow and it could not have succeeded without the help of the National a.s.sociation and friends in outside States.

The campaign cost about $9,000, of which over half was contributed by the a.s.sociation and other States.

To the women specifically mentioned the names of the following especially active in the campaign should be added: Miss Mary Stewart, Mrs. W. I. Higgins, Mrs. J. F. Kilduff, Mrs. Tyler Thompson, Jean Bishop, Mrs. Wm. Roza, Mrs. J. W. Scott, Mrs. John Duff, Mrs. Bertha Rosenberg, Mrs. Mary Tocher, Mrs. J. M. Darroch, Mrs. W. E. c.u.mmings, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. A. E. Richardson, Mrs. Frank D. O'Neill, Mrs. J. B.

Ellis, Mrs. M. E. Hughes, Mrs. Delia Peets, Mrs. C. P. Irish, Mrs. J.

R. E. Sievers, Mrs. A. P. Rooney, Mrs. Sarah M. Souders, Mrs.

Sherrill, Mrs. Nathan Lloyd, Mrs. Burt Addams Tower, Mrs. Mary Meigs At.w.a.ter, Mrs. Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Mrs. Charles N. Skillman, Mrs.

Charles S. Haire, Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Mrs. H. W. Child, Miss Susan Higgins. Among the men the best friends besides those already mentioned were Miles Romney, Joseph H. Griffin, Lewis J. Duncan, W. W.

McDowell, Lieutenant Governor, and the two U. S. Senators, Thomas J.

Walsh and Henry L. Myers.

At the beginning of the campaign a travelling organizer of the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation came to b.u.t.te, and, saying that she acted officially, had an interview with the editors of the _National Forum_, the organ of the liquor interests. She told them their open opposition was helping the amendment, urged them to carry it on in secret and said she would return later and lay before them a plan of campaign. Afterwards when the b.u.t.te papers exposed this scheme the _National Forum_ described the interview. Before the election the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation sent its executive secretary, Miss Minnie Bronson, and Mrs. J. D. Oliphant of New Jersey to campaign against the amendment. They succeeded in forming only one society in the State and that was at b.u.t.te, with a branch in the little town of Chinook. The officers were Mrs. John Noyes, president; Mrs. Theodore Symons, secretary; Mrs. W. J. Chrystie, press chairman; Mrs. David Nixon, active worker; Mrs. Oliphant challenged Miss Rankin to a debate, which was held in the old auditorium in Helena. At the meeting, which had been packed by the liquor interests, Mrs. Oliphant was noisily applauded and the confusion was appalling.

Although the speakers travelled to remote districts up to the night before election in November, the instructions from headquarters were to have loose ends gathered up by the opening of the State Fair September 25, at Helena. Headquarters were maintained a week at the fair and in the city and each day _The Suffrage Daily_ was issued. The editors were Mrs. L. O. Edmunds, Miss O'Neill, Mrs. M. E. McKay and Miss Belle Fligelman, all newspaper women. The most picturesque and educative feature of the whole campaign and the greatest awakener was the enormous suffrage parade which took place one evening during the week. Thousands of men and women from all parts of the State marched, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was at the head, and next, carrying banners, came Dr. Dean, the past president, and Miss Rankin, the present State chairman. A huge American flag was carried by women representing States having full suffrage; a yellow one for the States now having campaigns; a large gray banner for the partial suffrage States and a black banner for the non-suffrage States. Each county and city in the State had its banner. The Men's League marched and there were as many men as women in the parade.

During the entire campaign the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, one of the strongest organizations in the State, conducted a vigorous fight for the amendment, sending its speakers to every locality. For many years it had worked for woman suffrage.

At the election Nov. 3, 1914, the amendment received 41,302 ayes; 37,588 noes, a majority of 3,714, and women were enfranchised on equal terms with men.

The various suffrage societies merged into Good Government Clubs with the avowed purpose of obtaining political action on many needed measures. The next year they secured mother's pension and equal guardianship laws, and others equally important in following years.

The Executive Committee continued in existence and directed the work.

At its meeting in 1916 it was decided to conduct an intensive campaign for prohibition in 1917; to elect a woman to Congress and a woman State Superintendent of Schools. Prohibition was carried; Miss Jeannette Rankin was elected the first Congresswoman in the United States and Miss May Trumper was elected Superintendent of Schools.

That year an eight-hour-day for women was secured. This record was continued. Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway and Mrs. Emma A. Ingalls have served two terms each as State Representatives. All the county superintendents of schools are women.

After the Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress the societies met on June 22, 1919, and formed a State branch of the National League of Women Voters with Mrs. Edwin L. Norris chairman.

RATIFICATION. Governor Samuel V. Stewart called a special session of the Legislature to meet in August, 1920, and the Federal Suffrage Amendment was ratified on the 2nd by unanimous vote in the House and by 38 to one in the Senate--Claude F. Morris of Havre, Hill county.

The resolution was introduced in the House by Mrs. Ingalls.