The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 34

FOOTNOTES:

[105] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucile Dyas Topping, formerly Lewis and Clark county superintendent of schools and prominent in the work of the campaign of 1914, when Montana women obtained the suffrage.

[106] In the intensive work that followed, Mrs. Tower was a.s.sisted by Dr. Dean, Mrs. Ellen Maria Dean, Mrs. James U. Sanders, Mrs. T. J.

Walsh, Mrs. Bessie Hughes Smith, Mrs. Martha Dunkel, Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, Mrs. Adelaide Staves Reeder, Dr. Bertha Mackal McCleman, Mrs.

C. B. Nolan, Mrs. Donald Bradford, Madame F. Rowena Medini, Miss Sarepta Sanders, Dr. Mary B. At.w.a.ter, Mrs. H. L. Sherlock, Mrs. Hughes and Miss Mary C. Wheeler.

CHAPTER XXVI.

NEBRASKA.[107]

The History of the movement for woman suffrage in Nebraska from 1900 to 1920 naturally divides itself into three periods. The first period extends from 1900 to 1912. During those years the organization was supported by a small but faithful group whose continuous effort at educating public sentiment prepared the way for the work that followed. The second period included the years from 1912 to 1915, during which time a campaign for full suffrage by an amendment to the State const.i.tution was carried on. The third period from 1915 to 1920 was marked by the pa.s.sage of a partial suffrage law in 1917, which was an issue during the preceding two years; an attack on that law through the initiative and referendum; the successful defense of it by the State Suffrage a.s.sociation and the ratification of the Federal Amendment at a special session in 1919, which marked the end of a long contest.

Miss Laura Gregg, a Nebraska woman, was put in charge of the State suffrage headquarters at Omaha in October, 1899, by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee of the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation, and remained four years. During that time conventions and conferences were held, much field work was done and the membership was increased to nearly 1,200. At the annual convention at Blair in October, 1900, Mrs. Catt, now national president, was present. Mrs. Clara A. Young of Broken Bow was elected State president, relieving Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward of Chadron, who had pressing business obligations. Her section of the State, however, remained one of the suffrage strongholds and she was always one of the largest contributors. Other officers elected were, vice-president, Mrs. Amanda J. Marble of Broken Bow; corresponding secretary, Miss Nelly Taylor of Merna; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida L. Denny of Lincoln.

In 1901 the State convention was held in Lincoln November 12-14, welcomed by Mayor T. C. Winnett. A reception was given at the Lindell Hotel to the fifty-six delegates and Mrs. Catt, who had spent sixteen days in the State, attending conferences in Omaha and eleven other places. An address by Governor E. P. Savage, one by Mrs. Catt, and a debate between Miss Gregg and A. L. Bixby, editor of the _State Journal_, who took the negative, were the evening attractions. There was a work conference led by Mrs. Catt and reports were given by the officers and by State workers, including Mrs. Maria C. Arter of Lincoln; Mrs. K. W. Sutherland of Blair, Miss Taylor, Mrs. Mary G.

Ward of Tec.u.mseh, Mrs. Jennie Ross of Dakota City, Mrs. Hetty W. Drury of Pender, with a "question box" conducted by Mrs. Catt. The next afternoon the speakers in a symposium were Mrs. Anna A. Wells of Schuyler, J. H. Dundas of the _Auburn Granger_, Mrs. Emma Shuman of Nebraska City, Mrs. Rosa Modlin of Beaver City, Mrs. C. W. Damon of Omaha, Mrs. Mary E. Jeffords of Broken Bow, Mrs. Alice Isabel Brayton of Geneva and Mrs. Belle Sears of Tekamah.

The sum of $1,312 had been expended during the year, including the cost of headquarters and field work. Pledges to the amount of $1,000 were made for the next year. The large dailies of Omaha and Lincoln had given much attention to the subject of woman suffrage and over 150 weeklies had published matter furnished by the press departments. Mrs.

Young, Mrs. Marble, Miss Taylor and Mrs. Denny were re-elected; other officers were: Treasurer, Mrs. Mary E. Dempster, Omaha; first auditor, Mrs. Hayward, second, Mrs. Sears; press chairman, Mrs. Lucie B. Meriom of Beaver City.

This convention was a type of those held during the next three or four years. County conventions were frequent and local clubs were active. A small printed sheet called the _Headquarters Message_, edited by Miss Gregg, filled with State suffrage news, club reports, National recommendations, etc., was sent monthly to the workers. During the spring of 1902 Miss Gail Laughlin, a national organizer, spent two weeks organizing new clubs and arousing old ones and Miss Gregg and Mr. Bixby debated in towns in eastern Nebraska. A series of parlor meetings in Omaha increased the interest there. Mrs. Marble was chairman of the Committee on a.s.semblies and during the summer the suffrage question was presented at the State Fair, the Epworth a.s.sembly, Chautauquas, pioneer picnics and other gatherings. The committee included later Mrs. O. B. Bowers, Tekamah; Mrs. Ellen A.

Miller, Beatrice; Mrs. Ollie King Carriker, Nebraska City; Mrs. Anna Pickett, Broken Bow. Miss Gregg spent the autumn in field work throughout the State. The annual convention was held at Tec.u.mseh December 1-3, with a large attendance. The program included the Mayor, Governor-elect J. H. Mickey, the Hon. C. W. Beal, Senator O'Neill, and other prominent citizens. A memorial hour was given to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and to Nebraska suffragists who had died during the year. It was resolved to push press work, county organization, new memberships and work before a.s.semblies.

In 1903 branch headquarters were established at the Lindell Hotel, Lincoln, for work with the Legislature. The delegates to the national convention in New Orleans in March were accompanied home by Miss Laughlin for organizing work. a.s.sisted most of the time by Miss Gregg she visited thirty-five cities and towns, speaking from one to three times in each place, gained 403 new members and collected about $200.

She spoke at five Normal Schools during the summer and had headquarters at the Northwest G. A. R. encampment and several Chautauquas. The State convention was held at Nebraska City, October 6-8. The program was enriched by the address of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president, on The Fate of Republics. Miss Laughlin made a strong speech and there were many new names on the program. To the previous plan of work had been added suffrage contests, literature in libraries and church work; the peace and industrial work of the National a.s.sociation had been endorsed and committees formed.

In January, 1904, Miss Gregg was sent by Mrs. Catt to Oklahoma, where her services as organizer were very much needed. The State headquarters were transferred to Tec.u.mseh with the secretary, Mrs.

Mary G. Ward, in charge. Mrs. Young edited the _Headquarters Message_ and Mrs. Myrtle W. Marble of Humboldt attended to the publishing and mailing. A Suffrage Cook Book was prepared and published and became a source of considerable revenue. Mrs. Lulu S. Halvorsen of Nebraska City was press chairman. Miss Laughlin spent a month speaking and organizing. The State convention was held at Geneva November 21-December 1, Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Denver a princ.i.p.al evening speaker. With the withdrawal of Miss Gregg and the conviction that no amendment of any kind could be carried under the existing law, the interest of the local organizations began to decline and the two brave and faithful women who had carried the heaviest part of the burden were now finding it too heavy for their strength. Mrs. Young took the headquarters to her own home in Broken Bow and Mrs. Marble did all kinds of work at all times if it helped the cause.

Mrs. Young kept the clubs at work during 1905 and a full delegation of fourteen was sent to the national convention at Portland, Oregon, but her health began to fail and at the State convention held at Broken Bow October 10-12 she was compelled to give up the presidency. The executive board needed her counsel and experience and she accepted the position of honorary president. Mrs. Marble was made president and the other officers were re-elected with Miss Mary H. Williams as historian. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado was the princ.i.p.al speaker. There were seventeen addresses of welcome from representative citizens.

Mrs. Marble kept up the work in 1906 as far as it was possible. She began publishing an annual report of the year's work, a pamphlet of about 70 pages, containing a roster of the clubs and much useful information, and continued it during the four years of her presidency.

With Miss Williams she attended the national convention at Baltimore.

The State convention met at Lincoln, October 2, 3, in All Souls'

Church with Dr. Shaw as evening speaker. A memorial meeting was held for Susan B. Anthony, with the Rev. Newton Mann of Omaha, her former pastor in Rochester, N. Y., as speaker.

The State convention of 1907 met in Kenesaw October 1, 2. The legislative work had been to obtain a memorial to Congress asking for a Federal Suffrage Amendment. More conventions pa.s.sed woman suffrage resolutions during the summer than ever before. On October 7 the beloved leader, Mrs. Young, pa.s.sed away. In November Miss Gregg was sent by the National a.s.sociation to a.s.sist Mrs. Marble and remained until the middle of January, doing office and field work.

In February, 1908, Mrs. Maud Wood Park of Boston made a visit to the State and formed College Woman Suffrage Leagues in the State and Wesleyan Universities and among graduates in Lincoln. Miss Williams was made chairman of a committee to raise Nebraska's pledge of $300 to the Anthony Memorial Fund. At the State convention in Lincoln Nov. 5, 6, Mrs. Marble was obliged to decline the presidency and was made vice-president. The Rev. Mary G. Andrews of Omaha was elected in her place; but from this time until her death, April 6, 1910, Mrs. Marble never ceased to do everything in her power to forward the success of the suffrage movement.

Early in 1909 the pet.i.tion of the National a.s.sociation to Congress for an amendment of the Federal Const.i.tution was begun with Miss Williams chairman of the committee and 10,386 signatures were secured. Mrs.

Philip Snowden of England lectured in Lincoln during the session of the Legislature and many of the members heard her. The annual convention was held in Lincoln November 18, 19. Mrs. Andrews had gone to Minneapolis and Dr. Inez Philbrick of Lincoln was elected president. A lecture tour was arranged for Dr. B. O. Aylesworth of Denver for the autumn of 1909 and again in 1910; Men's Suffrage Leagues were organized in Omaha and Lincoln and many new clubs formed of people of influence. The convention was postponed to March, 1911.

The regular convention of 1911 was held in Lincoln November 20-22.

Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst was the speaker and the audience filled the largest a.s.sembly room.

The convention of 1912 met in Omaha December 4-6, and it was decided to go into an active campaign to secure the submission of a const.i.tutional amendment by pet.i.tion in 1914. The Initiative and Referendum Law had been adopted the preceding month, which required the signature of 15 per cent. of the total vote cast at the last election, the signers coming from two-fifths of the counties. This meant 37,752 names from thirty-eight counties. Nebraska has ninety-three counties and an area of 77,520 square miles. Officers elected to serve throughout the campaign were: Henrietta I. (Mrs.

Draper) Smith, president; Mrs. Kovanda, vice-president; Miss Williams, corresponding secretary; Miss Daisy Doane, recording secretary; Gertrude Law (Mrs. W. E.) Hardy, treasurer; Mrs. Grace M. Wheeler, first and Elizabeth J. (Mrs. Z. T.) Lindsey, second auditor; committee chairmen; Mrs. Wheeler, Education; Mrs. A. E. Sheldon, Finance; Mrs.

Hardy, Publicity; Mrs. Edna M. Barkley, Speakers; Mrs. A. H. Dorris, Press.

Headquarters were opened Jan. 3, 1913, in the Brandeis Theater Building, Omaha, and maintained through the winter of 1912-13. Mrs.

Draper Smith had at once a.s.sumed her duties as president and appointed Mrs. W. C. Sunderland chairman for the second congressional district, including Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties. She had asked Mrs.

Lindsey to be chairman of Douglas county in which Omaha is situated, who soon had ten precincts organized under capable chairmen, and a little later every ward in Omaha and South Omaha. On February 8 Dr.

Shaw, the national president, arrived in Omaha for a conference with the workers. On Sunday afternoon she addressed a ma.s.s meeting in the Brandeis Theater at which there was not even standing room. John L.

Kennedy presided. The committee of arrangements included the Rev.

Frederick T. Rouse of the First Congregational Church; Judge Howard Kennedy, Superintendent of City Schools; E. U. Graff, City Attorney; John E. Rine, C. C. Belden and the officers of the suffrage a.s.sociation. A resolution was before the Legislature to submit an amendment to the voters but it was so evident that it would not be pa.s.sed that the work for the initiative pet.i.tion went on rapidly. The last of February thirty-six Omaha women and others from over the State went to Lincoln to see the vote taken in the House. The proposal was defeated, only one man from Douglas county voting for it.

In the early spring the headquarters were moved to Lincoln and the pet.i.tion work for the State was managed from there, with the exception of that of Omaha. Throughout the year the task was continued of obtaining the signatures in the various counties, all done by volunteers. It was necessary at the same time to create public sentiment and organize clubs in preparation for the campaign for the submission of the amendment which would follow. In Omaha Mrs.

Sunderland soon turned the district organization over to Mrs. James Richardson and took the position of city chairman. Meetings were held with prominent local speakers. On November 5 Chancellor Avery of the State University spoke for woman suffrage before the State Teachers'

a.s.sociation in the First Methodist Church. Two days later Dr. Shaw addressed it in the auditorium. She spoke at noon before the Commercial Club, a distinction given by it to a woman for the first time. On Nov. 6, 7, the State convention was held in Lincoln and Mrs.

Clara Bewick Colby, formerly of Beatrice, was made honorary president.

In January, 1914, a Men's Suffrage League was formed in Omaha with E.

H. Geneau, T. E. Brady, Henry Olerichs and James Richardson promoting it. On February 2 a thorough canva.s.s of the business part of the city was begun by the women. Mrs. Lindsey thus described it:

With a blizzard raging and the thermometer at 5 degrees below zero women stood in drug stores and groceries, and visited office buildings, factories and shops, wherever permission could be obtained, soliciting signatures for six consecutive days. Mrs. C.

S. Stebbins, nearly seventy years of age, stood at the street car barns and filled several pet.i.tions and Mrs. Isaac Conner, a suffrage worker since 1868, made a similar record. Mrs. W. P.

Harford and Mrs. George Tilden arranged to have people standing at the church doors for names at the close of service on Sunday.

Many ministers offered their churches to the committee and spoke of the matter from their pulpits. Of all the Protestant churches, only the Episcopal refused the committee's request, Dean James A.

Tanc.o.c.k of Trinity Cathedral and the Rev. T. J. Mackay of All Saints declining. Pet.i.tions were kept open at the _Daily News_ office and other offices and places of business. Fifteen of the leading drug stores offered s.p.a.ce to the women under the direction of Mrs. E. S. Rood, and it was decided to continue the intensive campaign until the 12th, when the county chairman had called a meeting at the city hall to celebrate Lincoln's birthday, to hear Medill McCormick of Chicago and to announce results. A large crowd of pet.i.tion workers, sympathizers and members of the Men's League was present. While the goal for Douglas county was 5,000 signatures over 9,000 had pa.s.sed through the hands of the county chairmen on their way to the Secretary of State.

Three days later Mrs. J. W. Crumpacker of Kansas appeared in Omaha to organize the opposition forces. The anti-suffragists, led by Mrs. Arthur Crittenden Smith, announced a meeting at Turpin's Hall on the afternoon of February 23. Mrs. Arthur M.

Dodge, president of the National a.s.sociation Opposed to Woman Suffrage, and Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary, both of New York, addressed the meeting. Forty people were present, including five reporters and a number of suffragists. Those who joined at that meeting were Mesdames Edward P. Peck, William Archibald Smith, T.

J. Mackay, E. A. Benson and Misses Ada Alexander, Genevra March and Minnie Martison. A temporary committee on organization was appointed consisting of Mesdames Arthur C. Smith, J. C. Cowin, Herman Kountze, J. W. Crumpacker, E. A. Benson; Misses Wallace, Riley, Alexander and McGaffney.... The next evening a public meeting was held at the American Theater, addressed by Mrs. Dodge and Miss Bronson, who were introduced by John L. Webster.[108]

On March 11 the district chairman, Mrs. Richardson, and county chairman, Mrs. Lindsey, with a group of workers, sorted, checked and made into neat parcels the precious sheets of paper, which Mrs. Draper Smith carried to Lincoln that afternoon. Possibly half a dozen men had circulated pet.i.tions but the bulk of the 11,507 names were obtained in Omaha by women. On March 14 the completed pet.i.tion for submitting the amendment was filed with the Secretary of State in the presence of the Governor. Although only 37,752 signatures were required it had 50,705 and these represented sixty-three counties instead of the required thirty-eight. They were accepted without question and the amendment was submitted to the voters at the general election, Nov. 4, 1914.

From that time until the election strenuous and unceasing efforts were made to secure votes for the amendment. Many prominent Nebraska men and women spoke and worked for it and a number were brought into the State. On July 6 was issued in Omaha the famous Manifes...o...b.. the Nebraska Men's a.s.sociation Opposed to Woman Suffrage, a pamphlet of nine pages, signed by thirty prominent men, all of Omaha.[109] Early in July Park Commissioner J. B. Hummel of Omaha refused to grant any more permits for meetings in the parks and the suffragists arranged a voiceless automobile parade through all of them when they were filled with people, the cars decorated with banners and pennants carrying suffrage sentiments. Later the commissioner spoke for the amendment.

On August 4 the first street meeting was held by "General" Rosalie Jones of New York, who spoke from the steps of the county court house at noon and on a corner in the evening. This was followed by street meetings in an endless number of towns. County fairs and all possible forms of publicity were utilized. An outstanding feature of the campaign was the automobile tours, the plan of Mrs. F. M. Hall, chairman of Lancaster county. They covered 20,000 miles and included 500 places containing one-half of the population. Several of the longest were made and financed by J. L. Kennedy and James Richardson of Omaha and W. E. Hardy of Lincoln.

Miss Jane Addams came from Chicago and spoke several times in October.

William Jennings Bryan, who was making a political canva.s.s of the State, never failed to make an appeal for the amendment and on October 31 gave a rousing suffrage speech in Brandeis Theater, Omaha. Dr. Shaw ended her tour of the State on the 30th, with an address in the auditorium.

The anti-suffragists were well financed and active. Their National a.s.sociation sent Miss Marjorie Dorman to Omaha the last of September, who opened headquarters on the first floor of the City National Bank.

Mrs. A. J. George was sent in October. On November 2 there appeared in the morning papers a double-column appeal to the Catholics to vote against the amendment because back of it were the Socialists, feminists, etc. It was signed by Mrs. L. F. Crofoot, wife of the Omaha attorney for the Northern Pacific R. R.

During the campaign a committee of business men was formed by the brewing interests, which visited the husbands of various women engaged in the effort for the amendment. They said "suffrage means prohibition" and threatened the husbands in a business way unless their wives retired from the work. This committee watched the papers and when names of women were given as interested in suffrage, even to the extent of attending a luncheon for some celebrity, the husbands promptly were visited. Through this intimidation many women were forced to withdraw and many men who would have subscribed generously did not dare give more than $25, as the State law required the publication of names of all contributing over this sum.

Three days before election an "appeal" to its members was sent by the German-American Alliance, a large and powerful organization. It was written in German and began as follows:

We consider the proposed amendment to the const.i.tution granting the right of suffrage to women as the most important question which will be decided at the coming election. Our State Alliance took a most decided stand against woman suffrage at its annual convention held in Columbus August 25. Our German women do not want the right to vote, and since our opponents desire the right of suffrage mainly for the purpose of saddling the yoke of prohibition on our necks, we should oppose it with all our might.... We most earnestly urge our friends of German speech and German descent not to permit business or other considerations to prevent them from going to the polls and casting their ballots as above directed.

On November 4 the Omaha suffragists stood all day at the polls handing slips to the voters calling attention to the amendment on the ballot.

The total State vote on it was 100,842 noes, 90,738 ayes; adverse majority of 10,104. The result of the splendid campaign in Douglas county, the stronghold of the opponents of all kinds, was seen in the small adverse majority of 1,188. Throughout the campaign the Omaha _Daily News_ valiantly championed the amendment and the _Bee_ and the _World Herald_ as strongly opposed it. The National American Suffrage a.s.sociation contributed $4,000 in cash, the services of two organizers--Miss Jane Thompson and Miss Elsie Benedict--and paid the travelling expenses of a number of national speakers.