The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 61

1904. The Munic.i.p.al Suffrage bill was reported favorably to the House by C. C. Fitts, chairman of the committee, but was refused third reading by 99 to 97. On November 17 it was introduced in the Senate, reported favorably by committee chairman J. Emery Buxton and pa.s.sed without debate with three opposing votes. When on December 6 it came again before the House for reconsideration it was ordered to a third reading by 112 to 104 but the next day was defeated by 124 to 100.

1906. A bill to subst.i.tute the word "person" for "male" in the statutes came before the House October 24, was ordered to third reading by 149 to 24 and pa.s.sed the following day by 130 to 25. This majority aroused the Ma.s.sachusetts Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women and an officer, Mrs. A. J. George of Brookline, was sent to try to defeat the bill. She was coolly received and found it so impossible to convince the members that she was not an emissary of the liquor interests that she failed to obtain even a hearing before the committee. Her coming stirred the suffrage forces and a telegram was sent to the _Woman's Journal_ of Boston asking for help and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the editor, and Mrs. Maud Wood Park responded. A public hearing was granted by the Senate committee and people from all over the State were present. Nine legislators and members of the a.s.sociation spoke for the bill. Not one opponent appeared. In the Senate it failed by three votes, many who were pledged to it deserting.

1908. Legislative committee chairman 1908-1910, Mrs. Annette W.

Parmelee, spoke at the hearing on the Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill, which was defeated in the Senate by 16 to 11. During the final debate Mrs.

Parmelee wrote down the disgusting remarks made by some of the opponents and their consternation was great when these were published.

This bill for years was termed the "football."

1909. The legislative chairman sent an official letter to Frank E.

Partridge, chairman of the Commission to Propose Amendments to the State Const.i.tution, which can only be done once in ten years, asking that suffrage for women be among the proposals considered. The letter was read May 28, 1910, before the commission--Frank L. Greene, A. M.

Fletcher, W. N. Cady and M. G. Leary, but received no attention.

1910. The legislative chairman was a.s.sisted by Chaplain A. W. Ford. In the official record suffrage was spelled "sufferage." The Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill was introduced in the House and the suffragists asked for a hearing but the date was changed three times and the final one left no time for summoning speakers. At the request of Judge H. S.

Peck the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole and the Senate came in. The Northfield Cadets, the Burlington High School and several hundred visitors attended the hearing and gave close attention to Mrs. Parmelee for an hour. A large number of members spoke for and against the bill. An anti-suffrage newspaper in referring to it said: "Its killing will make a Roman holiday for ladies' week." It was refused a third reading by 113 to 111. A bill permitting women to vote on the liquor question aroused the stormiest debate of the session and the Speaker split his desk trying to preserve order. It was definitely settled that the Legislature would pa.s.s no woman suffrage bills.

1912. The legislative committee was Mrs. Frances Rastall, Miss f.a.n.n.y B. Fletcher, Mrs. J. B. Estee and Mrs. Parmelee and the bill was to add the words "and female" in the statutes. On October 24 at a hearing held in Representatives Hall, which was filled to overflowing, the following made addresses in favor: Miss Anne Rhodes of New York; Mrs.

Agnes M. Jenks of New Hampshire; Miss Mabel Foster of Washington, D.

C.; Mrs. Rastall, Mrs. Charles Van Patten, Mrs. Parmelee, Senators Darling, Jose, and the Rev. Clifford Smith, superintendent of the State Anti-Saloon League. Those speaking in opposition were: Mrs. E.

D. Brooks Brown, who presented an "anti" pet.i.tion; Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation; Mrs. M.

H. Buckham, Mrs. George W. Wales, Miss Lillian Peck, Mrs. T. J.

Deavitt and Senator D. C. Hawley. It was defeated as usual. A bill which gave women the same right as men to vote in town meetings on all matters relating to taxation and the raising and appropriation of money pa.s.sed the Senate but was not considered by the House.

1915. Mrs. Amanda Seaver served as the "watchman on the tower," her husband being a member of the Legislature, and she was a.s.sisted by Mrs. Wyman and Mrs. Taylor. A public hearing on the bill for Munic.i.p.al and Presidential suffrage was held January 21. A large audience in Representatives Hall listened to a convincing address by Mrs.

Antoinette Funk of Chicago, a member of the Congressional Committee of the National a.s.sociation. Mrs. Wyman closed the hearing with an effective speech. Opportunity was given for the opponents but although a large delegation of them from Burlington was present, no one spoke.

Mrs. George of Ma.s.sachusetts and John A. Matthews, a member of the New Jersey Legislature, were the anti-suffrage speakers February 2 at a largely attended Senate hearing. The vote in the Senate was 19 to 19; in the House the bill was loaded with amendments and a third reading was refused by 129 to 100.

1917. Dr. Grace Sherwood was legislative chairman. Six bills giving various kinds of suffrage to women were introduced and every trick that legal minds could devise was employed to r.e.t.a.r.d or defeat their pa.s.sage but nevertheless one was pa.s.sed, which was introduced by Representative Ernest E. Moore. It provided that "a female citizen, 21 years of age, who has taken the Freeman's Oath ... and whose taxes were paid prior to the 15th day of February preceding town meeting, shall while residing in such town be a voter in town meeting."

Hearings were held February 6, 15, 16 and March 17, 20. There were 28 speakers in favor, 9 of them women; 21 opposed, 9 of them women. The Speaker, Stanley G. Allson, instead of asking the usual question "Shall the bill pa.s.s?" put the question "Shall the bill be rejected?"

Several members were caught by the trick and voted the opposite of what they intended but four changed their votes--Hardy of Guildhall, Hayden of Barton, Hooper of Hardwick and Bliss of Georgia, just enough to carry it. It pa.s.sed the House March 9 by 104 to 100, and the Senate March 20 by 16 to 11. It was signed by Governor Horace F. Graham March 30. Vermont thus had the honor of leading all eastern States in adopting a Town and Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill permitting tax paying women to vote and hold office.

1919. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, its recording secretary, was sent by the National a.s.sociation to a.s.sist the State Executive Board during the legislative session. A bill introduced by Senator Carr of Caledonia to repeal the Munic.i.p.al suffrage act was promptly defeated. Effort was now concentrated on the Presidential suffrage bill, which was introduced January 14. The Senate pa.s.sed it by a vote of 20 to 10 and sent it to the House, where it was first read on January 28 and referred to the Committee on Suffrage and Elections, which reported in favor. The bill was read the second time and several motions to defeat it were made by Representative Hopkins of Burlington but all were lost and the third reading was ordered by a vote of 129 ayes, 83 noes. At a hearing February 4 the following spoke in favor: Dr. Sherwood, Mrs.

Fred Blanchard, Mrs. Joanna Croft Read, Senators Steele, Vilas and M.

J. Hapgood; in opposition, Senators Carr and Felton, Miss Margaret Emerson, Mrs. Wayne Read, Mrs. H. C. Humphrey, David Conant, Representatives O'Dowd, Cudworth and Hopkins. On February 5 the bill pa.s.sed by 120 ayes, 90 noes. Governor Percival W. Clement vetoed it in March on the ground of unconst.i.tutionality, though eight Legislatures had pa.s.sed a similar bill without question and Illinois women had voted under one in 1916.

The State suffrage convention was in session at Burlington and immediately on its adjournment March 12 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, and fifteen of the delegates went to Montpelier, where Mrs. Catt addressed the Legislature. The Senate reconsidered the bill and pa.s.sed it over the veto. On March 17 the Speaker laid before the House an extended communication from Governor Clements giving in detail his reasons for failing to approve the bill. It was then read and Representative Tracy moved that it be made a special order for the following Thursday, which was agreed to by 104 ayes, 70 noes. At that time the question, "Will the House pa.s.s the bill notwithstanding the objections of the Governor?" was decided in the negative by 168 noes, 48 ayes. The next year the women were fully enfranchised by the Federal Amendment.

FOOTNOTES:

[185] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annette W.

Parmelee, State Superintendent of Press, State Secretary and State Historian for the Vermont Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation.

[186] Among those who addressed the annual conventions during the years were the Reverends A. M. Smith, J. A. Dixon, F. E. Adams, Verdi Mack, J. Borden Estee, George B. Lamson, T. L. Ma.s.sock, E. T.

Matthison, E. M. H. Abbott, C. J. Staples, O. M. Owen, Eugene Haines, M. T. Merrill, Charles A. Pennoyer; Hon. James F. Hooker, Dr. M. V. B.

Knox, Attorney E. B. Flynn, Colonel G. C. Childs, Professor c.o.x, Martin Vilas, Mr. Woolson and F. G. Fleetwood; Mesdames Canfield, Kidder, Flanders, Julia A. Pierce, C. J. Clark, M. V. B. Knox, Louisa M. Sloc.u.m, Inez Campbell, Mary E. Tucker, Laura Kezer, G. E. Davidson, M. S. Margum, E. B. Lund, Juliette Rublee, Amanda Seaver, Frances Rastall Wyman, Frances Hand, Elizabeth Van Patten, L. M. Benedict, O.

C. Ashton, Edgar Moore, H. B. Shaw, Dr. Sue H. Howard; Misses Mary E.

Purple, Grace Robinson, Margaret Allen, f.a.n.n.y Fletcher, Emilia Houghton, Eliza Eaton, Carolyn Scott.

[187] This year Miss Lou J. C. Daniels, a liberal contributor to the suffrage a.s.sociation, her family the largest taxpayers in Grafton, where they had a summer home, was indignant to learn that the Representative of her district had voted against the suffrage bill in the Legislature. She sent a written protest and refusal to pay her taxes, whereupon an official served papers on her and several shares of stock in the Bellows Falls National Bank were attached and sold at auction. The bank declared it illegal and declined to honor the sale.

The matter aroused discussion throughout the State and surrounding country. When the town elected a Representative who supported woman suffrage she considered the lesson sufficient and paid her taxes.

[188] Governor Clement retired from office Dec. 31, 1920, and was succeeded by Governor James Hartness. The Legislature met in regular session in January, 1921. The resolution to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment was read in the House for the third time on January 28 and pa.s.sed by 202 ayes, 3 noes, French, Stowell and Peake of Bristol. On February 8 it pa.s.sed the Senate unanimously.

[189] Presidents of the State a.s.sociation from 1900 to 1920 not already mentioned were Elizabeth Colley; C. D. Spencer; the Rev. A. M.

Smith; Mrs. A. D. Chandler; the Hon. James Hutchinson; Mrs. Frances Rastall Wyman; Dr. Grace Sherwood. Secretaries: Miss Laura Moore (1883-1905); Mrs. Fatima Davidson; the Rev. Verdi Mack; the Rev. Mary T. Whitney; Mrs. Annette W. Parmelee; Mrs. Jeannette Pease; Mrs. Annie C. Taylor; Miss Emilia Houghton; Mrs. Amanda Seaver; Miss Marguerite Allen; Miss Ann Batchelder; Mrs. James A. Merrill.

CHAPTER XLV.

VIRGINIA.[190]

The earliest record of woman suffrage in Virginia bears the name of Mrs. Hannah Lee Corbin of Gloucester county, whose protest in 1778 against taxation without representation was answered by a letter from her brother, Richard Henry Lee ("Lighthorse Harry"), who wrote that in his opinion under the clause in the const.i.tution which gave the vote to householders she could exercise the suffrage.

There had been a suffrage organization in Virginia in 1893, of which Mrs. Orra Langhorne, a pioneer worker, had been president. When the State Equal Suffrage League was organized, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky gave to it a trust fund of $2.50 which had been left in the treasury and Mrs. Langhorne had requested her to give to a Virginia League when one should be formed. In November, 1909, a preliminary meeting was held to discuss organization, followed a week later by the forming of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Lila Meade (Mrs. B. B.) Valentine, widely known for her public work, was elected president and served in this capacity for the next eleven years. State and city headquarters were opened in Richmond and remained there. Miss Mary Johnston was greatly interested and used her influence in promoting the new organization. Miss Ellen Glasgow also was very active. The league was organized to work for suffrage by both State and Federal action and early in its existence circulated a pet.i.tion to Congress for a Federal Amendment. In 1910 this was presented to the Virginia members by Mrs. Valentine and the State delegates attending the national suffrage convention.

In January, 1911, the first public meeting ever held in Richmond in the interest of woman suffrage was addressed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, with Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, president of William and Mary College, in the chair. The first State convention was held this year in Richmond with delegates present from Norfolk, Lynchburg, Williamsburg and Highland Springs societies, and individual suffragists from Fredericksburg and Charlottesville. In 1912 the convention was held in Norfolk with delegates from twenty-two leagues. In 1913 it met in Lynchburg and the reports showed that 2,500 new members had been added and Mrs.

Valentine had made 100 public speeches.

An outdoor demonstration was held in Richmond on the steps of the State Capitol, May 2, 1914, in conformity with the nation-wide request of the National a.s.sociation, and the celebration was continued in the evening. The convention was held in Roanoke, where it was reported that forty-five counties had been organized in political units and that the _Virginia Suffrage News_, a monthly paper, was being published at State headquarters under the management of Mrs. Alice Overbey Taylor.

In 1915 street meetings were inaugurated and held in Richmond from May till Thanksgiving, and in Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Lynchburg and Warrenton. For the first time women appeared on the same platform with the candidates for the Legislature and presented the claims of the women of Virginia to become a part of the electorate. The May Day celebration was held on the south portico of the Capitol on the afternoon of May 1, after a morning devoted to selling from street booths copies of the _Woman's Journal_, suffrage flags, b.u.t.tons and postcards. A band played and the decorations and banners in yellow and blue, the suffrage and Virginia colors, made a beautiful picture. John S. Munce of Richmond introduced the speakers, Dr. E. N. Calisch, Rabbi of Beth Ahaba Temple; Miss Joy Montgomery Higgins of Nebraska and Miss Mabel Vernon of Washington, D. C. In December the convention was held in Richmond and the two hundred delegates marched to the office of the Governor, Henry Carter Stuart, to request him to embody in his message to the General a.s.sembly a recommendation that it submit to the voters an equal suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution. They were led by Mrs. Valentine and brief addresses were made by Mrs. Stephen Putney of Wytheville, Mrs. Lloyd Byars of Bristol, Mrs. John H.

Lewis of Lynchburg, Miss Lucy Randolph Mason of Richmond, great-great-granddaughter of George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights; Miss Agnes Randolph, great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia; Miss Mary Johnston, Mrs. Sally Nelson Robins of Richmond, author; Miss Elizabeth Cooke of Norfolk, Miss Janetta FitzHugh of Fredericksburg, Mrs. Kate Langley Bosher of Richmond, author; Miss Roberta Wellford of University; Mrs.

George Barksdale, Miss Marianne Meade and Miss Adele Clark of Richmond. He received them courteously but not seriously and paid no attention to their request. During the year organization of the State into legislative and congressional districts was begun. Norfolk was the place of the annual convention in 1916 when 111 leagues were reported. This was a legislative year and all efforts were concentrated on the a.s.sembly.[191]

From January 29 to February 2, 1917, a very successful suffrage school was conducted in Richmond under the auspices of the National a.s.sociation. Later when the services of this a.s.sociation were offered to the Government for war work the league dedicated itself to State and country and endeavored to carry out the plans of the National Board. The president, Mrs. Valentine, was the first person in the State, on request of the Governor, to speak in the recruiting campaign and other members also took part in it. At the annual convention held in Richmond in November a resolution not only again endorsing the Federal Suffrage Amendment but pledging members to work for it was unanimously adopted. Virginia sent the largest delegation in her history to the national convention in Washington in December and it was upon the advice of the returning delegates that emphasis was laid upon enrollment of those who desired woman suffrage. Because of the influenza epidemic no State convention was held in 1918.

The enrollment of 32,000 men and women was accomplished in 1919, Mrs.

Faith W. Morgan, a vice-president of the a.s.sociation, securing the largest number of names and Miss Ellen Robinson being the first person to fill her quota. The submission by Congress of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in June of this year gave great impetus to the work. In November the annual convention was held in Richmond, with representatives from all parts of the State. At this time there were 175 suffrage centers. The members reaffirmed with enthusiasm their determination to carry on the fight for ratification. An important feature of the year had been the endors.e.m.e.nt of the amendment by the State Teachers' a.s.sociation, the State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Women's Benevolent a.s.sociation of the Maccabees.[192]

On Sept. 9, 10, 1920, the State league met in convention in the hall of the House of Delegates in the Capitol for the joint purpose of celebrating the proclamation of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and planning for the organization of a League of Women Voters. It was an occasion never to be forgotten, with a welcome extended by Governor Westmoreland Davis, speeches by Attorney General John R. Saunders, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Harris Hart and members of the Legislature who had made the fight for ratification. Mrs. Maud Wood Park, president of the National League of Women Voters, gave an inspiring address and extensive plans for future work were made. A reception was given by the wife of the Governor a.s.sisted by the officers of the league. On November 10, in the Senate chamber, the State League of Women Voters was organized with Mrs. Valentine honorary chairman; Mrs. John H. Lewis honorary vice-chairman and Miss Adele Clark chairman.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. For improved conditions for women in industry, child labor laws and all welfare legislation before the General a.s.sembly in the past ten years individual members of the league have labored a.s.siduously. The league as an organization, however, has confined itself to work for suffrage, knowing that the vote gained "all things else would be added."

1900. When the const.i.tutional convention met to draft the present State const.i.tution, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, and a small group of Virginia and other southern women appeared before it and Mrs. Catt urged it to embody woman suffrage in the new const.i.tution but this was not done.

1912. The first resolution proposing an amendment to the State const.i.tution enfranchising women was introduced in the House by Hill Montague of Richmond and the hearing granted by the committee created statewide interest. The speakers were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. Lewis, Miss Johnston, Mrs. Bosher, Miss Randolph, Clayton Torrence and Howard T.

Colvin of the State Federation of Labor, later a.s.sistant U. S.

Commissioner of Labor. The vote in the House was 12 ayes, 84 noes.

1914. The resolution for a State amendment was again introduced in the House and a hearing granted by the Committee on Privileges and Elections. Mrs. Valentine presided and introduced the following speakers: Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett of Alexandria, State regent of the D. A. R.; Mrs. Putney, Mrs.

Lewis, Mrs. Barksdale of Richmond, Miss Mason, Miss Lillie Barbour, State factory inspector, and Mr. Colvin. The vote was 13 ayes, 74 noes.

1916. The resolution for a State amendment had its first public hearing before a joint committee of the House and Senate. The speakers were Mrs. Valentine, Mrs. J. H. Whitner of Roanoke, a vice-president of the State League; Miss Eudora Ramsey and Miss Adele Clark of Richmond; the Rev. John J. Wicker, pastor of Leigh Street Baptist Church, Richmond, and E. F. Sheffey of Lynchburg. The House vote, 40 ayes, 51 noes, marked the third defeat but an increase in suffrage sentiment.

1918. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Valentine, Miss Wellford, Mrs. Frank L. Jobson, Miss Clark, Miss Nora Houston and Mrs. Munce, all of Richmond. The Federal Suffrage Amendment having now pa.s.sed the Lower House of Congress, a resolution urging the U. S.